The Girl With No Name

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Rockview Ridge was Denton’s one and only skilled nursing facility. It sat high on a rock-strewn hill on the edge of the city. Josie’s grandmother Lisette Matson had been a resident there for several years now. In her mid-eighties, Lisette was still very sharp, and she made friends with any other residents lucid enough to hold a conversation. Josie suspected this included Brady Conway’s grandmother, Hattie Conway.

“That’s her, right there, in the blue sweater,” Lisette said. She pointed to the woman Josie had met at the Conways’ funeral who now sat in Rockview’s cafeteria, a magazine spread on the table before her. She turned the pages slowly, leaning down close to see what was on each page through the thick glasses she wore. Like most of Rockview’s residents, her hair was short and white, half-teased, half-curled and then shellacked with hairspray to keep its shape.

“Will you introduce us?” Josie asked. “I’m not sure she’ll remember me.”

Beside her, Lisette sighed heavily, her expression one of resignation mixed with annoyance. “You could have called me, you know, when Luke went missing. You should have called me.”

“I’m sorry, Gram,” Josie said.

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am sorry. I screwed up. I should have called you right away, but I was working. I—”

Lisette raised one hand from her walker. “I know, I know. Your work is very important. You know I understand that. Better than anyone, perhaps. But Josie, this boy is going to be my grandson-in-law. You should have told me yourself.”

Josie opened her mouth to offer more apologies and some explanation, but Lisette spoke again. “We don’t have to talk about it right now. I know you’re upset. You don’t have to go over the details with me. I’m simply saying in the future, when someone who is supposed to be a member of our family goes missing, I expect a phone call.”

Without thinking, Josie suddenly leaned into her grandmother. Lisette slid a hand across Josie’s shoulders and hugged her. She stroked her long black hair with one arthritic hand. “It will be okay,” she whispered into Josie’s ear. “Just you wait and see. You’ll find him, and he’ll be fine.”

Josie fought the tears that threatened to come. She felt terrible for not calling Lisette immediately, but it had been too hard. Lisette was all Josie had. The only living member of her family left. Telling Lisette everything she knew about Luke’s disappearance would have made it all the more real. Too real. Lisette was the only person—now that Ray was gone—who Josie was prepared to let her guard down with. She knew she’d lose her composure talking to Lisette about Luke, and she wasn’t sure she’d get it back. Right now, she needed all the poise and focus she could muster. Later, when everything was over, she would deal with the thorny emotions she was barely keeping at bay.

“Thank you,” she said to Lisette.

Lisette disentangled herself and cupped Josie’s cheeks. She smiled. “Come now, you’ve got work to do.”

As it turned out, Hattie Conway did remember Josie from the funerals. “We never had a female police chief before,” she beamed. “I sure wouldn’t forget you, and your grandmother brags about you non-stop.”

Josie glanced at Lisette who rolled her eyes as if to say that Hattie exaggerated.

“Mrs. Conway,” Josie began. “I’m very sorry to bother you, but some things have been happening in the city. We’ve got a few missing persons now, and I think your granddaughter might be caught up in what’s happening.”

“My granddaughter?”

“Yes, don’t you have a granddaughter?”

“My granddaughter was Eve, Brady’s wife.”

“Right, but didn’t Brady have a sister?”

Hattie’s deeply lined face puckered, as though she had eaten something bitter. “Oh, yes, he does. I mean he did. But she’s not my granddaughter.”

“She’s not?”

Hattie shook her head vigorously. “You see, Zora married my son, Emmett. They had Brady pretty soon after they married. Emmett wanted to have more kids, so they tried… and they tried and tried, but Zora couldn’t get pregnant. It took a massive toll on their marriage. My boy always wanted a big family. Lots and lots of kids. I know they fought over it something awful. He started drinking, going out to bars. A few times, she took Brady and left, went to New York City. I don’t think she even had family there. I’m not sure what was there for her, but she always came back. One day, she finally announced she was pregnant. Things were good for a while. They seemed like they were getting their marriage back on track. Then we came to find out that Emmett had testicular cancer. Turns out he couldn’t have gotten Zora pregnant. She said the baby was his, but he didn’t believe her. He was dead by the time that baby came.”

“I’m so sorry,” Josie said.

Hattie’s head bobbed. “It was very difficult. I knew Zora lied. She had a girl who looked nothing like Emmett. Nothing like him at all. We all knew, but she insisted on giving her the Conway name. Such a disgrace.”

“The baby—did Zora name her Kim?”

“Yes, Kim, that’s right. She was a troublemaker too. That’s the other reason I knew she wasn’t a real Conway. She had behavior problems before she was even old enough to get into trouble. As soon as Brady graduated high school, Zora took her and moved to New York City. Probably to be with the man she had there, whoever he was.”

“Is Kim still alive?”

Hattie shrugged. “As far as I know.”

“Do you know if Zora and Kim had any kind of falling out?”

“Well, I’m sure they did.”

“Did Zora tell you that?”

“She didn’t have to. Like I said, that girl was a little demon. I guess that’s what Zora got for cheating on her husband and having another man’s baby.”

“Did Brady ever talk about Kim? Did they have a relationship?”

“I know he kept in touch with her, tried to look after her, but most of the time she was off doing whatever floosies do. He wouldn’t hear from her for months. I know he wanted to keep track of her because she was his half-sister, but I told him it was a waste of time.”

Josie took out her cell phone and pulled up the photo she had taken of Jane Doe, the one that was on the local news. She turned the screen toward Hattie. “Is this Kim Conway?”

Hattie took the phone from Josie’s hand and brought the screen so close to her glasses they were nearly touching it. She studied it for several seconds before handing it back to Josie. “That’s her, all right.”

Josie put her phone away. She glanced at Lisette and then turned back to Hattie. “Mrs. Conway, how is your vision?”

Hattie laughed. “I’m sure that’s her,” she said. “That’s Kimberly all right.”