Pete stopped in midstride, realizing how selfish his thinking was. Yes, he had suffered through a lousy childhood and adolescence. And yes, he had suffered feelings of guilt for twenty years. But his suffering was nothing compared to what Cady had been through. From the little he’d heard, her life after the accident had been pure hell. The blow from the rocks, along with the fall, had done serious damage to her spine, and it had taken her more than three years to regain the ability to walk again.

The loss of her childhood, all that pain, all that suffering—physical and mental—because he and the twins had accused her of being a sissy chicken and dared her to ride the zip line. If only she had been a sissy chicken, none of it would have happened.

Pete turned the corner to his house, the streetlamp lighting the way down the block. At his house, he walked up the driveway, but instead of going into the house, he continued around back to his office.

Inside, he turned on the light and smiled. He always smiled when he entered the office, just as he always smiled when he walked into his house. Everything was warm, cozy, and comfortable-looking to the eye. Something he’d never had when he was a kid. He’d lived in a stripped-down house with a stripped-down bedroom. Clothes, food, and comfort were wherever he could find them. Andy, Cady, and Amy never knew how many nights he’d spent in the tree house at the Judas Grove during the warm summer months just because the tree house was cozy and warm, with its posters and strips of carpeting. Boomer knew, though, and he’d never given it away. He’d always wondered why, but he had never asked.

Boomer. aka Maxwell Ward. An enigma.

Pete flopped down on his ergonomic chair. His smile was gone, replaced with a frown. He swiveled around to open the minibar behind his desk and popped a bottle of Miller Lite. He positioned his feet on the corner of his desk and closed his eyes, his thoughts going in all directions.

It was pissifying that Boomer was about to take up residence in Indigo Valley as the chief of police at this point in time. Beyond pissifying. How would it play out over time? He had to admit he didn’t have a clue.

He hadn’t seen Boomer since Boomer graduated from high school. When Pete and the twins graduated, Boomer was already a senior at Penn State. They’d all gone their separate ways to different colleges. Andy had gone to Villanova. Amy to West Chester University, while he had gone to Princeton.

Boomer hadn’t attended his ten-year high school class reunion. If he had ever come back to town, he sure hadn’t seen him. Why would he give up an exciting job in Pittsburgh to come back to Indigo Valley? Maybe big-city life had gotten to him. Maybe his parents needed him. Hell, maybe he loved Indigo Valley.