Chapter 7

The sheriff arrived at eight forty-two. Two deputies. They found Vern Cutler trying to smash Eli’s tablet with his boot. They found Kyle in the kitchen, feeding papers into the stove. They found me on the floor of Eli’s room, holding my husband’s brother’s hand while he blinked back tears.

The carbon copy was still in the wheelchair battery. Deputy Marsh pulled it out and read it by flashlight. He read the forged loan application. He read the payments to V. Cutler.

Vern was arrested first. He shouted the whole way to the cruiser. Called Kyle a coward. Called me a liar. Called Eli a vegetable. The deputy put him in the back seat and shut the door.

Kyle didn’t shout. He just stood in the kitchen with his hands behind his back and that calm, pastoral look on his face. “This is a misunderstanding,” he said. “My wife is unwell.”

“You have the right to remain silent,” Deputy Marsh said.

Kyle looked at me. For a second, I saw something in his eyes I’d never seen before. Fear. Real fear.

“Hannah,” he said. “Think about the baby.”

“I am,” I said.

They took him out in handcuffs. The cruiser doors slammed. The red lights flashed against the snow.

Doreen stayed with me. She made tea. She called her daughter, who was a nurse, and asked her to come check on Eli. She sat with me in the kitchen and didn’t say anything for a long time.

Then she said, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not believing you sooner. For letting him fool me.”

I shook my head. “He fools everyone.”

“Not you.”

“No,” I said. “Not me.”

The storm finally broke around midnight. The snow stopped. The wind died. The power flickered back on. The church bell hung silent in the tower.

I walked into the pantry. The shelves were still half-empty. The concrete floor was still stained with my blood. The coal chute rattled in the wind.

I picked up the dented case of canned peaches and put it back on the shelf. Then I went to Eli’s room and sat beside him.

He was asleep. His feeding pump hummed. His cracked tablet sat on the nightstand, still recording.

I didn’t know what would happen next. I didn’t know if the church would keep me. I didn’t know if I still had a marriage. I didn’t know if Kyle would go to prison.

But I knew Eli was safe. And I knew the truth was out.

That was enough for now.