He Told Their Son Mommy Was Dead, Then She Spoke His Name

CHAPTER 2 - A GRAVE WITH THE WRONG NAME

"If you call the police before I explain, you'll lose me again."

I took Ethan's hand and led both of them into the diner across the street.

It was the only place open, and I needed walls around us. Needed coffee. Needed a table between truth and madness.

Sophie kept her head down until we were in a back booth. Ethan slid in beside her as if no time had passed. He held her sleeve in his fist the way he used to when he was a baby falling asleep in the car.

She stared at him like she was trying to memorize every eyelash.

I ordered grilled cheese for Ethan, black coffee for me, and tea for her without asking. She looked up then, startled.

"You still remember."

I almost laughed at the cruelty of that sentence.

"I remember everything," I said. "That's the problem."

Three years ago, the police had told me Sophie's car went off a bridge during a storm. The body they recovered had been burned and swollen from the river. Dental records matched. Her wedding ring was found in the car. I stood graveside in a borrowed black coat while my son cried because he didn't understand dirt hitting a box.

Sophie listened without interrupting. Her hand never stopped moving over Ethan's hair.

"When the car went in," she said quietly, "I wasn't alone."

The waitress set down our drinks. Sophie didn't touch hers.

"There was a woman named Lena in the passenger seat. I had picked her up near the bus station. She said her boyfriend had hit her. She was bleeding. I was taking her to urgent care."

I frowned. "Why would your ring be in the car?"

She swallowed. "Because she stole my purse while I was driving. We fought. The car hit the railing. I got out through the window. She couldn't."

The diner noise seemed to thin around us.

"Then why didn't you come home?" I asked.

Her eyes flicked toward the front windows, toward the street.

"Because the men she was running from saw me crawl out of that river. And one of them was your brother, Daniel."

At that exact moment, my phone lit up on the table.

Daniel.