Chapter Five

Bitsy went into the pharmacy to get Cal’s prescription while he waited in the car. She could see the street through the pharmacy window and her car parked directly in front. Cal was on the phone. Oh, for the days when she would have seen that and thought nothing of it. How utterly blind and stupid had she been?

The pharmacist, Josie Lavelle, was bagging up the bottle of pills when Bitsy pointed to the little candy display by the register. “I’ll take one of those Snickers bars, too. Cal loves his sweets.”

“Sure thing, honey. You take good care of your man. Prayers for healing from all of us,”

Josie added.

Bitsy smiled her sweetest smile. “Thank you so much. He’s going to need them.”

She exited the pharmacy and saw Cal end his call. She just kept walking, and when she got in, handed him the bag.

“Your meds and instructions are in the bag. I bought you a Snickers bar, too.”

Cal’s surprise was evident.

Good. I want him off guard, she thought, and backed away from the curb, then she drove straight to the Fish Shack drive-through and got both of them cold drinks to-go.

“I know you must be hurting. Maybe something cold and sweet will make the ride home a little easier,”

she said, and took a sip of her Coke before putting it in the cupholder in her console and headed home.

“That was so thoughtful,”

he said, as he dug the candy bar out of the sack and took a bite.

She gave him a quick sidelong glance and added a tinge of surprise to the tone of her voice.

“I have always been thoughtful of you,” she said.

He thought he heard an emphasis on the word I , which could be construed as her saying he wasn’t. But then he shrugged it off and enjoyed the treat.

Even with the windows up and the air conditioning on, the thick sweet scents of wisteria, crape myrtle, and lilac coming in through the air vents were redolent of happier times. Bitsy blinked back a single tear and kept driving, but every time she felt like stopping the car and kicking him out on the highway, she just took another drink of her Coke. By the time she got home, there was nothing left in her cup but swiftly melting ice. So much for her need to have a hissy fit. They were home, and she hadn’t given herself away.

“Can you get yourself out, okay?”

she asked, as she parked and killed the engine.

He nodded. “I’m just sore as hell, not crippled. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“Okey dokey,”

she said, then gathered up their refuse, got out, and headed for the house.

Cal followed her inside to the kitchen and watched her dump their cups in the trash.

“What now?” he asked.

“I’m going to change clothes and go to the garden. Green beans need picking. I should have done it this morning while it was still cool, but I didn’t. I’ll put one of the old quilts on top of the bedspread. You can stretch out on that and rest. Don’t forget to take your first dose of the antibiotic. You don’t want all those pokes and scratches getting infected. Your normal workday has been put on pause, but mine hasn’t,”

she said, and flashed a quick smile.

He opened the bag, read the dosage instructions, then took the first pill before going to the bedroom.

Bitsy had already changed into a loose mini-length cotton house dress that hid her shapely body but showed a goodly portion of her legs.

“That dress is short. When you bend over, your ass will show.”

She pivoted so fast his first instinct was to duck.

“I have been wearing this dress for six straight summers, and you never paid attention to what I was wearing before. It’s one of my everyday work dresses. My garden is behind the house. What’s getting short around here is my patience. What the hell is wrong with you, Calvin? You have never once come into this house and asked me what I did during the day or commented upon what I wear. Daddy always told me when a man started criticizing his wife, it was all because of his own guilty conscience. So, either lie down and shut up, or come on outside with me in this godawful heat and hold the tail of my dress down while I pick my green beans.”

“Uh . . .”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s what I thought,”

she said, and walked out.

Cal didn’t move until he heard the back door slam, and then he walked to the window overlooking the back yard and saw her stomping toward the garden. When she got to the first row to start picking, he realized the rows ran horizontally, which meant only the chickens in the hen house were going to see a damn thing.

He turned away from the window and flopped down on the bed. But his phone was already buzzing with texts. He let them all go to voicemail and closed his eyes.

**

That evening, supper consisted of scalloped potatoes, the green beans Bitsy had picked, and a fried ham steak. She cooked it, served it, and ate it sitting at the same table with Calvin, waiting for him to start the conversation with an apology.

Other than, “Please pass the salt,”

the dinner conversation did not happen, because Calvin had not apologized, and Bitsy wasn’t giving him a break.

When they’d finished eating, Calvin stood, patted his pocket to make sure his phone was there, and pointed toward the back porch.

“Thank you for supper. It was good. I’m going to sit out on the—”

Bitsy gave him her back, turned on the water, and began rinsing dishes and banging pans.

He sighed. “Bitsy . . . I’m sorry—what I said about your dress.”

The butcher knife she held was dripping water on the floor when she turned around. “And I’m sorry those words ever came out of your mouth, because I cannot unhear them,” she said.

He bolted for the back door, moving faster than was comfortable, anxious to put some distance between them. Not once in his life had he ever been afraid of a woman, but as of today, he was officially afraid of his wife.

Bitsy knew he was uneasy, which was fine with her. She didn’t have to spurn his advances. He was dodging her. And tonight, she had an even better excuse for not having to sleep beside him. He was going to have the whole bed to himself, so she wouldn’t accidentally bump his wounds.

She knew he was outside so he could text all his girlfriends. All she could hope for right now was that he got mosquito bites. That way he could itch and hurt at the same time.

**

Sue Ritter had a floor burn on her backside from sliding out of her seat when she fainted. It was embarrassing and a bit too revealing to have done it upon hearing about Cal’s condition, but she managed to cover it up by claiming a reaction to low blood sugar. Later, she’d sent him a frantic text.

My poor darling. I just heard about your injuries. Please let me know if you are okay.

Then she waited anxiously until he finally responded.

I just got tangled up in some old, barbed wire. Got some cuts and scratches and a tetanus shot. You are a darling for asking. I’ll come by sometime tomorrow and you can see for yourself. I’ll be in the alley behind the library.

Relieved by the news, Sue could hardly sleep for the thought of seeing him tomorrow.

**

Tansy Sullivan had been horrified when her husband told her about Cal, and her reaction to the news was real.

“Oh my God! Paul! How terrible!”

Tansy said. “Poor Calvin.”

“Indeed,”

Paul said. “Bitsy took him to ER. I doubt he’ll be at work tomorrow, so I’ll likely be here early and staying late.”

“Of course,”

Tansy said, but her thoughts were swirling, trying to figure out how she could check on Cal for herself without raising attention. But the woman standing beside her in the grocery store had overheard enough of her conversation with Paul to be curious.

“Tansy, what happened? Is your husband okay?”

she asked.

“Oh yes, he’s fine. He was just telling me what happened to Cal Yarbrough, our insurance adjustor. He was taking pictures of that explosion site at the old Turner place and tripped and fell in a bunch of barbed wire. He got all cut up, and Bitsy just brought him to the ER.”

After that, the news began to spread, and so did Tansy’s plans. Once she learned Cal had not been hospitalized, she sent him a text.

Damn it hotshot. I’m so, so sorry. I would give anything to just hold you and make all the bad stuff go away.

Cal smiled when he read Tansy’s text and sent her a reply.

Missing my best girl. I could do with a hug, if it’s not too tight. I might be able to slip by sometime tomorrow. I’ll let you know if I make it to town.

That was all Tansy needed to know. She wasn’t budging from her house until she saw him, no matter how long it took.

**

The last text came from JoJo.

I am so sorry you’ve been injured. I suppose Bitsy is taking good care of you, but I wish it was me. When you can, let me know you’re okay.

Cal frowned when he got her message.

It was an unwritten rule between him and his “girls”

that no one mentioned his wife. It turned up the guilt factor, which ruined the mind games he played.

It had started years ago, when he’d cheated the first time and told himself the women meant nothing more to him than a real-life version of a computer game. Instead of a war game where he shot enemies hiding behind buildings and evaded traps and bombs online, he was the playboy, counting off how quick he could make them climax, and bonuses for how many times in one session he could make that happen. In return, he had good sex.

A good psychiatrist would have had a field day with him. It would have been hard to determine how much of it was narcissistic behavior, and how much was due to a total absence of empathy and decency. Unfortunately for Bitsy, she’d been fooled by his good looks and charm.

**

Cal was back in the house watching TV when Bitsy went out to put the chickens up for the night. After she came back in the house, she locked the doors behind her, and got the last load of laundry from the dryer, and she carried the basket through the house to hang up the clothes in their closet. The last thing she did before she quit for the evening was to sweep the kitchen floor.

As she went into the living room, she was tired, but even more, soul weary. She and Cal used to watch TV together in the evenings, and now all she could think about was staying as far away from him as possible. She also used to think he was the handsomest man in Mississippi, but now all she saw was depravity, and everything she heard that came out of his mouth, blatant lies.

He looked up as she walked in, but before he could open his mouth, she spoke.

“Calvin, out of consideration for your poor body, I am going to sleep in the guestroom to give you all the room you need in the bed. I would feel horrible if I accidentally bumped into you and caused you pain. Everything is cleaned up and locked up. Retire at your leisure, and don’t forget to take your meds.”

She made herself smile and left the room. She wanted to soak in the Jacuzzi, but she didn’t want him in there eyeing the goods, so she opted for a bubble bath in the guestroom. After she started the water and added the bubble bath, she went to get her robe and nightgown, then took them back across the hall, locking the door behind her.

Even as she turned the lock, she saw the irony. A locked door was a symbol of the deterioration of their marriage. He’d broken her heart and all the vows he’d made to her at their wedding. It was only fitting that she dismantled his playhouse and his playmates with it.

Her hands shook as she stripped, then she clipped her hair up on the top of her head and crawled into the tub. Lies were stressful, and she was living one. She slid down into the heat as the bubbles began popping against her skin and sighed with relief.

This left Calvin alone with the TV and the remote, but Bitsy had caused him to lose interest in the show he had been watching. He couldn’t get a read on her. On one hand, her words were as sharp as that knife she’d been holding earlier, and on the other hand, she was all sweet words and smiles. It was like living with two different women.

Later, when he got up to go to the bathroom, he tried the doorknob to the guestroom. It was locked and very quiet.

So much for the smile.

A short while later, he took his pain and antibiotic meds, then went to bed. It took forever to get comfortable, and as he was tossing and turning, he realized how considerate it had been of Bitsy to take the spare bed. All of this would have been easier to bear if she’d just have a hissy fit.

**

What Calvin didn’t know was that Bitsy was holding all the aces.

With the evidence she’d found on her own, and the stuff Fisher Means was gathering on her behalf, he was a walking time bomb, and she held the detonator.

Cal didn’t sleep well, and got up early to get dressed, thinking she would still be asleep. But when he went into the kitchen and smelled fresh coffee, he sighed.

Moments later, he heard her coming in the back door and watched her come in with a bowl of fresh eggs. Her and her chickens.

“Did you get any rest?”

she asked, as she set the bowl on the counter.

“Not much.”

“Did you take your morning meds?”

He blinked. “No, I forgot.”

She stood there, just looking at him until it hit him. She was waiting for him to go take them. Aggravated with himself for having to be reminded, he stomped out of the room.

When he came back, she was taking sausage patties out of the skillet and breaking eggs to fry in the leftover grease. He got a cup and poured himself some coffee then sat down at the table. When she slid his plate in front of him, he looked up and smiled.

“Thank you. It looks amazing,” he said.

“You’re welcome, but it’s just breakfast like always,”

she said, and set a little plate of toast in front of him.

She went back to get her egg. She hated soft eggs. If the yolk wasn’t done all the way, it wouldn’t be going in her mouth.

As soon as it was done on both sides, she slipped it on her plate with a sausage patty and a piece of toast and sat down at the table with Cal.

“So, what are you doing today?” he said.

“Watering the flower beds and picking tomatoes before it gets too hot. If there are a lot of tomatoes, I’ll probably put some of them up, but it’s too hot to can. I’ll just chop and freeze them,” she said.

He nodded, and kept eating as he sorted out the best way to let her know he was going into town, and then she gave him the perfect out.

“I know you aren’t up to going back to the office, but if you decide to go into town for anything, I could use a gallon of whole milk. I want to make bread pudding.”

“Sure thing,”

he said. “I can do that. Do you need it before noon?” he asked

“No, but it will be tonight’s dessert, so if you can get it to me anytime around noon or after, that would give the mixture plenty of time to set up before I bake it off,”

Bitsy said, and primly plopped a dollop of blackberry jelly on the corner of her toast.

“Consider it done,”

he said, and took another bite of his food while trying to hide the glee he felt from getting the break he needed.

He was so wound up in his own drama that he missed the flash in Bitsy’s eyes. She’d just set him up for Fisher. She wanted this over with, and she needed him out of her house. And, after her request, he didn’t waste any time leaving.

She was still cleaning up breakfast dishes when he went outside to work on getting the meth ash off and out of his truck. After he’d finished, he came inside, showered and changed.

She was on her way outside to gather tomatoes when he called out. “Hey Bitsy, I’m leaving now. I’ll be back later. Call if you need anything else before I leave town.”

He went out the front door as she went out the back, but Bitsy didn’t go straight to the garden. Instead, she stood on the porch listening, waiting for the sound of his truck to leave their property, and when it did, she got her phone out of her pocket and sent Fisher Means a text.

He just left the house.

Fisher was scooping Frosted Flakes into his mouth with razor-sharp precision. No milk drops between the bowl and his mouth. Just the crunch of each bite, chewing and swallowing, and repeating it over again, when his phone signaled the text. He already had the app pulled up and was watching his laptop for movement when he got the text at the same time he saw Calvin on the move.

He sent a quick response.

Already on it. I’ve got your back.

He calmly finished his cereal, downed the last of his coffee, and was cursing himself for breaking his personal rule not to get involved with his clients’ cases. With Bitsy, he’d done it anyway. The only thing left now was to make good on his promises. He put the bowl and coffee cup in the sink, then went to get his things. He was going to dog every step Cal took and do what he did best. Become invisible.

**

Once Bitsy got Fisher’s text, she took a deep breath and headed for the garden. Everything within her wanted to scream. But not now. All she had to do was stay busy. Just stay busy.

When she got to the rows of tomatoes, she paused, set her bucket down in front of her and began picking the ripe ones. Sometimes when she was in the garden, she would pick a couple of big green tomatoes to fry up, but not today. She just kept picking the deep red ones, and slowly, the simple act of gathering food began to soothe the turmoil within her. When she reached the end of the first row and started back up the last one, she paused and straightened up to rest her back then looked toward the house.

It was the same green-roofed, white single-story home with a wrap-around porch where she used to play when it was raining, and the porch that had turned into a racetrack she’d used to run with her daddy. He’d go one way, she’d go the other, and whoever got back to the starting point first was the winner. She could almost hear her mama yelling out the back door, telling them they sounded like stampeding goats and to stop making so much noise, because she was trying to watch “her shows.”

Bitsy sighed. Those days of Mama watching the soap operas and shelling crowder peas, and Daddy carrying Bitsy to bed at night when she fell asleep on the couch, were long gone. Some days she was sad she’d lost both her parents so young, but knowing they’d passed away together made it a little easier to accept. Even if one had survived the car wreck, they would have grieved the loss of the other one forever.

She used to wonder why she and Cal never had a baby. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but it just hadn’t happened, and now, after all of this mess, she was glad.

Thank you, Daddy, for deeding this home and property to me, and enough money in the estate to keep insurance and taxes paid. No matter what happens when this is over, I’ll be fine.

She sighed, wiped the sweat off her forehead, and started back up the last row, working her way to the house.

**

Cal wasn’t taking chances of getting caught out, but he did have to pacify the other women in his life. And after finding out Bitsy and JoJo belonged to the same book club, it added another edge to his game.

Tansy and Bitsy did not attend the same events, or the same churches, so she was his secret weapon, and having sex with the boss’s wife was good for bonus points in his game.

Sue was the dark horse. The prim librarian who wore big black glasses, wore her long blonde hair wadded up in a messy bun, and hid her rock-solid body beneath loose-fitting clothes. No one would ever suspect her of being a wild woman in bed.

So, as soon as he arrived in Lone Bridge, he went straight to the local café to lay rest to the stories of his near demise. Within moments of him taking a seat at a table, Bradley Beamer joined him to commiserate.

It soon became obvious to everyone that yesterday’s gossip about him being ripped to shreds had been a slight exaggeration. But it was also obvious he was in pain. He was moving slower, and when he sat down, he did so with caution.

“Sorry about you getting hurt,”

Bradley said.

“Perks of the job,”

Cal said. “Insurance adjustors get flak from people who aren’t satisfied with their assessments, and being onsite at fire and explosion sites isn’t necessarily a walk in the park. That barbed wire was not on the property when old man Turner died, so I guess the dudes who blew themselves up added it as a deterrent from people sneaking onto the property. Then when the whole place exploded, the wire went up with it. I just happened to stumble into it in the grass. It’s a damn mess out there.”

Bradley shuddered. “I’ll stick to selling cars.”

Then he glanced up at Cal. “How’s Bitsy liking her new car?”

“She likes it just fine. I, on the other hand, am in the doghouse,” Cal said.

Bradley shrugged. “I told you it wasn’t a good idea.”

Cal grinned. “And you were right. But she’ll get over it.”

“Why did you do it?”

Bradley asked.

Cal shrugged. “Just a whim that bit me in the ass.”

Bradley didn’t say anything more about the car, but knowing Cal, he suspected it had to do with another woman and felt guilty for even participating in something that might hurt Bitsy. She was a good woman, and he’d helped Cal play a dirty game.

“Well, it’s good to see you upright and in one piece, buddy. I need to get to the dealership. Have a good day, and take it easy,”

Bradley said, then laid down money for his coffee and waved at the waitress as he walked out.

She came by to pick up the money. “Refill, Mr. Yarbrough?”

she asked.

“Yeah, sure,”

Cal said, and settled in with an eye on the clock.

After he’d killed another hour visiting, he left the café, checked to make sure his boss’s car was parked at the office, and went straight to see Tansy.

The Sullivan house was on a dead-end street. The house across from it was for sale and empty, and the tall green Arborvitaes on both sides of Tansy’s home walled it in via carefully landscaped elegance.

Cal and Bitsy had been here a couple of times in the past for a Christmas gathering, but it had also included every insured local, as well as office staff. A perfectly innocent reason to visit—unlike today.

Arriving like this was him leveling up in his cheating game, so he drove down the street like he owned it and turned up the driveway like he lived there. He went up the steps, rang the doorbell, and when Tansy opened it wide, she threw her arms around his neck.

He immediately winced.

“Oh, Cal, I forgot about your wounds,”

she said, and grabbed his butt with both hands instead.

“That hurts too,”

he said, laughing, and kicked the door shut.

**

By eyeing the blip tracing the streets Cal was traveling on now, Fisher took a wild guess as to where he was going next and took a couple of back streets to get there sooner. He parked in the alley behind the house that was for sale and was lying in wait within some overgrown shrubbery when Cal pulled up in the Sullivans’ driveway. He had his camera aimed and snapped pictures as Cal strode up the steps and rang the bell. He got pictures of Tansy greeting him with open arms and her hands on his butt as the door closed between them. And then he settled down to wait.

When Cal exited less than five minutes later, he caught their goodbyes, as well, then took off running through the back yard of the empty house, jumped in his car, and checked the tracker.

As soon as he saw Cal was heading for the library, Fisher took the back streets and beat him to the parking lot. He had just pulled into a parking place when he saw Cal’s truck appear.

“Creatures of habit. Always the easiest ones to trap,”

Fisher muttered, and adjusted the telescopic lens on his camara, but when Cal got out and sat down on a bench facing the parking lot, Fisher scooted down in his seat.

**

Cal sent Sue a text to let her know where he was then sent another one to JoJo to let her know he was heading her way soon. He made a mental note not to forget to take home Bitsy’s milk. Satisfied that he was on schedule, he settled in to wait for Sue.

Within minutes, the back door to the library opened. A tall blonde in navy-colored pants and a blue and white tunic-length top came flying down the steps.

Cal stood up and moved toward her as she threw herself into his arms.

Fisher saw it all through the lens of his camera, snapping picture after picture of the embrace and then the passionate kisses. Their meeting was brief because it had to be, but there was no mistaking it for what it was. He got one last picture of them saying goodbye, and then one of Sue darting back inside the library, and the smile on Cal’s face as he got back in his truck.

“You are one sorry son-of-a-bitch,”

Fisher muttered, and slid back down in the seat as Cal backed up and left.

Fisher sat, eyeing the blip on his laptop to see where Cal was off to next, and when he saw him stop at the supermarket parking lot, that meant he was likely headed home. But then he remembered JoJo Walker. She lived just off the highway between Lone Bridge and the Yarbrough property.

It would be on his way, and if Bitsy was right about JoJo being the one who’d left the pop-off nail in the elastic on Cal’s underwear, now was the time to check out that theory.

Fisher drove past the supermarket, saw Cal’s truck still in the parking lot, and headed out of town to find a place near JoJo’s house to set up his stakeout. Thanks to kudzu and rural Mississippi side roads, it wasn’t hard to find a spot in an over-grown lane between the two properties across the highway from JoJo’s place. He backed far enough in to hide his car, then got out and secreted himself within the hedgerow of kudzu.

What he hadn’t expected was to see JoJo come around the side of her house on her riding lawn mower and start mowing her front yard.

Fisher eyed her lack of clothing and guessed JoJo wasn’t one of those people who burned easy. The weather was sauna-worthy, but that was a lot of flesh left bare to sun and skeeters.

He glanced down at the screen on his phone and brushed a mosquito off his arm. The blip that was Calvin’s truck was on the move again, this time on the highway heading back to his house. And then he wondered if JoJo was in the front yard just to let Cal know she was home. The other two women had certainly been prepared for his arrival. Clearly, JoJo Walker was displaying her presence and her wares.

According to the blip, Calvin would be passing at any moment, and Fisher began watching the highway, waiting for that truck to pull up in JoJo’s driveway—and to see how this meeting played out.

**

Cal glanced at the time. JoJo knew he was coming. He’d make this last stop to reassure her he was still in one piece and see where it went. When he saw her in the front yard on her riding lawn mower, he turned off the highway and pulled up into her drive, then he stopped and got out. He leaned against the cab of his truck with his arms crossed and a big smile on his face as she drove her way across the yard to where he waited.

Fisher snapped shots in rapid succession as she parked the mower, swung her leg over the steering wheel, and then fell into his arms. Cal’s hands were on her breasts and then her butt when he went in for the kiss, unaware their actions were being photographed.

**

Fisher waited until Cal was gone, and JoJo had ridden her lawnmower back around the house before he headed back to town. He had everything he needed. Now it was time to collate the compelling evidence he’d collected, and give Bitsy the ammunition she’d paid for.

But as he pulled up into his driveway and gathered his things, he felt a little bit like a pilot with a load of bombs on the way to destroy someone’s pretty little world. Even though Bitsy had asked for it, it was going to be a shock finding out there were three of them, and that it had been ongoing for years.

**

After Bitsy came in from the garden, she went straight to their bedroom to shower off the sweat and get into clean clothes, taking care to lock the door behind her. She didn’t expect Cal to come rushing home, but the pressure of what was happening had started to get to her. She was going to need a job, but she had zero work experience at anything but homemaking.

The humiliation of being cheated on was inevitable. There would be people taking sides. Some would surely point the finger of blame at her for not being enough to keep her man happy. And others would vilify Cal for being a cheater. But none of that was within her control, and she’d have to weather its passing. As she took off her dirty clothes, she found a ladybug on the hem of her dress.

“Sister! You are so in the wrong place,”

she said, and carefully picked up the dress, then went through the house and out the back in her undies to let the little bug fly free. Then to make sure there weren’t more hitchhikers, she shook off her dress before going back inside.

Getting in the shower and scrubbing herself clean felt good, but she wished it would be this easy to wash off the taint of what Cal had done. The knot in her stomach grew bigger and tighter by the day.

As she got dressed, she caught a scent she hadn’t smelled in years. Old Spice. Her daddy’s go-to aftershave. Her eyes welled, and her throat tightened, but she wouldn’t let herself cry.

“Daddy . . . I know you’re here. You never did like Calvin, did you? Now I understand why.”

She sighed. “‘Live and learn’ you used to say, and I guess I’m learning the hard way.”

But even after she’d left the bedroom, she couldn’t bring herself to start a new task. Instead, she made herself an iced tea and took it to the living room.

She sat down and started to turn on the TV, then let the remote lie, and closed her eyes instead. The house was so quiet. The cool air after the hot sun in the garden felt wonderful. The sip of sweet tea was refreshing as it slid down her throat. And that’s when it hit her.

This was how it was going to feel after Cal was gone. It was different, but it wasn’t awful. And in time, it might become a blessing, or it might become the impetus she needed to fly away from this tiny, insulated piece of the world.

She closed her eyes and saw Fisher Means’ face as he’d stood before her that day at the Clothes Closet. He’d been looking for a jacket, and she’d been looking for answers. It was at that moment fate had stepped in. A single tear rolled from the corner of her eye and down her cheek. She’d asked for answers. This was no time to be afraid of them.