Chapter 13

Damien called for Nancy, and his voice didn't quite hold steady. "Where's Avery?" "She went out a few hours ago and hasn't come back," Nancy said. Damien's pulse began to hammer. "What about her things? Did she take everything?" "No." Nancy shook her head, then pointed toward the yard. "She burned everything this afternoon. You were right there when she burned them..." Damien went still as stone. His heart dropped like a rock in a well. Yesterday, when he returned from the hospital, Avery had stood over a fire in the yard. He had asked what she was burning, and she had told him it was trash. Yet, she had treated every one of those pieces like treasure. Why did she call them trash and then torch them? His heartbeat thudded like a drumroll. He couldn't make sense of it, and he didn't dare trace the thought to its end. He pulled out his phone and called Avery again and again, but the call never went through. He even tried the landline and ran into the same recorded voice. "Nancy,