“You mean they really did it?”

“They tried. The police caught them in the act. They’re in jail.”

Charlie was silent for a few moments, and then he looked up.

“What’s going to happen to them?”

Dan shrugged. “Chief Pittman said it will be up to the courts, but he believes they’ll serve some time. It was attempted robbery, car theft, and assault.”

“I can’t believe they’d do something so stupid,” Charlie said.

“That’s all on them,” Alice said. “Just remember Mr. Phillips is the real victim and might not even be alive tonight were it not for you.”

Booger barked.

Charlie stood.

“I know, Mom. I get it. And thanks, Dad. Now I better go get Booger and bring him in for the night before he stirs up a skunk.”

Dan put his arm around Alice as they watched Charlie leap off the patio and run out into the dark.

“That’s a really good boy you have, my love.”

Alice leaned against him. “We have…and yes, he is.”

* * *

Night drove Hunt and Ava from the park back to her home, and after the passion of making love had tempered their body heat beneath the covers, Hunt held her in his arms, watching her sleep. Her hair was like silk against his face, and the rhythm of her breathing matched the beat of his heart.

For all these years, he’d considered himself a loner. Sometimes he told himself it was because of the abrupt disruption of his family and the way that he’d been cast out. Other times he blamed it on the war, telling himself it had numbed him beyond repair.

And then he’d come home, and the dark-haired nurse standing beside his mother’s bed had both surprised and intrigued him. Now, he couldn’t imagine life without her. When she shifted slightly in his arms and sighed, he pulled the covers up over her back and then rested his chin on the crown of her head.

Sweet God in heaven… Hunt had never thought of his father as a loving man, but he couldn’t get past that paper he’d found. He didn’t know what had happened, but it felt like his father had controlled all of it, including the outcome.

“I love you, Ava. Thank you for loving me,” Hunt whispered, and then closed his eyes and slept.

* * *

Arnie and Donna Hollis couldn’t sleep.

Every time Donna closed her eyes, she saw her sons behind bars.

Arnie lay staring up at the ceiling, sick to his stomach and thinking back to when the boys were little, trying to remember if he’d missed the signs that would have alerted him to this future.

He remembered Teddy had always had a tendency to lie about everything. Even things that didn’t matter. And Brian was the follower.