Safe Haven

Kevin lies to Coffey about his trip with his wife to Provincetown. Kevin hates that he must lie about Erin’s absence and is afraid Coffey and Ramirez have figured it out and are talking about him behind his back. Kevin still spends his weekends searching for Erin, but he no longer knows where to look. He breaks some of her flowerpots and destroys the china they got for their wedding. His anger against Erin grows as he imagines her laughing at him behind his back. He also believes she is cheating on him.

In July, Kevin gets a new partner, Todd Vannerty. One day, they have a case in which a young boy is accidentally shot in the head by a downstairs neighbor celebrating a soccer victory. Kevin is haunted by the fact that the boy was eating pizza and had a smear of pizza sauce on his head when they examined his body. Later, Kevin and Todd go together to a local cop bar where Todd meets a couple of women. Kevin is reluctant to join him because he is married, and he believes cheating is a sin. One of the women, Amber, sits beside Kevin and they spend some time talking and flirting. Afterward, Amber slips Kevin her address and he discreetly goes to her home. They sleep together, and afterward Kevin is horrified by his behavior. He returns home and cleans the house “because it meant that Erin would never know what he’d done and they would have the kind of marriage he’d always wanted” (218).

Katie receives her driver’s license in July. Alex has trouble sleeping because he recognizes that his kids are suffering from not having a mother. He gets up in the middle of the night and takes one of two letters Carly wrote before her death from his safe. The letter concerns their relationship and Carly’s desire that Alex marry again, as much for the kids as for himself. Carly tells Alex she is “enclosing another letter” (226) that is meant for the woman he eventually chooses to marry. Alex realizes he wants to give that second letter to Katie, but he’s not sure she’s ready for it.

Bill invites Kevin into his office and tells him that there is a civilian complaint against him. The captain says that the mother of the young boy shot accidentally in the soccer celebration has filed a complaint claiming that Kevin told her to push the suspect down the stairs. She claims Kevin said the man would likely get off with parole, and killing him herself would be the only way to ensure justice. Kevin denies having said this, appearing to have no memory of it, but Bill tells him everyone heard him. Bill asks if Kevin drinks before coming to work. Kevin denies it. When Bill asks about Kevin’s wife, he sticks to his story that she’s visiting a sick friend, but Bill reveals that Coffey told him about his supposed trip to Provincetown and they were able to prove it was a lie. Kevin is suspended indefinitely, and he “knew it was all Erin’s fault” (231).

Alex hints to Katie that he would like to get married, pointing out that “Erin Tierney” is still married, but Katie isn’t. At home, Katie finds Jo on her front porch. Jo apologizes for what she said in the bar, but Katie thanks her for saying it because it pushed her to get her driver’s license—an act that makes her future more firmly set in Southport. Katie learns that Jo knew Carly and she asks if Carly would have liked her: “‘Yes,’ Jo said. ‘I’m sure she would have loved you’” (239).