Page 86 of Homecoming

“It’s not relevant to the facts of this case, but points to how he had a system for when he needed a ride. Kirby had made himself available to Keith, and this is the thanks he gets.”

“A source informed me that your wife has been estranged from her family?—”

“That’s not true, and as I stated to the other reporters I spoke with earlier, my wife is off-limits. If you want to be able to use me as a source, leave her out of the reporting.”

“Can you confirm an estrangement, though?”

“Thanks for your time. Talk to you later.”

Dan left the meeting before she could respond. Despite the warnings he’d levied against the reporters he’d spoken with, he still feared that Kara’s family history could come to light due to his involvement in the case. The very thought of that happening gave him a sick feeling in his stomach that wasn’t all that different from how the stinky bait had made him feel on the boat.

Kara came into the living room with a beer that she’d opened for him.

“Thanks, love.”

“How’d it go?”

“Pretty good.”

She stood next to him, running her fingers through his hair. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk about something that’s becoming a concern.”

“What’s that?”

“In both interviews just now, I was asked about your estrangement from the family.”

Her whole body went tense in one heartbeat. “What’d you say?”

“That anyone who reported on you in the context of this case would never get another word out of me.”

“Do you think that shut it down?”

“I’m not sure, which is what has me worried. The idea of shit from the past being resurrected simply because I’m the one your parents called to defend your brothers makes me a little sick, to be honest.”

“Me, too. What can we do?”

“That’s the thing… There’s no way we can stop anyone from reporting on that, if they decide it’s a story.”

“How in the world would that be a story?”

Dan rarely had regrets about anything in his life. He didn’t believe in them. But he was beginning to regret the high-profile career that made him—and his wife—a story due to his past. “It’s just that… Because of my work…”

“You’re a story separate of why you’re here.”

“Something like that. And please know, I don’t want anything to do with that. You have to believe me?—”

She leaned in to kiss him. “I know that. You can’t help that your reputation precedes you.”

“If my reputation causes pain for you, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“And my friends wonder why I stayed away for all that time.”

He put his arms around her and drew her in close to him, resting his cheek against their baby. “They know why.”

“If they report on me, so be it. I’ve got nothing to hide, and PS, I didn’t do anything wrong. I was the one deceived by people I thought I loved and people I thought loved me. If someone tells you they’re doing a story about me and my family, you can say that on the record. ‘My wife has nothing to hide. She’s not the one who deceived and betrayed a loved one. That was her sister and now brother-in-law. My wife would tell you she’s now very happily married and in close contact with most of her family—and has been all along.’”

“So you onlythoughtyou loved Matt?”

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