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“You didn’t think that was important?”
“When did you find out?”
“Last night, but that’s beside the point.”
“I didn’t think it was relevant.”
“BioRise is behind the murder of our son. James Seidel is the CEO of BioRise. And I fuckingshook his handon Thursday!”
“I didn’t know then...”
“Dammit, Grant, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me everything.”
“What do you want from me? I don’t know what’s important and what isn’t. I’m not keeping secrets—I just don’t know what to say or do.”
“Get your stuff together, Grant.”
“I think we should stay,” he said again.
“I can’t protect you here. I trust Charlie—I trust the team he’s put together. My job is to keep you safe until you’re in police custody.”
“You think I killed her, don’t you?”
“Dammit, Grant! You keep saying that, and I keep telling you I believe you. Do you want me to say yes? Yes, Grant, I think you killed Madeline? If I thought that, you’d already be in police custody—I would have called the state police, had them haul your ass down to jail. If I thought you were guilty, you would already be behind bars.”
“Wow.”
“You’re pushing my buttons like you want a fight. Don’t do that. I need a clear head so I can get you out of this mess. The circumstantial evidence is damning, and the police have an arrest warrant. You left a crime scene. You didn’t report it. You fled the state. None of that looks good. But no—I don’t think you killed her. I think you made a series of bad decisions out of fear and panic and grief. But what matters now is that you’re going to tell the truth, the whole truth—but first we have to get you to safety. We’re too isolated here.”
“Great that you have so much faith in me.”
“Just stop.” She rubbed her eyes. She wasn’t going to do either of them any good if there was this tension between them. “You fucked up. Is that what you want to hear? I’m at my wit’s end. My best friend is dead. Killed because he was investigatingour son’smurder. Something I should have been doing, but my emotions were too raw, and after Hannigan was killed, I lost hope. Tommy didn’t. And Tommy is dead because of it. Are the answers worth it? Worth losing a good man? I don’t know. I honestly can’t tell you if I’m happier knowing the truth than the uncertainty I’ve lived with for the last eleven months. So I’m not okay, but I’m going to be okay. Getting you back to Virginia in one piece is all I can do right now. Then I’m going to find a way to bring every person involved in Tommy’s death to justice. If I have to take down James Seidel and BioRise itself, I will.”
She turned around, worked to tamp down her anger, the rage, the deep depression that threatened to overwhelm her at all she had lost.
And she did it. Because that’s who she was.
“Ten minutes,” she said without looking at Grant.
Ten minutes later, the house was locked up and they were in Tommy’s truck. It was newer and had a full tank of gas—she’d filled up at the last gas station she’d seen, knowing a full tank was essential if she had to make a quick getaway. She’d looked at the Ranger’s gas tank—less than a quarter. Grant rarely followed her advice to not let the tank fall below half-full.
It was still dark, though a faint, thin glow crept up to the east. Official sunrise was still thirty minutes from now.
Almost as soon as she turned onto Lower Sahler Mill Road, Regan suspected they were being followed.
She called Charlie. Now wasn’t the time for heroics; she needed backup.
“Charlie, it’s Regan.”
“Regan? You’re breaking up.”
Dammit! This windy mountain road messed with cell service.
“I’m going to text you where Grant and I were staying, the direction we’re heading. We’re being followed.”
“What?”
“We’re being followed.”
