“There’s more to it than that—I can tell. She’s been gone all day. And now you call the police? I’ve been at this too long not to sense that you’re hiding something. Did you hurt Janie?”

“No!” Tears rolled down Garrett’s face. “I thought she was just staying away to make me suffer.”

Oliver interrupted. “Garrett, tell the chief what you told me.”

Garrett shot him a frightened look, wiping his face with the palms of his hands. “That was private.”

“But it might concern Janie’s disappearance. If you want the chief to help, she needs to know everything.” Oliver didn’t miss the sharp glance Tess shot him.

“If you’re withholding something that could help me find your wife, you’d better tell me now.”

“I, uh . . .” He looked everywhere but at Tess. “You might arrest me.”

“What are you more concerned about, your wife or yourself?”

He closed his eyes and folded his arms, looking for all the world as if he just wanted to withdraw.

Tess turned to Oliver. “What did he tell you?”

“It was after the mobile was trashed. He said he’d hidden something for someone and that it had burned up. Now the person wanted to be paid back for the loss.”

“Garrett, tell me what you hid.”

“Ah, Chief, if it’s him, he’d kill me before Janie.” Tears fell freely now. To Oliver, Garrett looked more like a child than the one he held in his arms.

“Who?”

“I hid some stuff for a guy. It was in the cellar of the old house. It all burned up and he blamed me. Wanted me to pay him back and I didn’t have the money.”

“Who was it?”

“It might not have anything to do with Janie being gone.”

“Let me decide that.”

Oliver tried to help. “Garrett, the time for secrets is long past.”

“Did he tell you who?” Tess asked Oliver.

“No, he never gave me a name.”

A long moment passed before Garrett replied. “It was Ken Blakely. . . . I hid three hunting rifles, his laptop, some stuff that he poached, and some cash that he wanted hidden—a lot of cash.” He sighed. “He paid me for hiding the stuff; the extra money helped the family. But after it all burned up, he wanted me to pay him back. I had to take some insurance money and buy him a new rifle. But he wants more—$25,000 he says. I don’t have that kind of money.”

Oliver sucked in a breath. Ken Blakely was a problem, a mean man with no respect for women. If he was responsible for Janie’s disappearance, this would not be good.

–––

Ken Blakely.

The name had occurred to Tess, so when Garrett finally said it, she wasn’t surprised. She remembered the day she’d thought she’d seen Blakely at the trailer park.