Dark Hearts by Sharon Sala Page A

this case. After all that’s happened, you still have next to no clues.”
    â€œI know, and it’s hard to take,” Trey said.
    Sam saw the dark circles under his brother’s eyes. He was suffering the loss and dealing with guilt. Had to be hell.
    â€œLife is hard sometimes, but we do the best we can with what we’re given,” Sam said.
    Trey looked away. Silence hung heavy between them until the waitress returned with their food.
    They ate in comfortable silence, speaking now and then as brothers do, without concern for polite conversation, and when they were through, Sam picked up the check as Trey went back to the office.
    When Sam exited the café, he glanced up at the sky. It was clear but gray, and still damn cold—a fitting day for the prodigal son to go home.
    * * *
    Lainey was set up and ready for the class to begin, but her head was throbbing. She’d cried harder this morning than she’d cried her whole life. What she couldn’t get over was that Sam had cried with her. Despite the hopelessness of their situation, it had been healing to be held, to be loved. The really sad part was that she believed Sam still loved her. He’d known why they were apart when she had not. She wasn’t sure how to feel about him. She would always love him, but love had to be shared to grow, and they hadn’t shared so much as a conversation in years.
    What she wanted was the past ten years of her life back. What she would have done was go back to that hospital again. What she should have done was ignore what Sam wanted. Maybe then he wouldn’t have had such a hang-up about himself.
    But there was also the PTSD. It wasn’t all about the physical scars. He’d said he’d tried to kill his landlord. He’d said he hadn’t been able to hold a job. She thought of being in the middle of that kind of chaos and wondered whether she would have been strong enough to cope at that age. It pained her to admit it, but there was a part of her that was coming to accept he’d been right—at least about that. So where did that leave them? Alone and apart. A completely ridiculous, unacceptable answer that was making her sick.
    She popped a couple of painkillers, washed them down with water and clicked through to her “classroom.” It was time to earn her pay.
    * * *
    For Sam, the drive back out to the farm felt surreal. He’d dreamed of this moment so many times over the years but had never made it happen. Doing it now felt like betrayal. But if he could find something that would help catch the man who’d killed his mother, it would be worth the guilt.
    When he came over the hill and looked down the slope to the mailbox on the side of the road, he realized that was where the attack had happened. That was where his mother had died. He could tell by the amount of grass that had been disturbed where the rescue vehicles had parked. A wave of emotion washed through him as he thought about how Trey must have felt when he found Mom and Trina.
    â€œWe’ll find him, Mama, I promise you,” he said, and turned off the blacktop and down the dirt road to their house.
    The porch light was on. He guessed Trey had done that. He was just about to get out of the car when his cell rang. It was Trey.
    â€œHey, Sam, where are you?”
    â€œJust about to go inside.”
    â€œOh, wow...glad I caught you. I forgot to tell you there’s a security system in the house now. The four digit key code is Mom’s birthday. Do you remember the date?”
    â€œDecember 13. So the code is twelve-thirteen?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGlad you remembered. It would have sucked eggs to set that off.”
    â€œLet me know how it goes,” Trey added.
    â€œI will.”
    Sam dropped the phone back in his pocket and unlocked the front door. The keypad was right beside the light switch, and he quickly deactivated the alarm.
    Then he stood for a few moments,