Page 184 of Capturing You

She smiled. “His name is Steve. We have three kids. I can’t wait for them to meet their Uncle Forbes.”

Tears stung his eyes. He was an uncle? His sister was alive and married. If her smile was any indication, she was happy.

“But how were you there last night?”

“I installed my own cameras at the house years ago. Not inside but on the grounds. When I saw you there, I got close. I rented the house just to the north. I’ve been monitoring everything. Last night, I saw you two get back, and then cars parked on the street. I knew something was going on.”

“Why didn’t you call the police?”

“I did. I called the state police. They were already on their way.”

“You knew Leo was involved."

“I didn’tknow. But…I always suspected. The older I got, the more convinced I became that somebody in authority had to have been in on it. How else could the smuggling have gone on as long as it did?”

She hadn’t called the Shadow Cove Police for the same reason he and Brooklynn hadn’t. Thank heavens for Jon… He couldn’t even remember the man's last name, but his contact at the state police had shown up just in time.

One more reason for Forbes to thank Brooklynn.

From beside his grandmother, she watched him, her expression filled with concern.

He’d spent his entire life longing for justice, but he’d never thought about what life would look like on the other side. And even if he had, he would never in a million years have imagined this.

His sister and a woman he loved.

It was a better ending than any he could have conjured in his wildest dreams.

* * *

Forbes’s sisterwas telling him about her family when the door pushed open a second before a knock sounded on it.

“Can I come in?”

Forbes expected a nurse, but it was a woman dressed in a smart pantsuit who paused, waiting for an invitation.

She was vaguely familiar.

At his nod, she advanced, her gaze skimming the crowd before it landed on him. She held out her hand to shake. “Lori Putnam, state police. You were a little distracted last night.”

His right arm was in a sling, so he grabbed her hand awkwardly with his left.

A man followed her. He had gray hair and, like Lori, wore a business suit. He nodded. “Simon Bergstrom, FBI. We need to ask you some questions.” He addressed the others in the room. “You’ll need to step out.”

Forbes didn’t want any of them to leave, but he didn’t argue as Rosie, Brooklynn, and Grandmother made their way toward the door.

Grandmother held her back straight, though she didn’t glance his way. Was she feeling ashamed for having lied to him all those years? Did she fear his anger?

As he watched her disappear, he tried to name how he felt about what she’d done. He’d been angry at first, but that hadn’t lasted. But at the moment, the dominant emotion was gratitude.

He was alive, as was Rosie. They’d both survived that terrible night and everything since then, largely because of his grandmother’s actions. Did he wish he’d known about Rosie? Of course. But maybe, if they’d had contact sooner, Leo Taggart and his cohorts would have found them and killed them.

It seemed to take forever to relate the events of the previous night to the FBI agent and the police detective. The detective took copious notes. The FBI agent just watched.

Forbes went over all the details chronologically, sharing the facts as dispassionately as he could. When he was finished, they bombarded him with questions, which he answered carefully.

Finally, Putnam snapped her notebook closed. “What you’ve said lines up with what Ms. Wright and Mrs. Cartwell told us.”

“Who’s Mrs.—?”