The Border: The Complete Series by Amy Cross

domain.”
    “Everything I've told you so far is fair game,” she replied, taking another sip of coffee. “I've already left out the things that can't become public knowledge yet.”
    “You -” He paused, seemingly a little put out. “You've been filtering what you're telling me?”
    She nodded.
    “So what else is there?”
    After taking another sip of coffee, she got to her feet. “Rules are rules,” she replied, patting him on the back as she headed to the door. “I need to shower and get changed, so could you stick something on for dinner? Anything's fine, even if it's just beans. I don't have time to wait for takeout to arrive.”
    “What haven't you told us?” he asked, turning and watching as she headed to the bathroom. “Jane? Come on, seriously? What else do you know?” Hearing a sniff from Beth's direction, he turned and saw she was grinning as she sipped from her coffee. “Something funny?”
    “Yeah,” she replied. “ You , big brother.”
    “Care to tell me why?”
    “You're so desperate for her to fall apart, aren't you?” she continued.
    “I'm just worried about my wife. She's seen something pretty horrific today. It has to have affected her.”
    “Oh, it has to,” she muttered, taking another sip of coffee. She paused for a moment, as if she had something on her mind but wasn't sure about speaking out. “Do you want to know something awful?” she asked finally.
    “Not really.”
    “I mean really, really awful?” She paused again. “Something that might make you think I'm a terrible person?”
    “I already think you're a terrible person, Beth,” he replied. “Out with it.”
    “It's just -” She glanced at the door, as if she wanted to make sure that Jane couldn't overhear, before turning back to him. “When I heard about that woman's body being found today, one of my first thoughts was a kind of relief. You know, that even though it's horrible and I feel really bad for her, at least it proves... Well, you know what it proves.”
    He stared at her. “What does it prove?”
    “About Ben.”
    “What about Ben?”
    “That you've been wrong all this time. That he doesn't have anything to do with the bad things that happen.” She waited for him to reply. “Think about it, Jack. Finally something bad has happened when Ben isn't in town. End of story, right? I mean, Jesus, you're the one who had all the wild theories.” She sighed. “I always knew you were wrong, I knew, deep down, that even though Ben's a little odd, he's not...” Her voice trailed off for a moment. “This proves it. Ben's just a weird guy. He's not some kind of monster serial killer.”
    Hearing the children playing outside, Jack glanced at the window.
    “You accept that now, right?” Beth asked. “You have to. I mean, hell, I just feel bad that I let you persuade me. Not that you did persuade me, not totally, but you got me doubting Ben sometimes. At least that part of it is all over. At least when Ben comes this time, we both know that he's not dangerous. That's a relief, right?”
    Again, she waited for a reply.
    “Right, Jack?”
    He paused for a moment, before getting to his feet. “I have to fix dinner.”
    ***
    “Eggs are good,” the stranger muttered as he used the back of his fork to break the yolks. “God, after a hard night, all you need are a few good eggs.”
    Smiling, he glanced over at the counter and saw that the waitress had noticed him talking to himself.
    “Rough night,” he explained.
    She nodded, before heading through to the back. She'd been acting a little awkward ever since he'd walked in, but he was used to that. He knew he had a tendency to put people off their stride.
    “Rough old night,” he continued, as he started to cut into the bread. “Rough as a can of -”
    Hearing the door open, he glanced over just in time to see a young woman stepping into the diner. In her early twenties, she seemed a little lost and vacant, although her haunted expression hinted at