She felt heat rising up her neck, flooding her face. “After we married, Kevin purchased a safe. He said it was to keep our important documents secure in case of a fire or a robbery.” Her stomach hurt just thinking about it. How gullible she had been. “He had me gather my jewelry, passport, driver’s license, credit cards, birth certificate. We put everything inside. He shut the safe door, latched it, and spun the lock. I asked for the combination. He told me I didn’t have to worry, that he had the number sequence stored in his head. I could feel the panic rising as he exited the closet, me standing there with all my valuables locked up tight. I heard the TV in the living room switch on to the football game. I had hoped that he’d left the safe combination in the top drawer of his bedside table along with his gun, ammo, and stuff, but it wasn’t there. I followed him into the living room and asked again. He accused me of not trusting him and he kinda”—she swallowed hard—“flipped out . . .” She smoothed her suddenly damp palms along her thighs. Shrugged. “I learned to stop asking.”

“Why didn’t you tell your parents? Ask them for help?”

It was a good question. One she had repeatedly turned over in her mind. Sarah looked Mick straight on. She was done cowering from the truth. “I was ashamed,” she said. One of Mick’s hands left the steering wheel and covered hers, warm and solid, giving her courage to keep talking. “My parents took an instant disliking to him. Said they didn’t trust him. They felt he was a player, a manipulator. At the time, I thought they were being unfair. I was young, foolish, and headstrong. We got into a terrible argument. I accused my parents of being elitist snobs.” She shook her head. “But my greatest stupidity was, once I learned how very right they were, I didn’t back down, ask for their help. The arrogance of youth and pointless pride made it impossible to admit I had made a mistake, to ask for help. Instead I made a multitude of excuses for Kevin, to myself and to them.”

“For what it’s worth—keeping in mind I don’t know the various parties involved—it is possible that you are correct and your lawyer and ex are in cahoots.” Mick’s cell phone buzzed, but he didn’t answer it. Kept talking. “However, there might be a couple of other possible explanations.”

Sarah tried to clamp down on the tiny seedling of hopefulness. “Really? Like what?”

“You mentioned Kevin was abusive. Has your lawyer ever done anything that made you feel unsafe or made you question his loyalty?”

“Other than giving Kevin the information about where I was hiding?” Her tone came out a little sarcastic, but he didn’t seem to take it personally.