Page 54 of Weight of Guilt

“You could call them.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I need to say it face-to-face.”

Nash opened his door. “Then that’s where we go.”

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

Wren returned home and found Christian sitting on the porch steps with his back against the rail, watching the woods.

Behind her, Nash’s engine stayed running. He’d said he’d wait, and she was grateful for the privacy.

Christian stood as she approached. Bo lifted his head off the boy’s boot and thumped his tail twice at Wren.

Yesterday that dog had barked himself hoarse at Christian from six feet away. Now Bo was beginning to trust him. Did that mean Wren should too? She wasn’t sure.

For about half a second she let herself believe that Bo had never once let her down.

Then she remembered the lawn chair incident.

Bo had stood on that porch and barked at an overturned lawn chair for forty solid minutes, backing up a step every time the wind moved it. Finally, Wren came out in her robe at eleven o’clock at night and set the chair upright in front of him.

So, no, she couldn’t assume a single thing based on Bo’s actions.

“Hey.” Christian scratched behind Bo’s ears without looking up. “Where’d you go?”

“Out to see somebody about Roy.”

He squinted. “Who’s Roy?”

The question made her stop.

He genuinely didn’t seem to recognize the name.

“Someone we used to know.” She shifted, dreading her upcoming conversation and not wanting to explain too much to Christian now. “Listen, I need to talk to Nora and Marlowe for a few minutes. Just us three.”

He nodded and sat back down without argument. “Okay. I’ll be out here.”

When she stepped inside, her gaze went to the photo albums on the kitchen table. Four vinyl-covered ones from the hall closet lay open. Marlowe stood over them with her arms crossed. Nora stood on the other side.

They glanced at her when she walked in.

“Christian got about six pages in,” Marlowe said. “Then he said he needed some air. It’s a lot to look at all at once.”

“I know it is.” Wren stepped closer and remained standing. “I need to tell you both something.”

She told them about her visit with Paige and what they’d discovered.

“I’ve been trying to convince myself that we had time,” Wren said when she finished. “But we don’t. I know we’ve said this before, but whoever had Christian might still be out there.”

“Not if it was Roy,” Marlowe murmured.

“I don’t know for sure that it was Roy. And even if it was Roy, he could have been working with someone. There’s so much we don’t know.”

“I can agree with that.” Marlowe crossed her arms.

“Whoever did this to Christian isn’t in a cell,” Wren said. “And every hour we sit in this kitchen deciding when we’re ready to tell the sheriff is an hour more he’s got to pack a bag and never be found.”