Some of the tension eased out of David’s shoulders.
Across the valley, the mountains were turning blue with evening.
Eight years of trying to build something solid enough that people would see lumber and concrete instead of headlines when they heard his name.
He opened his podcast app.
Vanished in the Valley sat at the top of the charts, Lila Grant’s episode art front and center. Below it, Fading Away’s latest release pinged up the rankings on its coattails.
Danny watched him for a second, then tipped his chin toward the screen.
“Don’t let that thing eat your whole life,” he said. “Go home. See your boy. Call your lawyer.”
A local Facebook page had already posted a picture of him standing beside the jobsite. Someone had circled his face in red.
THERE HE IS.
#MercerMurderer
#JusticeForCaroline
The comments underneath were worse.
lock him up
he knows where she is
check the foundations
rich men always get away with it
One comment had already been shared hundreds of times.
Bet he buried her under one of those houses.
David locked the screen.
MiMi had said almost the same thing the night the first episode aired—only she’d added a name.Call Eleanor Harper, David. Before this starts again.
He started the engine.
If this was coming back…
He was going to need a lawyer.
And this time, he already knew who his mother expected him to call.
Eleanor Harper.
22
Harper & Associates — Late Afternoon
Frances “Frannie” Smith believed in order.
Which was why the current state of the Harper & Associates reception area made her eye twitch.
Lucy Patel sat cross-legged in one of the waiting chairs, laptop open, one earbud dangling, the other unplugged so the tiny speakers could do their worst.
