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He was surprised to see her.
“I didn’t think I was allowed to see anyone.”
“You’re not. But I have friends in high places. After tomorrow, though, we won’t be able to talk. You know the rules.”
He nodded.
“I wanted to say goodbye,” she said.
“I’m sorry.”
“About what?” She didn’t mean to sound bitchy. She didn’t want an argument. She was so weary, so tired, and all she wanted was to go home. But she was stuck here in Virginia for another couple of days because of the shooting in New York. Statements, reports, more statements. She would be cleared, but they were hoops she had to jump through. She’d told her dad they’d probably be able to leave on Monday, but that might have been a bit optimistic.
“You should have let me kill him, so you didn’t have that weight on your soul. I have no soul.”
“That’s not true, Grant.”
She sat across from him on the couch. “I don’t know what happened with us, other than I wasn’t the wife you needed. But I loved you once, and I loved our son, and I’m choosing to remember that.”
When he didn’t say anything, she continued.
“I drove back the old Ranger after I gave my statement to the state troopers up in New York. I’m going to give it to Charlie. The stickers on the back reminded me of simpler times. That we had Chase, and he was loved. There was never one minute of doubt in my mind that you loved our son as much as I did.”
“Will you visit his grave? For me?”
“I’ll visit his grave for us. On his birthday, every year.”
Tears welled in Grant’s eyes. “I hope you find peace, Regan. I really do.”
She nodded. She was on the road to peace, but it was a journey, with ups and downs. “I have my dad. My brothers and sister. I have a home in Flagstaff.”
“You have a foundation I never had. I mean, my parents are good people and all, but it wasn’t the same as yours.”
“You can’t compare them, but I know what you mean. Are you going to be okay? I mean, really, Grant, have you even processed everything that’s happened? With Franklin?”
“He’s dead. Sometimes, I think that’s the easy way.”
“Don’t—”
“I’m not. I’ll be okay. Do you know what’s going to happen to his wife, his daughters?”
“They’re with family out of state, and Isabelle is talking to the FBI. I don’t know what she knew or how she might help the investigation, but she’s cooperating. His estate is tied up now, but I suspect she’s going to do just fine.”
“Franklin would have set her up with separate accounts—money the government won’t be able to touch. Trusts, in the kids’ names, I don’t know—but Franklin had been brilliant.”
“Franklin was a corrupt, unethical bastard and I’m not going to shed a tear over his dead body.”
Grant didn’t argue with her.
“Seriously, Grant—witness protection isn’t easy.”
“I think,” he said after a moment, “being able to create a new life, at least for the time being, will give me the chance to find out who I am.” He laughed without humor. “I’m thirty-nine and still need to figure out my life.”
She rose, then sat next to him. She hugged him.
He hugged her back, tightly. His body shook with sobs. “I’m sorry for everything, Regan.”
“So am I, Grant.”
But it was over. She had justice for their son, answers to her questions, and her future...well, she would take it one day at a time.
She was okay with that.
