Page 6 of Veil of Silence

But his fingers had tightened around his fork.

To obey is better than sacrifice. Of all the verses he could have quoted . . . why that one?

Nora sat there and let her suspicion stand between them like a wall.

Then Marlowe cracked a joke, and Christian laughed.

For one unguarded second, he sounded like a normal boy enjoying his sister’s joke. But Nora couldn’t bring herself to laugh with him.

She hated herself for that.

Instead, as Nora sat there, Special Agent Jeff Donnelly’s words returned to her.

I may have found something.

Donnelly had investigated Christian’s disappearance when it first happened. The former FBI agent had contacted her twice since Christian returned, most recently a week ago, when he’d said he might have found something and promised to call Monday.

She hadn’t heard from him since, and today was Wednesday.

Nora’s appetite disappeared. Waiting on Donnelly felt like waiting for a bomb to go off—and having no idea when the explosion was coming.

For the rest of dinner, Agent Donnelly’s words stayed lodged in the back of Nora’s mind.

By the time the plates were empty, she was antsy.

Their dinners had been lingering affairs lately. Nobody seemed eager to be the first to leave.

Tonight was no different. Dad carried dishes to the sink while Mom cut the pie. Wren and Marlowe argued over whether Mason deserved a full slice when he’d barely touched his spaghetti. Christian watched it all with that distant look he sometimes got.

With everyone occupied, Nora grabbed her cell phone from the counter and slipped onto the back porch. She couldn’t wait any longer. She was going to call Agent Donnelly.

The temperature had already dropped into the forties. She sat on the top step and rubbed her free hand over her arm. The cicadas had finally gone quiet, and the maples bordering the yard had begun to turn red at the tips.

Nora pulled up Jeff Donnelly’s number.

His silence bothered her. He’d sounded like a man who had finally found the end of a loose thread he’d been pulling for ten years. So why hadn’t he given her any updates yet?

She pressed Call.

It rang four times before his voicemail picked up. “You’ve reached Jeff Donnelly. I’m either busy, ignoring my phone, or somewhere I shouldn’t be. Leave a message.”

“Hi, this is Nora Loveless.” She rubbed her arm again. “It’s Wednesday, a little after seven. You said you’d call Monday, but I haven’t heard from you. Call me. Please.”

She ended the message.

Donnelly had first contacted her two weeks ago, after Agent Prine reached out to him about Christian’s return. He’d pulled out his old case files and started going through them again.

“I never stopped thinking about Christian’s case,” he’d told her.

He’d also asked to speak with Christian.

Nora had told him not yet. Prine had already questioned Christian twice, and each interview left him more withdrawn than before. Nora wasn’t putting him through another round unless Donnelly had an actual reason to ask.

To his credit, he hadn’t pushed.

“Your family’s had enough false hope,” he’d told her. “I’m not bringing you another theory unless I can back it up.”

Then, a week ago, he’d called again. “I may have found something.”