“This isn’t my specialty, but I’ll get someone from my firm and meet you there. Let’s say eleven forty-five in the lobby so we can talk for a minute before the meeting.”

“Thank you so much. I appreciate this.”

“It’s no problem. And try not to worry—he’d be crazy to file charges when you and your husband are the most popular couple in America. He’d get run out of office.”

“I hope you’re right about that.”

“We’ll do everything we can. I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks, Andy.” She checked the time on her phone and saw that she had an hour before she had to meet him, so she went to the hospital cafeteria and choked down some tasteless scrambled eggs and toast. The food made her feel slightly less awful, but the curious stares from the other people in the cafeteria had her taking the weak tea she’d bought out to her car where she sat to kill time before the meeting.

She thought about calling Nick or her dad or her sisters or Malone or someone who could talk her down off the ledge, but she didn’t call anyone. Rather, she watched the minutes go by on the dashboard clock, trying to remain calm ahead of the meeting.

Her phone rang and she took the call from Detective Watson in Tennessee. “Holland.”

“It’s Watson. I’ve just come from the Rollings home.”

“How’d it go?”

“There were a lot of tears. It was... It was the coolest thing I’ve ever been part of in all my years on the job. To be able to give them this amazing news... Well, you know, we don’t deliver good news very often.”

“No, we don’t.”

“As you can imagine, they’re very interested in seeing him. Mrs. Rollings’s elderly mother lives with them, so they need a day or two to make arrangements.”

“That’ll give him some time to recover from his injuries before they see him. He’s rather banged up.”

“I hope you don’t mind that I told them you’re involved in the investigation, and naturally they said they’d like to meet you too and thank you for your help in finding their son.”

“I didn’t do much of anything. He was the one who made it happen.”

“Still, I think it’d mean a lot to them to meet you.”

“I’ll make that happen. Keep me posted on when you’re coming, and I’ll let Josh—or I guess it’s Taylor—know.”

“How is he coping with everything?”

“As well as can be expected under the circumstances. It’s a lot to take in.”

“He’s going to adore Chauncey and Micki. There’s nothing not to love about them. They’re great people.”

“That’ll make it easier for him, I’m sure.”