Chapter 13
Dan left Leah but wanted to stay. For the first time in his life as a deputy, he wanted to be somewhere else, but his uncle said it was urgent, so he couldn’t not go.
She’d shut him out as soon as he’d taken that call. Said it would never happen again and that it shouldn’t have happened. Dan knew better. It would happen because they’d always been like that with each other. And now, as adults, the need was stronger.
He had to make her talk to him. Dan was good with women, but she’d always been different, and he knew that was because he felt differently about her.
Once was never going to be enough with Leah, but he had a feeling it went deeper than that. Hell of a mess, he thought. After parking outside the station, he headed inside.
It was early evening, and the sun was starting to sink, but there were still plenty of people about. He waved his hand as Tripp jogged past with a group of runners.
He found his uncle in his office.
“Hey, Uncle Asher. You realize we’re missing movie night, right?”
His uncle sat behind his desk, drinking coffee. “Imagine how upset I am at missing out on Meadow’s popcorn. That alone must tell you how important this is,” he drawled. “I need you to look at this.”
Dan studied the two papers his uncle handed him. “What am I looking at?”
“Those papers were found in Old Man Lupton’s barn. He died five years ago, and his niece cleaned it out two years ago but only now decided to go through the papers. She handed me these because she’s a lawyer and what she saw alarmed her enough that she thought I should see them.”
“What are they, exactly?” Dan asked, continuing to study the papers.
“To me they look like consignments that have been coming and going from the Lupton place for about three years. It says ‘caine’ there. But look at the signature next to the money and date there.” He pointed with his pen. “What do you see?”
Dan bent to get a closer look. “Is that a G?”
“What else?” his uncle asked.
“It looks like a set of teeth but…. Well, fuck me.”
“Exactly. It’s a grill.”
Dan whistled. “I have never seen that man’s signature, but it has to be his, don’t you think? He’s the sort of arrogant asshole who would have a symbol for a signature.”
“It’s speculation, but I think it could be.”
“Three years ago…. So whatever this is, it started back then?”
“That’s my take,” Uncle Asher said. “But it could have been longer if whoever is behind this had another property to use.”
“So you think that bastard has been using Old Man Lupton’s barn to transit drugs?”
“If it’s drugs, which the word ‘caine’ suggests it is, then yes, I do. Smart, really, seeing as Mr. Lupton passed and his property was empty,” Uncle Asher said. “We’ll head out there again and take a look. But his niece said this was all she found.”
“I hate that shithead Grill,” Dan said.
His uncle raised his eyes from the papers to look at Dan. “We keep this to ourselves for now.”
Dan nodded. “But we’ve been saying there seems to be more people getting high in Lyntacky over the past few years.”
“We have, and this could be why.” His uncle kept his eyes on Dan. “You all good, there, nephew? You look a little tight around the eyes.”
There was no one who saw you better than someone who’d raised you.
“Been a day of it out at the Reynolds place. We’ve been tidying up. Birdie told us we had to head out there today.”
His uncle studied him in that way he did when he was interviewing someone.
The meanest sons of bitches had been known to crack under that look.
Dan, however, had been on the receiving end of it many times, and he and his siblings had learned that by staring at the end of his uncle’s nose, they didn’t crack.
“How’s Leah?”
“Good. She and Hudson are settling in, from what I can tell.” Play it cool. His uncle could sniff out a lie in seconds.
“Nice. You and she made your peace yet?”
“I’m not sure that’s happening anytime soon. But maybe we can be friends.”
His uncle sat back in his seat with another big sigh, which suggested he was settling in for a nice long talk. “Always thought that girl was a lost soul.”
“I’m sure her life was tough with Chuck as a father,” Dan said, hating the thought of Leah being lost in any way.
“Maybe you could help her with that, nephew?”
“The family is trying, and maybe a financial intervention will help.”
“I’m not talking about the family. I’m talking about you.”
Dan’s sigh matched his uncle’s. He’d thought he’d shelved everything to do with Leah Reynolds. Then she came back, and now he’d made love to her, and everything was complicated again… or always had been, but it was now even more so because of what had just happened between them.
“Can we just go with ‘It’s complicated’ and you don’t ask me any more questions, Uncle Asher?”
“All right, but if you need me, I’m here for you.”
“I know.”
As he walked out, his phone rang again. Looking at the caller ID, he saw Brody’s name. Dan answered with “What?”
“Rollaway. Now,” Brody said.
“I thought movie night was on at the McAllisters’?”
“We got a pass, so it’s a brothers meetup, but don’t tell Zoe.”
“Maybe I’m busy,” Dan said because he felt the need to be awkward.
“That hurts, little bro. See you in ten.” Brody cut the call.
Dan left the station and got in his pickup. He then drove to the Rollaway, which was a two-minute drive. After parking, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his numbers, hoping hers was still the same. He messaged, Are you ok Leah?
Just one word came back. Yes.
He stared at the screen for a few seconds but added nothing. She’d be at the movie night by now.
A thud on his window had him jumping in his seat. Sawyer had his face pressed to the glass, his lips doing a kissy face. Dan mimed vomiting. When his brother had peeled himself off his window, Dan got out.
“You can clean that.”
“Just showing you I care, little bro.”
“It’s disarming when you say shit like that,” Ryder said from behind him.
“What he said,” Dan agreed, heading into the Rollaway with Brody.
The bar had pool tables and a big-screen TV. The interior was loud and bright most days, unless Dee, one of the owners, was going with mood lighting—then you couldn’t see a hand in front of your face.
One wall was painted emerald and another cherry.
The roof was full of lights strung from one side to the other that kept Phil, the electrician, in a job.
Another wall had socks. Other towns had things like beer coasters, or photos of celebrities, even bras, but not Lyntacky.
They had socks after someone back in time had left one pinned to the wall after finding it in the bathroom.
The wall’s fate was sealed from then on.
“Well now, all four of you are here, which tells me a couple of things,” Dee said from behind the bar.
Delores Heckler had come out of the womb flirting and dressed like a hooker, Dan was sure of it.
In school, she’d been the girl most likely to get some kind of STD.
But what she’d actually got was a man who loved her, a nice house here in Lyntacky, and kids.
In fact, the Hecklers were the poster couple for Happily Married.
A little odd and outrageous, plus a few other words Dan couldn’t think up right then, but good folk.
“What things?” Sawyer asked.
“That you need some boy time, or one of you has woman issues.”
“A bit of both,” Ryder said. “Beers, please, Dee.”
She wore a white button-down Rollaway shirt with a red lace bra showing where the top buttons were undone.
“Boys.”
Her husband was Red. Big, buff, and one of the best men besides his own family members that Dan knew. He’d do anything for anyone and usually did.
“Evening, Red,” Ryder said.
“Where’s that girl of yours? She told me I was going to be her chocolate taster,” Red said.
“She’s watching a movie with your kids,” Ryder said.
Red smiled. “Okay, I forgive her, then.”
He poured the beers, and they took bar stools near the end so they could talk without anyone hearing.
“Don’t do your cop shit here,” Sawyer said.
“No cop shit, just sitting,” Dan said, looking around the room.
“You’re checking out who’s in here in case of trouble,” Brody added.
One of the Bandits motorcycle gang was here, but alone, so Dan didn’t think there would be any problems there. He saw the Keller brothers and a few others who could be wild when drinking. But right then all was calm in the Rollaway.
“So Leah,” Brody said after a long pull of beer. “Spill.”
“Can’t we just have a drink?” Dan said.
“He’s always been the hardest to get information out of, and that’s only got worse since he became a cop,” Ryder added.
Dan had spent years locking away thoughts of Leah Reynolds—never speaking her name, never touching the memory. She was gone, and nothing could change what had happened. But today they’d made love.
He could still feel the glide of his hand over her warm skin, taste the faint salt from the sheen of sweat on her body. She’d always gotten to him, and now, after what they’d just shared, she’d be even harder to forget.
Dan took a mouthful of beer.
“Come on, little bro. You’ve talked with us as we went through shit with our women. Let us be there for you,” Brody said.
“I really don’t want to talk about it.”
Sawyer pounced. “So, there is an it?”
He’d talk about what happened when Leah left, but not about today. That was for them alone to know.
“Cone of silence,” Dan said, looking at his brothers.
“Now?” Sawyer looked pissed.
“Right here in the Rollaway?” Brody added.
Dan mimed zipping his lips shut.
His brothers sighed and then put on their invisible cones. Red did the same from behind the bar because he’d be listening.
“Talk before Zoe finds us because you know she always does,” Brody said.
“Leah blames me for what went down all those years ago,” Dan said. “I didn’t talk about what happened because it wasn’t anyone’s business.”
“But clearly Uncle Asher knew?” Brody said.
“He did,” Dan agreed. “But not all of it, and it wasn’t his story to tell.”