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“Yell at me or something.” Screaming and accusation would be so much easier to handle. She deserved every hateful and hurtful word he might release from his lips. And yet, she leaned into him for his strength because she flat-out had none of her own.
“I will,” he said. “Later. Once you’re done crying. I’ll lay into you good, and you can start the waterworks all over again. Sound like a plan?”
Sounded like Tiberius. She laughed through a sniff. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“I know—that you were scared.” He rested his head on top of hers. “I know you were.”
“Can you forgive me?”
Tiberius inhaled. “I don’t know. I want to hate you, Bexley. And to be honest, on some level, I do hate you. I hate you for leaving me. I hate you for lying to me.” He paused, then murmured, “I hate you for loving me once.”
Bexley felt the dam breach. New tears flowed. “I thought you were gonna make me cry later.”
“No time like the present I guess.” He laid his head against the wall. “The peeper got away. Josiah’s friend’s headlights scared him off before I got here.”
“The killer is coming for me—us—isn’t he?” What else could it be?
“Maybe. But at the moment, I’m more worried about our son. Who is this Abe person he went to meet at the arcade earlier? What if he’d been drinking too?”
Bexley wiped her nose on her robe sleeve. “He’s a local friend. I honestly don’t know much about him other than they game online often and meet up at the arcade on weekends.” She hugged herself. “Josiah’s a good kid, Tiberius. He’s going through a hard time. He needs—”
“A father?”
The hurt in his voice was a piercing sword cutting into her and ripping at her decades-old wounds. “Independence and guidance. I’m doing a terrible job balancing. And yes, yes, he needs a father, and yes, it’s my fault he hasn’t had one.”
“He needs to better understand the danger, Bex. This killer targets women, but this is personal, and anyone I care about is in the crosshairs. I don’t know that it’s only women who aren’t safe.”
Who would want to wreak this kind of torture on Tiberius? “Who is doing this?”
“I don’t know.”
“The blanket and photo taken from my house...they were taken after Ahnah vanished. I’m not sure what that means.”
“What about the box of mementos?”
“I can’t say for sure. They weren’t something I often looked at or used. Could be before. Maybe after.” She shrugged.
“I’ll run it by Violet. In the meantime, you should know that there might be a more personal connection to me in this case. One that leads...to the Family.”
Acid sprang in her throat, and she clutched her chest. “No,” she whispered.
“Possibly. I need Rand to give me a list of members who left or were disfellowshipped.”
This was a terrible idea.
Tiberius enveloped her clammy hands. “I won’t reveal the truth about you, but someone already knows you and Ahnah are both alive. I don’t want them to know about Josiah either. But I need to know who’s left the Family in the past five to ten years. It’s a thin link at best, I know.”
“Rand will never give you what you want.”
“All I need is information on Garrick and if he was disfellowshipped or remains in the Family.” He held her gaze as she processed what he was saying. She shuddered at the implications.
“You think it’s Garrick.”
Tiberius shrugged. “No, not really.”
“I’m afraid.”
“I know.” He rubbed the scruff on his chin. “How would you feel about me staying here at night until we find the killer?”
