and Zach followed along. When he caught up to them at the elevator, he called her name.
She turned, looking shell-shocked with grief. He couldn’t breathe. “Josie,” he repeated.
Her lips trembled, but she managed a small, brave smile. “Just give me some time, Zach,” she said, her voice hoarse with devastation.
He stepped back. Every muscle in his body ached, including his heart. This was killing him. The elevator dinged and Josie and her lawyer, the kind older man Zach had recommended, stepped inside. The doors began to close and Josie’s knees buckled, her lawyer catching her as her first sob broke free.
Zach lunged at the elevator but the doors snapped shut. He splayed his hands out on the cold metal, frustration and heartache knifing into him. Helplessness.
After a moment he stepped back, walking to the window that looked out on the parking lot below. He saw Josie’s lawyer walking her to his car, his arm linked in hers as he obviously supported some if not most of her weight. She had waited as long as she possibly could until her grief had poured free.
He watched the bravest woman he knew get in the car, watched it pull away, the mother who had loved her son with such selfless intensity that she’d let him go. Twice.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Dear Reed,
My name is Josie Stratton, and I’m your birth mother. I’m sure you know by now that your birth was anything but typical. When I think back to it, it’s with a sense of wonder that we were able to get through it at all. Then again, maybe I’m not, for you see, of all the things that have ever happened in my life, you have been my biggest motivation to keep trying, to keep moving forward, to be better, and stronger, and braver, so that someday, if we meet again, you will be proud of me.
I know how much your mom and dad love you, how they’d protect you with their lives. I saw it on their faces when I met them, and it will give me comfort always. But what I want you to know is that even before they took you in their arms and welcomed you into their hearts and their home, you were already loved, deeply and unconditionally. I don’t want you ever to doubt that, not for one moment.
I didn’t have the best upbringing; your mom and dad might have told you that. It took me a long time to figure out what love really is because the examples shown to me felt like anything but. It was you, my precious boy, who finally taught me the true meaning of the word. And ultimately, my understanding of love is what allowed me to let you go. I hope you feel that with all your heart.
You will always be the greatest blessing of my life, and I will love you until my dying breath and then beyond.
Josie
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
The city was still in an uproar. The Charles Hartsman case was the top story in both local and national news, and the search for the now infamous serial killer continued. At the moment, though, they had zero leads. It was as if the man had simply vanished into thin air, which was terrifying and perplexing, considering he had only ever held down low-paying jobs. Which begged the question, how would he fund a life on the lam? It ate at Zach.
They’d discovered that Charles Hartsman’s most recent low-paying job had been as a janitor at the University of Cincinnati. No one seemed to be able to describe the meek man other than to say he was quiet, often wore a ball cap, and kept his head down. He’d played yet another role, a man who was virtually invisible, but who had obviously watched the professor, learning of his most recent affairs. He’d killed those women, Zach thought, not only because in his mind they carried blame, but he’d planned the timing of the discovery of their bodies, intended the police eventually be led straight to Professor Merrick. He hadn’t been “lying low” for eight years. He’d murdered more of those who were to blame when the opportunity presented. But mostly, he’d schemed and strategized for the complete ruination of the man he’d considered ultimately responsible for his pain and suffering.
Zach thought of the professor, cringing at the picture that still came to mind when his thoughts returned to that dark basement where the professor had been carved up, left to live, and