The Truth About Rachel by Deanna Sletten (recommended reading .TXT) 📕

Jeremy walked toward the door, waving to her to follow. “I’ll show you,” he said.

Rachel rose, bewildered. She followed Jeremy through the office of desks separated by partitions. Jeremy stopped a moment to speak quietly with the front desk officer, then headed out the back door to his squad car.

“Where are we going?” Rachel asked, looking at his car warily.

“I need to show you something,” he said.

She wondered momentarily if she should get in. Jeremy was acting strangely—almost deflated by the name she’d remembered. She’d never trusted Jeremy when she was a child, and Avery definitely didn’t trust him. Should she trust him now?

Jeremy unrolled the passenger window a crack. “Are you coming? I think you’re going to be interested in what I have to show you.”

Rachel opened the door and got inside. She simply had to trust him. He hadn’t given her any reason not to trust him this past week. The entire police station knew she was with him. And he’d been sending an officer to guard her at the hotel every night. It seemed silly to believe he wanted to harm her.

“Where are we going?” Rachel asked as he pulled the car away from the station.

“Across town. You’ll see,” he said.

He looked tired. Weary. Like he was ready to give up.

“This whole thing is one God-damned mess,” Jeremy said, shaking his head. “I have the press calling me every five minutes for information about what the coroner has learned. I have the coroner telling me that there is no new information because we still have nothing to test against the dead girl’s DNA. Your mother is insisting that Keith be let out of prison. And we still have no answers or leads.”

“What do you mean we have no answers or leads? I just gave you a name,” Rachel said.

“You’ll see,” he said again.

Rachel’s phone rang, and she pulled it out of her back pocket. Avery was calling. “Hi, Avery. Are you back?”

“Where are you?” Avery asked, sounding panicked. “Are you still at the police station?”

“No. I’m in the car with Jeremy,” she said. “Is something wrong?”

“Crap. You need to get as far away from Jeremy as possible. Quick! Don’t go anywhere with him. I’m still at least thirty-minutes away, but I’ll meet you at your hotel as soon as I get to town. Please. Just get away from him.”

“Avery,” Rachel said as calmly as possible. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain later. Just don’t go anywhere with Jeremy,” Avery said.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later,” Rachel said lightly as if they’d just had a normal conversation. She wondered what Avery had learned about Jeremy. She looked out the window to note where they were. They were driving in a nice neighborhood with big houses, green lawns, and tall trees. Jeremy pulled into the driveway of a newer-looking house and put the car in park.

“Where are we?” Rachel asked, unsnapping her seatbelt in case she had to escape quickly.

“I want you to meet someone,” Jeremy said. He got out, and she did too. Just as they drew close to the front door, a tall, slender woman with long, dark hair stepped outside the door and started yelling at Jeremy.

“Get out! You know the rules. One hundred yards. You can’t come within a hundred yards of me or the kids without my permission.”

Both Jeremy and Rachel stopped in their tracks. Jeremy waved his hand dismissively through the air. “Yeah, I know. I know. But I brought someone here to see you.” He turned to Rachel. “This is my ex-wife, Luna Hernandez.”

“What?” Rachel’s eyes widened. Had she heard right?

“Yep. She’s your age, and she knew you. Go ahead. You can talk to her and find out for yourself.” He walked back to the car and leaned against it, his arms crossed.

Dazed, Rachel walked up to the covered porch. “Luna? Is that really you?”

Luna’s hands flew up to cup her mouth. “Oh, my God! I saw you on the news. It really is you. You’re Rachel Parnell.” She stepped over and hugged Rachel as if they were old friends. “Come in. Come in,” Luna said after releasing her.

Rachel followed Luna inside. The house was beautiful. The entryway fanned out to the staircase on the left, a hallway beside that, a large living room directly in front, and the kitchen/family room to the right. Luna led her to the kitchen.

“Can I get you something to drink? Water? Soda?” Luna asked, still looking at her as if she was staring at a ghost.

Rachel shook her head. She was still trying to get her bearings. Luna was alive. She was Jeremy’s ex-wife. None of it was adding up in her head.

“Please, sit down,” Luna said, leading her to the sofa in the family room. “Sorry about the mess. Teenaged girls never pick up after themselves.”

Rachel moved a video game control out of her way to sit down. As she glanced around, she noticed there were sneakers tossed in a corner, a sweater lying on the back of the sofa, and bottles of nail polish on the coffee table—typical teenage items.

“We have two girls. Sixteen and fourteen,” Luna said, looking uneasy as she spoke. “I guess I didn’t take your advice very well all those years ago.”

Rachel’s brows shot up. “Advice?”

Luna nodded. “Remember the day we met? You invited me to join you at the table. Your brother and his friend, Jeremy,” she rolled her eyes, “came over and gave you a hard time. Afterward, you warned me to stay away from them.”

“I remember,” Rachel said, stunned that Luna remembered all that. “My brother was so cruel back then. I didn’t want him to hurt you.”

“Well, I should have listened,” Luna said. “But years later, when Jeremy came back to town to work on the police force, he seemed like a completely different guy. I ended up marrying him, and we had two kids. But he wasn’t as nice as I’d thought. Anyway, it ended up in a terrible divorce with a restraining