Chapter 23
Nicole
I was standing in the fancy kitchen.
Sleek. Modern. Every surface wiped and spotless. The open-concept space spilled into a massive living room with fourteen-foot ceilings and a glass wall overlooking the beach and the ocean.
The kids were curled up on the couch, eyes locked on a movie, the noise blasting through the surround sound built into the walls and ceiling. Amanda moved through the kitchen. She slid frozen pizzas onto a baking tray, then quietly cut up organic apples and strawberries.
I didn’t move. I stayed close to the hallway. My presence felt tolerated, not welcomed.
“I have a question,” she said, peeling the skin off an apple with a knife. Her hands moved fast but steadily. I almost smiled. She remembered that Ethan would only eat them peeled.
“And if you don’t answer it,” she added, still not looking at me, “then you can just leave and never come back.”
“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
She still didn’t look up. “Then tell me what the hell is going on. Why are the kids not safe at their home anymore?” Her voice was edged with something sharp underneath.
My eyes flicked toward the couch. Dylan hadn’t turned around. The volume was too high. Good. They couldn’t hear us.
“I don’t think you’re quite ready for—” I said, but Amanda looked up, eyes locked.
“Actually, Nicole, I think I’m quite ready for a lot of things right now. Including any information you might have that might help make sense of this all.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’m following a lead.”
“A lead?”
I nodded. “To Zach’s murderer.”
I let that hang, watching her, seeing if anything flashed across her face.
Nothing. Just tension.
“That night, a security camera at a gas station nearby caught a man on tape,” I explained, “covered in blood.”
“What?” Her head jerked back. Then shook. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Because of the attorney general. Let’s just say he doesn’t like me.”
She raised a brow like I was wearing a tinfoil hat, babbling conspiracy theories about the government faking the moon landing.
“Remember that Harlow boy?” I asked. “Years ago. The case that almost got me fired for helping that girl.”
“I … think so. Wasn’t that the one with the group of boys at a party? They raped a girl, and you refused to stay quiet even though one of them was some important person’s kid?”
“Yeah. That boy happened to be the AG’s son. He died of a drug overdose later.”
“So what lead are you following?” she asked. “Are you trying to find this guy from the gas station?”
“I have an address. It might help me track him down.”
“The police should do that. What if he is dangerous?”
I skipped the whole Nolan backstory. Too much to explain.
“They won’t help. And I don’t have another day to waste.”
She reached for her phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked, heart skipping a beat.
“Texting Brian,” she said, thumbs already moving. “I assume he’s at the bar?”
I nodded. She knew him so well.
Shame turned my cheeks red. What kind of family were we? Murder charges. Alcoholics. Beggars soon, if the lawyer bills kept piling up.
“He has a right to know where his kids are,” she said, not unkindly.
“I would’ve told him,” I said. “I just didn’t know how you’d react. If you’d help us.”
She picked up the apples and placed the slices neatly onto three separate plates.
“Just to be clear. I’m doing this for the kids.
And having them here … honestly, it feels like I can breathe again for the first time in weeks.
I missed them so much.” Amanda kept her eyes on the counter, not blinking.
“But none of this means I agree with anything you’re doing.
Or that I’ll help Lacey in any shape or form. ”
It hurt to hear her say that, but I was too grateful to let that hurt last longer than a heartbeat.
“Thank you,” I said quietly. “I’ll call you later. It shouldn’t take more than a few days. One way or the other.”
She just kept her focus on slicing strawberries into neat halves.
I walked over to the kids, bent down, and kissed each of them on the cheek. They didn’t flinch. Too focused on the movie. But Dylan looked up at me with that worried look in his eyes.
I gave a small shake of my head, reassuring him I would be just fine.
He knew what I was doing. He’d overheard Brian and me before the fight in the kitchen.
And he loved his mom enough to let it happen.
A soft smile curved across my mouth as I kissed him again. Then I turned and walked back into the kitchen. Amanda was still at the counter, scooping fruit onto plates.
She was family to us.
So how could she really believe Lacey did this?
“Funny,” I said. “Last night, Brian reminded me of something.”
“What’s that?”
“He said something that made me think of that time Lacey ran into you two by accident. When she was pregnant with Dylan, and Brian had just dropped out of college.”
Amanda froze mid-movement.
I kept going. Calm. Voice low so the kids couldn’t hear me.
“You remember that restaurant in York? All the way up north? She was dropping off a college classmate at her parents’ house and happened to drive by the Beach Shack, where she saw you and Brian sitting on the front patio.
The odds of that …” I shook my head. “She was so sure Brian had told her he was visiting his aunt in the nursing home that day.”
I let the words hang a moment before meeting Amanda’s eyes.
“I know you both lied to her. But Lacey …” My voice cracked.
“Lacey never questioned your story. That your car broke down in York. That you called Brian to get you. That you just invited him to lunch to thank him. Lacey didn’t even question Brian when his strange late-night shifts just ended overnight after she saw you in York. ”
I blinked slowly. My throat was burning.
“She never doubted you. Even when I did. When the whole world did.”
I took a deep breath, just to steady myself.
“Anyway. Thank you. For helping us. The kids love you. I do too.”
I left it at that. I walked to the door, grabbed the cool metal handle, opened it, and pulled it shut behind me as I left. It closed with a thud.
Back in the car, the quiet hit hard. But, to my surprise, I welcomed it. Like the calm before another storm.
I took a deep breath.
I had work to do.