Chapters (97)
- Cover
- Back Cover Text
- Praise
- Booklist
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Eighty-Eight
- Eighty-Nine
- Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
- Excerpt
The woman lost consciousness, her monitor began beeping, her hand fell.
Ben saw a ring on her finger.
A skull ring.
The siren wailed.
Eighty-Nine
California
Present day
The next morning Ben stared from his bed at the clock on the wall.
He was in the hospital at Big Bear Lake. He’d been in a car wreck. He’d suffered fractured ribs and his daughter had minor injuries, the doctor and nurses had told him the previous night.
But my wife?
The doctors and nurses made no mention of Emma as Ben was being sedated. He recalled moments from the crash but his memory was a puzzle with missing pieces emerging slowly, not giving him the full picture.
Not yet.
A new nurse was tending to him this morning.
“What about my wife, Emma?” he asked her. “And the other people? There were other people.”
The nurse’s eyes were shining, heavy with sorrow. “Try to relax, Mr. Grant.”
Then the door opened and two San Bernardino deputies and a doctor came into the room.
They were accompanying Kayla, her face bearing cuts, scrapes, bandages on her chin and neck. She kissed him and took his hand.
The doctor looked to one of the deputies, then cleared his throat. “We’re very sorry Mr. Grant, but your wife did not survive her injuries. She passed away.”
The earth stood still.
Ben could not believe the doctor’s words because he had shut down.
All he could manage was: “What?”
Kayla caressed the top of his head, then leaned her face to him, gently touched her head to his.
“Emma’s gone, Dad.” She sobbed. “She’s dead.”
It’s not true.
Ben couldn’t believe it, beseeching God to intervene, to let it not be true. Breathing hard, lightning flashed in his mind, pulling him back to when he had first met Emma, her first words to him.
“You have a deep understanding for everyone touched by the crime—even the killers. Your writing reaches a part of me.”
Ben opened his mouth to speak but ceased his effort.
He was deaf to what the deputies and doctor were now saying, a new icy thought piercing him: Kayla. This was the second mother she’d lost. The second wife he’d lost—only miles apart.
The karmic wheel had turned on him.
Again.
After everyone but Kayla left, Ben hugged her while wrestling with his grief. And confusion.
“Dad,” Kayla said, tears rolling down and over her bandages, “I’d be dead too, if Emma hadn’t pushed me out of the way. She saved my life and sacrificed hers.”
Three women, including Emma, were killed, and two people, Ben and Kayla, were injured in a two-car collision involving pedestrians. That was the first confirmed report released out of San Bernardino’s Big Bear Sheriff’s Station.
Ben declined all media calls that came to the hospital.