Page 146 of Forever Dark
“I know.”
Robert nodded once, accepting that as more than it sounded like.
She kissed his cheek.“Goodnight, Dad.”
“Goodnight, Lena.Call when you land.”
“I will.”
“And not three weeks after.”
“Tomorrow,” she said.“I promise.”
She went down the steps and crossed the path to the car.At the curb, she looked back.
Robert was still on the porch, one hand raised.
Selena lifted hers in return, then got into the rental.She started the engine and pulled away slowly, watching the house in the mirror until the bend took it from sight.
The road ahead was dark, but for once it did not feel like something closing behind her.
All she could see was that swing under the maple.
A little girl pushing herself higher into the evening air.Her father laughing from the porch.Diane yelling that it was her turn.Her mother calling them in before supper got cold.
Selena drove on, carrying the memory with her, no longer certain she wanted to let it go.
EPILOGUE
Washington, DC
Meg Calloway’s office looked exactly the same as always.
That should not have surprised Selena.Meg was not the kind of woman who rearranged a room unless there was tactical value in it.The desk sat in the same position facing the window.The same neat stacks of files occupied the same corners.A framed commendation hung on the wall without drawing attention to itself, which was probably the only way Meg would have tolerated it.Even the lamp on the credenza seemed to give off disciplined light.
Selena sat across from her with the Harlan County file open on the desk between them and the last of the debrief laid out in clipped, factual lines.
“Pruitt confessed after counsel came in,” she said.“Not fully at first.He framed it as divine correction.Claimed the women had already damned themselves and he was finishing a process God had started.Once the Donna Murphy connection was established, the rest of it came faster.He blamed her for the miscarriage.In his mind that loss became proof of what women like her were capable of.”
Meg’s face did not change.
Selena had known her long enough to understand that meant she was listening closely, not that she was unmoved.
“The chronology lines up?”Meg asked.
“Yes.”
“No loose ends?”
“Nothing material.”Selena rested her fingertips on the closed edge of the file.“Croft remains what he always was.Manipulative.Image-conscious.Surrounded by people willing to confuse charisma with holiness.I suspect he didn’t want us snooping around for another reason.Maybe he’s scared we’ll see he’s moving dangerously close to being a cult leader.I don’t know.But he wasn’t the killer.”
Meg gave one slow nod.“And Sheriff Chase?”
The question came too evenly to mean nothing.
“Useful,” Selena said.“Steady.Better instincts than I thought he would have, to be honest.But I guess everyone is full of surprises.”
Meg smiled.
