Page 122 of Weight of Guilt

Wren almost laughed. Instead, she squeezed her sister’s fingers. “I don’t think that’s happening.”

Jacob pulled out the chair across from them but didn’t sit. “Can I ask you something?”

Wren glanced up. “Sure.”

He rested one hand on the chair back. “Does everyone really believe this guy is your brother? What do the police say? Nora keeps going back and forth. I don’t know what to tell her.”

Wren rubbed her thumb along the edge of the table. “Nobody knows for sure yet.”

“The DNA test hasn’t come back?”

“No,” Wren said. “Prine said it could take weeks.”

Jacob’s fingers tightened slightly around the chair. “Weeks?”

“Apparently.”

He nodded and looked toward Nora. “I thought maybe it would be faster with everything going on.”

“So did I,” Nora whispered.

Jacob sighed and glanced toward the clock on the microwave. “I should probably get out of here and let everybody try to rest.”

Nora stood with him. “You don’t have to leave.”

“I’ve already kept you up long enough.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Call me if anything changes or if you need me for anything.”

“I will.”

Jacob picked up his jacket.

At the door, he looked back at Wren. “I’m sorry about Mason.”

Wren swallowed. “Thanks.”

Tears began running down her cheeks again.

Chapter

Sixty-One

Wren woke on the couch with one arm numb beneath her.

For a second, she didn’t know where she was. Then she saw the time on her phone: 8:41 a.m.

Mason.

She sat up so fast the room tilted.

She’d slept. For almost five hours, she’d slept while her son was missing.

Her stomach churned at the thought.

Wren pushed to her feet and headed for the kitchen. Everyone was already there.

Nora stood at the stove, still in pajama pants and a sweatshirt, scrambling eggs. Marlowe sat at the table in yesterday’s clothes, staring at her phone. Christian sat across from her with a glass of orange juice.

He looked worse than the rest of them.