At room eighteen, Libby used a key in the door. “Wow,” Libby said. “I guess she really did leave.”
Upon a quick glance, Cooper could see the room was empty other than an unmade bed. Now that he knew that Jessie had come here before the Chesterfield, he texted the update to Jared.
His brother responded almost immediately. Son of a bitch.
Do you want me to confirm with the ferry people that she got on the boat?
We probably can assume that. Crap. What do we do now?
I’ll see if I can get a mainland address from Libby and will talk to people here to see if anyone knows where she might’ve gone.
Thanks for trying.
Try not to worry. We’ll find her.
As they went back down the stairs, a police officer approached with the name tag Taylor on his shirt. “I’m Cooper James. Are you looking for Jessie Morgan?”
“Deacon Taylor.” He extended a hand that Cooper shook. “And yes, we are.”
“Her room here has been cleaned out, and we’re operating on the assumption that she took the six o’clock boat to the mainland,” Cooper told Deacon.
“I was able to confirm she bought a ticket on that boat,” Deacon said. “I showed them a photo from her Facebook profile, and the ticket agent recognized her. I’ve called the Narragansett police and asked them to stop her coming off.”
“My brother and his wife… They don’t want the baby to end up in foster care.”
“I understand. We’ll do what we can.”
“Thank you.”
“Where will they be later today?”
“Back at their house after my other brother’s wedding at the Chesterfield.”
“Okay, we’ll find them when we know more.”
“Thanks for the help.”
“Of course.”
After Deacon walked away, Cooper thanked Libby for her help and sent another update to Jared with the info Deacon had shared. Dejected and worried about how this situation would resolve itself, Cooper walked back to the parking lot. His phone rang as he got into the Porsche. He took the call as he put down the window.
“Hey, it’s Gigi.”
The sound of her voice was all it took for his mood to vastly improve. “Hey.”
“I’m so sorry I haven’t checked on you before now. We’ve been filming twelve hours a day.”
“I heard that’s where you were. How’s it going?”
“Fine, but I didn’t call to talk about me. How are you?”
“I’m better. The ribs hurt less than they did at first, and my face is a gigantic scab.”
“Such a crime to have that pretty face messed up.”
She thought his face was pretty? “Hopefully, it won’t leave a scar.”
“Why do you sound weird? Are you still feeling crappy?”
“No, I was at my brother Quinn’s wedding—”
“Oh my God, that’s right! I totally forgot that was today. I heard Maddie McCarthy went into labor at a wedding.”
“That was the first crazy thing that happened. The second is that Jessie Morgan, the new mom Lizzie was helping, brought the baby to her at the Chesterfield and then took off.”
“What? Where’d she go?”
“We think she took the high-speed ferry back to the mainland.”
“Holy shit. Lizzie and Jared must be losing it.”
“They’re pretty upset. The police are trying to find Jessie, and Lizzie is concerned about the baby ending up in the system. It’s a mess.”
“What can I do for you guys?”
“I can’t think of anything, but thanks for asking.”
“I’ll be around later if you want to hang out.”
“That’d be good. I’m not sure what time we’ll be back at the house.”
“No worries. I’m going to sit by the pool and chill. It’s been a crazy few days.”
“Okay, I’ll see you later, then.”
“Yes, you will.”
Suddenly, Cooper couldn’t wait until later. He drove back to the Chesterfield, wishing he’d found Jessie. What if the Narragansett police couldn’t find her? The ferries were super crowded this time of year. She could easily blend in and get by them without much effort.
At the Chesterfield, he found Jared and Lizzie with the sleeping baby in a sitting room off the main lobby. The music from the wedding reception could be heard in the background.
“Any news?” Cooper asked them.
Jared shook his head. “We’re just waiting to hear whether the Narragansett police were able to stop her coming off the boat.”
“They couldn’t find her,” the Gansett Island police chief, Blaine Taylor, said as he came into the room.
“Seriously?” Jared cried. “How could they miss her?”
“I spoke to two of their officers. They said the ferry landing is swarming with people, and they tried to check every person coming off the ferry, but they didn’t see her. I asked if she’d possibly stayed on the boat so she wouldn’t get caught. They checked the boat, too. No sign of her.”
“What’re we going to do?” Lizzie asked, her eyes big.
“We can get social services involved,” Blaine said.
“No,” Lizzie said. “Jessie might come back when she realizes she’s made a mistake. She’ll come back for her.”
“Lizzie…” Jared’s beseeching tone made Cooper ache for his brother and for Lizzie.
“Let’s give them a minute,” he said to Blaine.
He followed the police chief out of the room and shut the door to give Jared and Lizzie some privacy. “We have to find her,” Cooper said.
“I’m working with the Rhode Island State Police. We’ll do our best to find her.”
“God, I hope so.”
Chapter 6
After the wedding ended, they said their goodbyes to the happy couple, who were leaving the island in the morning for a honeymoon in Ireland. Because Jared had hit the bottle when they couldn’t find Jessie, Cooper drove his brother, Lizzie and the baby home. They’d borrowed an infant car seat from Mallory’s sister, Janey Cantrell, who’d sent her husband home to get it when word got out about what’d happened.
Jared and Lizzie didn’t say a word to each other the entire way home, and the silence between them put Cooper on edge. Jared didn’t agree with keeping the baby for even one more night, but Lizzie wasn’t backing down.
Thus, the silence.
Cooper probably ought to go back to New York and leave them to work this out in private.
It was too late to leave tonight, but maybe he’d go tomorrow.
He parked Lizzie’s car in the driveway and got out to help her with the baby’s seat. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked her.
“No, thank you for helping earlier.”
“If you need me, I’m right here.”
“Thanks, Coop.” She sounded exhausted as she walked inside, carrying the car seat with the baby in it.
Jared hung back, so Cooper waited to see if his brother wanted to talk.
“This is the most fucked-up thing ever,” Jared said after Lizzie had gone inside.