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Eric stormed out of the police station.
He'd longed for Kelsey to return to him. Ten long years, he'd waited for her. And now, he couldn't get away fast enough.
All she'd said—and it was hardly anything compared to what she owed him—but of all the words, what reverberated now was that first breathless confession.
I would never have left you.
And that was the crux of it, wasn't it? Did he believe those six words?
She'd been taken. He knew that. He'd investigated enough to have an inkling of what had happened to her. He knew just enough of her story to give him nightmares for years. To keep him up at night, imagining all she'd been through. But he suspected she'd been free for a long time, ever since that bogus report that she'd been murdered. He'd waited. All these years, he'd waited for her.
She hadn't come home.
Had Kelsey had a choice? Of course she had. She could have chosen to confide in him from the beginning. She could have chosen to trust him. She could have chosen, in all these years, to reach out to him. If nothing else, she could have chosen to divorce him. At least that way, he could've moved on with his life.
At least, she could have tried. But he'd have fought that, because he'd have known.
He still knew.
His love for Kelsey wasn't the kind of thing that came around more than once in a lifetime. It was unique. It was untarnished. It was eternal.
And her love for him was no different.
Maybe he was a fool to still believe that. Well, he'd been a fool to wait for her, hadn't he? When he'd told her mother he believed Kelsey was still alive, she'd called him as much.
The woman had been afraid to hope. Afraid to believe.
She'd ordered him off her stoop and told him to never return.
Kelsey's stepfather had threatened to call the police.
Her stepbrothers had stood behind their father, arms crossed, eyes glaring.
Eric had walked away. He'd never seen them again.
For years, he'd wondered if Mrs. MacKenzie had been right to accept her daughter's death. If Eric could have, maybe he'd have moved on. But the pieces never added up.
He reached the little church on the edge of the town common. The sun had dropped behind the towering pines, but the steeple reached into the sky, beyond the shadows, and reflected the last rays of evening. He stared at the steeple, waited for some flash of wisdom, of insight, until the shadows chased even that last vestige of light away.
Darkness and chill settled over him, and he turned back in the direction he'd come. He'd begged God to bring Kelsey home, and now he had. It was time for Eric to figure out what to do next.
Two steps inside the squad room, and the chief's voice called out from his office.
"Nolan. In here."
Eric avoided Donny's gaze as he crossed the room and stepped into the office.
"Close the door and have a seat."
He did what he was told, too tired to argue, too overwhelmed to think.
"Been looking at your records." Brady peered at the computer screen on his desk. "No mention of a wife."
"Yes, sir."
"So you lied on your application?"
"Yes, sir."
"Knock it off." Brady pushed back from his desk and glared. "We've been friends a long time. I expect more than two-word answers from you."
Eric stood, pulled his gun from the holster inside his jacket, his badge from his pocket, and set both on the desk. "Anything else?"
Brady looked at the items, looked at Eric. "Put those back where you found them and sit your butt down."
Eric sat, but he left his badge and gun between them. He wasn't sure he'd be able to pick them up again. Wasn't sure he cared.
"When did you get married?"
He hadn't told this story, ever. Now, he related the events like facts in a case. "We were in college. We met before the school year started, at freshman orientation. We married right after our sophomore year."
"That was when?"
"Almost ten years ago."
"How long were you together?"
Eric broke his friend's gaze, stared at his knees. Remembered that time, time he'd spent right here in this little town, in a cabin on the lake. Even two college students could afford the cost of an off-season rental for a week. He'd been saving all year long, able to save thanks to his scholarship and his folks' financial support. The day after exams finished, Eric and Kelsey rented a car, drove to New Hampshire. A justice of the peace married them on Hampton Beach at sunset, and they'd begun the best honeymoon two broke college students could afford.
"After we married, she stayed for three days."
Brady's eyebrows disappeared beneath his hair. He schooled his expression quickly. "Why'd she leave?"
Eric shrugged, started back into the past. He still had the note. He'd folded it and carried it in his wallet ever since. She'd signed it, Always and forever —Kels.
Always and forever. Three whole days.
"Her little sister ran away. They were close. Kelsey wanted to bring her to Boston to live with us when we got settled. I never knew the whole story, but it seemed there was something going on with the stepfather or maybe the stepbrothers, something Kelsey alluded to. She never said outright." He thought about when he'd met them, how he'd wanted to blame the men in the family for all of it. But he hadn't known, hadn't ever had enough information to even make an allegation. "Maybe she thought she'd be able to find Danielle when nobody else could."
"And then?"
Eric didn't have the energy to explain the weeks after her disappearance, the months he spent searching for her. The people, the...the scum he'd met along the way. The accusations. The revelations.
The crushing grief that came with the news of her death.
The hope that had kept his heart beating for ten long years.
"And then she disappeared. A few months later, they said she was dead."
"So you thought you were a widower." Brady glanced at his computer screen. "That would explain your answer on the application."
"I never believed it."
"But if she was presumed dead..."
"She was."
"Not that I'd have fired you for it, but that does make it easier."
Like Eric cared about his job right now.
"I called that number she gave us," Brady said.
He sat up straighter, leaned forward. "What'd you learn?"
"The detective, Sally Bowman? She passed away."
The cop in him voiced the next question. "Natural causes?"
"Breast cancer. Six months ago."
"Did anybody else have information about Kelsey?"
"Without more than a first name and a year? The guy who answered laughed his butt off right before he hung up on me."
"You didn't give him more information?"
"Course not." Brady sat back, shook his head. "I've been to this party before, remember? My own wife had reason to run. I didn't let her enemy find her, and I'm sure as heck not going to let anything happen to your wife."
Eric had forgotten that story. The memory of it—and the happy ending—bolstered his spirits, if only just a little.
Brady continued. "Your wife disappeared for a reason. We need to figure out what that was, and who she's afraid will find her."
Eric stood. Glanced at his gun and badge.
"Pick them up, and don't put them down again unless I tell you to."
Eric slid his gun and badge back where they belonged.
"Now that that's settled, why don't you take a few days off?" Brady nodded toward the computer screen. "I was mostly checking your vacation time. You've got plenty. Looks like you haven't taken a vacation in more than a year."
"Took some time when my folks came to visit."
"Good thing you get more than three days a year. You're officially on vacation as of now."
Eric started to thank him, then stopped. "I might need the department's resources, after I figure out what's going on."
"Then you'll have to trust me to help."
Eric thought of his wife, thought of spending time with her, regardless of what would happen next. "I'm grateful."
"Don't get mushy on me. Aren't you curious why she got arrested?"
He'd forgotten that, in the haze of the past.
"Breaking and entering," Brady said. "We found her in one of the cabins by the lake."
"Okay."
"Find Donny. He'll catch you up on what he knows. Then talk to her, see what you can learn."
#
ERIC found Donny at his desk. His friend waited for an explanation, but Eric couldn't explain it all again. It was taking all his energy to hold in his emotions, and he'd need every ounce of strength to confront Kelsey.
"You okay, man?" Donny said.
"You made the arrest?"
Donny's short pause held all his questions, but he kept them to himself. "We got a call this morning. One of the neighborhood watch guys at the lake thought he saw a light flickering in the window of a cabin on Lakeside last night. He didn't call it in, though. It was dusk, and he figured maybe it was a play of light. This morning, he drove by again and noticed a trail down the driveway and around back. The snow'd melted from where it had been packed down, making it easier to see."
"A trail, like..." He was trying to picture it. Places where people had stepped on snow usually melted first. He could picture that. But a trail?
"The guy thought somebody'd dragged a body." Donny chuckled. "Some people watch too much crime drama. But your...uh, friend said she'd sprained her ankle and crawled to the house. That would explain it."
Eric closed his eyes against the image of Kelsey, injured, cold... Opened them when it passed. "Go on."
Donny reached to the floor beside him, pulled up a backpack. "She was clutching this when we got there."
Eric unzipped it, found clothes, toiletries, a canvas case filled with suspicious metal tools, a flashlight, a phone charger, a flash drive, and a map of New Hampshire. "That's it?"
Donny opened his desk drawer, lifted out a revolver in a clear plastic bag, and set it between them. "This was shoved between the couch cushions."
Eric studied it. An old Taurus that needed a good cleaning. "Bullets?"
"None."
"She admit it was hers?"
"Claimed she never saw it before. Wicked coincidence, if you ask me." At Eric's look, Donny added, "Not that anybody did. Ask me, that is."
"Anything else?"
"Not that we found. We didn't search the whole place when we grabbed her. Figured she had all her stuff in the backpack."
Eric searched the rest of the backpack. Every small pocket. He even searched for a tear in the lining, maybe a hiding place. All empty. "No I.D., no phone, nothing personal at all."
"I thought that was weird, too. We could go back, search again."
"No." Eric left the revolver and backpack on the desk. "Just hold onto those for now. Not sure what's going to happen."
"About that. I was hoping Sam owned the cabin, but no deal. I talked to her, though, and she knows the owner. They live in Nashua. She's going to call them, see if they'll accept her story."
"What story was that?"
"That she sprained her ankle and sought shelter from the storm to keep from freezing to death."
"You believe her?" Eric asked.
Donny shrugged. "It holds up, if you don't ask too many questions. Like, how'd she get there with no car? Where'd she plan on going with no money or ID?"
"You ask her any of those questions?"
"I asked. She just said it was a long story."
"Yeah. Seems her story only holds up if you're an idiot."
"But you know Sam. She'll work her magic. And the place hadn't been damaged. Don't even know how she got in—no sign of a break-in."
Eric remembered the little canvas case. Had Kelsey picked the lock? His wife was full of surprises.
"Thanks."
"Sure. Let me know if I can do anything else."
Eric stood and headed toward the door that led to the holding cells.