Chapter 3
Dan walked down the main street of his hometown hours later.
Darkness had settled in, and he needed to pick up what his mom had asked for and head home.
The day had been busy, and he was grateful for that.
He hadn’t heard the name Leah Reynolds once, which told him no one knew she was back in town.
Dan wouldn’t be telling anyone but family yet.
Tomorrow morning, he was attending a course on de-escalation and conflict resolution that his uncle, who was the sheriff in Lyntacky, couldn’t be bothered attending himself. Apparently, he knew everything, and his nephew didn’t.
Dan was looking forward to a few days away, especially now that Leah was back. Seeing her had rocked him.
“Deputy Dan.”
“Hey, Nancy, what’s up?” he said to the owner of the waffle place.
“Someone broke into the storeroom out back and stole food,” she said. “Now, if folks are hungry, I have no problem giving them some, but I don’t like people thieving.”
“When did you notice the food was missing?”
“This morning. I know Linda had some stuff stolen too.”
“Don’t you guys have locks on your storage units?” Dan asked.
“They forced the locks,” she said, giving him a look like he should have known that.
“I’ll check it out.”
He was off duty, but in this town, you never really were. If people had a problem and you were nearby, they told you about it, and if it needed to be dealt with, you dealt with it.
He walked through the waffle place, inhaling the delicious scents, nodding to people as he passed, then went out the back door to the storage unit. Taking out his flashlight, Dan shone light on the locks. Someone had taken a bolt cutter to them.
“It’s sad anyone would need to do that in our town,” Nancy said, making him jump because he’d thought she’d stayed inside.
“Aha,” he said, opening the door. “What’s missing?”
After the waffle place, he went to the Do-Si-Do Diner and took down Linda’s statement. Once that was done, he headed to Calloway’s to pick up what his mom needed.
He was nearly there when he heard the words.
“Hello, Deputy.”
Dan knew who had spoken before he turned.
“Sydney Jane.” He nodded. The woman was a man-eater, and while he knew she’d been raised similar to Leah, he also knew they hated each other. SJ would be one person that wouldn’t be happy she was back in town.
“I was wondering, why you and I haven’t spent time together, Deputy Dan?” She moved in closer until only inches separated them.
He couldn’t be sure, but thought her breasts had grown again, though as he really didn’t want to know, he kept that to himself.
“Libby said you’ve been helping her out with the chocolate making,” Dan said, taking a step back. “How’s that working out for you?”
She batted the words away. “I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about us.”
She’d recently dyed her hair fiery red, which his brother Brody said suited her personality just fine. Dan sometimes thought that without all the paint and suggestiveness, SJ could be pretty. But she was who she was and had every right to be. He just didn’t have to like it.
He’d always been polite to her because, like with Leah, Dan knew things about her past. But he’d never taken SJ up on the clear offer of a night in her bed. His excuses had ranged from I’m working to Gotta run, my mother needs me. After years, they were wearing thin.
“We’re both single. Why don’t you want to have some fun?” she said suggestively.
For the first time in years, he’d had enough. He could handle most things, but even he had a breaking point, and this was it—possibly because he was still off balance from seeing Leah, or maybe because he was tired of hiding in the nearest shop every time he saw SJ walking toward him.
“Look, SJ, I’m not interested. Not sure how much clearer I can make that for you, but I would have thought you’d have got it by now.”
The shock was clear in her eyes. His words surprised him, too, and made him realize he should have said them years ago.
“You don’t know what you’re giving up,” she snapped, then turned and walked away.
He doubted getting rid of her would be that easy, but it was a start. Shaking his head, he carried on to Calloway’s, hoping no one else in Lyntacky wanted to piss him off further tonight.
The scream was loud and sudden in the night air. Dan ran to his right and came out at the rear of the convenience store.
“Who’s yelling?” he asked when he saw Milly Lee, one of Calloway’s salesclerks.
“There’s a man in there, Deputy Dan. He has a knife!” Pale, shaking, she was pointing at the large refrigeration unit. “I locked him in.”
Dan had no weapon on him—he’d left it at the station before he clocked off—but he still approached the door.
“Get back inside and lock the door, Milly. Call the station and tell them what’s happening,” Dan said.
After he heard the thud of her feet and the slam of the back entrance door to Calloway’s, he grabbed the handle. The sound of smashing glass told him that whoever was inside had climbed up to the only window in the unit. He sprinted around the back in time to see the man coming out feetfirst.
He fell, turned, and came face-to-face with Dan. In his hand, he clutched a knife, but it was the eyes Dan noticed. This man was high on something.
“In a town like this, all you’d have to do is ask for food, and you’d get it,” Dan said. He didn’t recognize him, but Lyntacky had plenty of tourists and drifters year-round.
“Get out of my way!”
“Whatever you have in that jacket doesn’t belong to you,” Dan added.
“Fuck you!” The man ran at him, knife-first.
Dan grabbed his wrist, turned his body into the man’s, but his opponent knew the move and countered.
He felt the knife slice into the skin of his hand.
Ignoring the sting, he grappled with the man and forced him to the ground.
Standing on his hand, he made him release the knife with a grunt of pain.
“Deputy Dan?”
“I’m all right, Milly. Did you call the station?”
“I did.”
“You go back inside now and direct them out here.” As he finished speaking, he heard a car pull up fast and the door slam.
Deputy Kevin Cocker arrived seconds later. “You all good, Dan?”
“Yup. Cuff him and take him in. I’ll talk to Milly.”
Dan got off the man, and Kevin pulled him to his feet.
“Where’s the blood coming from?” Kevin demanded.
Dan looked at his hand and saw the blood was from the knife wound.
“It’s okay.” He patted the man down and removed the supplies he’d stuffed into his jacket. “Lock him up. I’ll come back to the station soon.”
“Fuck you,” the man snarled.
“Shut up.” Dan shoved him toward Kevin. “Be careful, he’s high on something.”
“Again? That’s happening too much lately.”
It was. There had been a handful of adults and kids getting high, doing stupid things.
When he entered Calloway’s, he found Milly at the counter. “I need to ask you a few questions, Mill—”
“Oh my gosh, you’re bleeding!”
“I’m okay. If you have something I can put on it, that would help.”
She ran out back and returned with a wad of tissues. Dan slapped them on the cut.
“Tell me when you went outside, Milly.”
He couldn’t write because his hand hurt, so he recorded what she said on his phone, and then told her the stolen goods were out back.
Dan retraced his steps through town, avoiding anyone who knew him, which wasn’t easy, but he managed it by looking in windows and ducking between shops.
If someone saw blood on him, they’d want to patch him up, then feed him—which he usually didn’t mind—but right now he just wanted to call in at the station and then head home.
After checking that Kevin had the guy processed, he sent him the recording of the interview with Milly along with a detailed recording Dan himself had made of what took place.
“You all good if I head off now, Kev?”
“Go. I’ve got this,” he said. “Get your hand looked at.”
Pulling out his keys when he reached his cruiser, Dan climbed into the driver's seat with a sigh. “What a fucking day.”
As if seeing Leah wasn’t bad enough, now a high idiot had stabbed him in the hand, so his mother would pitch a fit. He thought about detouring to Dr. Hannah’s surgery to check his shots were up to date, but then she’d fuss as much as his mother. He opted for just the latter.
Minutes later, he passed his uncle’s house, then pulled up to the family home of the Dukes. His oldest brother’s new four-wheel drive was parked there. A “family car,” Dan had called it to annoy him. Sawyer had just smiled.
Getting out, he was ridiculously weary for no other reason than it felt like he’d been awake for forty-eight hours, but the truth was, seeing Leah again had turned his world upside down.
He entered the house and headed toward the voices, braced for the inevitable.
There was usually someone here, but today he could have done without it.
Birdie, Leah’s best friend and Dan’s sister-in-law, could be here, and she deserved to know Leah was back. Maybe she already did.
What had been driving him slowly out of his mind all day was not knowing who was in that house with her. But why? He had no rights to Leah. She’d have moved on.
“And here he is, Double D,” his eldest brother Sawyer said as Dan walked into the kitchen. With him were his wife, Birdie, and Sadie, their daughter, who gave Dan a big gummy smile. “Making the hearts of Lyntacky’s women beat a little faster in the line of duty.”
“Knock it off,” Dan said, a little more sharply than necessary. “Hey, Mom.” He kissed her cheek. “Sorry, I forgot to pick up the supplies you wanted.”
She turned, cupped his face, and shrieked when she saw the bloodied tissues.
“Shit, Mom, you nearly deafened me,” Dan said, ears ringing.
“What’s happened?” Sawyer demanded.
“He’s bleeding!” their mother cried.
“It’s no big deal.” Dan hopped onto the countertop like he’d been doing since he was old enough to reach it. “Just had a little tussle with someone.”