It took the entire drive home before I found the words that had been lodged in my throat. I didn’t want to lose Cody. Or my family. He had accepted me after my confession about my mother. And again after withholding details about seeing Vera that night. Maybe he’d forgive everything else I never told him.

I was afraid to ask, but I did it anyway: “What do you want to know?”

We slid into our driveway and got out of the car a moment before a sheriff’s department cruiser pulled up behind us, hemming us in. A deputy stepped out of the vehicle, hands on hips, and walked straight toward me.

“Are you Marin Portman?” he asked.

I was hesitant to answer, but he obviously knew I was. “Yes.”

“I’m Deputy Levine, ma’am. I need to bring you down to the sheriff’s department.”

“Whoa, what’s this all about?” said Cody, getting in his face. “You got a warrant? If not, you can get the hell off my property.”

The deputy put his fingertips on Cody’s chest and lightly pushed him back. “Mrs. Portman is not under arrest,” he said, “but you will be, sir, if you don’t calm down.”

Cody swallowed his pride and shut up.

“If I’m not under arrest,” I said, “why are you here?”

“We need to question you about the murder of Mortimer Randolph.”

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Felicity

Today was the day, Oliver decided.

“I will take full responsibility for everything. I’ll do jail time, whatever it takes to protect you and the kids, but we can’t hide the truth anymore, Felicity. We’re out of options. It’s the only chance to bring Vera home…if she’s still out there.” Oliver had finished round one of his argument. I sat at the kitchen counter feeling like I’d been knocked out, waiting for a boxing bell to ding.

“What if she isn’t? What if she’s…” The question died on my lips, because it was unspeakable. Any suggestion of Vera being…gone…was as unfathomable today as it was six months ago. “I still feel like we should wait until we hear about the body they found.”

“What if it takes as long as last time? That took weeks, Felicity! I don’t want to wait any longer. I just want to come forward and take my chances with the justice system.”

“But if you tell the police what we did, and Vera’s not coming back, you’ll go to jail for nothing, Ollie. Sydney needs us both.” Round two goes to the challenger, ding.

“At this point I don’t care what happens to me. Insurance will still cover everything with Syd, and you can live off of savings until I get out of jail. Mom and Dad will help with the kids until I’m out. It’ll be fine.”