Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(27)

“You gave her a ride,” she said skeptically.

“Yes. To that restaurant where she worked.”

Savanna covered her left ear so she could hear above the engine of a semi that rumbled past. “Because...”

“It was snowing out! I saw a woman trudging through the storm in her little waitressing uniform with barely a sweater on and felt sorry for her. So I pulled over and gave her a lift.”

“Then why didn’t you say that from the beginning? You told me the police planted the evidence. Now you’re saying she was in our van but for something completely innocent?”

“It took me a while to remember that I had seen her before. She was so bruised in the pictures the cops showed me I didn’t recognize her. We’d only crossed paths once, and for such a brief time. I couldn’t place where. You know I’ve picked up a lot of hitchhikers over the years. Doing so helped relieve the boredom of all the driving I had to do.”

She was aware of that. They’d talked about it before. Savanna remembered warning him of the danger involved in picking up strangers.

“But once my confusion and panic subsided, and I could think clearly, I realized she was the same woman,” he went on. “So I told my attorney, and after he reminded her, she remembered it, too.”

“Was she bleeding when you did that?”

“Not that I could tell, but I didn’t check her for injuries. The drops of blood the police found were so small, who knows how they got there? You could barely see them with the naked eye. For all I know, they were planted, like I said before.”

She pivoted to check on the kids, who were still peering out at her. “That’s not the only evidence tying you to these crimes, Gordon.”

“It’s the most compelling. DNA evidence always is.”

“The things you kept in our storage shed tell their own story.”

“What are you talking about? Those things were part of a Halloween costume! I thought it would be cool to dress up as a murderer, in a scary sort of way. You know I like the macabre. But then I realized it would be going too far and never did anything with it.”

“Since when were you ever interested in dressing up for Halloween, Gordon?”

“It’s been a while. I don’t even remember when I assembled that. I mean, come on, babe. Have some faith. I miss my family. I miss you.”

Babe. The endearment made Savanna feel...odd, sad, guilty (of what, she didn’t know), repulsed and confused, all at once. Now that she could look back on their marriage from the vantage point of a new perspective, she was beginning to believe it had been like a piece of fruit left to rot on a tree. It’d hung on for a long time, had looked fine on the outside, but once it fell to the ground and broke open, it was easy to see it’d been rotting for quite a while.

Branson opened the van door and leaned out. “Mom, it’s getting hot in here. You coming?”

She lifted a hand to signal that she’d only be another moment. “I can’t talk anymore,” she told Gordon—and Dorothy, who was, of course, listening in.

“Wait! Before you go, promise me that you’ll at least accept my calls from now on, let me talk to you and the kids once in a while. I’m going crazy in here. I think about you all the time.”

Did she have to remain in contact? Did she owe it to him by virtue of the fact that they’d once meant so much to each other? And what was fair when it came to their children?

Turning, Savanna saw her kids staring back at her. God, this was difficult. She had no idea how best to protect them—except to make a clean break from their father. “I hope I’m not misjudging you, Gordon. I really do. And I’m sorry if that’s the case. But...I don’t want any contact.”

“Wait. What? Why not? I’ve been nice, haven’t I? I didn’t say anything to upset Alia when I had her on the phone. You can trust me.”

“No, I can’t. It’s all smoke and mirrors, and I don’t like the feeling that you’re constantly trying to prey on my humanity.” She hit the end button. She couldn’t allow him to mess with her head, couldn’t allow him to undermine her confidence in the decisions she’d made.

Branson and Alia both watched her solemnly as she climbed back behind the wheel.

“What’d he say?” Branson asked.

“Nothing that changes anything,” she replied.

“Are we going to see him?” Alia asked. “He says we can visit him if we want.”

Savanna gazed into her little girl’s earnest face. “No, we’re not going to see him.”

Alia’s eyes filled with tears. “Maybe later?”

With a sad smile, Savanna pushed her daughter’s hair back and started the truck. “Yeah, maybe later,” she mumbled. It was a lie, and she felt bad for telling it. But she was hanging on by such a thin thread she couldn’t withstand Alia’s tears right now. She was too busy choking back her own.





7

The fridge wasn’t the best Gavin had ever seen, but it wasn’t too bad. He and Eli helped unload it and get it plugged in. Then, looking hot and miserable, since the day was so warm and the truck didn’t have air-conditioning, Savanna took her children and headed to LA. Gavin told her it’d be late by the time she got there, what with traffic. Even on a Sunday, gridlock could be a problem in Southern California. But she wouldn’t postpone the trip. She said the car lots would be open until nine—and would likely stay open later if she was in negotiations on a purchase. She wanted to get that over with so she could return the van.