It wasn’t long before Jessica was unlocking the front door to Pipe Layers. The place didn’t open for a few hours and it was dark, quiet. Jessica slapped on the lights, threw her keys on the bar, and went to the jukebox.

Matt took a seat on one of the stools and watched her in the reflection of the mirror behind the bar. With her conservative black dress she looked out of place bent over, peering into the jukebox. Music filled the room.

Jessica walked over and ducked behind the bar.

“Bon Jovi?” Matt said.

Jessica stood in front of Matt now. “My uncle handpicked the jukebox selection thirty years ago, and I haven’t had the heart to change it. And who doesn’t love some Jon Bon Jovi?” She gestured to the liquor bottles lining the wall. “What’ll you have?”

“A beer would be great.”

“Ah, come on,” she said, disappointed in him. “Wait, I know.” She pulled out a glass, plopped an oversize single ice cube into it, and started mixing some concoction. She slid the glass to him.

He held the drink at eye level, the clear cube bathed in brown liquid with a citrus rind. “What is it?”

“An old-fashioned.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is this just some Don Draper fantasy of yours or—”

“Shut up. Try it!”

He took a sip. It was actually quite good. Smoky, with a hint of sweet. “I didn’t peg myself as an old-fashioned guy, but it’s good.”

She nodded, then poured herself a beer—smiling as she did so, silently acknowledging that she’d just given him shit for wanting something as pedestrian as a beer. She took a sip, foam covering her top lip.

They didn’t speak for some time. He’d finish a drink, she’d make him another. She’d finish hers and pour another, as if it were a competition.

It wasn’t long until both were feeling the booze.

Matt’s phone shivered repeatedly in his pocket, but he never checked it.

“The funeral was nice,” Jessica said.

“You mean until the blaring sirens and the surviving son took off?”

She made a face. “Your grandpa looked well. I haven’t seen him around town in forever.”

Matt held the old-fashioned in his hand, contemplating it. “You don’t know how much I appreciate this, but really, there’s no need for small talk.” He drained his glass.

“No?” she said. “All right.” She leaned over the bar, grabbed Matt by the lapels of his suit, and pulled him into a kiss. He wasn’t expecting it, which gave the adrenaline slamming through him even more of a kick. Not moving her mouth from his, Jessica scaled the bar, knocking over glasses and bar tools, until she was on the other side. When she finally pulled away, both were breathing heavily, Jessica’s hair falling from the pins that held it in place.

“There’s a room upstairs,” she said.

He nodded, following her to a door in the back. She fumbled for her keys, kissing him again as she unlocked the door to a narrow stairwell. She took his hand.

His head was swimming. From the booze, from the hunger for her, from the surrealness of the day. Jessica walked unsteadily up the stairs.

Matt started to have second thoughts. He beat them back, but they kept leaping into his head. He’d thought of this girl for seven years, and was this how he wanted it to go? Sloppy, in a room above a bar—on the day of his family’s funeral, no less? But he did want her, and he needed something to make him feel good right now. Finish the unfinished business, as Kala had said. But the thought of Kala only intensified his feeling that this was a mistake.

At the top of the stairs was a small room with a twin bed, a nightstand, and a television. Jessica tugged off Matt’s suit jacket, pulled the loosened tie over his head, and unbuttoned his shirt, then his pants. Then she stopped and said, “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” She skipped to the bathroom connected to the room.

Matt sat on the bed, battling with himself. His phone started buzzing again. His aunt looking for him, probably. His friends. He pulled it from his pocket to put it on silent mode.

A text on the home screen caught his eye. The display showed only a few words of the text, but one of them was urgent.

He shouldn’t check. Don’t check. But his thumb didn’t oblige, and up popped the full text message from Agent Keller.

Urgent. Please call me.

Simple and to the point, like Keller. She wasn’t the kind of person to throw around the word urgent. He clicked on her number.

Right as Keller picked up, Jessica came out of the restroom wearing nothing but the string of pearls. Staring at her milky-white skin, he was speechless for a moment.

She looked stunning.

He was about to hang up when Keller’s voice said, “Matt, thanks for getting back to me. I’ve got some terrible news.” She waited a moment, then said, “It’s about your brother.”

CHAPTER 57

OLIVIA PINE

BEFORE

They spent another full day at the beach. Liv liked the beach as much as the next person, but it was hard going with a six-year-old. There was no relaxing. It was either worrying about drowning, incessant trips to the bathroom, or being forced into sandcastle-making hell. She shouldn’t complain; they were only little once. But Liv was glad they were back at the rental.

She also had her eye on Holmes and Watson. Evan and Maggie were doing their best to pretend they weren’t working on the case, but Liv knew better. You’d think she’d be annoyed, but it brought Maggie and her father together. Liv couldn’t think of any father-daughters as close as Evan and Mags. The entire trip was somehow related to Danny’s case, she knew. But right now she just didn’t care.

Liv studied her husband. He was sitting at the kitchen counter tapping something on his laptop, Maggie looking over his shoulder. Her daughter seemed more melancholy than usual. For the entire trip, Liv had sensed that something was bothering Maggie, that she was always on the verge of telling Liv something, but stopped short. It was probably to confess they were working leads in Danny’s case, but Liv decided they needed some mother-daughter time. After they all showered, she asked Maggie to go for a walk. “Dad got his dinner with you, so it’s my turn.”

A path to the woods lay just outside the property. Evan told them not to go too far. To bring their phones. Who knew what was in that jungle? He was nothing if not a worrier.

“Do I want to know what you and Dad have been up to?” Liv asked, walking along the footpath, surrounded on both sides by dense trees.

Maggie looked at her. She gave the blushing smile she displayed whenever she was caught in a fib. “I’ll let him tell you. He said he was going to tonight.”

Liv nodded. “I can’t wait.…”

“He doesn’t mean to let it consume him,” Maggie said. “It’s just that he can’t accept what happened to Danny, and feels like if he gives up, everyone else will too, and—”

“You don’t have to defend your father to me. It may not seem like it sometimes, but I love him for it. I’ve been too hard on him, worried about the rest of you—Matt—but I know Dad is just doing what he thinks is right. He’d do the same for any of you.” Liv thought of the line, the one from the book Evan loved. You have my whole heart. You always did.

They walked for a long while, the sun lowering in the sky, partially hidden by the canopy of trees.

“Is there something else you wanted to talk about?”

Maggie stopped on the trail. Her eyes filled with tears, and then she threw her arms around her mother and started to cry.

“It’s okay, my girl,” Liv said, rubbing Maggie’s back as her daughter’s body shuddered. “You can tell me anything. I’m here. Tell me.”

And she did.

CHAPTER 58

MATT PINE

Upstairs at Pipe Layers, Matt sat on the foot of the bed, his shirt open, the phone pressed to his ear.

“Do they think he’s going to make it?” he asked Keller.

Jessica in all her naked glory had retreated to the bathroom, realizing the call was important, the mood killed.

“I don’t know,” Keller said. “I found out just before the funeral and haven’t gotten to speak to the doctor.”

Matt wasn’t sure what he was feeling. The only sensation that came to mind was numb.

“Do you think it’s related to what happened to my family?” he asked. “Or was it just prison violence?”

“I don’t know. We can talk about this later. I just arrived at the US Attorney’s Office in Lincoln. I’m about to have a meeting with someone who may have some answers.”

“Who?”

“I’ll fill you in afterward. I really need to go.”

Matt didn’t have the energy to push it.

“Are you okay?” Keller said. “When you left the church, everyone was worried.”

“I’m fine, just spending some time with an old friend.”

Jessica reappeared from the bathroom, dressed, a look of concern on her face.

“All right. I’ll call you. Last thing,” Keller said. Her voice was breathy, as if she were walking now. “We know who sent the video tip of the party to your sister.”

Matt gave no reply.

“We tracked the IP address to a computer located at 15 Stone Creek Road. The Wheeler family. Your aunt said you know them.”

Matt looked at Jessica, who was pulling her hair up, staring at him with those large eyes.

“Yeah,” he said, “I do.”

CHAPTER 59