Page 30 of Devoured By the Forbidden Mountain Man

“I know.”

For a while, neither of us spoke.

When she lowered her hand, I changed the question.

“Did Gavin know the thing you’re not telling me?”

Her gaze snapped to mine.

It was answer enough to deepen the pressure in my chest, but she did not confirm it.

“I’m not ready to talk about anything that happened after he made bail.”

The wording was too precise.

I repeated it carefully. “You’re not ready to talk about it.”

Her mouth tightened.

“I should go.”

I could have pressed harder and probably ended the call with more damage than information.

Instead, I nodded.

“Will you talk to me again?”

Meredith looked toward the staircase before returning her attention to me.

“I think I have to.”

The answer carried more weight than a promise made under pressure would have.

“I won’t call you again tonight.”

“Thank you.”

I reached toward my phone, then stopped when she said my name.

“Georgia, whatever you think of me after this, please believe one thing. Gavin did not disappear because he didn’t love you. He loved you enough that it was one of the reasons this was so hard for him.”

The implication struck so deeply that I forgot to breathe. For Meredith to know what leaving me had cost him, she had to know more about his choice than she had admitted.

I could have challenged her on that too, but her face told me she already knew.

“I believe he loved me,” I said. “I just need to find him.”

Meredith’s eyes filled again.

“I hope you do.”

The call ended. For several minutes, I stayed at the table while the tea cooled untouched beside me.

I had wanted facts, but instead I had received pieces that changed the shape of everything. Gavin had not killed Brad, according to Meredith. He had not run simply because the case frightened him. He had believed the whole truth would destroy someone else, and Meredith knew enough about what happened after bail that she was deliberately refusing to discuss it.

None of those facts told me where Gavin was. They told me I had not imagined the brother I remembered, and that was almost harder to absorb.

I opened my notebook and wrote Meredith’s exact phrasing while I could still hear it in her voice. I did not add conclusions between the lines. Rex could help me with those after he heard the conversation as it had actually happened.