Page 77 of I Will Find You

“What?”

“For a story.”

“Are you serious?”

“For redemption. For another chance. I mean, if my son is alive, this would be huge, right? Networks, front pages—”

“You can’t—”

“And if it’s not Matthew, if it’s just a kid who has a passing resemblance to him, all of this—David’s escaping, David finally talking to someone after all this time—well, it’s still a big story.”

“Cheryl.”

“My murdered son could be your ticket back.”

Rachel reeled back as though she’d been slapped.

“I didn’t mean that,” Cheryl said quickly, her voice softer now.

Rachel didn’t reply.

“Listen to me,” Cheryl continued. “Matthew is dead. And so is Catherine Tullo.”

“This has nothing to do with her.”

“It’s not your fault she’s dead, Rachel.”

“Of course it’s my fault.”

Cheryl shook her head and put her hands on her sister’s shoulders. “I didn’t mean what I said before.”

“You meant it,” Rachel said.

“I didn’t. I swear.”

“And maybe it’s true. I feel sorry for myself, for what I lost. But I pushed too hard, and now Catherine Tullo is dead. She is dead because of me. I got what I deserved.”

Cheryl shook her head. “That’s not true. You were just…”

“Just what?”

“Too close to it,” Cheryl said. “You think I forgot?”

Rachel didn’t know what to say.

“Halloween Night. Your freshman year.”

Rachel turned away. She closed her eyes and wished the memories away.

“Rach?”

“Maybe you’re right,” Rachel told her sister. She stared down at the photograph. “Maybe I am seeing what I want to see. Maybe David is too. Probably, in fact. But there’s a chance, right? He’s got nothing. David—he’s as bad as you imagine. Worse. So let him search. It can’t hurt him. It can’t make him worse. That’s why I didn’t show you the pic. If it’s nothing—and yeah, sure, the odds it’s nothing are pretty strong—then it goes nowhere. No harm, no foul. We end up where we began. You’d have never found out. But if it is Matthew—”

“It’s not.”

“Either way,” Rachel persisted. “Let David and I see it through.”

***

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