Page 392 of A Matter of Time

“Jory, you’ve gotta be—” Detective Moore began.

“I’m not wrong,” I told him and my brother, realizing suddenly that, along with them, Sam’s parents were there, and Detective Hefron, and a couple of other people I didn’t know. They all had badges hanging from chains around their necks. “I know what I did, and I know what I didn’t do, and I’m sure I⁠—”

“Shut up,” Sam suddenly yelled, and I got up and turned around to look at him.

I couldn’t believe he was taking their side and not listening to me, but when I saw his face, I went mute. He was absolutely ashen.

“Sam,” I said quickly, leaning down, my hands on his shoulders. “Are you all right? Should I call the doctor or⁠—”

“Sam,” Regina gasped, rushing up beside me and putting her hands on his chest. “Honey, what can we do?”

“Call the doctor!” Thomas barked out.

It was chaos in seconds, everyone yelling before Sam stood up, brushing away everyone’s hands but mine. Me he grabbed tight and hugged to his side, like he was protecting me.

“Shut up!” he roared a second time, and the room went instantly silent. I was suddenly whipped around to face him, his hands digging into my biceps painfully. Even hurt, he was so strong. “You only touched the door and the wall, correct?”

I nodded.

He looked over my shoulder but didn’t let me go. “Goddamnit,” he said, swaying a little, his voice hoarse. “Neal.” He let me go as Detective Moore stepped in front of him. “We’re fuckin’ idiots.”

I watched Detective Moore stare at Sam, and then his mouth slowly opened before he turned and looked at Detective Hefron.

“It’s Caleb Reid,” James Hefron said flatly, then he let out a deep breath. “Jesus Christ, it’s Caleb Reid.”

“Wait,” Dane said quickly. “What are you⁠—”

“Go to his room,” Sam yelled at Moore, who turned and ran, walkie-talkie in his hand, as everyone cleared out but Sam’s family, Dane, and Aja.

“Sam,” Dane said, stepping closer to him. “What’s going on?”

Sam pulled his hair back from his face and looked at me. “Holy shit, Jory.”

“What? What’s going on? What does this have to do with⁠—”

“It’s Caleb, baby,” Sam said, putting a hand around the back of my neck to pull me to him. “It has to be. Everything started around the time Caleb came into Dane’s life. The first guy was killed right after he met Dane and learned about you. Everything lines up, and I’m sure he purposely touched that knife yesterday to throw us off. He killed Joyce Fain and left the murder weapon in plain sight, knowing that when he brought you back with him, you would see him touch it and vouch for his stupidity. We won’t find any other prints on that knife because there aren’t any others to find.”

It didn’t make any sense. “But Caleb was in Texas before yesterday, and they said Ms. Fain was killed⁠—”

“You told Moore that Caleb showed up at your hotel room. How do you know when he actually got into town? He could have been there for days before he met you, or he never went back to begin with.”

My head hurt again. “But, Sam, he was kidnapped with me.”

“Honey, you don’t know that. You never saw anybody’s face. If Caleb was working with Greg Fain, that means that he was sitting there watching Greg hit you and hold you down. Or maybe Greg watched Caleb hurt you. That’s probably more likely. A number of the injuries you received, you didn’t remember getting, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, but⁠—”

“Caleb killed Greg Fain when he decided to let you go, and put him in that freezer in the backyard because he probably had no idea what else to do.”

“The car was stolen, that’s how I got away.”

“Or the car, with you in the trunk, was abandoned on purpose. Either way it equates to Caleb letting you go.”

“But he’s my friend.”

“No, he’s not.” He shook his head. “And he finally slipped up.”

“How?” Dane asked, his voice cold.