“I could use a break, let that simmer till it boils. The boil’s what I’m after.” He set the guitar aside, then scooped his fingers through his hair the way she wanted to. “And I could use some cold caffeine. You want?”

  “Actually … Yes. I could use some to cool off after that. I was sixteen again for a minute.”

  He shot a finger at her as he walked to the refrigerator. “Then I’m getting there. Pissed-off rock makes teenagers of us all.”

  “I don’t suppose you’re writing it for the longed-for Code Red reunion.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Oh, Ty, really?” And laughing, laid a hand on her heart. “There’s the teenager again.”

  “Just some talk about maybe doing a one-shot deal, live streaming it. Maybe next year, maybe in Philadelphia because that’s where we started. Maybe’s the key word.”

  “I’m there.”

  “A lot of logistics to work out. I’ve got a kid, Scott’s about to have his second, Mac would be coming off tour, Blaze has that TV thing going. It’s more than just walking onstage and cutting loose. There’s those logistics, and rehearsals and production. Anyway.”

  He handed her a glass, while he settled for a bottle. “Maybe.”

  And he’d told her about the maybe. That was trust, she realized. She lifted her glass. “Here’s to pissed-off rock.”

  “It made me what I am.” He watched her as he drank. “You’ve got more than that on your mind.”

  “Yes.” She set down her glass, linked her fingers together. “I called a family meeting. I was just coming back from it.”

  “A family meeting about?”

  “My game plan. I said I’d tell you when I had one. I have one.”

  “Okay, what is it?”

  “I’m going to Virginia, to Red Onion State Prison, to meet with Riggs face-to-face.”

  He started to speak, stopped himself. Walking to the window over the sink, he took a long pull from the bottle. “My first instinct is to say Don’t even think about it. You shouldn’t get anywhere near him.”

  He turned back. “Only you can’t do that, can you?”

  “No.”

  “But how would this help you? How would giving him the gift of you going to him like this—and it would be for him—help you?”

  “That’s the right question.” Because it was, she sat, breathed away the tension she’d held tight inside. “He’ll think it’s a gift, enough to excite him at first, let him feel like he’s gained the advantage. But it’s the opposite. He won’t know I’m coming until I’m there. He won’t have time to plot and plan. I have. I’ve thought about this a long time, even made notes, drawn images. I kept a folder, but I kept tucking it away, thinking later, maybe later. Later’s now.”

  “What folder?”

  “The game plan. Literally. He’s back in seg—segregation. Solitary. It’s a room with a cot and a toilet. A steel door with a little window in it, another little window up in the back wall—frosted glass. He can’t even see outside. When they put him in general population, he screws up. He can’t and won’t follow the rules. He’s violent—he’s made of violence.

  “He’s spent more than twelve of the last nearly sixteen years in one of those rooms. Twenty-three hours a day. His meals come through a slot in the door. One hour a day, he’s cuffed, shackled, and led down to a mesh cage so he can exercise. He doesn’t. He paces sometimes, or he broods, or he tries to climb the mesh, screams obscenities.”

  “You’ve watched him.”

  “Yes. Keeping to the edges of things, but yes. I know he reads other inmates as much as he can, and guards, medical personnel. Once he was in population for over six months—and managed to score some opioids. He’d trade what he read for favors, for drugs, for whatever he could get. He even qualified for one of the prison programs, and used that privilege to attack the instructor.”

  “So back in segregation.”

  “Yes.”

  Not exhausting after all, she realized. Telling him, feeling the way he listened, invigorated. It helped her believe she could do it.

  “In all the years he’s been in there, he hasn’t had a single visitor, a single letter. He has no friends, no family who care about him on the outside, no friends or community inside. He’s alone.”

  “He has you.”

  She closed her eyes and thanked whatever power had placed this man in her life. The man who understood, really understood.

  “Yes, and that’s his obsession, his lifeline, really. No one else knows him, no one understands what he has, except me. I took away what he wanted most. Not things, but the ability to kill and take things.”

  “You’ve got a reason for telling me all this.”

  “I want you to have a clear picture. Maybe he was born broken, maybe circumstances broke him. I don’t care. He became a monster, and he remains one. But his focus has narrowed and narrowed. He can’t read others the way he once did because it’s so narrowed on me, and so much in him is broken.”

  “Because it’s all on you, it’s worse on you. It’s hurting you more.”

  “It is, and I’ve had enough. Physically he’s healthy enough. He could live a very long time, focused on me, hurting me, shadowing my life. I’ve fought back, Ty, but it’s always temporary before the cycle starts again. It’s like … Nadine’s husband hits her.”

  “Christ.”

  “Not every day, not every week, but she never knows when something’s going to set him off and the fist is coming. She’s carrying her third child with him. She doesn’t leave. Maybe she fights back, I don’t know. But it’s temporary. I won’t be like that. I’m going to break the connection, break the cycle. I’m going to break him.”

  “Good. When do we leave?”

  The heart that clogged her throat made her eyes sting. “I—”

  “Don’t say you’re going alone. That’s not a possibility.”

  “I already had this with Rem. I can’t have him or Grammie with me. My mother came from Grammie, Rem came from our mother. I don’t know if Riggs could use that somehow. I don’t know if that’s part of what ties me to Riggs or not.”

  “We’re not blood, you and me, so that reason’s out. And if I know Rem, if he didn’t go with you, he’d be right behind you.”

  “We went around there, too. I said I’d ask you. But I didn’t have to ask. They won’t let you in to see him. I don’t know if they’d let you into the prison at all.”

  “Then I’ll wait outside. But I’ll be there. When?”

  “I called Detective—no, it’s Captain Musk now. Detective Howard retired last year. I asked him to pave the way. It can take a while to get permission to visit an inmate at a supermax. Applications and background checks and paperwork and so on. I asked him to push this through. I’m waiting to hear back.”

  “Okay. When you do, we’ll go. But you haven’t told me what this could cost you. I want to know.”

  “I’m afraid if I lose, he’ll get stronger. But I’m more afraid, if I win, using my gift this way, I’ll lose it. It’s part of me, and the price could be taking it back. I know that’s why I kept tucking that folder away, but I’ll risk even that to finally be free of him.”

  “Did you ever consider one of the reasons you have this was because of what you’re going to do? You’re not going to lose anything.” He came around the counter, lifted her off the stool and into his arms. “Start by believing that.”

  She almost could, standing here where everything was safe and warm and normal.

  But better, she thought, to understand the risks, to accept them before entering the field of play.

  “It helps me that you’re going, and it’ll go a long way to easing Grammie and Rem’s minds. I want this over before Thanksgiving, when the family’s all here. I don’t know if that’s possible. It could take weeks.”

  Even as she spoke, the phone in her jacket pocket signaled.

  And she knew.

  “It’s Captain Musk.”

  “Answer it, Thea,” Ty said when she stared at the pocket of the jacket she’d draped over a chair.

  Take the next step, she told herself, and pulled out the phone.

  “Captain Musk.” As she spoke, she rubbed a hand at her throat. “No, I haven’t. No, no, I don’t. Captain—all right, Phil—yes, I’m absolutely sure.”

  Her gaze shifted to Ty, and she nodded slowly.

  “Yes, I can. I will.” As she listened, she reached for Ty’s hand, squeezed it hard before she released it. “I understand,” she began as she opened the door to let Bunk out when he wagged in front of it. “I didn’t expect you to…” Her laugh came even as she rubbed her fingers between her eyebrows. “Well, I didn’t look, did I?”

  Closing her eyes, she listened, nodded. “I will. I’m grateful. It’ll be good to see you again. No, not my family, and they’re very well, thanks. But someone’s coming with me, just for the drive there and back. All right, yes. Oh, and tell your daughter to break a leg with her ballet recital Friday night. It’s on your mind, and I always feel I have to prove my bona fides with you, at least a little. Thank you again.”

  She ended the call, turned to Ty. “Monday morning at eleven. I should be there by ten-thirty, as there are protocols and procedures.”

  “Monday.”

  “Visiting hours are Saturdays and Sundays, but they’re not treating this like that. Captain Musk and Detective Howard are going to meet me there, guide me through, and they’ll be in an observation room while I’m with Riggs. It’s so kind of them. Riggs—he’ll be cuffed and shackled the whole time in a kind of room where inmates can talk to their lawyers. But there’ll be a guard in there with us. I’ll have an hour unless either he or I want to break it off.

  “I won’t let him. I won’t let him until I’m done.”

  “He doesn’t know who you are.”

  “No, but he thinks he does. I don’t know what strings Phil pulled, but I’m glad I don’t have to wait. I’d drive myself crazy thinking I’ve waited too long, or haven’t waited long enough. It’s another now, or now comes on Monday.”

  Ty took her face in his hands. “You’ll kick his ass.”

  For the moment at least, she believed it. “That’s definitely part of the game plan.”

  * * *

  She used every skill she had to block Riggs out through the rest of the week, over the weekend. She wanted him frustrated, angry, itchy.

  On Monday morning, she dressed carefully and deliberately. The Professional Woman look, her mother would have called it. A pretty, clean-lined sheath in deep blue she’d bought in New York and navy pumps that added a couple inches to her height. She dressed her hair in a sleek, sophisticated twist.

  It amazed her just how much the image in the mirror looked like her mother.

  “Still miss you,” she murmured as she put on the pink diamond studs, strapped on her mother’s anniversary watch.

  “He’ll remember you, both of you. I’ll make sure of it.”

  When she went downstairs, Rem stopped pacing, pulled his hands out of his pockets to stare at her. Lucy stopped playing tug-the-rope with Bunk and put a hand to her throat.

  “I forget sometimes how smart you are.” Rem shoved at his hair. “You look so much like her.”

  “Part of the plan. I don’t have a pink dress, but I don’t think it matters.”

  Rem took her shoulders. “Don’t screw this up. You screw it up, I’ll lord it over you forever.”

  “If that’s not incentive, what is?”

  When he grabbed her into a fierce hug, she felt it all. The love, the anger, the worry.

  “I’ve got Bunk.” Lucy moved into the hug. “And if you’re not back before, I’ll be waiting for the school bus, and take Bray home with me.”

  “I promise I’ll contact you the minute it’s done. I have to leave my phone, everything but my ID, in the car.”

  “I know.” When their eyes met, the flash came that was strength and connection.

  “And I know you have my blood, and the blood of all the women who came before me. We are formidable, darling. Don’t forget it.”

  “I won’t.” She turned when the door flew open, expecting Ty. But Maddy rushed in.

  “I tried to get here earlier, but I got hung up.”

  “Maddy.”

  “I’m not here to argue with you. Did I argue with you when you told me what you’re up to?”

  “No.”

  “And look at you! Duded up right. Your mama’s earrings, her watch. I got one more.” Reaching up, she unhooked the chain she wore. “Remember when you gave this to me, Miss Lucy?”

  “Your sixteenth birthday.”

  “And what you said when you put it on me?”

  “You have the key to unlock your own future.”

  “That’s right, that’s just right. You wear this today. Crouch down, Legs. Some of us aren’t built like flamingos.”

  “Thank you, Maddy.”

  “You have the key.” Maddy gripped her, gave her a little shake, then a kiss. “Remember that.”

  “I will. There’s Ty now. Be a good boy for Grammie.” She kissed Bunk’s nose. “Try to send strong vibes, not worried ones.”

  They stepped out with her and stood on the porch together as Ty got out of the car.

  “That’s a look a guy has to open the door for.”

  He kissed her lightly before she slid into the car. After closing the door, he looked up at the porch. “She’s got this. And I’ve got her.”

  Lucy took Rem’s hand on one side, Maddy’s on the other. “That’s just what she meant by strong vibes. Let’s follow his lead.”

  In the car, Ty paused at the foot of the lane. “That’s a new look for you.”

  “It’ll remind him of my mother. This.” She tapped her wrist. “This is the watch he killed them for.”

  He closed his hand briefly over hers, then made the turn.

  “What do you need?”

  “To finish this.”

  “Until then, from me. Small talk, pep talk, silence, tunes?”

  “Before that, I want to say this is more than a little surreal. I haven’t set foot in Virginia since I was twelve. Now you’re driving me there, someone up until about six months ago I only knew as … don’t let it be weird, but as an icon.”

  “I can go with surreal. A lot of firsts right here. The first time I’ve seen you look like you could run a board meeting without breaking a sweat. The first time we’ve been together in this car without a kid in the car seat. The first time I’ve driven you or anyone to the big house.”

  That made her smile a little. “It’s funny they call it a house. It’s so not. When I looked in the mirror before I left, I saw my mother.”

  And she’s with me now, Thea thought. She’ll be with me, as Grammie will, as all the others who came before will.

  “This is her professional look. Her ‘I’m strong and smart and put together’ look. This is what he saw in the grocery store that day and hated because she was strong and smart and put together and wore an expensive watch.”

  “And that’s what he’ll see when he looks at you.”

  “That’s the plan. An in-your-face move. That’s how I want to begin. And you begin as you mean to go on.”

  “You don’t need a pep talk.”

  “I’m ready. I’m nervous, but I’d be stupid not to be. I left three people back there who’ll worry about me. Grammie will light candles, then keep herself busy. Rem will take his meetings and pace. Maddy’ll go to work and check the time between patients. And you.”

  She turned to him. “You’ll worry, and you’ll wait. But the worry doesn’t mean y’all don’t believe in me.

  “He doesn’t have that, Tyler. He’ll be alone, and I won’t.”

  Saying it, saying just that helped settle some of those nerves. “Let’s try some not-so-small talk. How’s the pissed-off rock going?”

  Chapter Thirty

  No, it looked nothing like a house, and certainly nowhere life might thrive. The prison consisted of a series of unadorned, low-slung white buildings surrounded by a high, sheer wall.

  She’d studied images of it online, had dozens of them in her file. More, she’d seen and felt and smelled what Riggs had seen and felt and smelled. The catcalls and cries, the wild laughter and wilder weeping from inside the blue doors of segregation that echoed constantly. The bright, bright lights through the narrow window in those blue doors.

  The hopeless sounds of doors, or bars, sliding shut and the final thunk of locks.

  But she’d walk inside there now, and needed to block everything out but Riggs.

  “That’s Phil, Captain Musk, oh, and Detective Howard. I have my ID, it’s all I can take. My purse stays here with you.”

  “I got it.”

  Before Thea could open the door, Musk reached it and did it for her.

  “Right on time.” He held out a hand for hers.

  Though he still had a head full of hair, the gray had taken over. She thought it made him look like a captain.

  The hug surprised her a little, and warmed her a lot. Then Howard moved in for his own.

  “It’s good to see you.” He drew her back. “I was against this, but now that I look at you? I should’ve known better.”

  “How’s retirement?” she asked, and Musk snorted.

  “So I’m doing a little consulting,” Howard said, and flipped off his former partner. “I tried golf, even tried pickleball, and my wife said I was driving her crazy.”

  “You’re too good a cop not to use your skills and experience.”

  “See that?” Howard pointed at Musk, then turned to extend a hand to Ty. “Chuck Howard— Whoa! Get out of town.” Gripping Ty’s hand, he shook enthusiastically. “Tyler freaking Brennan. I embarrassed my kids belting out ‘Where We Run’ in the car back when that one hit.”

  “You embarrassed everybody,” Musk claimed. “Here’s a curveball.” Musk extended a hand. “I’d like to hear about the windup and delivery, but we have to get started. You’re waiting here?”

  “I’m waiting.” Ty turned Thea to him. “Right here.” He kissed her. “See you in a few hours.”