Leni laughed. “Huh. Nope, can’t say I knew that.”
“Seventy-five-point-eight inches, in case you’re curious. Riley couldn’t believe it was enough to bury two of him stacked together, so I got out the tape measure to show him. I think he’s measured everything in my house now.”
“No wonder you’re his favorite teacher,” Leni said, taking a right onto the two-lane that would carry her northwest a dozen or so miles to her friend’s place near the school. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get away sooner to come and pick him up.”
“Don’t worry about it. He’s asleep. School’s closed tomorrow, so he’s welcome to stay the night if you like. The snow’s still coming down with a vengeance out there. You should stay put.”
“I’m already on the road. And I don’t mind the drive.” Leni put the call on speaker as she tried to talk over the rhythmic thump of the wiper blades. “I just . . . I really need to have Riley close and where I can see him tonight.”
“What happened?” Carla knew her too well than to miss the note of anxiety in Leni’s voice. “You sound rattled, and you never get rattled. Are you nervous about tomorrow?”
“I didn’t think I was, but then I got a visit from Dwight Parrish at the diner tonight.”
“Ugh. I should’ve guessed he wouldn’t be able to resist gloating over his brother’s early release.”
“Dwight made it very clear I’m going to be in for a fight when it comes to shielding Riley from Travis. I’m really afraid they’re going to try to take him from me.”
“Then you’ll take the fight to court. I know a great lawyer in Bangor who does a lot of pro bono work on family cases, especially when it comes to the protection of children. I’m sure she’ll be willing to help you if you need her.”
Leni let out a sigh. “Thanks, Carla. But you and I both know the Parrishes aren’t the kind of people you take to court.”
“Shannon did. Her testimony put Travis in prison for these past seven years.”
“And look what happened to her.”
Leni couldn’t prove anything, but in her gut she knew her sister hadn’t simply walked away from her life and everyone in it. The trial had barely begun when Shannon vanished without a word or a trace. Given her troubled background and her history as a runaway in her teens, her missing person case had gone largely ignored by local law enforcement and the rest of the community.
Leni didn’t want to think what might have happened to keep Shannon away from her child, or from seeing her assailant’s trial through to the end. All these years later, Leni wasn’t ready to accept what everyone else in Parrish Falls seemed to think about her sister—that whatever had happened, she was never coming back.
Leni refused to believe that.
Emotion pricked the backs of her eyes, making it even harder to see through the heavy slant of the snow blowing in front of the vehicle. The Bronco’s yellow headlights barely pierced the relentless swirl of flakes as she drove past the crossroad and the lone gas station in thirty-five square miles.
“I should hang up,” she said, her tires slipping in the new snow already filling the road since the plow had been through. “I’m probably fifteen or twenty minutes away in this mess. Don’t wake Riley before I get there. I’m going to put him straight into bed when we get home.”
“All right. Drive safe. See you when you get here.”
Leni ended the call and leaned over the wheel, peering straight ahead. With the moon obscured by the storm, the unpaved road was treacherous and dark the farther she drove.
Drifting snow crowded the edges of the two-lane, narrowing it to roughly one and a half.
No more signs of civilization to light the way. No more houses on either side. Only thick hardwood forest and a steep ravine that followed the frozen stretch of river running parallel with the winding road.
She pushed onward for a handful of miles before headlights ahead of her cut through the darkness. The vehicle was moving fast, coming toward her. A large pickup truck. One she recognized immediately.
The sharp blade attached to the front of it shoved large heaps of snow into her side of the road. Instead of slowing, Dwight Parrish’s truck picked up speed as if he didn’t see her. Or as if he meant to challenge her.
Holy shit.
Leni swerved as his bright headlights filled her windshield. There was no shoulder to cling to, only soft snow on the ledge above the ravine.
And zero traction.
Her outside tire slid into the formless shoulder, too sharply to correct. The heavy Bronco kept going, veering out of control. She pumped the brakes, but the snow gave way beneath her, rendering them useless. The treads of her tires had nothing to grip.
Oh, God.
The front passenger side of the vehicle lurched at the edge of the steep drop.
