Page 27 of Veil of Silence

A few miles passed before she glanced at Austin. Some of the rigid control seemed to have left him.

“I’m really sorry,” she murmured.

He kept his gaze on the road. “Thanks.”

Silence settled between them again, and she contemplated what to say—what he might need and what might accidentally make his grief worse.

“Have you eaten today?” she finally asked.

Austin squinted as if her question confused him. “Not really. Not since breakfast.”

“My mother has probably cooked enough food to feed half of Fog Lake,” she quickly explained. “You’re coming inside when we get back.”

“Nora, I need to return to Knoxville.”

“You will. After you eat. I’m a nurse. Trust me on this. Your body needs fuel.”

“I appreciate that assessment, but I have calls to make. I need to contact the rest of the family, make sure someone checks on Dad’s house, and figure out what happens when the medical examiner releases him.”

“And you’ll do all of that.” Nora kept her eyes on the road. “But you shouldn’t be alone right now. And before you argue, I’m not saying you can’t handle this. I’m saying you don’t have to handle it by yourself.”

He was quiet a moment before releasing a tired breath. “You’re very bossy for someone I’ve known less than a day.”

“I’m the oldest sister. What can I say?”

There was no humor in his response this time. Only exhaustion.

He looked down at the phone in his hand. “I don’t even know which call to make first.”

The admission was so quiet Nora almost missed it.

“Then don’t start with the calls,” she said. “Start with dinner. We’ll figure out the next thing after that.”

Austin swallowed, then gave a small nod and turned his face toward the window.

As Austin followed Nora to her house, he suddenly began to second-guess the decision. This seemed like a terrible idea.

Voices reached them before she opened the door.

She paused with her hand on the knob. “It sounds like everybody’s here.”

For reasons Austin couldn’t explain, those words made him want to turn around.

Before he could, Nora stepped inside. The aroma of fried chicken and coffee lingered in the air, warm and familiar in a way that hit him harder than it should have.

“Hey, everyone,” Nora called.

He scanned the room. Nora’s mother stood near the counter with a dish towel in her hands. Her father sat at the table beside one of Nora’s sisters. The other leaned against the counter, her motorcycle jacket draped over the chair beside her. A boy sat on the floor nearby building something out of Legos.

And Christian Loveless stood beside the refrigerator.

Austin’s attention settled on him.

This was the first time he’d gotten a good look at Christian. He’d only glimpsed him earlier.

He was thin, with dark hair. He looked taller than Austin had expected, though maybe that was because he’d spent ten years thinking of Christian as the seven-year-old boy in his father’s case files.

Christian watched him with a guarded expression that made Austin wonder how often the kid had been studied since coming home. Probably too often.