Page 12 of Veil of Silence

Austin looked at his father’s phone again. Among the recent missed-call notifications on the lock screen, one name besides his appeared.

Nora Loveless.

He knew her from the news coverage. She was the oldest sister. Composed, with serious blue eyes. She always seemed to position herself half a step in front of the rest of her family as if she were their protector.

Austin understood the impulse. Older siblings did that.

He slipped the phone into his pocket. If this turned out to be a crime scene, the sheriff could reprimand him for disturbing it later. Right now, his father’s phone might be their best chance of finding him.

He looked at Denise. “Call the sheriff’s office. Tell them Jeff Donnelly is missing and left his medication behind.”

“Missing?” Her eyes widened. “What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know.” Austin looked at the scattered notes again. “But I intend to find out.”

His father hadn’t simply gotten lost in his work.

Something had happened.

And whatever it was, it had something to do with the Loveless case.

Chapter

Four

By ten-thirty Thursday morning, Nora had already answered three questions about Jacob Morgan and at least twice that many about Christian.

She’d been back at work for only a few days. Part of her was grateful for the routine. During that time, she could be Nurse Nora instead of the woman whose brother had returned after ten years—and whose boyfriend had betrayed her, used their relationship to get close to her family, and kidnapped her nephew.

Most of the country had followed the case.

The other part of her dreaded the looks people gave her and the whispers she knew were happening behind her back.

Christian was home with Mom today. Wren planned to stop by later, and Marlowe had already texted twice to say she would too. No one wanted to leave him by himself yet, and Nora still wasn’t comfortable leaving him alone with Mom all day. Though her mother seemed more stable, it was too soon to know whether that would last.

Between the family and the reporters who occasionally lingered near the road, Christian was almost never alone anyway.

The family had stopped answering the door for anyone carrying a microphone. Calls from unfamiliar numbers went to voicemail. Interview requests went unanswered.

That hadn’t stopped people in Fog Lake from asking their own questions.

None had come from people with any business asking.

The cashier at the pharmacy had gone with “How are you holding up?” which at least sounded sympathetic. A woman Nora barely knew from high school had asked whether she’d really had no idea what Jacob was doing. Then Mr. Albright, whose wife Nora had cared for after a stroke earlier that year, had squeezed Nora’s hand and told her not to blame herself for being fooled.

That one had been the worst.

Nora sat in her car outside Shelby Dawson’s house mulling over everything before reaching for her nursing bag.

Fooled.

She hated that word.

It made her sound like someone standing at a carnival booth while a man moved a ball beneath three cups.

She’d known Jacob for nearly four months. She’d eaten dinner with him, prayed with him, and listened while he talked about his daughter. She’d introduced him to her family.

She’d told Wren he was steady.