Mason seemed to understand that I was losing it and pulled the phone from my grasp. “This is Mason Decker. I’m a friend of Anna’s. She’s understandably upset right now. Can we call you back?”
There was a pause.
“Thank you. We’ll be in touch.”
He hung up and set the phone down on the kitchen table. Without a word, he pulled me up and into his arms. I didn’t resist. I simply held on. As if gripping his t-shirt and feeling his strong arms around me could solve all of my problems.
“I’m so sorry, Anna.”
I wanted to break then. So badly wanted to let the sob tear out of my chest and cut through the air. To scream and rage. But I swallowed it all down. My pain didn’t matter. There were kids in the other room who would be destroyed by this.
But that wasn’t what scared me the most. What terrified me down to my bones was that my parents could get their hands on Lyla and Justin. I couldn’t let that happen. Refused. Those little ones who held my whole heart would not be subjected to what I had been growing up. I’d do whatever I had to do to protect them. Even if that meant running.
4
Mason
Noneof us said a word as we sat crowded into the small living area of Anna’s cottage. Cain and Kennedy squeezed together on an oversized armchair, Cain’s arm wrapped protectively around his wife, whose eyes were rimmed in red. Walker perched on a barstool, his jaw tight. As Sutter Lake’s chief of police, he’d already reached out to the detective in charge of Anna’s sister’s case to see if he could glean any additional information. So far, there wasn’t much.
I leaned back against the small couch, looking up the stairs, straining to see or hear any signs of life. Little Lyla’s broken sobs from an hour ago had quieted. Now, there was only silence.
But Anna’s voice still rang in my ears. Her words about an overdose. Justin and Lyla being left without a mother. Images flashed in my mind. Ones I desperately tried to burn out of my brain but never seemed to succeed at. Our SUV crashing through the fence on the side of the road. Slamming into the water. Juliette’s wails.
“Those poor kids,” Kennedy whispered, bringing me out of my freefall.
I moved my jaw from side to side, trying in vain to loosen some of the tension there.
Walker looked up from his phone. “Does anyone know if their father is in the picture?”
“I don’t think so.” I hadn’t heard Justin or Lyla mention him once. Anna, either.
“He’s not. He signed over his rights when he left my sister.”
All of our heads turned as Anna appeared at the bottom of the stairs. There was only one word to describe her. Ravaged. She had always hidden her emotions so well, so it was startling to see them displayed so clearly on her face. As if they were carved into her bones, never to leave again.
“Oh, Anna.” Kennedy pushed to her feet and pulled her friend into a tight hug, rubbing a hand up and down her back.
I fisted and flexed my hands, my fingers itching to comfort her. It was stupid. Anna didn’t know me. Not really. She certainly didn’t trust me. Yet, I still wanted to be the one pulling her into my arms.
Kennedy ushered Anna over to the couch. “Here, sit. Do you want some tea? Something to eat?”
Anna sank down next to me, just a foot away. “No. Thank you. I’m sorry you guys hung around so long. You can go. Really.”
Cain scowled. “We’re not going anywhere until we know what you need.”
The corner of Anna’s mouth twitched. As if she wanted to smile but couldn’t quite get there. “Good to know the bossy streak doesn’t go away, even in a crisis.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes. “It’s even worse in a crisis.”
Walker tapped a few things on his phone. “I’ve made contact with Detective Johnson. She seems more than capable and is taking the case seriously—”
“My sister didn’t do drugs. I would’ve known.”
Kennedy’s expression softened. “You two were just getting close again. Maybe she hid it from you.”
“No.” Anna’s face fell. “She has always been incredibly against drugs of any kind. I could barely get her to take an ibuprofen if she needed it.”
Walker cleared his throat. “Detective Johnson is going to do everything she can to figure out the what and the how of it. She still hasn’t been able to get ahold of your parents. Do you have another number for them?”
