Page 107 of Unbound

Trying to wrap my head around Tom doing something so heinous is only making it throb worse. How could he be involved in such a horrendous thing? My brain starts to rationalize, hoping I can find something to mitigate the information staring me in the face. Maybe he didn’t know what was actually happening. Maybe he was planning to help my dad and then got scared and backed off when he was killed.

Heidi’s expression turns sympathetic. “I’m saying he’s not not involved in human trafficking.” She manages a small smile. “But if it makes you feel better, his name hasn’t popped up in the investigation.” She tips her head, smile fading. “Until now.” She perks up a little. “On the plus side, I was able to find out the guy living in Maren’s old trailer park is using an assumed name.”

“It’s not fucking Dan, is it?” Toby’s dry tone drags my attention to where he sits next to Brooke on the sofa behind me.

“No. But that would have been hilarious.” Heidi pops a slightly grainy photo of a man onto my screen. “I’m running it through the database now to see if I get anything interesting. I’m guessing I will.”

“That’s him all right,” Maren snarls. “Fucking asshole.”

I barely hear her above the ringing in my ears as I stare at the photograph. Any hope I had that Tom wasn’t involved in the trafficking ring Alaskan Security is investigating evaporates at the sight of another man I know.

A man Tom knows.

“I know him.” The words are barely a whisper. “That’s Tom’s son.”

The room feels like it’s spinning. I grip the edge of the table, trying to hold myself still as all the dots connect and all the threads knot.

I was suspicious my dad was killed by someone who knew him. And it might have been someone who knew him better than anyone. Someone just as willing to kill today as he was twenty-six years ago.

“What kind of car did Tom drive twenty-six years ago?” It’s my voice asking Heidi the question, but it feels like it came from someone else.

The room tunnels around me as I wait for her to do a search. I can’t do it myself. I can’t do anything but close my eyes against the spinning as I wait.

“A white sedan that was reported stolen the night of your dad’s death.”

I saw the photos of Donna’s car. They weren’t great, but there was one thing that stood out to me about the condition of her dark blue vehicle.

The streak of white paint transfer running along her driver’s door.

“I think I’m gonna puke.” I jump up from my seat and race to the bathroom, falling to my knees in front of the toilet just as the contents of my stomach empty, burning my throat on their way out.

Gentle hands smooth back the strands of hair that have fallen out of my messy bun and are now clinging to my clammy skin. They rub soft circles along my spine as I retch again, thoughts of all the times I hugged Tom—how much I trusted him—bringing on another wave of sickness.

All these years, he looked me right in my face knowing he was the one who took my father from me.

“Come here.” Walker’s voice is low as he turns me away from the toilet, flushing it before pulling me into his arms.

“I’m so sorry.” I struggle to get the words out, my airway constricting on something that feels like a mix of a sob and a hiccup. “I’m so sorry.”

Walker tucks me closer as he leans back against the wall. “It’s not your fault, Snoopy. You didn’t have anything to do with this.”

“He killed your mom.” I bury my face in his shirt, wanting desperately to hide from the truth. “And my dad.”

And the poor man riding in the car they hit after Donna lost control. Tom took out three innocent people to keep the world from finding out what he was doing.

Might still be doing.

“I need to talk to my mom.” I want to throw up again just thinking about having to tell her Tom did this, but it has to happen. Tom will be going to jail—I’ll make sure of it—and I want her to hear it from me. “Then we have to…”

Then we have to, what? Call the police? Obviously that’s not gonna work.

“Heidi can take it from here. You don’t have to do anything else.” Walker presses a kiss to my forehead. “Now you can be done.”

I sniff, leaning back to meet his eyes. “We both can.”

Walker brings his forehead to mine. “It’s about fucking time.”

I take a few more minutes to compose myself before getting to my feet. After splashing my face with cold water and rinsing out my mouth, we rejoin his family. Heidi is still on my computer screen, talking quietly with Titus. I catch Tom’s name and a mention of his son, but I don’t want to get involved. All I want to do is see my mom and cuddle with Walker and try not to throw up anymore.