Chapter 57: Emmet

The dashboard clock flips to 8:00 PM just as the rain starts to thin out to a mist. I keep the truck idling low, the rumble of the diesel engine vibrating through the steering wheel under my palms.

A car door clicks shut somewhere up the private gravel path.

I look out the passenger side window. A figure breaks from the line of pines, moving fast down the incline. Anastasia is in a knit sweater, the hood pulled up over her head, her hands shoved into her pockets as she walks down the wet rocks.

She reaches the truck, catches the metal handle, and pulls the door...