What are you talking about?

Dont pretend you dont know.

But I dont.

Shut up. Sit. The arm jerks her roughly, forces her down into a pulled-out chair. Im going to sing to you.

But Shut up!

She clamps her jaw shut, seeing the mad gleam in Pats dark eyes as he begins to sing Happy Birthday.

Can you at least stay for a cup of coffee? Brynns stepmother asks Garth as his sons go with their grandfather to play with the train set in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Itll be ready in two minutes.

On edge, Garth tells her, I really need to get back. But he eyes the countertop, where fragrant coffee is hissing into the filter and dripping steadily into the gla.s.s carafe.

He hasnt slept well in Years,he thinks ruefully, and rubs his raw eyes. But these last few weeks have been worse than ever. And last night was the most brutal of all.

But he and Brynn can get through this together. Now that everything is out in the open, theyll work on mutual forgiveness. Garth figures that every marriage has rough spotsespecially when the kids are little and money is tight.

But this, too, shall pa.s.s, hes been telling himself. They love each other. That, he never doubts. Hes loved Brynn from that first night. He was a fool to keep things going with Tildy on the side. His only excuse is that he was young and brash and scared to death of commitment.

But I made one. And when I took those vows with Brynn, I meant them. I never broke them. I never will.

Yes, Tildy came on to him that night in Boston. And, yes, he might have been temptedfor a few seconds. But there was no way he would risk hurting, or losing, his wife.

Tildy seemed to understand. Shed always had an easy-come, easy-go att.i.tude where he was concerned, anyway.

Go home to your wife, she said somewhat wistfully, and give her a hug. Shes luckier than she realizes.

We both are,Garth thought at the time.

And still does.

Someday the kids will be more self-sufficient. And, someday, hopefully sooner than later, theyll have an additional cash flow. Hes been killing himself to try and get You look like you could use a jolt of caffeine, Sue comments, and Garth opens his eyes to see her watching him. Ill give you a go-cup if you want to take one with you. I dont want you falling asleep on the road.

Right. He felt dangerously drowsy on the drive over. Thank goodness for the jumbo bag of M&Ms he bought when he stopped for gas, and for Caleb haltingly reading aloud from the backseat, needing prompting with a difficult word every couple of lines.

Eventually he stopped reading and started complaining about an upset stomach, but they made it here without his getting sick.

So Sue takes a plastic insulated coffee mug from the cupboard and holds it up to him with a questioning look.

Thanks, Garth tells Sue. That would be good.

She nods and sets it on the counter beside the coffeemaker.

Hows Brynn feeling?

Shes hanging in there.

Thats good. Sue is wearing a strange expression, as though she expects him to say something else.

Garth shrugs. You know, shes been through h.e.l.l lately, so shes definitely seen better days, but Im glad youre doing something for her birthday. She needs Sue! Brynns father calls urgently from the bas.e.m.e.nt.

She hurries down the steps with Garth on her heels. They find Caleb standing in a pool of vomit.

I told you I felt carsick, he says accusingly to Garth, who looks around for something to use to clean his son and the floor.

And I told you that you probably shouldnt have been eating all those M&Ms and reading.

But Mommy throws up all the time, Caleb points out as Sue lifts him out of the pool of vomit, and she doesnt eat M&Ms and she hardly ever reads anymore.

Yeah, well, Mommy Garth stops short, remembering something. What do you mean, Mommy throws up all the time?

She does. Every day.

Every day? When does Mommy throw up?

Before breakfast and school.

Garth shifts his gaze thoughtfully away from his son and finds himself locking gazes with Sue. In her eyes, he unexpectedly finds the answer to a question he didnt even realize he was asking.

She stares for a long time at the medical record in her hand; an exact duplicate of one she keeps in her file cabinet at home.

Its locked, of course.

About as securely as Pats file cabinet was, she acknowledges grimly.

So he knew for how long?

When did he find out Fiona had been pregnant with their second child?

And that she terminated the pregnancy just before she told him she wanted a divorce It was a mistake. Not the divorce. The abortion. It was the worst mistake of her life.

She just didnt realize that until these past few days.

Only when she was able to step outside of her own life could she really see it clearly.

Fiona Fitzgerald had always believed she had everything that mattered, and she was right about that.

Just wrong about those things being her business, her status, her connections.

When the end came, none of that mattered.

Seeing the grief in Ashleys eyes awakened something deep inside of her. Some maternal instinct she had never even realized she possessed Until it was too late.

Or is it?

She can continue to live this life, a remorseful coward hiding in plain sight.

Or she can find the courage to reclaim her own, live with the consequencesand try to change. Try to become the kind of parent whose daughter wont hesitate when asked again, one day, what she loved about her mother.

She sits for a long time, mulling it over, wondering if she has what it takes.

Then, with a trembling hand, she reaches for the phone and dials.

Cedar Crest police.

She hesitates.

Then, closing her eyes and focusing on Ashleys face, she says clearly, My name is Fiona Fitzgerald.

Happy Birthday, dear Bry-ynn Never before did Brynn realize how inherently mournful the melody is. Especially the way hes singing it, a cappella, his voice low and eerily close to her ear as he stands behind her chair.

She can see his reflection in the kitchen window across the room; can see the silver glint of the knife hes holding poised at his side.

As soon as hes done singing, hes going to use it.

Garth will walk into this house and see what she saw when she walked into Fionas. h.e.l.l be a widower, her boys will be motherless, her unborn child will be buried with her.

No!

Rage boils up inside of Brynn.

Happy Birthday to She jerks to her feet without warning, slamming her head up and back with all her might.

Her skull makes painful contact and she hears a grunt behind her as Pat, caught off guard, falls backward.

The knife drops from his hand and she lunges for it.

But hes faster than she is, its closer to him.

His hand is already closing around the handle; its too late for her to grab it. Her only chance to save herself now is to run.

She scoots forward, crawling under the table, kicking a chair into his path as she gets to her feet. But hes right behind her, leaping on her with a snarl, dragging her back. He has a brawny arm around her shoulders now, his other hand yanking her hair hard so that her throat arches back.

Theres no escape now.

She sees the metallic flash as he wields his weapon overhead, then swoops it toward her helplessly arching neck.

Shes going to die.

Shes going to leave Garth, and Oh, dear G.o.d, my babies,is her last despondent thought Before the blast of gunfire erupts out of nowhere.

Im not so sure shes even what youre looking for.

Kylahs words haunt Isaac as he walks slowly uptown toward the oddly empty apartment he thought would feel like home if Rachel ever walked through the door.

Thats never going to happen.

Rachel is gone.

Whether shes dead or has run away; whether she had his baby or was ever expecting it in the first place Shes gone.

Isaac stops at the wide crosstown intersection at Fourteenth Street, staring at the redDONT WALK sign on the opposite curb.

Rachel is never coming back, not the way she was.

She isnt going to stroll back into his life someday and complete it.

No, thatmaking it completeis up to him.

So maybe, he thinks, looking over his shoulder, its time to let go.

Maybe The light has changed; a whiteWALK signal beckons.

Isaac hesitates.

Then he turns and retraces his steps, all the way back to Kylahs.

Pacing the porch of the cabin, Quincy watches flashbulbs popping like grounded lightning bolts amid the trees beyond the length of yellow crime scene tape. He pauses to sip from a bottle of cold water one of the investigators handed him, as another set of tires crunch along the gravel lane.

Probably the medical examiners car, he thinks, and idly turns his head to see if hes right.

Wrong.

Wrongagain, he thinks bitterly.Your gut instinct is on one h.e.l.l of a roll, Hiles.

Its another squad car; the place is swarming with them.

Then he sees Deb Jackson waving at him from the pa.s.sengers seat of this one. Shes out of the car before it stops.

Quincy holds his breath, bracing himself for bad news.

Shes alive, Deb calls.

He sags against the porch rail.

Brynn. Brynn is alive.

Thank G.o.d.

ThankG.o.d .

He lets out a deep breath he didnt even realize hed been holding.

What happened? he asks Deb when shes reached his side.

The cops found the Jeep you described in the driveway at the Saddlers house and ran the plate. They traced it to Patrick Hagan Fiona Fitzgeralds ex?