Page 92 of Veil of Silence

“Come inside,” Mom said. “We need to eat before church.”

Christian slipped the matches into one pocket and tucked the folded sheets beneath his sweatshirt. “I need to get dressed.”

He walked toward the house before Nora could stop him.

She followed more slowly, one arm pressed against her aching ribs.

Whatever Christian had intended to burn, he clearly didn’t want her to see it.

And now Nora had one more reason to wonder what he was hiding.

Austin arrived at church twenty minutes before the service began and found the parking lot already half full.

He’d told himself he was here because the search teams were meeting afterward. That was only part of the truth. He attended church most Sundays in Baltimore, though work had made it easy to become inconsistent.

This morning, he had almost stayed at the motel. Then he’d remembered one of his mother’s favorite verses.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.

Austin believed that. He simply wished God didn’t feel so far away right now.

He spotted Nora near the side entrance with her family. Christian stood between his parents, wearing dark jeans and a button-down shirt. His attention moved over the parking lot, never settling anywhere for long. He was clearly nervous, and Austin couldn’t blame him.

Was this his first real public appearance since he’d returned? That couldn’t be easy for him—or his family. But it had to happen eventually, he supposed.

He glanced at Nora again. She wore a navy dress beneath her coat. Her right wrist was wrapped, and she held that arm close to her body.

Worry pulsed through him.

Austin stepped closer. “What happened to you?”

She looked down at the bandage as if she’d forgotten it was there. “Good morning to you too.”

“Nora.” He let his head fall to the side.

She sighed before saying, “I fell down the stairs last night.”

He sucked in a breath. “How badly are you hurt?”

“My wrist is sprained, and my ribs might be bruised.”

“Might be?”

She shrugged almost as if exhausted. “I didn’t go to the hospital.”

Austin stared at her. “Of course, you didn’t.”

She shrugged again.

Austin lowered his voice. “How did you fall?”

For a moment, her gaze shifted toward Christian. The movement was slight, but Austin caught it.

“I thought I heard something and leaned too far over the stairs to look. I lost my balance.”

But Austin’s thoughts remained on the glance Nora had given Christian.

Her expression suggested she wasn’t certain that was all that had happened.