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“Kevin?”
His face appeared on the screen.
He looked exhausted.
Carson stood behind him.
“We’re at the nursing home,” Tate said.
My pulse quickened.
“Why?”
“Walter had an episode.”
“What kind?”
“He kept asking for Emily.”
Elizabeth’s breath caught.
Tate continued.
“The doctor says he’s unusually lucid right now. It may not last.”
I looked at Elizabeth.
She nodded.
“Put him on.”
A nurse carried the phone into another room.
For several seconds, the screen showed only a ceiling.
Then Walter Mills appeared.
He looked nothing like the sheriff from the old photographs.
He was small.
Thin.
Lost inside a hospital gown.
His white hair had been combed neatly.
His eyes wandered until they found the screen.
“Emily?”
“No,” I said. “My name is Judy Langley.”
His expression changed.
“Judge Langley?”
“His daughter.”
