Luke hasn’t stopped pacing since we came back inside.
Even now, a few minutes later, he’s striding the length of the room with his phone pressed to his ear, his energy tight and restless, projecting the feeling that if he stops for even a second everything will catch up with him at once.
I lean against the wall and watch him, arms folded loosely, my mind still trying to catch up to everything that’s just happened. Murder. Reid. The past dragging itself into the present whether we like it or not.
But Luke… Luke has already moved on to the next step.
He made the call right after our talk, barely giving himself time to breathe. I don’t know exactly who he’s talking to, but from the tone, from the way he listens, from the name he drops—it’s someone who knows Amanda’s husband up in Yellowbrook. Someone who knows more than they should. Someone, apparently, with connections to the FBI.
They start with small talk, the kind that sounds casual but isn’t, Luke’s voice easy in a way I know him just well enough now to be able to tell is actually quite calculated. Then he shifts, steering the conversation with quiet precision, mentioning that this Mayor Barnes creep is causing trouble for the retreatbecause his wife has been forced into using the place as a sanctuary bolt-hole to protect herself from her husband and his abuse, and the retreat is not about to let her down, since she is a paying client and a guest under their roof.
There’s a pause on the other end.
Luke hums softly, encouraging, letting the silence do the work for him.
Then he starts asking questions. Careful ones. About Mayor Barnes. About rumors. About whether the FBI has ever looked into him for anything—white-collar fraud, or tax evasion maybe, or some other kind of financial irregularities perhaps.
Luke keeps pacing up and down as he talks, one hand braced against his hip, head tilted slightly as he listens, absorbing everything.
I don’t think he’s properly processed any of this yet. Not fully.
But it doesn’t matter right now.
Right now, he’s locked in. Focused.
Helping Reid comes first. Everything else can wait.
“Alright. Thank you, Theo,” he says finally, letting out a heavy breath as he ends the call.
He looks at me, running a hand through his hair again, some of that tension still clinging to him.
“The good news,” he says, “is this Barnes guy isn’t necessarily doing all this with the rest of his family’s approval. Theo talked to someone who knows them pretty well, and apparently they think he’s losing it. Stirring up problems of his own making. Doing shit they have to clean up after.”
“Criminal stuff?” I ask, straightening slightly.
“Maybe.” He shrugs, but there’s something thoughtful in his expression now. “They don’t have hard evidence… not yet. But he’s this close to getting cut off. Especially with a re-election coming up.”
Something sharp and hopeful sparks in my chest.
“Maybe we can use that,” I say, stepping closer without realizing it. “If we expose what he’s doing to Amanda—turn it into something public—then he can’t keep hunting her. Not without consequences. The whole world will be watching him, and the world doesn’t tend to react well to abusive husbands.”
Luke nods, but he doesn’t look convinced yet. “Yeah. But rumors and hearsay are one thing. Facts are another, and we’ll need leverage. Something real. We need evidence of the dirt he’s been doing, or it won’t stick. Or worse, he’ll sue for libel, or slander, or whatever it is.”
I nod slowly, following the logic, the pieces clicking into place.
“We need to talk to Amanda.”
“That’s if she’ll talk to us,” he says.
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“Amanda’s been tight-lipped since she got here,” Luke replies. “She barely talks about him. Not even to Reid. She’s terrified that anything she says might get back to him and make things even worse for her.”
I hesitate for a second, thinking about Amanda—quiet, guarded, always watching the door like she expects him to walk through it at any moment.
“And no one’s pushed her?” I ask.
Luke shakes his head. “That’s not what this place is about. We don’t force people to open up before they’re ready. Everyone goes at their own pace.”