Page 45

Standing at her kitchen counter, Carrie closed her laptop and covered her face with her hands.

Luke put his arm around her. “You finished it?”

She nodded.

“How’re you doing?” he asked.

Carrie released a shaky breath. “Not so good. I’m kind of spinning, you know?”

Luke’s concern deepened.

“I’ll call off work, stay home with you.”

She waved away his offer. “No, I don’t want you to do that. Thank you, but no.”

“Carrie—” Luke paused, thinking, then indicated her laptop and the story. “Did talking to the reporter help?”

She didn’t answer him. Luke saw worry bordering on fear in her eyes. Then Emily cried out from the other room and Carrie went to her.

Alone in the kitchen, Luke was still sorting out what he’d read that morning in the Chronicle . Fixing fresh coffee, he struggled with his own thoughts. The article noted how Carrie was considered a vengeful suspect; how at the time some thought the investigation was biased because her father was the sheriff.

The story related how Carrie had nearly died in the attack, had been robbed of her memory. And how, later, Vern received his terminal diagnosis. Man, if reading about all of this was difficult for Luke, it must’ve been brutal for Carrie, and for Vern. And what amazed Luke was how, as the article stated, Vern, after all those years, convinced Hyde to confess when a clock was ticking down on both of them.

Carrie and Vern were enduring so much.

Too much.

And how am I helping?

Yes, they’d moved to Texas because it was the right thing to do. Carrie needed to be with Vern, and Luke needed to leave his ghosts behind in LA. But since they’d been here, he hadn’t been supportive because he’d been so consumed with what might have happened on River Road.

Pain shot through the back of his neck. Guilt stabbed at him over and over until he was sucked back into the swirling torment of his own catastrophe, the one that would soon further devastate his family.

At that moment, Luke’s new burner phone vibrated. He’d received a text from Derek, a friend in Los Angeles he’d reached out to confidentially for help.

Hey pal. No guarantees, but I owe you.

Really need this. Thanks , Luke texted back, then let out a long breath.

Maybe there’s hope. If I can just resolve it my way.

Carrie came in holding Emily. Luke went to them and nuzzled his daughter, kissing her then Carrie, who seemed better than when she’d left the room.

“I didn’t expect the story to hit me so hard,” she said.

“It must have been a gut punch.”

“Worse.”

“Are you going to be all right?”

“I don’t know.”

They let a moment pass.

“I’ll take Emily to see Dad this morning.” Carrie looked at Luke, fear lingering in her eyes. “I need to talk to him.”