After all these years, it was probably the only thing left behind and damned if it wasn’t the one thing that someone would recognize.
She heard about the unidentified remains and called Sheriff Duke. He asked her to come down from Hartford and take a look. They’re working to match dental records. Expect things to start happening anytime now, Brody added.
Before he could respond, his phone started to ring. It was Heath. Word was spreading fast. He got up from the barstool and carried his phone with him into the bedroom. The water was still running, so he had time to take the call.
“Hey,” Xander answered, his tone flat. He sat on the edge of the bed and muted the television that was playing.
“You hear from Brody?” Heath asked, skipping pleasantries.
“Yes.”
“Are you at the farm?”
“No,” Xander admitted. “I’m at Rose’s apartment. We were...going to tell Joey tonight.”
Heath whistled softly through his teeth. “I’m sorry. Not the best day to ID a body. What are you going to do?”
“Postpone, I guess. Hopefully, she’ll understand.”
“Xander,” Heath began, and then paused. “It’s probably all going to come out now. What happened that night. I’ve been thinking about this awhile and I’ve decided that I’m okay with it. I know it isn’t all about me. You all have something at stake here, too. But I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret trying to protect me.”
“Of course I will. You’re—”
“No, Xander. Listen to me.”
Heath’s voice was firm, resolved and very much unlike him. Xander didn’t like it. He much preferred his carefree, fun younger brother. Why fate had trapped a boy so young and innocent into such a terrible deed, he would never know. He’d wished a hundred times that he had been the one to find them. That he had been the one to stop Tommy.
“I’m tired of all of this. I think the game is up. You have your own family to protect now. That’s more important than taking care of me. I’m a grown man, now, not a child. It’s not ideal, but I will tell my story and deal with the consequences. I don’t want this hanging over our heads any longer.”
“What about Mom and Dad?”
There was an extended silence on the line. “I’ll tell them. I think Dad will understand what I was doing and why we couldn’t tell him before now. Hopefully, I can beat the cops to the punch.”
“What about Julianne? Have you spoken with her?”
He heard Heath sigh. “No, but I’m certain we’re on the same page. She’s been under this dark cloud for as long as we have. All of us knew this moment would come eventually. She probably feels responsible for it.”
“They’ll make her come back and make a statement. You, too.”
“I’ve been thinking about taking a few months off from the firm anyways. Things are going well. I think my partner can take the reins for a while. I need to spend some time in Cornwall and deal with all of this. I can’t do it from Madison Avenue.”
“So what do you want me to do, Heath? Just let it happen? I can’t do that. Don’t ask me to. I came to Cornwall to handle this and now you’re asking me to forget why I’m even here.”
“I’m not saying you should march into the police station and confess everything. But be prepared for it to unravel. I am.”
Xander didn’t know what to say. He’d spent more than half of his life protecting this secret. It was against his nature to just let the truth come out now.
The water in the bathroom turned off. Rose would come out any minute. “I’ve got to go,” he said. “I need to talk to Rose.”
“Good luck with everything,” Heath said. “I can’t wait to meet my nephew. And for Mom to find out. I really want to be there when she does. I want a front-row seat and popcorn.”
As if he didn’t already have enough to worry about. “Shut up, man.”
He heard his brother laugh, and then the line went dead. Shaking his head, Xander slipped his phone into his pocket and tried to think of what he would say when Rose came out. Like any political speech, he thought through his words and practiced it several times in his head. It made him wish he had one of his staffers here to help him draft something. He never was the best speech writer.
She exited the bathroom a moment later. Her body was still slightly damp and wrapped in a fluffy cotton towel. Her hair was wet and combed out down her back in long straight strands. She smiled at him as she settled onto the bed and started rubbing lotion into her legs.
He was afraid to open his mouth. He, the politician, the master of spin. He, the one who always knew just what to say and when, couldn’t find the words. Somehow he just knew that the second he started to speak, things would change. He would never be able to get back to this moment where she smiled at him, so loving and trusting.