Addie caught sight of me and lifted her brows. “Going somewhere?”
“I just need to run out. Will you be okay on your own?”
“Sure, things are slow enough now,” Addie said easily, but her expression turned suspicious. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll explain when I get back. I’ll be as quick as I can. Thanks, Addie!”
Snow was just starting to fall as I slipped out the front door and headed to my car. I saw Rob’s truck parked around the corner and carefully avoided looking toward Dueling Dragons when I drove past, though they wouldn’t be able to see me through the boards now covering the front wall of the store where the windows had blown out.
The rush of finally deciding what to do next kept me going as I drove toward the lake and turned right on Route 104. I could just barely make out the rotating light of the Spruce Hill lighthouse, flashing through the snow, as I followed the road east along Lake Ontario at the northern edge of town.
The two possible warehouse options were only ten minutes from one another. I’d just scope them both out for signs of life, then try to figure out how to talk sense into someone like Sandra Billings.
I was halfway to my first stop when recognition hit me so fast I swerved into the other lane, wrestling against the slick road and my own adrenaline to straighten out the car again.
“Holy shit. Billings,” I whispered, my breath a faint plume in the cold inside my car.
Mary Billings was the name of Isaiah’s wife. If she’d taken our last name when they got married all those years ago, as the church decreed, Pastor Baumgartner wouldn’t have made that connection.
Sisters.
Oh my god.
Over and over, realizations pummeled my chest like hailstones until I was hyperventilating.
The girl at the door that night had to be my niece—no longer the somber, dark-haired child in the photo, but a teenager with access to blonde dye. If she was in town, her mother must have been in on it. Christ, I hoped Isaiah’s wife was the passenger who’d thrown the brick through Milo’s window and they hadn’t made the poor kid do it.
Did Isaiah know what was going on? I’d finally convinced myself he wasn’t involved in any of this, especially when it became clear Milo was the target, but now…I couldn’t be sure.
No matter who was behind it all, I would do everything in my power to protect those I loved, my niece included.
Milo’s life wasn’t the only one at stake. Failure was out of the question.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Milo
Enteringthecharredremainsof my life’s work was more painful than I anticipated. As much as I wished Eden were at my side, her cousin Rob was both patient and cheerful, which helped to soothe the ragged, gaping wound inside my soul as we picked our way through the ash-covered rubble.
After dropping me off, my mom headed to pick up Carter from school to make up for him not being able to hang at the shop with me, so at least she didn’t have to endure the lingering smell of smoke while Rob and I figured out what needed to be done.
Fortunately—if any aspect of this disaster could be considered fortunate, apart from my unlikely survival—my assailant was not an experienced arsonist. The blaze had been focusedon the area between my body and the front corner of the store, since she ran out of gasoline before dousing the rest of the shop.
The smoke and water damage, however, were extensive.
I tried not to cringe at the destruction as we picked our way through the mess of waterlogged books and singed game sets. My family had come in once the fire department gave the green light, but there wasn’t much they could do apart from boarding over the shattered windows.
Again.
I still couldn’t believe Eden had made it through this experience largely unscathed. The small burns had healed quickly, and more importantly, she hadn’t withdrawn emotionally.
That was the biggest success to come out of all this.
“This might be an inappropriate time for this,” Rob said as he dusted a layer of soot from the cover of a graphic novel, “but I feel like I should ask your intentions toward my cousin.”
A strangled, slightly hysterical laugh erupted from my throat, but Rob looked completely serious, so I answered in kind.
“I intend to make her happy for as long as she’ll let me, hopefully for the rest of our lives.”
