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Her dad looked angry...and sad?
“Because I trusted you, you were able to run around behind my back and do whatever you wanted. You clearly have no respect for me or my rules.”
“Because they’re unfair! It’s not fair to blame Bobby for Craig’s past mistakes.”
“Go home. You’re grounded.”
“You can’t do that!” But her dad was right. She may not have directly lied, but she knew how he would react to the truth and she had hidden everything from him.
“You’re still seventeen, you still live under my roof, and I will never tolerate lying and manipulation and sneaking out of the house. What if something happened? We may live on an island, but bad things happen here just like the big city. Go home. We’ll talk tonight.”
“How long?”
“I’m so disappointed in you, Ashley. I never suspected you would do this. Never.” He stared at her and she saw he was near tears. That made her own tears come. She’d never wanted to hurt her dad.
She turned, walked out the back door, and ran all the way home.
Pete watched his daughter leave, then sank into his office chair, pinched the bridge of his nose. The tears burned his eyes. He pushed them back, but they were there, making his head hurt.
He’d never had to punish his girls. They were good kids. Great kids. Smart kids. And he was having a hard time believing that his baby had been lying to him for so long. It was like he didn’t even know her. It hurt.
Damon stood in the doorway. “Hey, weren’t you a little hard on Ash?”
Pete looked up at his brother-in-law. “Stay out of it, Damon.”
“She’s a good kid. She’s not out doing drugs and robbing liquor stores.”
“I don’t have a lot of rules. She broke every single one of them.”
“I just think—”
“I will deal with my kids as I see fit. You can go.”
Damon turned and left. Pete kicked his door closed.
If his wife were alive, this wouldn’t have happened. Did Ashley think she couldn’t talk to him? They’d been so close when she was little. When Whitney was off at the playground befriending every kid she met, Ashley was content to sit with him on the bench, or play ball with the dog, or swing and watch everyone else. Ashley had always come to him for advice, but after Wendy died when Ashley was ten—an awful time to lose your mother, especially for girls—things changed.
He wanted his little girl back, but he was so proud of her and the young woman she had become. At least, until he found out she’d been lying to him.
Wendy, I don’t know what to do. I miss you so much. Are you there? I need your help, baby. I need your help with our daughter because I’m lost, and I don’t want to lose her.
Pete put his head in his hands and prayed. He wasn’t much for praying, but Wendy used to, and he didn’t know what else to do.
When Kara walked into the conference room, Ryder was in the corner on Neil’s computer, and Catherine was at the conference table reading files.
“Matt is looking for you,” Catherine said.
She glanced at her phone. “Must not have been looking too hard,” she said. “No messages.”
Catherine clearly wanted Kara to fill her in on what she was doing, but Kara wasn’t going to be micromanaged by someone who wasn’t her boss. Hell, she didn’t even let her boss micromanage her. She agreed to write reports—that was part of being a cop—but bureaucratic bullshit would be the death of her.
She walked over to the whiteboard to refresh herself on the case. An analysis of the bombs had been added, but that was the only new thing, other than a question mark after Island Protectors under the possible-suspects list.
Maybe Catherine was thinking the same thing as Kara. Most bombers escalated as they continued their destructive spree, but the second bomb seemed anticlimactic and caused far less damage and loss of life than the first bomb.
One other change. Neil Devereaux’s name had a star next to it. If he had been the target, that meant the second bomb was intended to distract them.
At least Madelyn Jeffries had been moved to the bottom of the list. She didn’t need any more police involvement in her life—until they could give her answers about her husband’s murder.
