My mom lurched to her feet and grabbed my hand. “You need to be careful. The people your dad was mixed up with… They’re bad news. Worse than a lot of folks know. And a bunch of them are already out. Got out before I did.”

I jerked my hand out of her grasp. I didn’t want anything to do with her touch. Her worry, whether it was an act or real. “What are you talking about?”

She began looking around furtively as if someone might jump out at any moment. My back teeth ground together. “Are you high?”

“What? No.” Her face hardened. “I got sober in prison. Six years.”

I tried to see the truth in her. Or confirmation of a lie. But I couldn’t tell. I didn’t know this woman anymore. She might as well have been a stranger on the street. “Do you know where Dad is?”

Her eyes shifted, staring at something over my shoulder. “No.”

That was a lie. Every muscle in me hardened, including my heart. “If you care about your family at all, you’ll tell Parker where he is. Let the FBI bring him in. Maybe if he’s put in jail, we can finally put this nightmare to rest. Will and Ava won’t worry that he’ll just show up out of the blue one day.”

“He’s my husband,” she whispered.

“He’s a drug dealer who brought violent people into your children’s home.”

Ragged pain seemed to pour from her eyes, but she didn’t falter for a moment. Didn’t even consider altering her stance. “You can’t change who you love.”

“Then you’re more of an idiot than I thought.” I spun on my heel, heading for the door.

“Wait, Caelyn. Please. You need to be careful. You don’t understand.”

I tried to tune her out as I jogged down the steps and to my SUV. But nothing would silence the knowledge that my mother would always choose her husband over anyone else. Even if he was risking the lives of her own children.

28

Griffin

I hung up my phone for the fourth time. Still no answer. I was now full-on pacing in front of my truck. I’d come by The General Store to check on Caelyn, just to make sure she was hanging in there and not worrying about the kids or someone doing anything while she was at work. But Caelyn wasn’t there. A woman I’d only seen a handful of times was working at the kitchen station. She told me that Caelyn had taken the day off. Where the hell was she? She’d dropped the kids off at 8:15 a.m. and now it was almost lunchtime.

I strode towards the water, scanning the shoreline. There were undoubtedly people out and about, tourist season picking up. But I didn’t see Caelyn anywhere.