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“I hope the cops get the bad guys,” Noah said, resting his chin on his knees.
“So do I.”
“But …” His eyes met mine with mature sincerity, our souls connecting. “If they don't … you will, right? You'll get them?”
The booming beat of my heart resounded through my aching head as I suddenly became aware of what Noah had built me up to in his mind.
I was his hero. Superman. A godlike entity most boys envisioned their father being.
I’d never had one of those. I had Grampa, and I'd loved him fiercely, but I'd always seen him for what he was—an old man. My devotions had lain elsewhere—with my mother and the never-ending need to protect her from her own demons.
But I had become for Noah the thing I'd never had, and I wasn't about to take off that mask now.
“If they ever dare to come here,” I said, holding his gaze with the strength of my own, “I'll get them.”
For you, Ray, and Mom … I swear to God, I’ll get them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
BETWEEN THE RAINDROPS
Detective Sam Lewis called me the morning after my mother's body was found.
I was at work, unloading a delivery of produce, when the call came through, and I didn’t waste a second before answering.
“Give me a minute,” I told Howard. “This is important.”
He waved me off with a sympathetic, understanding nod. “Do what you have to do.”
The moment I'd walked into work, I had apologized for not showing up yesterday. He'd been aware that there was a family emergency, thanks to Ray and the phone call she'd made on her way to work, but it hadn’t been until after I came in that morning that he was aware my mother had died.
He wouldn't, however, know that she'd been murdered.
I wanted to avoid the questions. At least for the time being. The last thing I needed was for everyone in town toonce again look at mewith accusing eyes and questioning glances, wondering if my past had found itself on my mother's doorstep. Not realizing that it washerlife that had ultimately stainedmine.
I hurried into the storeroom, away from anybody who might be listening, and answered the call before Detective Lewis could hang up.
“Hey, Sam,” I said on a held breath. “How's it going?”
“Well, I call, bearing good news,” he said, giving methe responseI'd been hoping for. “We got Levi.”
My brow furrowed with instant suspicion. “Wow, that was quick.”
“He knew we were coming. I mean, believe it or not, he was just hanging out at your mom's place. Said he lived there.”
I nodded toward a stack of canned soups. “Yeah, I just … I don't know. I guess I expected him to run or something.”
“Nope.And actually, heseemed exhausted. You know, almost relieved. It was strange. But, hey, what matters is, we have him. He confessed to lacing her drugs with fentanyl with the intention of killing her, and he agreed to give up the name of another guy he worked with. Someone he said was also involved.”
My glareonthe soup cans hardened as my brow furrowed. “Seth.”
“You know him?”
“Unfortunately.”
Sam grunted a contemplative sound, and I wondered what he was thinking, knowing it was unlikely that he'd share it with me.
Instead, he said, “Levi asked to talk to you.”
