Chapter 9

I contacted the same search and rescue team again. The leader recognized me and sighed.

"Mr. Miller, we told you, there's no one to find! After all this time, it's impossible!"

I nodded vaguely.

"Just put on a show. She's not really missing. Search for a bit, and I'll pay you the full amount."

The team searched for three days and found nothing, not even a strand of hair.

Kevin was on the verge of a breakdown.

It had been two months since the divorce. Life had settled into something resembling normalcy — until Kevin resurfaced.

He'd come back to town claiming Jessica was missing. For real this time.

"She hasn't answered her phone in three weeks," Kevin had told the police, his voice cracking. "She was staying in a motel, and when I went to check on her, the room was empty. All her things were gone."

The irony was so thick you could choke on it.

The police, remembering the last time Jessica "went missing," were skeptical. They'd taken the report but assigned it low priority. So Kevin came to me — the ex-husband, the last person on earth who should have cared.

"You have to help me find her," he'd begged, standing on the same doorstep Jessica had sat on weeks ago.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because despite everything, you're a decent person. And she could be in real danger this time."

I'd stared at him for a long moment. He looked terrible — unshaven, bags under his eyes, the confident swagger completely gone. This was a man who was genuinely afraid.

And that's how I ended up hiring the search and rescue team for the second time. Not for Jessica's sake. For my own peace of mind.

The team leader, a grizzled man named Frank, had pulled me aside on the second day.

"Level with me, Miller. What's really going on?"

I told him the abbreviated version. Wife faked death. Got divorced. Now she might actually be missing.

Frank let out a low whistle. "That's the kind of story you'd see on a true crime podcast."

"Trust me, living it was worse."

On the third day, Kevin showed up at the search base camp, wild-eyed and frantic.

"You're not trying hard enough! She could be out there, hurt, alone —"

"Sound familiar?" I said quietly.

He froze. For the first time, understanding dawned on his face.

"This is what it felt like for you," he whispered. "When she disappeared the first time."

"Worse. Because I didn't know she was lying. You at least know she's done it before."

Kevin slumped into a camp chair, his head in his hands. "I deserve this, don't I?"

"Whether you deserve it isn't my concern. Finding her is."

My phone buzzed. It was Sophia.

Any luck?

Nothing yet. Kevin's falling apart.

Good. Not about Kevin — about you looking for her. You're a better person than she deserves.

I'm not doing it for her.

I know. That's why you're a better person than she deserves.

On the fourth morning, my phone rang. An unknown number.

"Jacob?" The voice was faint, scratchy, but unmistakable.

"Jessica?"

"I'm in Phoenix. I'm okay." A long pause. "I ran away. From Kevin, from the city, from everything. I just... needed to start over somewhere nobody knew me."

I closed my eyes. "You couldn't have told someone? Left a note? Kevin filed a missing persons report."

"Kevin doesn't get to worry about me. Not after what he did."

"What did he do?"

Another pause. "He sold the story. To some gossip site. 'Woman Fakes Death to Escape Husband' — it went semi-viral. I couldn't show my face anywhere without someone recognizing me."

I hadn't seen the article, but I believed it. Kevin had always been the type to monetize anything.

"Are you safe?" I asked.

"Yeah. I got a job at a diner. It's not glamorous, but it's honest." She laughed weakly. "Maybe for the first time."

"I'm going to tell the police you're alive. And I'm calling off the search."

"Okay." A beat. "Jacob?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. Not the kind of sorry I said at the courthouse, where I was just trying to get something from you. A real sorry. The kind that keeps me up at three in the morning."

I stood there, phone pressed to my ear, looking out at the mountain where I'd once searched for her in the freezing cold.

"I believe you," I said. "Take care of yourself, Jessica."

"You too."

I hung up and walked over to Frank. "Call it off. She's alive. She's in another state."

Frank shook his head. "This woman is something else."

"She was," I agreed. "But she's not my something else anymore."

Kevin was waiting by his car. I told him she was safe, alive, in another city. I didn't tell him where.

"Why won't you tell me where she is?"

"Because she doesn't want you to know. And for once, I'm going to respect what she actually wants."

He stared at me, then nodded slowly. Without another word, he got in his car and drove away. I had a feeling I wouldn't see him again.

That evening, I called Sophia.

"It's over," I said. "She's okay. She's starting over."

"How do you feel?"

I thought about it — really thought about it. "Free. Finally, completely free."

"Good," Sophia said. "Because your six months is almost up, and I have dinner reservations."

I smiled. The first genuine, unburdened smile in what felt like forever.

"I'll pick you up at seven."