Page 93 of Hidden Truths

“I think they shared a single brain cell and left it at home that day,” I say seriously, but Kai bursts out laughing.

“Oh shit,” Willa says, staring at her phone. She grabs that control thing that all hospitals have attached to the beds and puts the TV on.

“Holy hell in a handbasket,” the nurse says as she comes into the room, probably because of the amount of people in here. No one looks at her, our eyes are glued to the screen.

Senator Wolfe is front and center giving a press conference. His dark hair is perfectly slicked back, and his expensive looking blue suit is as wrinkle-free as ever, but it’s his eyes. The panic is shining through.

“These allegations are unfounded. I can assure everyone here today and all the good people of Maine that I have been working tirelessly to rid this community of the drugs plaguing us. I have never and would never conspire to infect the state with more poison. I look forward to proving these allegations false andfinding out who is trying to undermine my position as your senator. I will not be taking questions at this time. Thank you.”

“So they didn’t arrest him?” Mav asks, looking at his feet. I can’t imagine what he’s feeling right now.

“It’s a scare tactic. Someone, the DEA, if I had to guess, leaked that they were looking into him and had substantial evidence against him. They want him to panic and mess up so they can catch him,” my dad says.

“And what happens if they do? They arrest him, and we’re still no closer to finding Ezra,” Belle says. “I know getting drugs off the street is important, and I’m sorry if this sounds selfish, but Ezra is important too.”

“Can we, I don’t know, negotiate? Get time off his sentence if he tells us where Ez is?” Willa asks.

“There isn’t an open case,” I say sadly. “As far as the law is concerned, Ezra is dead and has been for almost seven years.”

“Going through the senator isn’t the right play. He won’t give us anything. The more he sees us poking, the more he’s going to react,” Jo says, gesturing to me. “Obviously.”

“So we’re going to just assume this was him and not anyone else?” Cal asks, not looking convinced.

“It was him, but I don’t have a strong enough way to connect it,” my dad said, looking down at his phone.

“You suddenly seem sure,” I say.

“My guy got into Mikey’s phone. He was texted the drop location from a burner phone. It was a private airstrip. He also found the plane you were supposed to be on.”

“Okay,” I say, waiting for the bomb to drop.

“The plane was supposed to fly to Maine, Harlow,” my dad says.

I sigh and look around the room. Everyone is exhausted. You can see it in their eyes, in the way they’re standing, in the way their shoulders are drooping in defeat.

“What’s going on with the tour?” I ask. We’re still in Nebraska, and we’re definitely not supposed to be right now.

“We postponed the shows for the second leg,” Cal says. “Logan was going to cancel them and take the hit once he found out what happened to you, but we told him no. I knew you’d be pretty upset if we did.”

“I’d be more than upset.”

Cal chuckles and shakes his head. I look at Jo while everyone else starts discussing when to resume the tour. I know she’s thinking the same thing I am.

We need to go to New Hampshire, but with the tour postponed, it’s going to be harder to convince Cal. I also refuse to let this ruin Cora’s birthday.

I just need to get out of the hospital and home first. Then I can regroup.

thirty-nine

CAL

Harlow was planninga birthday party for Cora the moment we landed in Boston. The doctors cleared her to go home two days after she woke up, against my insistence that she wasn’t ready. The glare Harlow shot my way when I tried to get her to stay is one for the record books. And clearly it worked since I’m standing in my backyard that has been transformed into a watermelon wonderland.

My wife is standing in front of a sign that says “Cora is One in a Melon,” directing Willa and Belle on where she wants the balloons placed on the balloon arch. The balloons are in two different shades of pink and a light green. Honestly, everything looks amazing. There’s a long row of tables with watermelon tablecloths and decorations scattered on the top. A caterer should be here any minute with the food.

Since we still don’t have definitive proof of who took Harlow, we’re keeping the party small. Which is something I tried to point out during the planning process, but Harlow had already called my cousin Millie and invited her and Logan along with their infant daughter. I’m lucky she stopped there.

“This seems like a lot for a baby. Is that a ball pit?” Kai asks, as he comes to stand next to me. Harlow bought a kiddie pool and filled it with green and pink balls. Cora is going to love it.

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