Page 103 of In the Air Tonight

“Cam…”

“I know, Caro. I’ll take care of him. Try not to worry.”

“My husband was just arrested in front of our children and half the town. Why would I worry?”

She’s understandably distraught, and I wish I could say something that would soothe her. But things will get a whole lot worse when she hears the rest. “I’ll see what I can find out and get back to you. Try to stay calm for the kids.”

“He’s my whole life, Cam,” she says on a whimper.

“I know. Let me go so I can get on it.”

“Okay.”

The phone goes dead, and I glance at Sienna.

Her expression is hard with anger. “Why would she do this after all this time?”

“Because he’s running for Congress.” I have no doubt that’s why she came forward.

Sienna is less convinced. “What?”

“This is why I told him not to run, Sienna. Because I knew something like this would happen.”

“You knew a witness would come forward?”

“No, I couldn’t have known that, but I knew it might be relitigated and could smear him and the rest of us with shit from the past. Goddamn it!” I pound my hand on the table, causing my kids to startle. “I’m sorry guys. Dad’s upset. I need to go back to work.”

“Finish your dinner,” Sienna says to the kids as she gets up to leave the room with me. “That fucking bitch.That motherfucking bitch!How can she do this to us?”

“It doesn’t matter at this point why she did it. The fact is she did, and now he’s totally fucked.”

“There has to be a way to keep this from ruining him.”

“There isn’t. He’ll stand trial for raping Neisy, who’s probably agreed to testify. With a witness backing her story, he’ll lose.”

“No. That’s not possible.”

“It’s not only possible, but also probable. Now pull it together for the kids while I go see what I can do to get him out of jail.”

I’m on the road to Wickford when my mother calls. “Camden! Your brother has beenarrested. What is going on?”

“I’m on the way to figure that out, Mom.” I don’t have the heart to tell her a witness has come forward who saw Ryder rape Neisy. She’ll find that out soon enough.

“What in the world could he have done to warrant such treatment? They hauled him away from the baseball game like a common criminal! Caroline is beside herself, and the children are hysterical.”

“I’m getting another call. I’ll get back to you when I know more.”

“Please do something, Cam.”

“I’ll do what I can.” I juggle the phone to take the call from Rich Morton, my law school friend who works for the AG. I’d texted him to tell him Ryder is my brother and to ask what he could find out. “Hey, Rich. Thanks for calling me back. What’ve you got?”

“The grand jury has issued a true bill on first degree charges of sexual assault and sexual assault of a minor.”

Oh fuck. He’s been indicted.That means this has been in the works for weeks.

“Cam? Are you there?”

“I’m here.”

---