Free Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger

disbelief.
    “That’s kind of a weird word,” Merri acknowledged, not liking the sound of it from his mouth. “They’re partners—sort of. She’s solved cases, a lot of them. You can search her: Eloise Montgomery. And the detective is Jones Cooper. He used to work for The Hollows PD, retired now.”
    Wolf was slowly shaking his head, mouth open, at a rare loss for words.
    “I’m doing this,” she said finally. “It’s our last chance.”
    He put his face into his palms.
    The thing was, she didn’t blame Wolf for any of this. She blamed herself. She blamed herself for taking a nap (or trying to) while he took the kids hiking. She had just wanted a couple of hours of silence; that was it. He’d promised her that on this trip, she’d get a little bit of time to herself—to read, to watch television, to nap. She wasn’t one of those women who took trips with “the girls,” leaving husband and kids behind. She didn’t take spa days. She didn’t goout with her pals for drinks, unless it was work related. Merri was a mother and wife first. She worked. She worked out (obsessively, religiously)—or used to before her knee injury. That was it. She wasn’t sure that it was the right way to be, or healthy at all. That’s just how she was hardwired—for better or worse. Sometimes it took its toll; she got frayed, impatient with everyone. Her mother always said, You have to find some time for yourself, sweetheart. Just for you . But Merri didn’t even know what that meant anymore.
    The irony was that she hadn’t even slept that afternoon, though the air was cool and sunlight danced hypnotically on the floor of the cabin. The windows were open, and everything smelled fresh —the flowers outside the window, wood still burning in the outdoor fireplace where they’d made s’mores after lunch.
    But a niggle of guilt kept her from relaxing: she should have gone with them.
    “Take the time,” Wolf had insisted. “Just chill for a bit. We won’t be long.”
    She wanted to hike; lunch feeling heavy in her belly. They should be together as a family. Did he bring enough water? Abbey got dehydrated so easily.
    All Merri’s lists of should haves and must do’s were an endless parade. So, in the end she neither relaxed nor hiked. She wound up sitting down with a book; which was okay and a bit of a luxury in and of itself.
    But part of her was keeping vigil, just waiting for them to come back. She could envision them coming through the door. One of them would almost certainly have skinned a knee or have incurred some other minor injury. There would have been some kind of drama; Wolf would be out of sorts that the outing had been nothing like he’d imagined it. Perhaps because he always treated the kids like they were twenty-year-olds who didn’t need his assistance in any way—when they needed his assistance in almost every way. Jackson maybe less so. But Abbey was a little drama queen—no event could occur without some theater from their girl.
    Merri read awhile, did some crunches. Then she walked over tothe refrigerator, thinking she could whip up something great for dinner. But they needed another trip to the store. Maybe she’d take the car into town. She tried not to think about the bottle of little blue pills in her bag, the one she’d promised not to bring with her. She’d taken too many already, couldn’t take more. She waited as the shadows started to grow long. The light had taken on a particular pretty golden quality when she started to worry a little.
    *  *  *
    “Fine,” Wolf said now. “If you think it will help.”
    He stopped short of saying “help you .” Wolf had given up on Abbey. No, that wasn’t true and wasn’t fair. He’d closed off the part of himself that was alternately raging and catatonic with grief. Part of him had died; she could see it in his eyes, which grew haunted in the evenings. The other part had slipped into survival mode. He’d slowed his life down to one day at