“THE TRUTH WILL COME OUT; it always does.”

What is that truth? Is my dad still alive?

Abby didn’t go straight back to the station. She stopped at El Dorado Park and got out of the car to walk and try to clear her head.

Woody had helped somewhat. He helped her regain balance. He knew what she knew; he wasn’t hiding anything, and that left her with a healthy skepticism for what Sanders said about her father. The junk man had to have an angle, and she was determined to find out what it was. But how?

She thought of Murphy and his whiteboard. When he started his investigation, he went back to high school years. Did what happened at the Triple Seven really start there? Her mind raced with possibilities and questions, and she stopped, staring out over the duck pond.

One case defines you.

Ethan’s words haunted her. Abby knew then and there, no matter what she said to Dede and to Ethan, that she didn’t trust God’s justice. She couldn’t wait patiently anymore for an arrest; she needed to know now.

What could she do to force the issue? Something unethical? Illegal?

Unable to answer the question, she got back in her car and drove for the station.

When her phone rang with a call from Luke, she let it go to voice mail, not ready to talk to him.

Back at the station she went straight to Jacoby and submitted a request for two weeks’ vacation.

He looked at the slip and then up at Abby. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with the Triple Seven, would it?”

“Of course it does. I can’t concentrate right now. I need some time off to get my mind right.” She told the truth without telling all of it. And she prayed Ethan would understand. She’d been saving her vacation time so they could take a month-long honeymoon. “Bill can handle the Jenkins case.”

Jacoby studied her for a moment before nodding and signing the request. “Finish out the day. Have a great vacation.”