He told the bikers:
“Stay outside.”
Bones looked toward the house.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Silas walked around and opened Toby’s door.
The boy climbed down.
They went through the squeaking gate.
Toby opened the front door.
The first sound Silas heard was mechanical.
Whoosh.
Pause.
Hiss.
Whoosh.
Oxygen.
Then a woman’s voice.
“Toby?”
Sarah Harris sat beside the window.
She looked far older than thirty-two.
Illness had carved shadows beneath her eyes.
Clear tubing ran beneath her nose.
Her hair was tied loosely behind her head.
A blanket rested over thin legs.
She looked at Toby first.
Relief.
Then she saw Silas.
Every trace of color disappeared from her face.
Silas stopped in the doorway.
Sarah stared at his features.
Eyes.
Jaw.
Shoulders.
For a terrifying second she looked as though she had seen a dead man.
“Toby,” she whispered.
The boy hurried to her.
“Mom, I—”
Sarah’s eyes remained on Silas.
“Who is that?”
Silas removed his sunglasses.
Sarah made a broken sound.
Not quite a gasp.
“Cole.”
Silas’s expression hardened.
So she knew.
He entered slowly.
“Silas Cole.”
Sarah shut her eyes.
Tears immediately appeared.
Toby looked between them.
“You know him?”
Sarah covered her mouth.
Silas placed the silver lighter on the coffee table.
Sarah saw it.
Her shoulders collapsed.
“Oh God.”
Toby moved closer.
“Mom?”
Sarah reached for him.
He sat on the arm of the chair.
Silas pulled a wooden dining chair across the room.
He sat.
“Tell me.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Please.”
“Tell me who Richard Harris was.”
She glanced toward Toby.
Silas understood.
“He deserves the truth too.”
Sarah shook her head.
“He’s ten.”
“He walked into the Rusty Anchor trying to sell Elias Cole’s lighter.”
Her eyes closed.
Silas continued more gently.
“Whatever you were protecting him from already found him.”
Sarah began crying.
Toby’s face tightened.
“Who’s Elias?”
Neither adult answered immediately.
Silas leaned back.
Sarah reached for Toby’s hand.
“Your father.”
Toby frowned.
“My father was Richard.”
Sarah squeezed his fingers.
“Richard was the name he used when you knew him.”
“I didn’t know him.”
The sentence hurt her visibly.
“You know what I mean.”
“No.”
Toby pulled his hand away.
“Who’s Elias?”