Page 74 of Weight of Guilt

And all along Roy Callahan had an air-tight alibi.

Nash waited until they were back in Luke’s truck before he said anything. “I can’t stop thinking about the sandwich detail.”

“Me too.” Luke kept his eyes on the road. “And the two cans of gas.”

“It had to be for a generator,” Nash said. “Earl’s probably right about that.”

“There’s nothing out there past the county line.”

As Nash turned the facts over in his mind, his phone buzzed. Wren’s name appeared on the screen.

His heart skipped a beat. Did she have an update?

He read her message and blinked.

Their theory was wrong.

“Everything okay?” Luke asked.

“Wren’s mom told her Roy was on stage at the time Christian went missing.”

Luke let out a breath. “There goes that theory. But . . .”

“But what?”

“His alibi only covers that night. It doesn’t mean Roy wasn’t working with someone.”

“That’s true,” Nash muttered.

“Plus, I seem to remember that Roy and Wren’s daddy fell out over something.”

“Paige seemed to think it had something to do with money,” Nash said. “Roy totally closed the book on the Southern Gospel chapter of his life too. People don’t do that for no good reason.”

“We need to figure out where he was going,” Luke said. “That could give us the answers we need.”

“I agree.”

“I’ll keep digging.” Luke’s jaw set. “Give me a day, and I’ll have parcel records for everything out that way.”

Nash nodded. It was a good start. But the truth still felt impossibly far away.

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

Wren’s mom had gone back to see Christian a couple of hours ago and hadn’t come out since. Meanwhile, Wren and her sisters had called their father—he was on his way. Then they simply waited.

Marlowe came back from the vending machines with a bag of pretzels she didn’t open. “You’ll never guess who I ran into by the elevators.”

“I’m not guessing,” Nora murmured. “I’m way too tired for that.”

“Coach Ferris.” Marlowe dropped into the chair between them. “Mason’s coach, right? He knew who I was before I knew who he was.”

Wren turned that over. “What’s he doing here?”

“Something about his nephew being here. I didn’t catch all of it.” Marlowe finally worked the bag open.

“He seems like a nice guy,” Wren said.