Page 76 of I Will Find You

“I can see that,” her sister snapped. “So?”

Rachel didn’t bother explaining about Irene and all that. She’d zoomed in to the little boy in the background—not too much because then his face became too blurry. She’d handed her phone to her sister. Cheryl continued to stare.

“Cheryl?”

With her eyes still on the photo, Cheryl whispered, “What are you trying to do to me?”

Rachel did not reply.

Tears started to come now. “You showed this to David.”

Rachel wasn’t sure if it was a question or not. “Yes.”

“That’s why you went to Briggs.”

“Yes.”

Cheryl kept staring at the image and shaking her head. “Where did you get this?”

Rachel gently took the phone back and unzoomed the photograph back to the original. “This is a friend of mine. She went to Six Flags with her family. Her husband took the picture. She was showing it to me and…”

“And what?” Cheryl’s voice was pure ice. “You saw a boy who somewhat resembles my dead son and figured you’d blow up everyone’s life?”

Not your life, she thought, but Rachel figured that it was best not to voice that.

“Rachel?”

“I didn’t know what to do.”

“So you showed it to David?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Rachel didn’t want to get into how she wanted to protect Cheryl, so she said nothing.

Cheryl pressed on. “What did he say?”

“He was shocked.”

“What did he say, Rachel?”

“He thinks it’s Matthew.”

Cheryl’s face turned red. “Of course he does. If you throw a drowning man an anvil, he’ll mistake it for a life preserver.”

“If David killed Matthew,” Rachel said, “you’d think he’d know it was an anvil, right?”

Cheryl just shook her head.

“It never made sense, Cheryl. David killing Matthew. Come on. You know that. Even in a fugue state or whatever. And the whole ‘buried weapon’ thing. Why would David have done that? He’d know better. And that witness. Hilde Winslow. She changed her name and moved away. Why would she do that?”

“My God.” Cheryl stared at her sister. “You believe this nonsense?”

“I don’t know. That’s all I’m saying.”

“How can you not know? Or maybe you’re desperate too, Rachel.”

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