Page 60 of Dying to Meet You

Keir

ThescreenshowsMatt’smapping right here. What the hell?

My anxiety skyrockets hearing sirens in the distance. But if they called for an ambulance, Weston is alive. I’m almost to the side door closest to Eden’s office when three squad cars and an ambulance pull up to the main entrance.

Eden looks up from her desk when I open her door. “Did I hear sirens?”

We follow the hallway across a common area and toward the main door, where we see people clustered around Dr. Wallen’s office door. The shocking thing that makes Eden shriek is Matt, with blood on him, standing in handcuffs. Harrison is talking to a police officer.

I close the distance. “What’s going on here?” Eden runs to catch up.

An officer shifts away from the door, giving us a look at the gruesome mess. Blood is sprayed across the wall of certificates, degrees, and pictures. On the floor, a body bag is being positioned while they remove a sheet. Eden starts to scream, making me jump. She turns toward Matt, her voice enraged. “Y-you killed him? You…” I stop her as she lunges at him, fists flying.

If he did, does that mean Wallen is involved with what happened to Weston? Or is Matt covering his tracks? I’m lost here. “Where’s Weston?”

Using more force, I lift a screaming and crying Eden away from Matt. “Where’s Wes, Matt?”

Two detectives arrive on scene and divide us up. Harrison assures me he has FBI agents coming, but we don’t get to talk. Before I walk away, Matt steps backward toward me, saying quietly, “In my pocket are several keys. Grab them. Look at me. If you’ve ever trusted me, trust me now. I didn’t do this. Take the keys and get them to Hutton.” Reaching inside his pocket, I pull out keys on four different keyrings, none of them marked. That’s helpful.

Fuck me. Doesn’t he realize no one has a clue where Hutton is? “I would if I had any idea of his whereabouts. What do you mean you didn’t-” I don’t get to finish my question, though, because he’s being led away for transport to the local jail. He still hasn’t told me where our son is.

“Matt, what about Wes?”

“Hutton. Give the keys to him and tell him I tried. I fucking tried.” His voice cracks with desperation.

Then, he’s gone.

Eden is inconsolable, slouched against the wall several feet away from Dr. Wallen’s office.

Harrison crouches next to her, whispering.

I run my fingers through my hair, then pull. Screaming right now might help expel all the built-up emotion, but I’m starting to feel numb. Welcoming the dissociation, I look down at the keys. Where are these from?

There is absolutely nothing I can tell investigators that is helpful. We arrived after Dr. Wallen was killed. I don’t believe Matt is capable of doing that, but I don’t understand the blood on him, why he’s here at all, or how he’d know where Weston is when we still don’t.

Halcyon.

Telling the FBI to stand down.

Dr. Wallen.

They have Weston, but where is he?

He asked me if I’ve ever trusted him, but I always have. Without a doubt. But now…Now, I’m questioning the blind faith and my ability to excuse all the times I just followed along, bending the truth or outright lying. All to protect our family. Or is it destroying it?

My phone sounds with a text message from Caleb:Call me. SOS

How many directions can we be hit from today? Let it be nothing…let it be an animal escape…

“What’s up?” It’s hard to keep calm and not unload everything happening here while investigators talk to Eden down the hall.

“The girls are gone. They’re missing.”

Chapter Forty-One

Dying light

Eden

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