Page 40 of The Liar's Wife

“You said she lives around here, right? Does she come in often?”

“Why are you asking?” she pressed.

I knew I couldn’t tell her the truth. She would protect Katat all costs. So, I lied. “I legally can’t tell you, but it’s really important that I find her. I believe she may be in danger.” It surprised me how easily the lie came.

Toshia’s jaw dropped. “Oh my god.”

“Do you know how I can get a hold of her?”

She shook her head. “I really don’t. She just moved out of her parents’ rental place yesterday. Her husband’s job ended, and they moved back home.”

“Back? Back where? I thought she lived here?” She looked over my shoulder, where I knew Carolyn must be standing. “It’s really important, Toshia.”

“They have a house in Red River. I honestly don’t know the address. She grew up here in Crestview, but when she got married, they moved away. Her husband’s latest job took him away for a year, so she moved back home and rented her childhood home from her parents. It was the first I’d seen of her in years.”

“Okay.” I sucked in a breath, thinking quickly. “And you said her name’s Katie, right? Do you know her last name?”

“Katherine, technically. But Katie or Kat, yes. Her last name was Thompson before she got married… I’m not sure if she ever changed it. I’m sorry, I really don’t know much else. Have you checked her blog? Her mom says she’s always on it.”

“I have. She hasn’t posted much lately.”

“With her husband home, the new baby, and the move, that makes sense. I can give you her parents’ address, but they’re probably in Red River—”

My breathing caught at her words, my fingers clenching into a fist. “Wait. What do you mean? What new baby?”

She nodded. “They just adopted a baby. They’d had a really hard time having one… I didn’t know they were adopting, but it was perfect timing, really, with his job ending.”

I swallowed, my vision beginning to blur. “You said her parents are gone, too?”

“Oh, I don’t know that for sure. Kat’s been telling everyone they were getting ready to adopt a baby. The paperwork was all finalized; they were just waiting on the placement, which she said would be any day. When I drove by Friday afternoon, it looked like they were over there packing up her stuff. So, I’d say they finally got the little one, and now that her husband’s home, they’ll be moving back to Red River. If I know her parents, I’d say they took them up to Red River to help them settle in. I don’t know when they’ll be back. They just live around the corner, the house next door to Kat’s. Do you want the address?”

I shook my head, running from the salon without another word. They had Gray, and they were claiming him as their own.

What had happened to Ben?

Who were these people?

And, most importantly, what did they want with my son?

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Ithink we should call the police,” Ty said, his voice firm, once I’d told them what I’d learned. I was practically in hysterics, and Dannika seemed torn between my panic and Ty’s calm.

“I mean, I agree, but I don’t want to just go home and wait. There has to be something else we can do.”

“What more can you do, Palmer? The rest should be up to the police,” he said.

“The police move at a snail’s pace. You know that better than anyone. We’ve seen that just over the course of this investigation. Everything helpful up to this point has been found by me. If I wait and let them work through the red tape, it may be too late. We have to go there. We have to find him.”

“Okay, but you know where he is now, right? The police didn’t know that before. Now, you know he’s in Red River. So we have a location we can give them. Even if you drive to Red River, how will you find him? Are you going to go doorto door? That’s not plausible,” Ty cautioned, thinking like a lawyer rather than a parent.

“What if it was Darius who was missing, Ty? Or Niles? Or Zayla?” They tensed at the mere thought of it, the thought of my reality becoming theirs. “You wouldn’t sit back and let the police do their jobs, and you know it. This is my son, Ty. I don’t have a choice to let them handle it. If I do that, Kat and her husband could hurt him. They could…sell him. They could run away with him, and I may never see him again. I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t try my hardest to save him.”

“I understand what you’re saying, I do, but what I’m telling you is that it’s not the same for you. You can go up to this woman’s house, ask questions, sure. But Dani and I—we have to let the police do the work. We can’t be involved.”

“What are you talking about? I would never back down if it were your child.”

“That’s your privilege, Palmer. You know we’d move heaven and earth for you, we would. But we have kids to think about, too. If someone sees a black man walking around their yard uninvited, they’re going to shoot me or call the police andtheycould shoot me. I may be a Harvard-educated, sharply dressed black man, but I’m still a black man. We want to help you, but not if it means doing anything that could take us away from our kids. Having us with you would put you in more danger, too. We have to think about so much more than you do, Palmer. You’re a well-dressed white woman. You could walkinher house if you wanted and probably be fine. I couldn’t walk up her driveway. Dani either. I’m sorry.”