Time would tell, he thought, heading uphill. As he passed by the window of an Italian restaurant, he noticed his reflection in a storefront window. He’d finally gotten a haircut and trimmed his beard. He didn’t look so much like a freak any longer, but he still felt uneven and disjointed inside. The pain in his arm and shoulder had finally ceased, and the scars on his chin beneath his beard had almost disappeared, but he was profoundly changed forever.

Not only was he going to be a father, but Megan still hadn’t been found, despite the location of her car coming to light. In Jennifer Korpi’s boyfriend’s garage. What the hell was that all about?

Was Megan even still alive?

Or was she, like two other women in town—Willow Valente and Charity Spritz—dead, murdered?

Would he ever know?

Would he ever stop parking across from the Main Street Hotel to make certain that Rebecca was safe for the night?

It was all so very wrong.

He sidestepped a skateboarder zipping between pedestrians and spotted the sign of the store he was looking for half a block uphill, just past a little café where he and Rebecca had met for coffee. His jaw tightened with the memory, then, with a crowd that had waited at the corner, he crossed the street before heading into a small store where all kinds of electronic devices were on display, the shop that Rowdy had recommended. Once inside, he zeroed in on the surveillance section and found a pimply-faced kid behind the counter who couldn’t have been eighteen but enthusiastically showed him devices he claimed were “state-of-the art, nearly military-grade” equipment.

James didn’t believe that line of bull, but found a tracking device that would do the trick and bought it.

Once on the wet sidewalk again, he hiked three more blocks through the rain to a jewelry store he’d found in a city search on his phone. The window display of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings glittered brightly against the backdrop of the gloomy day. James stared at the diamond rings sparkling beneath the subtly hidden lights of the display.

Could he really do this?

Be such a hypocrite as to buy a tracking device so he could find out where Sophia went—on the same day as he purchased an engagement ring?

* * *

Ten days later, Julia was barely holding it together.

Frantic inside.

She tried to keep her mind on business.