What Echoes Render Read online

  “Such as he was.”

  “Such as he was,” David agreed. “But while he may not have won any father-of-the-year awards, he didn’t beat his kid,” he pointed out. For what it was worth.

  “So what happened?” she asked.

  “It was a bomb, a crude one, and Aaron tried to defuse it. Tried to take it apart. But his father was better at building bombs than Aaron thought and had somehow managed to set up a functioning trigger. Aaron figured out he wasn’t going to have much luck and was backing away when it went off. The explosion blew him clear of the room.”

  “And, next thing he knew, he ended up here.” The tone of her voice told him that she was well aware that what Aaron was going through wasn’t the end of anything. The boy would have a long road in front of him, both emotionally and physically.

  “And he ended up here,” David repeated. He picked up another picture, this one of the two boys when they were much younger, he’d guess about four and six. It looked to be taken in an evergreen forest somewhere.

  “Orcas Island in Washington State. My parents live on Whidbey Island; we went to visit and took a side trip to the San Juan Islands.” For a moment, he had no idea what Jesse was talking about, then he realized he was still holding the picture. He set it down carefully and shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “So, will there be any charges brought against him?” She stood and walked back behind her desk.

  “No, he was trying to do the right thing. Trying to protect himself and other people from the imminent danger created by his dad. There won’t be any charges filed at all. In fact, we should probably be thanking him. If he hadn’t taken action, who knows how many people would have been hurt if his dad had succeeded in detonating it at the restaurant?”

  Jesse let out a deep breath and slid into her seat. “Thank you for telling me.”

  “You knew all along he wasn’t involved, didn’t you?”

  She tilted her head. “I’m way past the age of thinking I know anything for certain about most people, especially teenagers. That said, I would have been surprised if he’d turned out to be nefarious. But of course, isn’t that what the neighbors always say? ‘He was such a nice boy.’”

  He smiled at her mimicry. “So, how did your son’s meet go the other day?”

  “He did well, the team did well. Matt won a couple of races, but of course he’s not happy with his times,” she answered without missing a beat.

  “A little competitive?” David asked as a smile tugged at his lips. Given how young Matt’s mother was and how far she’d come in her professional life, it wouldn’t surprise him in the least if the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

  “Mostly with himself so I guess I shouldn’t complain. And even if I did, that would be a little bit of the pot calling the kettle black,” she added with a self-deprecating eye roll.

  He could feel her watching him as he wandered around her office, examining more of her photos. She had a lot, not an unusual amount, but enough to see that she was a devoted mother. And judging by the smiles on the boys’ faces, a good mother, too.

  “And your younger son? Is he a runner, too?” He knew he was just shamelessly fishing for information now. Maybe he wasn’t as on the fence about asking her out as he’d thought.

  “He is. He’s athletic like his brother, but mostly I think he joined because there are a couple of really cute girls on the team.” David glanced over his shoulder just in time to see her smile a private, motherly smile. “Both the boys do well in sports and school,” she added. “But James is the real science wonk. He’d rather be in the lab most of the time.”

  “Any kind of science in particular?”

  “No, anything science or math,” she answered. After a pause, she gave a small laugh and added, “I’ve seen enough budgets in my life to be proficient, but what he does, what he can understand, is way beyond me. He’ll be going to a special program this summer in Boston for high school science students. And of course, Matt starts college there this fall,” she added.

  “It’s a big step, sending a chick out of the nest,” he commented. He should know, he’d just done it several months ago, but he didn’t bring that up. Instead he walked back to the front of her desk.

  “It is, but it’s a good thing. I’m excited for him,” she said.

  “And his father?” He almost grimaced at his own recognizable intention because there it was, the obvious casting of the line.

  “My husband died about two years ago. A fire actually, in his office at the university in Albany. He was an economics professor. Probably where James got his affinity for numbers.” Her hands were folded on her desk and her voice hadn’t broken in the slightest. And yet, staring at her face, he felt off balance at that piece of information. Sure he’d been fishing, he just hadn’t expected to pull up the fact that she was a recent widow. And now he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.

  On one hand, he had confirmation that she was single. On the other, if he asked her out now it would seem opportunistic. He rocked back on his heels in silence for a beat, then cleared his throat. She gave him a small smile that hinted she sensed his discomfort.

  “Well, thank you for stopping by, David,” she said, rising from her seat and holding her hand out. On reflex he reached out and shook it as she continued. “I appreciate you telling me about your investigation and we’ll be sure to treat Aaron well.”

  She was dismissing him, letting him escape from his own lame inability to process the fact that she was a widow. And not just a widow, but one whose husband had died in a fire. What were the odds?

  “Anytime,” he responded. “If you have any questions or Aaron needs someone to talk to, please give me a call.”

  Jesse nodded and before he knew it he was heading out to the parking garage. It hadn’t been his most suave moment and more than once on the walk between her office and his truck he considered going back to ask her out. But on the way, his phone rang, duty called, and the moment passed.

  CHAPTER 4

  JESSE CURLED A FOOT UNDER HER and gave a little push off the floor with her toe to send her rocking chair into a gentle, soothing motion. Tucking her other foot against the rung of the chair, she sipped her coffee and looked at the view out across her lawn and down to the swimming pond. It was a cool morning, but she liked these moments of quiet before the day really started.

  She watched a pair of Canada geese fly by and smiled at their distinctive, obnoxious honking. A frog croaked and a hawk soared and circled overhead. She loved her big wrap-around porch—it had been the reason they’d bought this house. Ten years ago, she and Mark had come to this piece of property and seen not much else other than potential. An old, dilapidated farmhouse, a pond that was overgrown, and fields that hadn’t been sown in years. The original part of the house had been built in the late 1800s, making it about a hundred years younger than most of the other farmhouses in the area. Its age, and hence its architectural style, also made it less appealing to the weekenders who seemed to only want houses in the Greek revival style indicative of the time when the area was full of revolutionaries and the country was first being formed. Jesse loved both styles of houses but because there wasn’t a demand for homes in this particular style—not to mention in the condition it had been in when they came upon it—she and Mark had been able to buy it for a song. And over the years they’d refurbished, rehabilitated, and cleaned things up.

  And still, all these years later, her favorite simple pleasure was sitting on her wrap-around porch watching the world go by at a snail’s pace.

  Pushing off with her toe again, she heard the porch door open.

  “Mom?”

  Her older son came out with his own cup of coffee. His hair was sticking up with a severe case of morning bedhead and he was dressed in his pajama bottoms and no top, the chill of the morning seeming to have no effect on him.

  “Hi, honey. You’re up early.”

  He took a seat and a sip. “It’s almost nine, not th
at early.”

  “For a Saturday?” She arched a teasing brow at him.

  “Okay,” he smiled back. “It’s a little early. But I promised Allie I’d come down and help decorate for prom tonight.”

  “Are you all ready? You have everything you need?” she asked. Looking at Matt, it was hard to believe he was getting ready to attend his last high school formal. It felt like only days ago that he’d been struggling with the question of whether or not to ask a girl to his first formal.

  Matt nodded in response to her question. “Thanks for arranging the car tonight. Allie and I aren’t going to do anything crazy, you know,” he said, referring to his date.

  She smiled at that. Matt was not a crazy kid, probably more responsible than he should be, and she had little doubt this stemmed from the death of his father.

  “I know, but I just thought it might be nice to be driven around a bit, and you’re welcome. Are you still doubling with Danielle and Todd?”

  Matt shook his head. “No, Allie wanted to go with Brittney and Jay so we’ll be picking them up on the way.”

  “That’s too bad.” Matt and Danielle had been close friends, practically since birth. ”But I suppose you’ll see them there,” she commented.

  He grinned. “We have less than a hundred and fifty kids going, I think it’s a pretty good bet we’ll see each other.”

  They sat in silence for several minutes. Jesse sensed her son had more to say to her but something was holding him back. After years of being his mom, she knew the best thing to do was to wait and let him come to her.

  Finally, he spoke. “Mom, Danielle and I would like to go see Aaron. We called down to the hospital yesterday and they said visiting hours were today from two to four. Do you think we should?”

  Jesse considered this. Matt and Aaron weren’t the best of friends, not really friends at all but more like friendly acquaintances. And Aaron, a young man, might not want to be seen in the state he was in. She knew what Aaron had sacrificed and why, and she had told Matt some of it, the parts she thought David wouldn’t mind her sharing. But she didn’t know if Aaron saw it the same way—saw his own sacrifice. She didn’t know if Aaron would want to be reminded that he wasn’t going to prom; that he wasn’t active and doing all the things the other young men in his class were doing. The male ego was a fragile thing.

  On the other hand, she’d been his only visitor. David and Abigail had seen him, of course, but she’d been the only one who’d stopped by to visit without having a professional reason.

  “Why don’t I ask him on Monday and let you know?” she offered.

  “We’d kind of like to go today, if we can. It’s been long enough that he’s been alone.”

  Her son’s insight caught her off guard and really, what could she say to that? Still, she wanted to ask Aaron first.

  “Dr. Martinez is running rounds this morning. Why don’t I call her? She can ask him and then let Danielle know?”

  Matt let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Mom. I can’t imagine what his life has been like these past few years.”

  “No child should.”

  “And it’s not over for him, is it?”

  “Unfortunately, not by a long shot. He has a long recovery ahead of him.”

  Together, they pondered this for a moment, before Matt stood.

  “Thanks for checking in with Dr. Martinez for us. I’ll let you know if we end up going down.”

  “Please do, and keep me updated on what’s going on today. I have some errands to run.” She glanced at her watch. “One of which I’m running late for already, but other than that, I’ll be around here.”

  He nodded and headed back into the house as she rose from her seat. She wasn’t quite ready to start the day, but she’d promised Julie she’d be at the quilt shop at ten and if she was going to call Abigail before that, as well as shower and get dressed, she needed to get a move on.

  ***

  Jesse looked at the clock on her dash as she pulled into a spot across the street from Julie’s Spin-A-Yarn shop. She wasn’t too late, just about fifteen minutes. She spotted Julie out front chatting with Jason, the owner of the local health food store, and waved. Main Street was still quiet this time of day, except for those partaking of breakfast at Frank’s Fed Up and Fulfilled Café, and both proprietors looked up and waved back as she got out of her car.

  She smiled and was just sliding her keys into her purse when a deep sound reverberated around her. In a flash, Jesse felt like she was being swallowed, like a weight was pressing against her entire body, stealing the air from her lungs, making it impossible to scream. A cacophony of sounds assaulted her ears, then suddenly everything seemed to slow down. Somehow, the noises that had seemed so angry before became dampened and muffled. With no time to comprehend or react to what was happening, she watched as the windows of Spin-A-Yarn erupted outward, exploding onto the street toward her.

  CHAPTER 5

  ON INSTINCT, JESSE SPUN AWAY and hit the ground as shards of glass scattered around her. She didn’t know how long she stayed there but slowly it registered that everything was silent. From her position, lying on the street, she stared at the ground in confusion for several seconds before reality hit her with the subtlety of a two-by-four. There had been an explosion of some sort. A real explosion.

  Her head came up cautiously and she tested her body. Moving easily and not sensing any serious injuries, she gazed at the debris around her; then, suddenly panic stricken, she turned to look for Julie and Jason. She saw them both, holding onto each other, crouched against the front wall of the health food store but still on their feet.

  She made to get up and move toward them just as a giant orange and blue flame leapt through the shattered front window of what had once been Julie’s shop. Jesse shrank back against her car even as the flame was seemingly sucked back into the building. For a moment, she saw no signs of the fire, then it became more visible and she could see flames licking the walls of Spin-A-Yarn. Sitting up, she shook the glass from her purse, grabbed her phone with a shaking hand, and hit the emergency button as she stood up. After giving the dispatcher the details, she took a few tentative steps toward the shop and craned her head to get a better view. She didn’t want to get too close, but she needed to see if anyone was inside. She wasn’t an EMT, but she was trained in first aid and knew enough that she might be able to help someone if they needed it before real help arrived.

  But Julie was already running across the street to stop her from moving any further.

  “Jesse! Stay where you are, we called 9-1-1.” Julie seemed to be shouting, but Jesse could just barely make out her friend’s voice.

  “So did I,” Jesse answered, pausing not far from her car. “Is there anyone in there, Julie? We need to be able to tell them if someone is in there,” she said, pointing, needlessly, toward the building, now clearly in flames.

  “No,” Julie shook her head, also still in a daze. “There’s no one in there. It was just me, and I stepped out just a few moments ago.”

  Jesse brought her attention back around. “Are you okay? You were standing right there. Are you hurt?” she asked, her eyes scanning her friend as she spoke.

  Again, Julie shook her head. “Stunned, startled, and I’m shaking like a leaf in a windstorm, but I’m not cut or bruised or bleeding.”

  Examining Julie one more time just to be on the safe side, Jesse then cast her gaze up and down the street. People were coming out of their shops, some looking stunned, others scared, but all were curious. Thankfully, it appeared that no one was hurt.

  “But you, Jesse. You’ve got glass all over you,” Julie said.

  Jesse turned her eyes back to her friend and saw genuine concern etch itself onto Julie’s face. She must have looked worse than Julie was saying. But she felt fine, and as if on automatic pilot, she started to list the things she thought they should be doing.

  “We need to get people out of the stores on either side of yours,” she said, taking anothe
r tentative step away from the safety of her car.

  Julie looked about to protest, but then gave a curt nod. “Jason was just starting to do that when I came to check on you. He was planning to head to the shops north of his store. Let’s go together and make sure everyone is out of the stores down the south side.”

  With arms linked together, for emotional as much as physical support, they made their way along Main Street evacuating people from the shops. The police, who were housed not two blocks away at the end of Main Street, were on the scene by the time the two women had cleared the last shop. The fire trucks were now in place, and the EMTs had arrived and insisted that Jesse let them clean and bandage the cuts she’d sustained. Feeling babied more than she thought necessary, she let them do their jobs and was soon sporting several small bandages across her arms and hands.

  Sitting in the back of an ambulance, Jesse watched as a firefighter called out from the burning shop and two more ran a second hose inside. It was a mostly volunteer department, but they seemed to be efficient. And with the police keeping everything under control and the fire department doing their thing, she let herself breathe for a moment. That’s when she really started shaking.

  Without a word, the EMT, a young man who looked too young to be so efficient, finished the last of her cuts and wrapped a blanket around her. It wasn’t cold out, but the way the blanket enveloped her made Jesse feel a bit more secure.

  “I hate feeling this way, feeling all shaky and discombobulated,” she clarified, probably unnecessarily, to the man who had most likely seen more than his fair share of people in shock.

  “But I have to admit, I’m glad I’m not alone in this,” she added as Julie came and sat beside her. Both women spent a few moments just watching the events unfold before them. By chance, Jesse happened to look over at her car. Absently, she noted that though she’d just gotten it back with two new tires, she’d probably need a new paint job now. It wasn’t bad, but a few bits of glass had made it across the street and dinged one side of her car.