Page 125 of Weight of Guilt

Chapter

Sixty-Two

Wren checked behind the barn first.

She didn’t know why.

Maybe because Christian used to hide there when they were kids, usually after he’d broken something and Nora had threatened to tell Mom.

She paused at the door. “Christian?”

Nothing.

Nora circled the other side of the barn while Marlowe had gone to tell Nash what was going on. Their mom was searching the house just in case they’d missed him in their first search.

Wren’s heart hammered harder. “Christian!”

A movement near the back caught her eye. She sprinted that way.

As she went around the corner, she spotted Christian sitting on the ground with his back against the barn. His knees were pulled up and his hands locked behind his neck.

Wren paused, her pulse slowing. “Christian . . .”

He looked up before his gaze dropped. “I wasn’t running away.”

“You scared us.” Wren stopped a few feet from him.

“I just couldn’t listen to those people with the cameras anymore.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “They kept yelling my name.”

Nash came around the corner behind her and stopped when he saw them.

“Can you let my sisters know?” Wren asked him.

He nodded and stepped away.

Christian looked up at Wren. “How did they find out about me?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“I didn’t tell anybody,” Christian said.

“I know. Neither did we.”

Christian stared into the woods. “They want me to talk, don’t they?”

Nash appeared again and nodded at Wren to confirm he’d told her sisters.

Wren turned back to Christian, remembering his question. “Probably. But you don’t owe them anything.”

“You don’t have to answer any of their questions,” Nash continued. “You don’t have to stand in front of a camera. Not today. Not ever if you don’t want to.”

Some of the tension visibly eased from Christian’s shoulders. “Thanks.”

Wren crouched in front of him. “Can I ask you a question, Christian?”

He looked at her and shrugged. “I guess.”

“Did you ever remember why you were outside digging for that treaty box?”