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| The Faith Creek Mysteries |
Tasha Wyatt finally tells Tessa what she told Jonah about the year before Lena disappeared. But as old family tensions surface, one unanswered question stands out—a boy Lena refused to name.
Episode 10 | The Boy She Wouldn't Name
“I'm Tasha Wyatt.”
Tessa held the door open. “Come in.”
Tasha stepped inside, and Rae rose from her chair.
“I remember you,” Rae said. “You were here last week.”
Tasha nodded. “I came to see your father.”
Tessa closed the door behind her. “I know.”
That seemed to surprise her.
“He told me you came to him about your sister, Lena.”
Tasha glanced toward Jonah's desk. “Then you know why I'm here. I’m sorry to hear about Mr. James. I feel bad…”
Tessa waved a hand in mid-air. “It wasn’t your fault. He’s doing fine. I hope to find out what he found out about your sister's disappearance.”
Tasha took a seat.
“I just came from Faith Creek Community Church. I talked to Mason.”
Tessa's expression changed slightly at the name, but Tasha didn't appear to notice.
“He thought I should talk to you. Tell you what I told your father.”
Tessa returned to Jonah's desk but didn't reach for the legal pad.
“All right.”
For a moment Tasha said nothing.
Then she began.
“Lena was my younger sister. My half-sister, actually. We had the same father.”
“Monroe Wyatt,” Tessa said.
“Yes. My mother had me right out of high school,” Tasha continued. “She and my father didn't stay together.”
“Why not?”
Tasha looked at her. “He was abusive.”
Rae went still.
Tessa didn't.
Years in a prosecutor's office had taught her not to react before she understood exactly what someone was telling her.
“You witnessed it.”
“No. I was too young. That's what my mother told me.”
Tessa nodded. “Go on.”
“My father remarried later. Then Lena came along.”
Despite everything, Tasha smiled.
“I didn't live with them, but I went over there all the time. When she was little, she used to follow me from room to room. Drove me crazy.”
The smile lingered for only a moment.
“Until the last year.”
Tessa caught it.
“What happened the last year?”
Tasha looked down at her hands.
“When she turned sixteen, she wanted to do the things teenagers do.”
There was bitterness in the answer.
Tasha looked toward the window.
“My father was against it. I thought he was being too strict, then she met a boy.”
Tessa waited.
“She asked me to cover for her.”
“So she could meet the boy?”
Tasha nodded.
“Who was the boy? How did your father find out?”
“She didn’t tell me his name. She said it was best I didn’t know. But then Lena called me and told me he found out.”
“How did he find out?” Rae asked.
Tasha shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Rae frowned.
Tasha's mouth tightened. “We argued. He accused me of turning Lena against him. He said I was teaching her to lie and sneak around like my mother.”
“Your mother?”
Tasha shook her head.
“Mother said he was always accusing her of cheating on him. It wasn’t true.”
Tessa appreciated the answer.
Tasha continued. “I told him he couldn't keep Lena locked away forever. He told me Lena was his daughter and what happened in his house was none of my business.”
“And then?”
“He told me I was no longer welcome in his home.”
The office grew quiet.
“You never went back?” Tessa asked.
“No.”
Tessa set the pen down.
“You didn't see her at all during that time?”
“We spoke a few times on the cell phone. Then the calls became less frequent and then nothing.”
That answer seemed to bother Tasha more than any of the others.
“Something changed,” she said. “I could hear it in her voice. She even stopped talking about the boy. She stopped complaining about Dad. She stopped telling me anything.”
“Did you ask her what was wrong?”
“Of course I did.”
“And?”
“She said she was fine.”
Tessa had heard those words from witnesses before. They rarely meant what they claimed.
“Then she disappeared,” Tasha said.
“How long after the last call?”
Tasha looked at her.
“About six months.”
Rae folded her arms. “And you suspected your father?”
Tasha didn't answer immediately.
Tessa watched her.
“I know what my mother told me. I know how controlling he'd become with Lena.” Tasha shook her head. “But that's not evidence. I know that.”
“No,” Tessa said. “It isn't.”
“I never told Mr. James my father killed Lena.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That there were things about that last year that never made sense.”
Tessa picked up the pen again.
Tasha took a breath.
“My father's wife also left him after Lena disappeared.”
Tessa stopped.
“Lena's mother?”
“Yes.”
“How long after?”
“A few months.”
“Do you know where she went?” Tessa asked.
Tasha's eyes lowered.
“No. I heard she died several years ago.”
Tessa waited.
“She took her own life.” Tasha said quietly.
Rae shifted in her chair.
Tessa didn't say anything for several seconds.
“I told your father all of this.”
Tessa looked at the legal pad on Jonah's desk.
“I haven’t had time to look at his notes.”
Tessa looked back at Tasha.
“One more thing.”
Tasha waited.
“The boy.”
“What about him?”
“You said Lena stopped talking about him.”
“Yes.”
“But you never found out who he was?”
“No.”
Tessa nodded slowly, thinking.
Tasha reached for her purse.
“I better get going.”
“Tasha.”
She stopped.
“If we find something, I'll need to talk to you again.”
“I figured you would.”
Tessa walked her to the door. Tasha had one hand on the knob when she turned back.
“For what it's worth, my father isn't the same man he was then.”
Tessa said nothing.
“He's a deacon now. Been one for years.”
“Do you believe he's changed?”
Tasha looked at her for a long moment.
“I believe people can change.”
It wasn't an answer.
Tessa suspected Tasha knew it.
After she left, Rae remained silent until Tasha's footsteps disappeared down the stairs.
Then she looked at Tessa.
“Well?”
Tessa returned to Jonah's desk.
“We have a controlling father, a mother who left after her daughter disappeared, and a boy nobody can identify.”
Rae looked toward the file cabinet.
“And Dad knew all of it.”
“Yes.”
Tessa followed her gaze toward the file cabinet.
“What we don't know is what he found out afterward.”
Rae crossed the room and woke Jonah's computer.
“Then I guess we find out.”
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