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He reached the bottom, crossed the hall, and went through the wide doorway into the living room.

Quinn stood in front of the fireplace, staring down at the flames. His face in profile looked harder, older than it had only two minutes before.

At thesqueakof the hall floorboard beneath Andy’s feet, Quinn turned, reaching behind himself, and then relaxed. Heoffered that practiced flash of smile. “Don’t tell me you forgot toothpaste?”

Andy considered that aborted reach of Quinn’s.

Quinn was armed. Had probably been armed all night.

He probably had a gun tucked in the back of his waistband.

Honestly, it wasn’t much of a surprise.

Andy shook his head, ignoring the question, said—and he could hear the pain, the huskiness in his voice, but he just couldn’t pretend anymore. “Quinn,why? Why did you leave like that? What the hell happened sixteen years ago?”

Chapter Fifteen

“It wasn’t planned.”

Quinn answered without hesitation, as though they had been talking about it all evening, instead of talking around it for the past two days. But even as Andy opened his mouth to reply, Quinn corrected, “That is, it was the plan, but it wasn’t supposed to happen until the end of the summer.”

Andy protested, “What do you mean, it wasthe plan?”

“We were both leaving at the end of the summer. You were going home and starting college. You talked about it all summer long. Hell, all year long. You were starting the Museum Studies program at John Hopkins. That was always going to happen, regardless of what went on here.”

“Well, yes, but what went on here was just as important.”

“Andy, did you change your mind about going to college that summer?”

“No. Of course not. But—”

“You knew I had to get away. That I was thinking maybe I’d join the military.”

“You talked about college too, Quinn. You talked about maybe enrolling at Coppin State.”

Quinn sounded both kind and pained. “Sure, I talked about it. I talked about a lot of things. You must have noticed I hadn’t applied anywhere.”

Andy was silent because, yes, he’d noticed that, wondered about that, but Quinn always seemed to have everything in hand, so he’d figured Quinn had it all worked out.

“So you always knew…what? That you were going to take off in the middle of the night?”

“No. And that isn’t what happened.” Quinn’s face and voice were hard.

“What the helldidhappen? I deserve to know the truth. Because I accused your grandfather of murder. I went around insisting to everyone who would listen that you’d beenkilled.”

Quinn’s face twisted. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I had no idea you’d think— I mean, I wasn’t looking beyond getting out, that’s the truth. That night, I did think of you, of going to you, but you were…”

“I waswhat? Ilovedyou.”

Quinn winced. “We were kids.Youwere a kid, Andy.”

All the while they talked, Andy had been walking down the long, mostly empty room, walking toward Quinn, and somehow when he reached him, Quinn put his hands out, and they were gripping each other hard, like people caught in a flashflood, hanging on for dear life. Quinn’s hands were ice cold, as though he’d been submerged for hours in freezing water.

“I. Loved. You.”

Quinn looked away. His jaw moved. “Yeah. And I— Youhadto have noticed what a-amessI was back then. I wasn’tcapableof feeling what you felt. I cared. Hell yes. You were the only reason I stayed as long as I did. I would have loved life to have worked out the way you imagined for us. But that was never going to happen.”

It shouldn’t have come as a shock after all this time, and yet shock held Andy silent.