Chapter 36 #2
To my surprise, Kylie was the first to get out of the SUV. Gage and I were quick to follow, then we were leading her past other headstones to the one that had fresh flowers resting in the small vase.
The sun was out, the day warming up. The meteorologist had said it was going to be warm today.
In the high 80s. At the moment, it was comfortable, the breeze almost cool as it gently swept through.
Sunlight was beaming down through the giant oaks that dotted the landscape, as though a higher power was attempting to provide warmth and light to those buried beneath the ground.
“Someone left flowers,” Kylie said when we stopped a few feet from the headstone with her name on it.
“Travis did,” Gage told her. “He’s put fresh flowers here every week since we…”
My gaze snapped to Gage. I didn’t realize he knew I was the one who’d been doing that.
It was true. I had placed a new bouquet every week, much of the time with Kate’s input.
She would tell me what her mother liked, or what she thought was appropriate for the time of year, and I would get it.
I would swing through at some point during the day, remove the old flowers, and arrange the new ones in the vase.
Then I would spend a few minutes talking to my wife.
Who hadn’t been in the ground.
“Since you buried me,” Kylie whispered.
I stepped behind her and put my arms around her, unable to look at her name etched into that stone and not remind myself that she was alive.
I couldn’t count how many times I’d come out here so I could talk to her.
I’d felt closer to her for some reason, though looking back, I wasn’t sure why that was. She’d never been there.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking over at Gage, then back at me.
“For what?”
“That y’all had to go through that.”
I could’ve told her that a part of me had died that day, but I kept that to myself. I did not want to relive any of it, and I didn’t think it would benefit her to know how much pain we’d all endured.
“We had no idea you were alive,” Gage said as the three of us stood there.
“When did you realize?” Kylie asked.
Because I knew we would get to this eventually, I was grateful the kids weren’t around because she deserved to know, and I intended to tell her.
“Brantley called me up and asked me to meet him at the diner,” I explained. “Last Saturday.”
Kylie stepped forward, forcing me to release her. I dropped my arms to my side, watching her as she processed the words.
She turned to face me, her eyebrows lowered. “He just told you?”
Instantly, I thought back to my conversation with Brantley at the diner, not even a week ago.
“What did you need to tell me? I’ve got things to do today.”
“As you know, we’re lookin’ into the circumstances of Meredith’s disappearance. I’ve assigned Archer and Atticus to lead the investigation.”
When Brantley paused, I fought the urge to get up and walk out the door. I didn’t give a shit about any of this.
“They worked all night to put together a timeline that will allow us to start pursuing leads.”
Again, I waited, my patience quickly dwindling.
“When they were going through Holt’s notes, they found something. Something that … well, it sounds insane. So insane that I confronted Holt and Simon about it this morning. They assure me it’s real.”
Frowning, I leaned in. “What the hell are you tellin’ me this for?”
Brantley took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. “I know you’re not gonna believe this any more than I do, but…”
“Goddammit, Brant—”
“They’ve uncovered evidence—” Brantley shook his head, still holding my stare. “I honestly don’t know how to say it.”
“Just spit it out so we can move on with our lives.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t think we can.”
Confused, I pinned Brantley with a hard look. “Tell. Me.”
The pause that ensued felt like it went on for years, but then Brantley opened his mouth and words began spilling out.
“They’ve uncovered evidence that leads them to believe Kylie’s alive.”
Words that didn’t make a lick of sense.
Words that caused the Earth to stop spinning.
As those words sank in, my entire existence tilted.
It. Fucking. Tilted.
Sending me off my axis for the second time in as many years.
I nodded. “Brantley and his team have been lookin’ into your mother’s whereabouts. He had no idea. No one did. Not until that day.”
“Wait. You said he’s been lookin’ into my mother?” Her frown deepened. “Why?”
“It’s a long story. And yes, I’ll tell you everything, but it’s … it’s long.” I took a deep breath. “Anyway. Lookin’ into her whereabouts brought Martin Calloway to their attention.”
Gage spoke up when I stopped. “There were some things that didn’t add up, so they started diggin’.
That’s when they learned that the doctor who signed your death certificate had received a payoff.
They talked to him, and he tied Calloway in again.
It snowballed from there, and the moment they believed you were alive, they started huntin’, and they didn’t stop. ”
“Until they found me,” Kylie said.
I stood there, watching her. I was grateful that Gage didn’t reveal that I hadn’t believed Brantley at first. In my defense, I hadn’t been given much information because my cousin hadn’t had any at the time.
I’d fought the urge to get my hopes up, knowing I wouldn’t survive losing Kylie again.
And that would’ve been what happened if they had been wrong.
“So you just found out?” Kylie asked again, her tone rife with disbelief.
“Yes.”
Right before my eyes, some of the tension in her shoulders eased.
“That’s why he was gonna kill me,” she said, her gaze shifting to the ground.
“Kieran realized Martin was gonna either let me die or kill me outright, so he came in and got me. Pretended I was already dead. Kieran and Allison kept me at that house, got a doctor to take care of me. They hid me from him.”
Fury erupted in my veins at the thought of that fucker ordering her death.
While I still wanted to pound Kieran into the ground for the part he played in all this, I wouldn’t because he had been the one to save her.
Granted, I would never forgive him for hiding Kylie from us.
I didn’t give a shit if it was only for a short time or that he believed it was the only way to keep her safe.
The asshole had let us all believe that my wife was dead, that the mother of my children was gone forever.
All while she’d been in the clutches of some fucking psychopath.
But that was for another day.
“There’s somethin’ else you should know,” Gage said, stepping closer to me, his eyes on Kylie.
She looked up. “What?”
“Allison … he had her killed.”
Kylie’s eyes widened and I saw a hint of pain there. “She said he would.”
I was surprised by that. “She knew he was gonna kill her?”
“Yeah. That’s why Kieran didn’t want her comin’ here. She wanted to tell Brantley and Reese to see if they could help.”
“Help what?”
“Get me home.”