Chapter Twenty

Atlanta , Thursday, February 1, 10:15 a.m.

I can take her, Alex,” Meredith said, looking up from her laptop. “You haven’t moved from that position in an hour. Your arms have to be breaking by now.”

Still sitting at the table in the room with the two-way mirror, Alex pulled Hope a little closer. “She’s not that heavy.” Even asleep, Hope grabbed at Alex’s shirt as if she was afraid Alex would leave her. “I should have been with her all this time,” Alex murmured.

“Ideally, yes,” Meredith said logically. “But this is far from ideal. You’ve been looking for Bailey. You needed to see Fulmore and all the other people, so stop feeling guilty.”

But as she held Hope, Alex knew it was more than simple guilt. She’d been quick to accept the responsibility for Hope’s physical care and safety, but until Hope had sobbed against her, she hadn’t opened her heart to this little girl who’d needed her. She hadn’t opened her heart to many people over the years. Certainly not to Richard, and if she was honest, not even to Bailey. Again, she’d been quick to offer help to get Bailey into rehab, but she hadn’t offered her heart.

Maybe she hadn’t known how. Deep down she was afraid she still didn’t. But then the door opened and Daniel came in, and every dark and heavy thing inside her heart lightened at the sight of him. Maybe there was hope for her after all. It was a light in the midst of all the darkness.

“Is it time for Hope to go with Mary?” she asked softly, but he shook his head.

“Not yet. I didn’t mean to make you wait here so long. There’s a sofa in the break room. Hope can sleep there until Mary comes back.”

Alex started to rise, Hope in her arms, but Daniel stopped her. “I’ll take her.” And he did, holding Hope much like he’d held Riley the night before. Hope didn’t wake, though she snuggled against him, and Alex was hit with a wave of longing so strong it almost knocked her over.

This is what I want. This child. This man. She stood unsteadily, a wave of panic following in the wake of the longing. What if he doesn’t want the same? What if I can’t give him what he needs?

Meredith was watching her with a frown. “Come on.” She put her arm around Alex’s shoulders as they followed Daniel.

Daniel stopped at the sofa in the break room, Hope nestled on his shoulder. He gently rocked from side to side, his brows bunched, his mind obviously somewhere else. Alex was certain he didn’t realize what a picture he made, strong golden-haired man holding the small golden-haired child.

He settled Hope on the sofa and shrugged out of his jacket to cover her, then glanced at Alex and gave her that half smile. “Sorry, my mind wandered.”

“Where did it go?” she said, her voice low.

“To the day your mother died.” He slid his arm around her waist and walked her to a table by the coffee machine. “I need to talk to someone who talked to your mother after she found Alicia.” He pulled out chairs for her and Meredith.

“That would have been Sheriff Loomis, Craig, the coroner, and me,” Alex said, sitting down.

“And me,” Meredith added.

Daniel’s hands stilled on the coffeepot. “You talked to Kathy Tremaine that day?”

“Several times,” Meredith said. “Aunt Kathy called that morning to say Alicia was missing and my mom packed her suitcase. Her car wasn’t too reliable, so she decided to fly.” Meredith frowned. “My mom was guilty about that decision until the day she died.”

“Why?” Alex asked and Meredith shrugged.

“Her flight kept getting delayed because of storms. If she’d driven, she would have arrived hours earlier and your mom would have still been alive. And if Aunt Kathy had been alive, you would never have taken those pills.”

“I wish Aunt Kim were here to know the truth,” Alex said sadly.

Meredith patted her hand. “I know. Anyway, Aunt Kathy called later, hysterical, and that’s when I started talking to her. Mom had left for the airport already and back then nobody had cell phones. I was the go-between. Mom called from a pay phone at the airport every half hour and I’d tell her what Aunt Kathy had said. The first time I talked to Aunt Kathy, she’d gotten a call from a neighbor saying some boys had found a body.”

“The Porter boys,” Daniel said.

Meredith nodded. “Aunt Kathy was leaving to check it out.”

“And that’s when she found Alicia,” Alex murmured.

“When did you talk to her again, Meredith?” Daniel asked.

“When she came home from finding Alicia, before she went to identify the body. She was… past hysterical. She was sobbing, crying.”

“Do you remember what she said?”

Meredith frowned. “She was crying that her baby had been left in the rain.”

Daniel frowned as well. “It didn’t rain the night before. There was thunder and lightning, but no rain. I checked the weather report after we talked to Gary Fulmore.”

Meredith shrugged. “That’s what she said. ‘Just asleep in the rain.’ Over and over.”

Alex tensed, remembering the phrase. “No, that’s not what she said.”

Daniel sat beside her, looking her square in the eye. “What did she say, Alex?”

“When Mama came back from identifying Alicia, Craig gave her a sedative, then went to work. I put her to bed. She was crying so hard, and so was I… so I climbed in bed with her and just held on.” Alex pictured her mother lying in bed, a steady stream of tears running down her face. “She kept saying, ‘A sheep and a ring.’ That’s all she had to identify Alicia because her face was so destroyed. ‘Just a sheep and a ring.’ ”

Daniel’s eyes narrowed, and she saw the flash of triumph. “All right then.”

Alex looked down at her hands. “Alicia had a ring. So did I. Our birthstones. Mama gave them to us for our birthday.” Her mouth curved bitterly. “Sweet sixteen we were.”

“Where is your ring, Alex?” he asked softly, and her stomach turned over.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember.” Her heart was suddenly racing. “I must have lost it.” She looked up, studied his eyes, and knew. “You know where it is.”

“Yes. It was in your old room. On the floor, under your window.”

A sense of dread stole inside her, darkening everything. Inside her mind, thunder rolled and a single voice screamed. Be quiet. Close the door. “That’s it, isn’t it? What I don’t want to remember.”

His arm tightened around her. “We’ll find out,” he promised. “Don’t worry.”

But she did.

Atlanta, Thursday, February 1, 10:55 a.m.

Daniel stopped by the team room, where Luke pored over a stack of spreadsheets.

“A sheep and a ring,” Daniel said with a nod.

Luke looked up, his eyes narrowed. “That sounds nasty, Daniel.”

“But it’s not.” He sat down at the table and pushed a stack of yearbooks out of the way. “Alex’s mother said it the day Alicia died. She meant because Alicia’s face was smashed, she could only identify her by her sheep tattoo and the ring on her finger. And she saw Alicia before the cops got there.”

Luke frowned. “Alicia had a sheep tattoo?”

“On her ankle. They all did-Bailey, Alicia, and Alex.”

“And a ring on her finger. So now you have independent corroboration that Fulmore was telling the truth,” Luke said. “And that the Dutton sheriff’s office wasn’t.”

Daniel nodded grimly. “Looks like. So what have you found?”

Luke pushed a sheet of paper across the table. “I’ve compiled the names of every male to graduate the same year as Simon, a year ahead and a year behind, from the public and the private schools.”

Daniel scanned the list. “How many?”

“After we cut minorities and dead people?” Luke asked. “Roughly two hundred.”

Daniel blinked. “Shit. Do all two hundred still live in Dutton?”

“No. Culling out everyone that’s moved away leaves only about fifty.”

“Better,” Daniel said. “But still too many to show to Hope.”