“And that means”—Myron was on a roll now—“you two are in contact about the texts. And that means there was something really significant between the two of you.”

Chick’s voice could not have been more crestfallen without an actual crest or fall in view. “You have to leave it alone, Myron. I’m begging you.”

“Even if it’s the key to finding your son?”

“It’s not. If I thought it had anything to do with Rhys, I would be shouting it every day from the rooftops. But it doesn’t. Why can’t you believe me?”

“Because you’re too close to it. You’re not objective.”

Chick closed his eyes. “You won’t let this go, will you?”

“I won’t, no. And let me give you a little push here, Chick. If you don’t tell me, I’m going to ask Brooke about them.”

Chick winced as though the words had formed a fist and threatened to punch him. “You have to understand one thing first.”

“I don’t have to understand, but go ahead.”

“I love Brooke. I always have. I always will. Our life isn’t perfect. I know that psycho Win—”

“Chick?”

“What?”

“Stop calling my friend names, okay?”

Chick nodded. “Yeah, whatever. Win hates me. He thinks no one is good enough.”

Myron checked his watch. Terese would be in the apartment by now. “You told me this already.”

“Not really,” he said. Again Chick gave him the crestfallen look. “You need to know how much I love my wife and family. I ain’t a perfect man. I’ve done some really questionable things in my time. The thing that gives me humanity—the only thing that really matters—is my love for my family. For Brooke. For Clark.” His chest started to hitch, and the tears started to flow. “And for Rhys.”

Chick broke into a sob. The real thing. No faking, no trying to hide it. Oh man, Myron thought. Stay strong, stay focused, but remember: This guy is searching for his lost son.

When Chick was back in control, Myron pushed him again: “Why were you two texting, Chick?”

“We didn’t have an affair.”

“What, then?”

“We were going to. That was the thing. We didn’t do it. But we were going to.”

“I thought you loved your wife.”

“You’re not married, are you, Myron?”

“Engaged.”

Chick wiped the tears. He managed a smile, but there was no joy there. “We don’t have time to get into it. But you’re old enough to know that life isn’t black-and-white. It’s lived in the gray. We get older, we think we’re going to die, we reach for something, even if it’s stupid. So that’s what we did. Me and Nancy. We started flirting. It went too far. We started to make plans because that’s how these things are. Like everything else in this horrible world, it gets worse, not better. You reach a stage where you either go through with it or it dies.”

“So what happened, Chick?”

“It died.”

“You didn’t go through with it?”