Page 106 of Glimmer in the Darkness

Cassidy collapsed against him and wept.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Cassidy settled onto the couch beside James late that night. It had been a long day, the longest day since the worst day of her life. The one when she’d awakened in the cave, escaped a killer, seen Hallie’s lifeless body, and then run, chased by guilt and grief and fear.

Today, those feelings were gone. She’d told the truth. She’d faced the demons, and she was forgiven. Exonerated of the crimes leveled against her for a decade.

If Detective Cote was right, there would be no charges related to her having used a false identity. Though she’d broken laws a few times when she’d signed her fake name on legal documents, she hadn’t used that false identity to commit any crimes. She’d worked hard, paid her taxes. She’d been a law-abiding citizen. Apparently, no state authorities from Washington nor New Hampshire intended to prosecute. And the FBI didn’t seem overly interested in prosecuting the woman who’d been falsely accused of kidnapping and murder for ten years.

Cassidy would deal with her employer when she returned to Seattle, but she believed her job was secure. If it wasn’t, then she’d get another. The girls in Seattle would survive without her. It wasn’t her job to save them, to save anybody. The runaways’ lives, Ella’s life, Addison’s life, and Hallie’s life—they were all in God’s hands.

She was really and truly free of it all. Free to be herself again.

“I should probably go,” Cassidy said, though she’d abandoned the dingy rented cabin and had no desire to return.

James’s arm tightened around her shoulders. “You can stay here.”

Here, in the living room where she’d spent so many evenings with the Sullivan family, watching movies, eating popcorn, laughing. Hallie used to vie for her attention, squirming between her and James, chattering like a magpie. Cassidy could hear the echo of Mrs. Sullivan’s Give the girl some space and Mr. Sullivan’s low chuckle. Cassidy never minded Hallie’s attention, nor James’s parents’ presence. She’d felt a part of their family. She’d felt more loved in this home than she’d ever felt, anywhere—before or since.

Right now, that love lingered. Or what she felt in the room came as much from the man beside her as the memories in the past.

The TV wasn’t on, yet James and Cassidy stared in that direction as if riveted. She couldn’t speak for James, but she felt too tired to move. Still… “You think there are any hotels with vacancies in town?”

He shifted to look at her. “You don’t want to stay?”

“I don’t want to put you out.”

A smirk, a quick shake of the head, and he settled beside her again. “There are no vacancies, especially now with all the news media.”

A good point. The reporters lined up at the end of the driveway had to have hotel rooms somewhere. Thanks to the police presence around the perimeter of James’s property, none had gotten close. It was unsettling, knowing the house was being watched. Knowing everybody out there knew James and she were inside.

“You get used to it,” he said, reading her mind. “This is nothing compared to last time. It was a circus.”

She’d caught much of the footage on TVs at bus stations and restaurants as she’d made her way west. Microphones, cameras shoved in the faces of the family she loved so dearly. Seeing their grief plastered across the TV screen—it had been more than she could handle.

“I’m sorry,” Cassidy said. “For all of it. For ever leaving your house that day with Hallie. For not getting away with her sooner. For not protecting her. I’m sorry it all happened.”

“Stop apologizing. You did everything you could.” James kissed the top of her head. “Now that you’ve seen him, heard his voice again, any new memories you want to share?”

There were, but… “It’s late.”

“Yeah. Still…” When she lifted her head from his chest, he faced her. “It is late, and I understand if you don’t want to talk. But I want to know, whatever you want to share, I want to know. Today, next month… whenever. Just know I want to hear everything.”

She shouldn’t get into it. Shouldn’t let the memories out. But they were bubbling up. If she let them out, the pressure might release.

“He called me girl, just girl, the whole time. The way he said that is so clear in my mind.”

She snuggled against James again. And kept talking. “Sometimes it’s that single word that yanks me from sleep. He was angry I was there. And afraid. It was like… like he’d felt compelled to take Hallie. Like there was something he needed her for, though I never understood what.”

“You said that he carried Hallie most of the way to the cave, right?”

“I carried her some, when she screamed for me. But after a while, she became accustomed to him. She was less afraid.”

“I hate to think of her coming to trust him.”

“It wasn’t trust, I don’t think. Just a belief that he wouldn’t hurt her. Better than to be in constant terror.”

“Yeah.” He shifted again, and she sat up to face him. “If he had Hallie, then his hands would have been full. Why didn’t you run? On the mountain, with trees and rocks all around, you could’ve gotten away.”