her brain that way, help it recapture those lost hours.
“Maybe it’s better that you don’t,” Agent Gallagher said softly. He tilted his head. “Is it possible you were thrown from the car, Harper? Before it went over the edge of that canyon?”
“Yes. I guess. I would have been wearing my seatbelt of course. But, it could have malfunctioned? Maybe they’ll find something in Missoula.” She shook her head. “I just can’t remember. But I was bruised and battered and had broken bones and internal injuries. I’ve just always assumed my injuries came from inside the car. But, I guess if I was thrown from it before it rolled into that canyon, I might have sustained those injuries then.” Might have managed to get up and walk . . . to wander to where the hikers found me.
Agent Gallagher nodded. “I think it’s more probable.” Her fall had been from the car then, rather than in it. Which must have meant she’d known it was going to crash—or one of her parents did and had warned her . . . She massaged her temples again. She’d never have the answers to those questions. There was no way to ever know the exact sequence of events.
She’d been found hours later, wandering in the snow, soaking wet and on the verge of hypothermia. Thank God the lost hikers had found her and had the wherewithal to get her dry and back to civilization quickly enough that she didn’t freeze to death. Weeks later, she’d woken up to a new world—one she hadn’t recognized, and she’d been trying to navigate it ever since.
“Harper,” Agent Gallagher began, stopping and seeming to consider his words, “I know what it’s like to have the rug ripped out from under you. I can’t imagine it happening when you were only a child, with limited coping skills.”
She looked at him, took in the set of his mouth, the way his gaze was filled with empathy. Understanding. He did know. She wondered what proverbial rug had been ripped from beneath his feet. Wondered if there were coping skills for the loss of your entire world, whether you were seven, or seventy. “Thank you,” she said, and she meant it.
“Can I ask who raised you after you lost your parents?”
“I was put in the foster care system.” She looked down, picking at her nails for a moment. “My dad was quite a bit older than my mom, and by the time of the accident, my paternal grandparents lived in an assisted living facility. They’ve since passed. My mother was estranged from her family, so I never knew them. They didn’t step forward to claim me when she died.” Harper paused. “My mom had a brother, but he wasn’t willing or able to take me in. So . . .” There was a lot hanging on that little two-letter word, but she didn’t want to get into the six moves, the bouncing from one foster home to another, the loneliness, the fear, the way the door had creaked open some nights in that first house, the way she’d pretended to be asleep and prayed to God he’d leave. The way she’d withdrawn completely and struggled to communicate for several years. The way no one took the time or made the effort to break through her walls and bond with her. The way it was books, not people, that had finally allowed her to step outside of her own mind enough to process her grief and come out of her shell. No, there was too much there she didn’t want to go into, much less ponder. Especially then.
“There was no one in town who could take you in?”
Harper shook her head, and Agent Gallagher paused for several beats. “That’s . . . unfortunate.”
She fingered the locket now hanging around her own neck, visualizing the picture inside, the happy family that had once been hers. “Yes, it’s just the way it was.” She shook her head. She couldn’t stay in this funk. “Thank you for organizing my battery being jumped, too, by the way. I hope my going to ask Lucas about the necklace didn’t . . . impede your investigation in some way.”
“No, no. My investigation is a separate matter. It was a good hunch on your part, and I’m glad he was able and willing to help you.” He smiled kindly. “What’s your impression of Lucas now that you’ve spent more time with him?”
Harper met his eyes, considering his question. Lucas. Confusing.