Page 146 of Capturing You

If God had wanted Forbes’s family saved, He’d have done it. He was much more capable than an eight-year-old boy.

Moments before Dad and the strangers came in, Rosie had told him to hide, that she was going to do the same thing. He’d done what his sister said because he’d always done what she said. He’d trusted her.

Rosie had closed the grate and left in a rush.

Dad came in a few minutes later, the others following him. They’d argued.

Mom’s voice had carried into the room from the open doorway. “Darling? Is everything okay?”

Dad yelled, “Run!”

A gunshot had deafened Forbes as his father’s lifeless body crashed to the floor.

His mother’s scream seemed to come from miles away. Another gunshot, then silence.

After Forbes helped Brooklynn back to the sofa, he told her the story, every gruesome detail, some he hadn’t remembered until that moment. The telling was painful, but somehow it released something inside of him.

He felt lighter afterward.

They were on the sofa together. He’d pulled her injured foot onto his lap. One hand held the ice pack steady on her ankle. His other held her hand, a warm connection he never wanted to break.

The ice had melted by the time he finished the story.

“Grandmother found me the next day.” He nodded to his hiding place. “I was still there. I’d never gotten the courage to leave. She took me home and changed my name and protected me, all these years.”

“What a strong woman she must be.”

They were the first words Brooklynn had uttered since he’d begun the story.

Her cheeks were damp, her eyes rimmed in red. She squeezed his hand. “Thank you for trusting me with the truth.”

“Thank you for helping me carry it.”

She smiled that sweet, tender smile of hers. “You’ve done enough carrying me around.” But her expression dimmed. “Can I ask a question about…all of that? Do you mind?”

“Ask me anything.”

“You didn’t recognize the man and woman?”

“I could only see them from the knees down.”

“Would you recognize their voices, if you heard them?”

Considering he still heard them in his nightmares… “I think so.”

“You didn’t hear when your sister was shot?”

“No, but her blood was found in the basement, which was far enough away that I wouldn’t have heard. Mom’s and Dad’s bodies washed in with the tide a few weeks later.”

“But Rosie’s was never recovered.”

It’d probably been eaten by scavengers or snagged on rocks somewhere. He didn’t like to think about it. “It’s a big ocean.”

“One more question?” At his nod, she said, “They accused your dad of betraying them.”

“Yeah?”

“What if he did? What if he was working with the authorities?”