Page 42 of Huck Frasier

“She checked herself in under a different name. They only pieced it together after the Jane Doe fingerprint match finally hit a cross-database scan.”

“She’s been there this whole time?”

He nodded.

I didn’t cry.

Not yet.

I didn’t knowhowto feel.

But Frasier was there—steady as always, his hand sliding around mine.

“What do you want to do?” he asked gently.

I stared at the window, at the stillness of the trees, the place that finally felt safe.

“I want to see her,” I whispered.

“You don’t have to.”

“I know. But I need to.”

He nodded once. “Then I’m going with you.”

I looked up at him—this man who had fought for me, broken with me, loved me without asking for anything in return.

And for the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like I was walking into something alone.

I had Nate.

And maybe… maybe that meant I could face whatever came next.

29

Marley

Santa Fe – Evergreen Psychiatric Care Facility

Ihadn’t seen her in over a decade.

Not since the day I walked across that high school graduation stage and turned to find the front row empty. Lark and I had waited until sunset. She never showed.

Now here she was.

Older. Thinner. Her once-black hair shot through with gray. She sat in a wheelchair by the window, face turned toward the sunlight. Blank stare. Fragile hands twisting at the hem of her sweater.

My heart didn’t race. It just… hurt. Quietly. Steadily.

Frasier stood beside me in the doorway, letting me take the lead, letting me decide if I even wanted to step in.

I did.

I walked in slowly, my boots soft against the tile. She didn’t turn. Didn’t blink.

“Hi,” I said, my voice trembling more than I wanted it to.

She didn’t move.