Flicking the switch, Katie's apartment flooded with light.

Everything was just the way she'd left it, the way she remembered, and while she knew she should have felt happy to be home, she couldn't muster a smile. All the way home from Hope County, Katie couldn't help but feel like she'd lost both the battle and the war, and she knew that sting of failure was going to stick with her for quite some time.

She dropped her bag beside the door before she locked up behind her, kicking her sneakers into the shoe rack, before she made her way to her comically small kitchen. Reaching for a bottle of chardonnay in the wine rack holder positioned at the corner of her counter, Katie contemplated just chugging the bottle before her better judgment won out and she reached for a glass. Escaping Hope County with her life felt like some kind of achievement, and after everything she'd seen, gleaned, heard, and after the long drive home after having her feelings stomped and shattered, Katie felt like she'd earned the wine she was about to receive. She threw back the first glass with a loud gulp, and then she poured a second one, taking it into the living room with her so she could sit down on her sofa and relax.

As hard as she tried to push him out of her mind, Jacob Seed was all she could think about. He didn't want her to care about him. He never had. He'd stabbed her, he'd twisted the knife, and she didn't want to care anymore, but she did. She couldn't help it. Katie was scared for Jacob, for what was going to happen when the cult eventually ran afoul of the feds. They always did. The security equipment in front of the veteran's center and the drug John had slipped into her wine made her think drug running and weapon smuggling weren't out of the realm of possibilities.

Old Man Seed had been a scary man, but Katie knew Joseph Seed was far more dangerous. Joseph was convincing an unimaginable number of people that he was a prophet, that the end of days were coming. People were adhering to his scriptures and sermons. While Katie had picked up on some of the elements of truth within his book — she could vouch for some of the things he spoke of; she'd been there for some of it — she couldn't ignore how self-serving his writing felt. He'd somehow convinced enough people to follow him that if he were taken out for any reason, he'd go down as a martyr, like all the other cult leaders before him.

Katie shook her head in disgust. Out of all the things she could have foreseen when it came to the Seed brothers, Joseph running a doomsday cult was honestly the last thing she would have come up with. But she could see Jacob running after his brothers, trying to support them wherever and however he could. His heart always lay with his brothers. Clearly, the love was unconditional, if he was so willing to overlook John being a cold-blooded killer.

Finishing her glass of wine, Katie rose, making her way to the kitchen to get herself another glass of wine. She was delaying the inevitable, she knew, and now, she just found herself wanting to get it all over with. Grabbing her cell phone, she moved to her small kitchen table and sat down, placing the wine down and calling Alicia in Atlanta. Her friend answered on the second ring.

"Katie! Hey! Sorry. I've been meaning to call you for a few days now, but work got so crazy…"

"It's fine, Ali. I've been meaning to get in touch, too, but Hope County was a bit busier than I'd anticipated." Fingers around the stem of her wine glass, Katie twirled it gently on the table top, her lips pursing together in a thin line as she watched the chardonnay swirl softly.

"I get it. I can't even believe you decided to make the trip out there. Were you able to find anything?"

Alicia's tone had shifted. The life had disappeared from her voice. Katie could picture her friend on the other side of the line, sinking down into her chair with an urgent, concerned expression. Reaching for her glass, Katie took a sip before she put it back onto the table, leaning forward to put her head in her hand, brushing hair away from her face.

"I didn't find anything remotely helpful, Ali. She never made it to Hope County."

"Oh." There was a beat. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure. Hope County's small. Like, everyone knows everyone and might be tangentially related to each other somehow kind of small. Nobody knows her out there."

"I know you thought Hope County could be a lead, Katie, but my gut's always told me that she died here."

"I think you might be right."

"Were you able to talk to the guy with the church?" Alicia asked. "Was he able to give you anything?"

"No. On all fronts. I'm so sorry, Ali. I wish I could have…"

"No, no. It's okay, Katie. I know you did everything you could."

"I'll keep trying…."

"It's okay, Katie."

Blinking, Katie sucked in a breath, the too-familiar feeling of hot tears burning and stinging behind her eyes. "I failed."

"Oh, Katie. No. No, no. Like you said, how much further were you going to get than the police and the investigators? I know you did everything you could, Katie. Please don't be so hard on yourself."

Katie nodded, trying her best not to sniffle into the phone to let Alicia know she was crying.

"Thank you for trying, Katie. It means the world to my family and I."

Alicia's kind words didn't land the way her friend wanted. Katie felt worse. "I'm sorry," she offered once more.

"Don't be sorry, Katie. It's okay." Alicia was quiet for a moment. Katie watched the bubbling in her wine glass until her vision blurred, and then she wiped at her eyes with a thumb. "I've got some time off coming up in the next few months. I should come up. Maybe you can take me around Graceland."

"I'd love to. I think I could use it," Katie managed.

"I've gotta get going. Hubby just got home. I'll text you later, okay?"

"Okay."

"Thanks again for everything, Katie. I appreciate it more than you know."

With that, Alicia hung up the phone.

Katie dropped her phone on the table, put her head in her hands, and cried until her body sank in on itself and her head sank down to the tabletop. Katie didn't understand. She thought the well of tears had dried on the outskirts of Hope County. She'd been so sure that it had dried up in that hotel room on the outskirts of Iowa.

Every time she thought she couldn't cry anymore, there were always more tears to fall.