“Will you stop yelling at me for a minute? I can’t think.” Cody pinched his temples, wincing in pain. “Marin couldn’t tell you or go to the police because she was trying to keep you out of jail. What was I supposed to do? It’s not like Marin knew where he was, only that Vera was with him and that she was safe. That’s all I know, and Marin made me promise not to tell you.”

Oliver stormed to the wall and smashed a fist-sized imprint into the plaster. “Are you friggin’ kidding me? You promised not to tell, and that’s why you withheld information? This isn’t a grade school pinky swear. This is a missing child—your missing niece.”

Cody dropped onto a chair and ran his palms down his face.

“I’m sorry, I know. I wasn’t thinking clearly.” Tears filled the gaps between the veins in Cody’s eyes, making them even redder. “But Bennett is terminally ill; how dangerous could he be? He assured Marin right after Vera left that she was safe with him and that he wanted to spend time with her before he died, that’s all. But he threatened that if Marin told anyone or came looking for her, he’d tell the police that you kidnapped Vera.”

Cody leaned back into the chair, eyes closing us out, tears streaming down, breaths strained.

“When Marin tried to get in touch with him again, his phone was shut off and he wasn’t at his house.”

I should have trusted my gut that Marin was involved somehow. “So it was Marin who told Vera about everything?”

“Not exactly, no. Vera found out on her own. She was doing some kind of ancestry project for school and asked me about Alvera Fields, what I thought happened to her. I told her there might be some stuff in our spare bedroom, old documents and articles she could look through. Apparently she found a picture in Marin’s things that convinced her she was adopted. When she confronted Marin about it, Marin told her the truth—that they were sisters and that their father was dying, in case she wanted to meet him before he was gone. Marin thought they would just talk on the phone, maybe have a visit together. She never expected Vera to run away...and certainly not for this long.”

Oliver had been quietly absorbing all of this from the window while nursing his knuckles. “Be honest with me, brother. Do you think Bennett did something…”

“No, Marin swore to me that her father was a good man and would never hurt Vera. He loved her.”