Her head was turning side to side. I knew that feeling.

“What do we tell your father?” she asked at last.

“I think you should tell him about the divorce, and then tell him Wendy’s gone off on her own to think things over and doesn’t want anybody in the family involved. She especially doesn’t want Bryce calling or emailing, because she needs to figure things out without him. You can tell Dad she calls me whenever she has something to say, but otherwise we need to leave her alone until she’s ready to deal.”

“I suppose that has enough truth in it that it doesn’t sound like a fairy tale.”

“Sophie and I are doing everything humanly possible to find her and get to the bottom of what really happened.”

“You’re looking for this Kearns creature?”

“We’re trying.”

“And what will you do if you find him?”

I’d given that careful thought. “I’m going to talk to him on my own. I’m going to get his story, and then I’ll decide what to do.”

“If you alert that man he’s been found, he’ll take off again. And I hope you don’t plan to talk to him in person. He could be dangerous. He could be the one who killed the doctor.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“You’ve said that before.”

“I did learn a few things after John Quayle nearly killed me.”

“What does Teo say about this?”

She wasn’t asking because Teo was a man, which would have infuriated me. She was asking because Teo had been a cop and a good one.

“We’ll talk it out,” I promised, “and I’ll listen to whatever he says as long as he listens to me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all of this right from the start?”

“Are you happier now that you know?” I waited. “That’s why,” I said when she didn’t answer. “I hoped she would come back quickly, and I would never have to explain. But honestly? As time’s marched on, everything has gotten uglier and more complicated. And now there’s no longer a way to spare you.”

I glanced down at the fitness tracker buckled to my wrist and saw it was time to get Holly and Noelle. I got up to leave. “Think about everything, and we’ll talk again soon.”

“You are going to let me know what else you learn.” Mom still looked dazed and unsure, but the last had not been a question.

I leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Thanks for trusting me so far. I know it’s been hard. Just trust me a little longer. I’ll keep you in the loop whenever I can. I promise.”

Ten minutes later I was parked in the pickup zone at the girls’ school waiting for the final bell, when my phone rang. After our long conversation that morning, I was surprised to see the caller was Sophie.

I spoke first. “I just told my mom what’s going on.”

“How’d she take it?”

“It’s hard to tell. She’s a Gracey. But two things stand out. One, she didn’t follow up on some of the things I hinted at. Maybe I hit her hard enough for one day, and she’d reached her limit.”