“No…wait.”
All four adults in the room turned toward Anne. There were tears rolling down her cheeks and a stern kind of understanding in her eyes. She looked at her parents for a moment and then quickly away, as if ashamed.
“What is it?” Mrs. Pettus asked her daughter.
“Mercy does have a boyfriend. Sort of. But it’s not Charlie. It’s this other guy…and she never told anyone because if her parents found out, they would have gone nuts.”
“Who is it?” Kate asked.
“It’s this guy that lives out near Deerfield. He’s older…seventeen.”
“And they were dating?” DeMarco asked.
“I don’t think it was dating. They were sort of seeing each other. But when they got together, I think…well, I think it was just physical. Mercy liked it because there was this older guy giving her attention, you know?”
“And why would her parents not approve?” Kate asked.
“Well, the age thing for one. Mercy is fifteen and this guy is almost eighteen. But he’s sort of bad news. He dropped out of high school, runs with a rough crowd.”
“Do you know if the relationship was sexual?” Kate asked.
“She never told me. But I think it might have been because whenever I would joke with her and tease her about it, she’d get all quiet.”
“Anne,” Mr. Pettus said. “Why did you not tell the police?”
“Because I don’t want people thinking bad of Mercy. She’s…she’s my best friend. She’s kind and nice and…this guy is scum. I don’t understand why she liked him.”
“What’s his name?” Kate asked.
“Jeremy Branch.”
“You say he’s a dropout. Do you know what he does for a job?”
“Nothing, I don’t think. Tree work here and there, like cutting limbs and helping logging crews. But according to Mercy, he sort of just sits around his older brother’s house and drinks most of the day. And I don’t know for sure, but I think he sells drugs.”
Kate almost felt sorry for Anne. The looks on the faces of her parents made it clear that she would be getting a stern talking to when Kate and DeMarco were gone. Knowing this, Kate walked over to Anne and sat in the place her father had been sitting only a minute before.
“I know this was hard for you,” Kate said. “But you did the right thing. You’ve given us a lead and now maybe we can get to the bottom of things. Thank you, Anne.”
With that, she gave a polite nod to Anne’s parents and showed herself out. On the way to the car, DeMarco pulled out her phone. “You know where Deerfield is?” she asked.
“About twenty minutes deeper into the woods,” Kate said. “If you thought Deton was small, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
“I’ll call Sheriff Barnes and see if we can get an address.”
She was doing exactly that as they got back into the car. Kate felt a sudden feeling of energy wash over her. They had a lead, the involvement of the local PD, and most of the day still ahead of them. As she pulled out of the Pettuses’ driveway, she couldn’t help but feel just a little hopeful.
CHAPTER FOUR
Although DeMarco had gotten a very clear address from Barnes, Kate couldn’t help but wonder if Barnes had been wrong or if something had been lost in the transfer of communication. She saw the address five minutes after passing into the Deerfield town limits, plastered on the side of a dingy mailbox in black letters. But, like most everything else in Deerfield, Virginia, everything beyond the mailbox was open field and forest.
Roughly two feet from the mailbox, she saw the sketch-like lines of what she assumed was a driveway. Weeds had sprouted up along the side, hiding most of the entrance. She turned into the driveway and found herself on a narrow dirt road that led to a wider open space several yards ahead. She guessed she was looking into a large front yard that had simply not seen a mower in a very long time. There were three cars, two of which looked like total losses, parked in the yard. They were positioned along a dirt strip that served as the end of the driveway.
A few feet away from the cars, tucked not too far away from the tree line of the expansive forest beyond, was a doublewide trailer. It was the type that was decorated very much like a house from the outside and, if it had been properly cared for, would look like a rather nice place. But the front porch looked slightly slanted, one of the railings having fallen completely off. There was also a loose gutter on the right side of the house and, of course, the savagely overgrown yard.
Kate and DeMarco parked behind the junked cars and slowly made their way to the house. The grass, which was mainly weeds, came up to Kate’s knees.
“I feel like I’m on some deranged safari,” DeMarco said. “Got a machete?”
Kate only chuckled, her eyes on the front door. Stereotypes and Anne Pettus’s information made her feel like she already knew what they would find inside: Jeremy Branch and his older brother, sitting around doing nothing. The place would probably smell like dust and mild garbage, maybe even like marijuana. There would be beer bottles scattered round cheap furniture, all of which would be pointed at a relatively nice television set. She’d seen the set-up countless times before, particularly when it came to young freeloaders living in rural areas.
They made their way up to the porch and Kate knocked on the door. She could hear the murmur of music coming from inside, something heavy but at a low volume. She also heard heavy footsteps approaching the door. When it opened several seconds later, she was greeted by a young-looking man dressed in a tank top and a pair of khaki shorts. A five o’clock shadow bordered his face. His entire left arm was covered in tattoos and both ears were pierced.
He smiled at the sight of the two women on his porch at first but then the reality of the situation seemed to catch up with him. It wasn’t just two women—it was two women dressed in a professional manner with serious looks on their faces.
“Who are you?” he asked.
DeMarco showed her badge, taking a step closer to the door. “Agents DeMarco and Wise,” she said. “We were hoping to get a word with Jeremy Branch.”
The young man looked legitimately confused and slightly scared. He took a small step back away from the door, looking back and forth between them with caution. “That’s…well, that’s me. But what do you need me for?”
“We assume you’ve heard the news about a girl over in Deton by now,” Kate said. “A girl by the name of Mercy Fuller.”
The look on his face told Kate all she needed to know. Without saying a word, Jeremy all but confirmed that he knew Mercy. He nodded and then looked back into the trailer, maybe for assistance from his older brother.
“Can you confirm that for me?” Kate asked.
“Yeah, I heard. She went missing. Her parents were killed, right?”
“Right. Mr. Branch, can we please come in and talk for a moment?”
“Well, it’s not my place. It belongs to my brother. And I don’t know if he…”
“I don’t know if you know how this works or not,” Kate said. “We’d like to come in and chat. We can do it here or, based on what we’ve heard about you, we can do it at the police station over in Deton. It’s your choice.”
“Oh,” he said. The kid looked absolutely cornered, like a threatened animal looking for a way out. “Well, then, I guess I can—”
He then interrupted himself by slamming the door in their faces. After the thunderous slam and a quick jerk back from the unexpected action, Kate could hear quick footfalls in the house.
“He’s