“That may be, but you still need to show the police all of this. Right now it’s the only lead we have. She could be lying and in fact be a he who abducted our daughter. Please, Oliver, for your daughter. For me.”

There was no other way to put it plainly. Oliver wasn’t thinking straight. He was mentally replacing this girl with Vera, and it was beginning to worry me. Not only because it wasn’t Vera, but because the person on the other side might be responsible for what happened to Vera.

“What if I don’t want to stop?” His voice was thick with sadness. “What if I stop and I never hear from Vera again? If the texts disappear, it’s like Vera disappears with them. It’s my only connection to her.”

“Exactly, Oliver. It’s our only connection to Vera, so we have to know who is on the other side. Don’t you get it? Because of this, Vera could be dead! You’ve been hiding this from me, from the police, for weeks, and it could have cost our daughter her life! I’m going to the police with this, and you better tell the police everything, Oliver. We can’t keep anything from them.”

Except for the one big secret I was keeping from everyone. Oh yeah, make that two secrets.

Oliver snuffled, handed me his phone. “Fine. Do what you need to do.”

It pained me to watch my strong, sturdy husband wilt. While he clung to some make-believe fantasy that this texter was a connection to Vera, I clung to the reality that our daughter was out there…and someone had her phone, her lifeline. Whoever was texting Oliver was toying with him, enjoying this sadistic game. But I’d had three kids and knew all about games.

Game over.

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Marin

“Marin, honey, I have something to tell you.” I couldn’t tell if it was me trembling or Cody’s voice. “And I’m terrified that it will ruin us, but I can’t keep it from you anymore.”

His tiny gasping breaths filled the short silence as I waited. He was nervous. Terrified. Regretful. All the same feelings pouring over onto me.

I knew exactly what he was about to say. That he cheated on me with Felicity.

I knew exactly how I would reply. A slap on the face and the classic one-two punch of how could you? And what were you thinking?

I knew exactly how I would feel. Heartbrokenly angry.

I had played the scene in my head often enough. I was prepared for this moment. And then I realized…

I knew exactly nothing as I blurted out, “Whatever it is you have to tell me, I don’t want to know.”