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“You okay, man?” Justin looked genuinely worried as if he’d put too much on Matthew’s shoulders. “You look like you’re gonna toss your cookies.”

“What do you expect me to do with all this?”

Justin shrugged. “Tell Katherine.”

“Oh, hell no!” Matthew bellowed before taking a calming breath. “Sorry, man, but why, after all this time, do you think I should be the one to tell her this? Why can’t you tell her? Or even better, let her dad do it. You said he knows all this stuff, right?”

“He knows most of it, but I’m not sure he agrees Katherine should know any of it. We’ve had a difference of opinion about that over the years. Sometimes, our positions on it have changed based on Katherine. She’s gone through a lot of deep valleys alone. And there was no way either of us wanted to tell her of our suspicions shortly after the fire. Then, when all of the investigative findings were in, she was finally startin’ to get alittle life back in her eyes. So, we didn’t have the heart to tell her then either.”

“And what about now? Where does he stand now?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to talk to Jerome and let him know you’re aware of all this. But I’m sure he’ll agree that if the time was ever gonna be right, then that time is now. And trust me when I say I hate to put this on you after everything ya just went through. But I don’t think she’d take the information very well comin’ from either of us.”

Matthew’s sigh was heavy and full of apprehension. “Look, I can see this hasn’t been easy for you. But what makes you think, after all this time, it’ll be any easier for Katie to hear? And why would it be better for her to hear it from me?”

“Because she’s obviously in love with you. More importantly, I know you love her. Not to mention, she seems to trust you more than anyone she’s ever trusted before. Maybe even more than her own daddy. And that’s sayin’ somethin’.”

Justin was making a good argument. One Matthew himself couldn’t deny. They had grown to love and trust each other. So much that it was already becoming evident to others.

Maybe it was because intense heartache opened the door to a deeper understanding. One so deep that it makes a closed-off heart open to possibility. And if he knew one thing for sure, he knew that by the grace of God, he and Katie’s hearts had opened to each other from the moment they met. It just took time for circumstances to bring them together.

“Look, there’s not a lot in those folders the Chief doesn’t know about, but one thing he definitely doesn’t know is just how long Beth Ann and Max had been havin’ an affair. At a certain point, he quit askin’ to see the files, so I didn’t push him into readin’ ‘em. But when Katherine opened The Copperwall and hired Beth Ann, well, at that point, I needed to know everything about BethAnn before exposing her connection to Max and everything that happened before the night of the fire.”

“But the Chief does know she was there?” Matthew may have been asking something that had already been explained, but at this point, his mind was spinning with details.

“Yeah, he knows that much. But he stopped askin’ to read the files before I found out how long they’d been foolin’ around. I tried to tell him once, but he said he couldn’t hear any more. Oh, and he also doesn’t know that Gideon and Ruth had welcomed Beth Ann into their home.”

Matthew took the witness folder and read through a few paragraphs of information before the disgusted expression returned to his face.

“Let me guess… you just got to the part that says how long Max and Beth Ann were together.”

“That’s got to be before Addison was born.”

Justin nodded. “Maybe even before they got married, but I can’t be sure because Beth Ann is so much younger. Then again, who knows with that guy? He wasn’t exactly discriminating about who he got himself mixed up with. From what I found out, he’d been messin’ around with a lot of women. Most were just one-night stands, but with Beth Ann, he kept comin’ back for more. My guess is because of her age and trusting nature. Scum like him prey on young girls like that.”

“You mean girls like Katie.”

“Yep.”

“You know, she’s going think everything was a lie. Her marriage. Her vows. Any measure of happiness she may have felt will feel like it was built on a foundation of lies.”

“I think she pretty much has the gist of that already,” Justin said. “But you’re probably right. To know it for certain is even worse. That’s another reason why you should be the one to tell her.”

Matthew couldn’t listen to another word. He was frustrated and felt out of control. His heart hurt for Katie so much that he felt this situation was way worse than when he found out about Julia’s affair.

Closing the file folder, Matthew lined it up with the others on his lap and fastened his seat belt. He wasn’t sure what Justin meant about why he needed to be the one to tell Katie because there were already so many things rolling around in his head. Things he needed to process in silence.

“I can’t talk about this anymore. I need time to think.”

“I understand. Take all the time you need,” Justin said as he buckled up, started the cruiser, and returned the vehicle to the road with a quick U-turn in the direction they’d come. Both of them sat in silence, staring out the windshield while they processed everything that had been said.

Before long, Justin twisted the knob on the police radio, reconnecting them to dispatch, and then turned on some music. He let it play low enough to hear but not high enough to disturb Matthew’s thoughts.

When Matthew finally spoke, he asked, “What did you mean about the other reason why I should be the one to tell her?”

“What’s that?” Justin turned down the radio as Matthew tried to remember his exact words.

“I said because of the affair, Katie would feel like any happiness she had was built on lies. Then you said that was another reason why I should be the one to tell her.”