Chapter 148: Iris

She stared at Declan, her eyes round, her mouth a perfect O. She didn't know what to say to that. She wasn't quite sure there was anything to say to that.

He couldn't mean that he took a gun and shot her, obviously. Declan would never do that. Her mind scrambled to remember the details. His mom had died in a car wreck outside of Boise. Declan had been at home with Iris in Pocatello when he'd gotten the call. He couldn't have killed his mom. He wasn't within 200 miles of her when she died.

"I don't understand," she finally whispered, when it became clear he wasn't going to say anything else.

He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, looking twenty years older. Haggard.

"I told her about being dyslexic," he said, so quietly, she almost couldn't hear him above the water and the frog and the light rustling of the leaves in the wind. "I was struggling. Do you remember that? Even with your help, I was just pulling in a D in a couple of my classes."