Page 72 of The Fate of Us

“He knows you do, Anna.”

I can’t believe I am going to say this. “Play him the video.”

“You sure?” Mason sounds stunned.

“Yeah. And let me know when you do.”

“You are an incredible woman, Anna May.”

I don’t know how to respond to that so I just smile. “Goodnight Mason.”

“Night.”

I hang up the phone and hold it against my chest. My anxiety creeping up on me. I have no idea when Mason is going to play him the video and I only hope Noah understands where I am coming from with that song.

22

Noah

I climbinto my SUV and yawn. It’s after seven in the morning. My body quickly adapted back to normal hours after my promotion. But there was a brutal crime tonight and I had to be at the scene. We got called in around four this morning and with my lack of sleep over Anna, I got about an hour and a half before my phone rang.

Both my partner and I think it might be related to the serial rapist but we can’t be sure until we process more evidence. He’s never killed anyone before but from all my studying and fifteen years on the police force I know that MOs can change.

I pull into my driveway and grab the coffee out of the center console. I don’t need to go into the office until later but I know I won’t sleep after this. I need to figure out as much as I can about this case. Find some connection in all the evidence.

I’m so busy looking at my phone when I reach my front step that I don’t even notice Claire sitting in a chair, slumped over asleep.

I haven’t seen or heard from her since I had to sneak out of my house five days ago. She hasn’t contacted my brother either. His P.I. was at a dead end up until Mason and I gave him that extra information we thought of. And Mason might be on the right path because Carson’s P.I. can’t find a Claire Taylor anywhere not since she left Asheville five years ago. He even checked under the name he found her using when we filed for divorce, her mother’s maiden name but nothing is popping up under Claire Dune either.

I sigh and rub my hand over my face as I set my coffee cup down on the rail of the porch and lean against it. As she sleeps she looks innocent. Like the woman I fell in love with fifteen years ago. The woman I thought was my happily ever after.

She looks nothing like the woman who showed up on my doorstep ten days ago. Her hair is piled on her head in a messy bun. She traded in her designer threads for sweats. Her face is fresh making her look younger than she does when it’s covered in makeup.

I contemplate waking her up or going inside my house and leaving her there. I can hear Brutus prancing on the other side of the door waiting for me to come in. I take a sip of my coffee hoping to find an answer in it. I am about to walk inside when she finally blinks her eyes awake.

“Noah, you’re here.” She looks around as if she’s confused about how she got there. “How long have you been standing there?”

“How long have you been asleep on my porch?”

She looks down into her lap and grips her hands together. “I—look I’m sorry about showing up like this. But I have a favor to ask you.”

I clench my jaw, annoyed that she didn’t answer my question. Even more annoyed by her response. “You have a favor to ask me?”

She nods. Her head still down. “Noah, I need somewhere to stay.”

I scoff at that. “Go to your parents’.”

“I told you they moved.”

I cross my arms over my chest. I cannot believe she is asking me to stay here. “Well go stay with other family. One of your sisters, your brother. I don’t care who.”

She shakes her head and sniffles. “None of them want to talk to me.”

“Because you left them just like you left me?” I accuse. “I looked for you for a year, Claire. I exhausted every resource I had. And so did your family. No one knew where you were. And now you just expect to pick up where you left off?”

“It’s not like that, Noah.”

“Bullshit. If it wasn’t like that you wouldn’t just show up out of nowhere expecting your life back and ruining the lives of everyone else.”

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