Harry stood, as well, and accepted the card that the detective was holding out to him. “If you think of anything else, even if it seems insignificant, give me a call. That’s my cell number on the card,” the detective added.

At the door, Detective Dixon asked Harry if he was planning on staying in Kennewick awhile.

“I have no other plans,” Harry said. “I’ll probably help out at the store.”

As soon as the detective turned to go, Harry watched as he pulled his cell phone out, thumbed the screen, then lifted it to his ear. He was talking as he got into the maroon Impala and shut the door behind him. The car’s glass was tinted.

Harry turned back into the house and thought of calling Alice but quickly decided against it. Instead he wandered back into the living room and looked out at the rainy day, trying to wrap his head around the new information. He felt as though his body was reacting to the news faster than his mind was; his chest hurt, and his limbs felt electrified, like he needed to do something physical. He realized the feeling was anger. His father might have been killed. Harry’s mind flashed on the young brunette woman that he’d seen outside of the house and at the funeral. He remembered that he was going to ask Alice about her today. He stared at the window. It was still raining, but a streak of blue sky had appeared over the tree line to the west. Harry suddenly needed to get out of the house. He grabbed one of his father’s raincoats from the row of pegs in the front hall, and stepped through the door onto the front steps. He felt instantly better, breathing in the damp air. He walked to the end of the driveway, then arbitrarily turned right and began to walk, head down, the diminishing rain pattering on the hood of his father’s coat.

Chapter 9

Then

Edith Moss’s funeral was held at a church in Biddeford, and she was buried in a family plot. Alice wondered if that was what she would have wanted, considering the way she talked about her family, but Alice also knew it didn’t matter. Her mother was dead and would never know the difference.