Page 36 of Keeping Secrets

Travis stayed silent for a long while, then let out a sigh. "It was an accident," he said. "Self-defense."

"Any court would see that, would know that it was an accident."

"A second time?" he asked harshly.

Nick stumbled but said nothing. Had he forgotten?

He knew that Travis had been arrested all those years ago, but he hadn’t been here for it. He had already been off flying military helicopters somewhere. He didn’t know what Travis had gone through then, not really.

The only one who had been there for him was Scot.

"I get why you didn’t turn yourself in," Nick said at last. His voice was quiet. "What can I do to make this right?"

"There’s no making this right. This is never going to go away."

"It’s been a while. If they were going to come for you, they would have already,” Nick said.

"Which they? The cops or the criminals that Adam was working with?"

Nick went quiet.

"The girl who was there that night, her name is Rachel. She came to the Bottlenose. Found me at work, talked to me where anybody could see."

"And? Is she going to say anything? Turn you in?"

"She says that she won’t. But I don’t know her. We were supposed to meet the other day, but I went to check on Scot and, well, I didn’t show. I don’t have any way to contact her."

"The investigation stopped a long time ago. There’s been nothing in the papers for ages."

"Just because the news lost interest doesn’t mean that the cops aren’t still investigating."

"Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to minimize it. I just hate seeing you like this."

They were quiet for a while as they walked through the trees. The whole mountainside had been clear cut a few decades back, and the forest here was a mix of young redwood trees and invasive undergrowth. There was poison ivy everywhere, ready to burn your legs and poison your clothes if you stepped off the trail.

They passed the scene of the crime without pausing or deviating from the path. “What tipped you off?” Travis asked.

“A conversation with Keely. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner, to be honest,” Nick said. “I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention. I’d just assumed your bad mood lately was about Scot, but the timing doesn’t line up. He was already showing symptoms before your mood changed.”

Travis nodded. “Has the shift been that noticeable?”

“It has,” Nick said simply.

Travis let out a sigh, following the trail as it snaked back toward the parking lot. The same way he’d gone, cold and covered with another man’s blood, after trying and failing to find Rachel.

"I wish you would lean on us more," Nick said. "Lean on me. We all care about you. You don’t have to go through this alone."

Travis nodded and gave a grunt of acknowledgement but kept looking ahead.

They finished the hike in silence, but just the steady motion of walking through the forest with his friend had allowed the worst of his stress to drain away. When Nick finally dropped him back at his house, he patted him on the arm and gave him a long look.

"I’m here for you, man. Anything you need for work, Scot, anything else. I’m here."

"Thanks," Travis croaked. "I just need some sleep. I’ll be all right."

"Yeah. It’ll all be all right." But he saw a new worry in Nick’s eyes and wondered if some of his fear had transferred over to his friend.

He felt tired as he unlocked the front door to his house, but tired in a healthy way. Moving his body had helped. Maybe he could get some quality sleep in before he started his shift at the bar that night.