Page 31 of Veil of Silence

“I know.”

Nora looked at Christian again. His gaze had dropped to the counter.

“Christian?” she murmured.

His eyes lifted to hers. “Yeah?”

“Do you remember the Renshaws?”

He paused. “I don’t think so.”

Nora held his gaze another second. There was something he wasn’t saying. But what?

After dinner, Nora walked Austin to the door.

Behind them, everyone in the kitchen had started talking again in low voices. Wren was asking Dad another question about Roy, and Marlowe had already pulled out her phone, probably to research the Renshaws.

Christian had slunk upstairs, saying something about being tired.

She stepped onto the porch with Austin and pulled the door closed behind her.

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

Then Austin looked at her. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“Driving. Making me eat. Letting me drag all of this into your house.”

“You didn’t drag anything in.”

His frown made it clear that he wasn’t sure about that.

Nora folded her arms against the cold. “What are you going to do now?”

Austin glanced at his SUV, his expression still somber. “Make some calls. Deal with the medical examiner.”

Nora hesitated before asking her next question. “Were you close to your father?”

“Sometimes.” Austin let out a breath. “Dad wasn’t an easy person to be close to when he was working on something. He could get . . . focused.”

“Obsessed?”

One corner of his mouth started to curl but stopped. “That too.”

Nora thought about everything she’d learned today. “He really never gave up on Christian, did he?”

“No, he didn’t.”

There was something in Austin’s voice she couldn’t read. Not anger exactly. Maybe something closer to resentment.

Nora shifted on the porch. “So you’re going to keep looking into Christian’s case.”

Austin studied her. “Yes. I plan on calling the special agent in charge tonight. If I can’t get on officially, then I’ll take some personal time.”

Nora looked at the house. Through the front window, she saw her mother moving around the kitchen. Dad was still at the table, with Wren sitting beside him.

She glanced at the window to Christian’s room. The curtain moved there.