Earl’s icy demeanor softened the second they were alone. “Are you okay, Jessa?”

Shaking. Queasy and really confused. “What was that about?”

She bent down to get the business card, thinking that might explain. But Earl beat her to it.

“It’s nonsense.” He tucked the card into his pants pocket. “He’s unhinged. You don’t want any part of that.”

“He was talking about deaths and—”

“He’s a disgraced reporter who sees conspiracies wherever he looks. It’s pathetic and annoying.” Earl smiled, but the fury reflected in his eyes didn’t diminish. From his grip on the bat to the stiffness in his body, anger clearly ran through him, and he’d barely banked it.

He motioned for the man from the car to step closer. “Trent will take you home.”

“It’s okay.” A mix of adrenaline and panic clashed inside of her. She wasn’t convinced she could walk to the car without falling down. Standing there for a few minutes struck her as the right decision. “That’s not necessary.”

“We want you to be safe,” Earl said.

Despite living in the city and having been schooled in every precaution a woman needed to take to survive, Jessa rarely felt unsafe in the DC area . . . until now.

Chapter Twenty-Six
Gabby

Deny. Deny. Deny.

Gabby didn’t want to tell them like this. She didn’t want to tell them at all. She tried to find the right words, but there weren’t any. The train rolled right for her, bearing down and speeding up. She couldn’t jump or shift. She had to stand there and let it slam into her then hope enough pieces remained for her to rebuild from the chaos.

Liam and Kennedy were the two people Gabby loved most in the world, and she was about to lose them.

Liam’s eyes narrowed. “Gabby, tell me what’s going on.”

He acted like this was easy, but Gabby faced a wall of furious indignation. Kennedy, wound up and wrung out both emotionally and physically, looked ready to drop. Except for her expression. That fierce determination to push the issue and condemn her mother bubbled to the surface.

Gabby thought about trying to pivot, about falling back on Liam’s need to get work done, especially now, and Kennedy’s need to rest. Push off. Deflect. Ignore. That had been the strategy both in her mind and in reality for years, and Gabby watched it all crumble in front of her.

Kennedy glared at Jessa. “Show him the note.”

“What’s happening?” Poor Liam rushed to catch up but kept falling behind. Most of his focus seemed to be on Kennedy and her reason for being unexpectedly home. “Are you okay?”

“No.”

Gabby’s world upended and kept spinning. She tried to stay on her feet and ended up leaning into the kitchen stool. “Liam, we need—”

“Tell him!” Kennedy’s scream echoed off the kitchen walls.