they will. If they know what’s good for them, they’ll report the facts, not the gossip.”
Overnight, rumors had inevitably swirled up. What was an estranged couple doing together on a remote coastal highway? Was it really an accident or was foul play involved? Red made it his mission to tell the world that this was a tragic accident in every sense of the word, and to suggest otherwise was a vicious insult to the victims’ families.
“Red!” Charlie ran into the living room, her arms flung out in greeting.
“There you are, Princess Carlotta.” Red set down his briefcase and scooped her up in his arms.
“Every time I think about my mom and dad, I cry,” she said. “And I think about them all the time.”
“Sure you do, sweetheart.” Red’s gruff exterior melted. “They loved you with all their hearts.”
“That does no good at all if they’re not here with me,” she said.
“I know, princess. I know. Where are your brother and sister?”
“Ashley’s in the kitchen with Lily.”
“Who’s Lily?”
“My teacher.”
“She’s Crystal’s friend,” Sean said. “She’s been with the kids ever since this all started.”
“Cameron is in his room,” Charlie told Red, “listening to his stupid music.”
“I’ll go round him up,” Sean said, and headed upstairs. He found Cameron lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, lost. He wore headphones, the tiny iPod balanced on his chest like a pacemaker. The expression on his face was surprisingly contented. Music couldn’t save you, Sean thought, but occasionally, just for a time, it could fill the empty spaces inside a person. The headphones emitted a faint tinny sound and Cameron took his time removing them when he noticed Sean.
“How you doing?” Sean asked.
“Just swell.”
“Red’s here. He needs to talk to us all.”
“What about?”
“A lot of things.” It was hard to figure out where to begin again. “Funeral arrangements. Some other stuff, too. We need to meet with Logan, Schwab and Fuller to go over what your parents wanted for you.”
“That’s easy,” said Cameron, utterly serious, hard-eyed. “They wanted—Never mind.”
“What were you going to say?”
“Never mind.” Cameron tossed the player onto the bed. “Let’s go see Red.”
Sean checked his phone for messages. No response from Maura, he noticed. Out of town at her seminar, she couldn’t know what was going on with him, but she sure as hell ought to return her damned calls.
He swallowed his irritation because he had to. This wasn’t about him and his grief. It was about figuring out what was best for Derek’s kids. If he started letting himself feel his loss in the depths of his soul, he might get sucked so far down into a dark hole that he’d never find his way out. And that would make him useless to these children.
God, Derek, he thought. How the hell am I supposed to do this?
He and Cameron went into the living room, where Red, Lily and the girls were waiting. He stood there in the doorway for a second and looked at Lily. She’d been here for the past twenty-four hours, taking care of the kids as best she could. She hadn’t changed her clothes, though she’d found time to duck into the shower, and when he’d passed by the bathroom door, he’d heard her crying in there. He’d paused, picturing her with her face in the spray, sobbing. Now she sat with Ashley on her lap and Charlie snuggled up against her side, and her face was ashen with shock, taut with unexpressed grief. Yet when she looked at Sean, he detected a subtle hostility. She felt proprietary when it came to these kids. Well, hell, so did he.
Red shook Cameron’s hand, treating him with a kind of dignity that didn’t seem forced. So there were allies. There were small gleanings of grace here and there.
Sean nodded to Red and took a seat in a leather chair. He picked up a thick folder of forms and brochures.
“There’s going to be a funeral service for your mom and dad,” he said. “Red and Lily and I will make sure it all gets organized.”
He sent Lily a questioning look and she offered a barely perceptible nod. “We don’t want you to worry about anything except adjusting to your new situation,” she said.
“I don’t want to adjust,” Charlie said. “I never want to.”
“Honey, we don’t have a choice,” Lily said. “I sure wish we did, but we don’t. The funeral is to celebrate their lives. Lots of their friends will come. We have to know if there’s anything special