Page 69

Caleb pushed past me in the hallway, with Sam on his heels.

As soon as he spotted me, Eamon exhaled, the relief visible on his face. But when his eyes focused on Caleb, his fury was back in spades. “What the hell is this?”

“I ran into June today and she graciously agreed to come in.” Caleb’s tone was infuriatingly even.

“Ran into her?” Eamon repeated. “You expect me to believe that?”

The officer Eamon had been shouting at slinked back, happy to be freed from Eamon’s attention. I moved toward the open door, hardly able to blink back the tears.

“You should have brought her in yourself when she got back.” Caleb squared his shoulders to Eamon.

Eamon took one step forward, pointing a finger at the center of Caleb’s chest. “I told your father. Now I’m telling you,” he growled. “Stay away from my wife.”

Your father.

Eamon’s arm reached out for me, and I walked toward him, swallowing down the cry in my throat when his hand firmly found my waist, pulling me to his side. I didn’t look back as he guided me to the door and through the entrance of the courthouse. I couldn’t even feel my feet as we went down the steps.

“You all right?”

His voice was close to my ear, but I couldn’t speak. I stared at myfeet until we could see the truck. A smudge of black marked the bricks behind the tires, and it was parked crooked along the curb, like he’d pulled in too fast and slammed on his brakes. Esther must have gone straight to get him.

He opened my door, and I lifted myself inside as the courthouse doors opened again. Caleb stepped out, watching as we pulled away.

“What the hell was that?” I choked out, wiping at my cheeks as the first furious tears began to fall.

Eamon lifted a hand as if to reach for me again, but he stopped himself with some effort, placing it back on the wheel. “What did he say?”

I sniffed, trying to catch my breath.

“June. What did he say?”

“He wasn’t just taking statements, Eamon. He thinkswehad something to do with Nathaniel’s murder. He asked where I was that night. Where you were.”

“What did you say?”

“Esther told me to tell him we were home all night.”

He nodded, letting out a breath. “Good. What else?”

“How could you just lie to me?”

“I knew they wanted to talk to you, but I hoped you wouldn’t be here long enough for this to catch up to us,” he snapped. “Did he say anything else?”

I put my face into my hands, trying to breathe. “They found a shoe and they think it was mine? I don’t know.”

If he reacted, I couldn’t see it. I pinched my eyes closed, trying to erase myself from the moment. There had been several minutes in that room when I thought I might not leave it.

“A woman said she saw me that night. They think I’m involved, Eamon.”

But Caleb hadn’t been interested only in me. I looked at Eamon from the corner of my eye. Caleb had really wanted to know about him. And if what I said was true and he’d left early that night…

“He wants to see the letter my mother wrote me saying that she was sick.”

Eamon scoffed, shaking his head. “Of course he does.”

“I have to get out of here. Tonight. I can go to Asheville or Charlotte. Wait for the door to reappear.”

“No. You leave and he’ll be on the phone to every police station within three states telling them to look for you.” When I said nothing, he ran a hand through his hair. “He doesn’t have anything real on you. If he did, you wouldn’t have walked out of that station. And you might be able to run from this, but we can’t. We’re stuck here.”