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“Lainie? Lainie, come back to the screen.”
She appeared, her eyes red rimmed and glistening, but her jaw set. “What now?” she asked.
“Now, Cole and I figure out what happened to the headstone.”
She frowned, her gaze on something behind her phone screen.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Something’s going on outside.”
“What?”
Her eyes widened. “Buzz is chasing someone!”
“Who?”
“I don’t know, but he tackled him.” The camera spun, and James could see Buzz on the ground with a man’s arms behind his back.
“We’re ten minutes away, Lainie. Keep me on the phone as we head that way.” He and Cole climbed back in the car and Cole floored the gas.
“James?” Lainie’s voice echoed over the speaker. “You’re not going to believe this. Or maybe you will. I think it’s Nick Williams.”
“Adam’s brother?”
“Yes.”
“He say what he was doing?”
“They’re not actually having a conversation at the moment. Buzz is still trying to get him to settle down. Should I go out there and try to help?”
“No!”
Cole’s and James’ voices blended as one, and Lainie looked at the screen with a frown. “Well, fine. But once he realizes he’s not getting away, I want someone to ask him why there’s no headstone on Adam’s grave.”
“We’ll get to that. Just sit tight until we get there.”
FRANKLY, LAINIEWASN’T VERY GOODat sitting tight, but she managed. It seemed like an eternity passed until Cole and James arrived, but in reality, it was closer to eight minutes. Buzz had put Nick in the back of one of the cruisers, and while she could see them talking, it bugged her to no end that she couldn’t hear what they were talkingabout.
As soon as James was out of the 4Runner, she opened the front door and noticed the motorcycle parked down the street in front of Jesslyn’s neighbor’s home.
Nick looked up and caught her gaze. “So where is he?” Nick said. “Huh? Where?”
Lainie frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s clean,” one of the officers told James and Cole. They parted and let James, Cole, and Lainie approach. She ignored them all and kept her gaze on Nick.
“They said Adam was here in town, that he’s showing himself to you. That you’re seeing him.”
There was something about his tone that lowered Lainie’s blood pressure. A desperation that she never would have associated with Nick. “Yes. Why?”
“Then if he’s here and you’re seeing him, I want to see him too. If he feels safe enough to reappear in your life, why not mine? Or our mother’s? Of all people, why you?”
She let his scathing last two words filled with disgust roll off her. “You really believe he’s still alive, don’t you?”
“You don’t?”
“No. I don’t.”
