Run Away

Chapter Forty

In the weeks that passed, as Ingrid started to recover and life got better, Simon wondered about his daughter’s request.

Should what they said never leave the car? Was it really best not to tell his wife he knew that she had killed a man?

Was it best to live with that secret?

On the surface, the answer seemed to be yes.

Simon watched his wife come back to him and his family.

Eventually Ingrid regained enough strength to come home.

Weeks turned into months.

Good months.

Paige continued to improve too. Eventually the retreat let her come home.

Sam headed back to Amherst with the start of a new semester. Anya was doing well in school. Simon was back at work. Soon too, Ingrid returned to her patients.

Life was more than returning to normal.

Life was good. Really good. And when life is good, maybe it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.

There was laughter and joy in their lives. There were gorgeous walks through Central Park. There were dinners with friends and nights at the theater. There was love and light and family.

Ingrid and Simon both embraced Paige’s return. They gave her all the support they could, while worrying that whatever demon Aaron had placed in her body may be weak or dormant, but it was still there, still waiting to pounce.

Because demons never die.

But neither do secrets.

That was the problem. All of those good things were in the room. But so too was that secret.

One night, during their walk through Central Park, Ingrid and Simon stopped in Strawberry Fields. Simon normally avoided this route. This had been where he’d seen Paige strangling out that Beatles tune. Which song was it again? He didn’t remember. Strike that. He didn’t want to remember.

But Ingrid wanted to sit on the bench. Out of habit he read the inscription:

Ingrid took his hand and stared out and said, “You know.”

“Yes.”

“You understand why I did it.”

He nodded. “I do.”

“It was like she was drowning. And every time she came to the surface he would drag her back under again.”

“You don’t have to justify it to me.”

Ingrid took his hand. He squeezed hers and held on.

“You planned it,” he said.

“As soon as she called.”

“And you made it violent and bloody—”

“—so the police would think it was a drug hit,” she said.

He looked off, then back at her. “Why didn’t you ask me to help?”

“Three reasons,” she said.

“I’m listening.”

“One, my job is to protect you too. Because I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Two, if I got caught, I wanted one of us to be free to raise the children.”

Simon had to smile at that. “Practical.”

“Yes.”

“And three?”

“I thought maybe you’d talk me out of it.”

He said nothing. Would he have really gone along with a plan to murder Aaron Corval?

He didn’t know.

“Some adventure,” he said.

“Yes.”

He stared at his wife and got the “overwhelms” again.

“I love our family,” Ingrid said.

“I do too.”

She put her head on his shoulder as she had done a million times before.

There are few moments of pure bliss in this life. Most of the time, you don’t realize that you are having one of those moments until they are over. But that wasn’t the case right now. Right now, as Simon sat with the woman he loved, he knew.

And she knew.

This was bliss.

And it wouldn’t last.