But his decision to sleep on the couch had affected her more than she realized. It had hurt in about ten different ways, none of which she could clearly focus on as she left the house. She was also concerned that in his anger and frustration with her, he may tell Paige about her diagnosis. Yes, it seemed like a monstrous thing to do, but hed done so with Grandma Tates diagnosis. Rachel figured shed just have to assume that beyond his anger, he was the good and honest man shed fallen in love with and married. There was no sense in worrying about it now.

She made the twenty-minute drive to work in silenceno radio, no audiobooks or podcasts. It just seemed fitting for everything that she was going through. Her mind was a myriad of thoughts and scenarios with no real direction. When she parked in the back of the building (a perk to being there so early), her mind was somehow on the image of Paige and Grandma Tate picking flowers out in the back yard, little bugs flying here and there around them while Paige sank her hands deep into the dirt.

She made her way to Andersons reserved conference room, not at all surprised to find that Jack was already there, sipping on a coffee. She knew he was something of a night owl, but a human being able to operate at such a high level at six in the morning seemed unreal to her. As for Anderson, already at the head of the table with an opened folder in front of him, that was easier to believe. For a while now, Rachel had been convinced the man simply never slept.

For the most part, though, Anderson was an easy man to work for. Rachel knew she sometimes made risky decisions and caused him undue stress, but hed never come down hard on her. He could come off as rude sometimes, and this morning seemed to be one of those times. As soon as she came into the room, he slid the folder to her. She saw that Jack already had one. As she picked it up, Jack gave her a playful look that seemed to say Ooh, youre in trouble!

Before you look in that folder, Anderson said, I need to know if youre capable of handling it, Gift. I know you have a ton going on at home right now, but I assure you, we have you covered. There are cops parked in front of your house twenty-four-seven for the next two days. And, as I told you on the phone, we have a team of men looking into Lynch and how he got someone into your house. I will update you as soon as I can on that. But if your mind is going to be back here, at home, tell me now.