Page 85 of Keeping Secrets

Nick looked down and wrapped his big hands around the mug in front of him. He looked down into the tea without drinking it. Keely seemed to deflate.

“And you never would have been in this mess if not for me,” she said miserably. “We all made stupid choices. Now we have to figure out how to disentangle ourselves from the whole thing.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Nick said. The hopelessness in his voice belied his words.

There was only one way out that Travis could see.

One of them would have to take the blame.

If he turned himself in, he could protect Nick. The cops would never have to know that Nick was involved. They could stop sniffing around, and they wouldn’t find anything to incriminate Nick and Keely.

Maybe if he turned himself in, they would take pity on him. Maybe they would even offer him a deal, let him off easy if he could help them round up some of the real bad guys. Maybe Rachel would be willing to work with him on that.

She was the true victim, after all. He didn’t see how they could pin anything on her, so she might as well come forward. So far she had only been careful to avoid further questioning out of concern for him.

The only thing that really ate at him was the people he had counting on him, Scot most of all. When Keely walked down the hall to the bathroom, he turned to Nick and held his gaze.

“If this goes sideways,” he said, “and I get arrested, I need you to promise me that you’ll take care of Scot.”

“You won’t be arrested,” Nick protested. “You can’t go to jail for this. Where’s the justice in that? You were defending someone who couldn’t defend herself.”

“Promise me,” he said again.

“Fine.” He took a breath. “Of course I’ll look after Scot. I’m not going anywhere. But neither are you, man.”

Travis was saved from having to reply when Keely walked back in and glared at them.

“What are you two whispering about?” she demanded.

Nick stood and said, “I’m going to go home and grab that external hard drive. And check on Chloe.” He sighed. “Keely, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said shortly. She went back to the kitchen counter, where she laid the top crust of her pie over the pile of apples and crimped the two layers together with quick, expert movements.

“I’ll be back in a few.”

He went out and left them in a deafening silence.

Keely put the pie into her preheated oven and set a timer while Travis sat at the kitchen table, feeling like something the cat had hacked up.

“I can go,” he said.

“No.” Keely’s reflexive response seemed to surprise her as much as it did him.

He just sat there, warm kitchen air on his face and a cool draft from the window on the back of his neck.

“Don’t go,” she said, meeting his eyes for the first time. “Stay and listen to the recordings. Help us figure something out. I’ll text every number I have that knew Adam, or knew people who knew Adam.”

“And ask them what?”

“If they can connect me with… someone. I don’t know. I’ll figure something out when I hear the recordings. We’ll figure something out.”

He felt a sad smile on his face as he stood. They moved toward each other like two objects on a collision course, gravity overtaking sense.

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. His arms around her were more gentle as he tried to memorize the silken feel of her hair, the long lines of her back.

“It’ll all be okay,” she said in a small voice, needing to believe.

“Yeah,” he agreed. A steady certainty rose up from the core of his being. With Keely in his arms, everything seemed simple. “Everything will be okay.”

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