Last Resort. Hannah Alexander

years ago.” He hesitated. “Did she say what the dreams were about?”

      “She kept reliving the accident, as if she were one of the victims watching the logs tumble onto her. She had to quit her job, which really threw that ex-husband of hers into a tizzy, because at the time they were dependent on her income to support them—and his drug habit.” Jill’s voice dripped with disdain.

      “Did she get professional help?”

      “Oh, she went to her family doctor, and he prescribed an antidepressant. She took it for three weeks, then flushed the rest down the toilet. She said it made her ears ring. You know how independent she can be.”

      “She takes after her sister.”

      Jill gave him a half-hearted scowl.

      “Did the antidepressant help her at all?” he asked.

      “Are you kidding? After just three weeks?” Jill snorted. “I even got some of that herbal stuff Pearl’s always trying to push off on everyone. Noelle still had the nightmares for a long time afterward.”

      “She told me a little about that time,” Nathan said.

      “Now it’ll start all over. What’s she going to do when she wakes up in the middle of the night and finds herself alone?”

      “Jill, Noelle is a big girl. She can take care of herself.” He studied Jill’s expression for a moment. She didn’t look at him, but kept her gaze focused on the trees across the road.

      There was something about her behavior that caught his attention. She stood with her shoulders hunched forward, arms crossed, head bowed slightly. What wasn’t she telling him? He knew better than to ask.

      “You can’t shield her from pain by building a wall around her,” he said.

      “I’m not building a wall, I’m just—”

      “You’re still trying to be her mother. Stop it, or you’ll smother her completely. Let her handle her own problems.”

      She sighed and shook her head, then turned away from him. “Fine, then you be there for her when her nightmares return.”

      “She’s told me a little about Joel and her marriage.”

      “Yes, but how much did she tell you? She has a tendency to downplay certain aspects of her life so no one will worry.”

      “Maybe that’s because she knows we tend to worry too much,” he said gently. “Jill, you knew Joel a lot better than I did. Do you think his return could in any way be connected to Carissa’s disappearance?”

      She didn’t react, which meant she’d already considered the possibility. “I don’t know. As crazy as he got sometimes, I wouldn’t put it past him.” She turned and looked up at Nathan, arms still folded over her chest. “Maybe we should tell the sheriff to check him out.”

      “Maybe we should.”

      Chapter Seven

      Noelle felt suddenly overwhelmed. Neighbors and people from the search-and-rescue team filled the Cooper living room and kitchen, occupying every available chair. Most of them had obviously been out all night, searching through the mud and brush.

      Noelle waved at several familiar faces as she passed through the living room to the kitchen in the back of the house. She recognized Dane Gideon, the mayor of Hideaway, who also owned the general store and ran a boy’s ranch across the lake from town. He sat on the sofa beside some teenaged boys, who looked grimy and disheartened. Perched across from them on a love seat was Taylor Jackson, a tall man with rusty-brown hair, wearing a mud-spattered ranger uniform. Beside him