About the letter, the calls, the cellmate on my mother's porch, the graduation photo, the name Halstead and what it means and why I changed it.
The words are right there. Sitting on my tongue like coins waiting to drop.
But his breathing is evening out, and his thumb is tracing lazy circles on my hip, and for the first time since the phone rang this morning, the dread has gone silent.
I can't risk losing this.
Not yet.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand.
I reach for it without thinking, expecting a text from my mom saying goodnight.
The screen glows in the dark room. Not a text.
A notification from an app I don't use. A social media tag from an account I don't follow.
I tap it open.
A true crime forum. A thread I've never seen. A post from six hours ago with a photo of the Morgantown courthouse and the subject line:
HALSTEAD CASE: Where Is the Daughter Now?
Beneath it, a paragraph about the murder. Christine's name. The sentencing.
And a question: Does anyone know what happened to the daughter? She'd be in her early twenties now. Still in the Morgantown area?
Someone has tagged my account. My real account, under myrealname.
Saylor Bell.
They've connected Bell to Halstead.
My phone screen blurs. My arm is trembling so hard the light jumps across the ceiling in jagged lines.
His arm tightens across my waist. "Saylor, you okay?"
I power the screen off and set the phone facedown on the nightstand.
"It’s nothing." My voice doesn't sound like mine. "Go to sleep."
He's silent for a moment.
His arm stays heavy and his thumb stops tracing circles.
He knows I'm lying, but he doesn't push.
I close my eyes and press my face into his chest and listen to his heartbeat, pretending the ground is still solid while the cracks spread underneath.
CHAPTER SIX
Rookie
Backroads opens its doors at three o'clock on Friday, and by four the parking lot sounds like a war drum.
Harleys rolling in one after another. Engines killing, boots hitting gravel, cuts catching the last of the February light.
Soon enough, it’s nearing eight and things are really getting livened up.