Page 86 of Defend Me

She hangs up and looks at me. “Stan finally found the old logbooks. He says they’re in boxes all out of order, so we’ll have to go through them ourselves, but…”

But we can maybe get a name from them. Whoever signed into the range on June twenty-first. My scalp prickles.

“Got some more clues, Sherlock?” Alistair says.

“Stan, like Stan at the gun range?” Charlotte asks.

Von cuts her a wry look. “No comment,” she says. Then her face turns serious. “Don’t say anything to anyone.”

Charlotte pretends to lock her lips and throw away the key.

Von stands. “Grayson and I will go meet Stan. We’ll see you back at the estate. Alistair, you don’t mind taking Noah home?”

“Not at all.” Al throws some twenties down on the table. “Come on,” he says to me. “I know Caden is eager to see you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

VON

Grayson and I retrieve the boxes from Stan.

There are six of them, packed with an assortment of logbooks with no clear organization. Stan is not one for orderly record keeping. We bring them back to the estate and store them in the blue study. Then Grayson heads out to the Thorn. He’ll be staying there intermittently until the trial.

“What’s all this?” Daisy asks, leaning against the doorframe.

“Work,” I say.

“Yeah, I kind of guessed that. Is this “no comment” kind of work?”

“Nailed it.” I stand and stretch out a kink in my back. “Where’s Dad?”

“He and Caden are taking Sebastian out for dinner. Did you meet him?”

“No,” I say. I don’t have the headspace for new people. I need to start looking through allthese boxes.

“He’s really nice,” Daisy says. “He showed me pictures of his daughter. She’s adorable.”

“That’s great,” I say.

Daisy wanders over to the window. “I’m glad Noah is staying at the guesthouse,” she says. “We can protect him here.”

Daisy’s strawberry blonde hair cascades over one shoulder, her brows pinched together. I marvel at how much she looks like Mom: the point of her chin, the wide cheekbones, the deep blue eyes. She’s always had the biggest heart of all of us Evertons.

“Hey,” I say, coming over to hug her. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

She squeezes me back. “It’s good to have you home, too, you know. I’ve missed my big sister.” She glances up at me. “Myonlysister,” she reminds me. “You’ve left me alone with all the boys.”

I laugh and kiss the top of her head. “Don’t act like you don’t love your brothers.”

“I do,” she says. “But it’s not the same.” She disentangles herself from my embrace and walks over to the desk. There’s a photo of Mom and Dad on their wedding day, posed with bridesmaids and groomsmen. Daisy picks it up. “I know you blame Caden for the family falling apart, and yeah, it really sucked that he left us after she died, but so did you. And Finn. And Al. And Dad. This house was so empty.” My heart pinches as she looks up at me. “Noah was always there. He asked me how I was and invited me to dinner with him and Pop. He made my world a little less empty and a little less small.”

Her words hit me with a force I wasn’t expecting. For a moment, I can’t breathe. She’s right. I left her here, all alone.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

She puts the picture down. “I wasn’t trying to shame you. I’m just really glad you’re back.”

“I am too.” And I mean it.

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