I reach for my phone and pluck it from where it landed in the grass. Mateo. I’ll call Mateo. Or one of my friends. I need to get this revelation off my chest. I need to describe it to another person. A friend is probably best.

The news app is still open on the screen.

SURPRISE IN EBEN CAPE MURDER CASE

My stomach turns. I scramble for the buttons on the side of the phone. I feel like I’ve never used it before. Never used any phone before. I need to get the volume turned up so I can hear what the news anchor is saying. I need to hear that he’s guilty.

He is guilty. I watched him kill Rhys. I was there.

“Mistrial,” says the news anchor. She says more, but that’s the only word I hear. It bangs around in my head. Mistrial. Mistrial. That’s not the same thing as a not-guilty verdict. It means something went wrong. A technicality, usually, but he can be tried again.

But it does mean… “Former Detective Joe Causey was released from the county prison immediately following the determination by the court.”

The rest of her sentence fades into cold, sharp fear. It’s summer, but I’m frozen to the core. Shattered. The yard seems massive and undefended around us. I turn in a circle, looking in every direction for the bodyguards. I see one of them in the distance. It’s not enough.

It’s not ever going to be enough.

They’re releasing him.

How?

He’s guilty.

I could scream.

I don’t.

Paige is here, and I don’t want to upset her. It’s inevitable, though, isn’t it? I’ll have to tell her that her murderous uncle is free in the world. I’ll have to make a plan to get us out of here. I’ll have to abandon our new house and find a way to live without him tracking us down.

A harsh laugh tears out of me. It’s the same situation all over again. Only my brother might be worse than Rhys. He’ll want revenge, and he won’t stop until he has it.

He watched me testify.

He watched Jane testify, just the other day.

Neither of us is going to be safe.

“Mom?” The trembling fear in Paige’s voice brings me back down to earth. “What are you doing?”

The fear in Paige’s eyes doesn’t banish my own, but it makes it manageable. I have no choice but to manage it for my daughter.

We’re together now.

I go to her and brush her curls back from her forehead. “It’s a little hot out. Do you want to go inside and have lemonade?”

She cracks a smile. “Can we also have muffins?”