Chapter 27
Naomi’s heart continued to hammer against her ribs, long after Dale’s truck disappeared.
Something about the way that man had looked at the property made her skin crawl. And the way he’d said Sarah’s name, casual and familiar, as if he had any right to speak it at all . . . it made her want to throat punch him.
Her arms tightened across her chest.
Micah crossed the distance between them in two strides and gently grasped her elbow. “You okay?”
She nodded, though she wasn’t sure it was true. “Yes, I just—”
“I know.” His voice was low as if meant only for her. “Let’s get back to the kennel.”
The three of them walked together, Good Boy padding along at Naomi’s side. No one spoke for the first several steps, the tension still thick in the air.
Micah’s hand stayed on her elbow, his presence steady beside her.
“He was fishing,” Micah finally said. “Seeing how you’d both react. He was testing boundaries.”
“And making sure we know he’s watching.” Caleb’s voice sounded tight.
Naomi’s chest constricted. “But do we even have a right to keep the baby from Richard’s family? I mean, legally?”
Micah’s jaw tightened. “They have to have that paternity test first. Then, if it comes back that Richard is the family, then yes—as biological family, they have rights. They can petition for visitation. Maybe even custody, depending on the situation.”
The words settled over her like ice.
“But what about what Sissy said?” Naomi stopped walking and turned to face them both. “She was so adamant. She said they’re not good people. That they can’t be near Grace. What does she know about them that we don’t?”
Micah exchanged a glance with Caleb, then looked back at her. “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I’ll do some digging—pull records, see if anything’s been flagged. I’ll run background checks on Dale and his mom. Whatever I can find.”
Relief flickered through her. “Thank you.”
They reached the kennel, and Micah paused, turning to Caleb. “Listen, I’d like to check out the back of the property again. After we found that snare earlier, I want another look.”
Caleb frowned. “Don’t you need to get back to work?”
“It’s my day off.”
Caleb nodded. “All right then. Let me grab my jacket. I’ll go with you.”
Naomi looked at Micah, something warm and grateful rising in her chest despite the fear still sitting heavy in her gut.
He didn’t have to do any of this. Didn’t have to spend his day off walking fence lines and digging into Richard’s family.
But he was doing it anyway.
And that spoke volumes.
Micah and Caleb headed toward the back of the property, boots crunching over rocks as they moved past the kennels.
Hamilton fell into step beside them, ears perked and alert. The dog had good instincts and always seemed to know when something was off.
They were halfway across the yard when the sound of an engine made them both turn.
Another truck pulled up to the gate. Micah recognized it immediately.
Wyatt King.
Caleb’s younger brother punched in the security code, drove inside the gate, and parked.
As he climbed out, his German shepherd jumped down beside him. Thunder.
Micah had worked with both of them more times than he could count. Wyatt and Thunder were experts when it came to search and rescue operations. They helped to track lost hikers, lost children, lost senior citizens. They’d even helped locate evidence in a few cases that had gone cold.
Wyatt was a stand-up guy—calm under pressure and reliable. He was the kind of man who showed up when things got hard and didn’t need to be asked twice.
Micah knew he’d put in an application with the National Park Service.
He’d heard through the grapevine that they’d recently called him back for the next step in the process.
It would probably be a good fit. But Micah suspected the move wasn’t only about career advancement.
Some people needed a change of scenery after a loss, and Wyatt had earned that much.
Wyatt never talked about it directly—that wasn’t Wyatt’s way—but Micah knew the shape of it. The younger sister of one of Wyatt’s friends had gone missing two years back. Wyatt had worked the search himself, had pushed harder than anyone had any right to expect.
It hadn’t been enough.
By the time she was found, there was nothing left to save.
That kind of thing didn’t leave a man the same way it found him.
“Wyatt.” Micah nodded as the man approached, extending his hand.
Wyatt shook it firmly, his grip solid. “Micah. Where you two headed?”
Micah explained what they were doing.
“Mind if I tag along?” Wyatt asked. “An extra set of eyes can’t hurt, right?”
“Not at all,” Micah said.
The three of them turned toward the back fence line, Hamilton and Thunder moving ahead of them, noses already working the ground.
“So what’s new?” Wyatt asked as they walked. “Mom said there’s a lot going on. I stopped by so I could hear it for myself.”
Caleb filled him in—Grace’s arrival, the emergency placement, the note on Naomi’s windshield. Then Dale’s visit.
Wyatt’s expression darkened. “Dale Harding showed up here?”
“You just missed him,” Micah said. “He said he wanted to see the baby. Said he was just checking in as family.”
Wyatt let out a low breath and shook his head. “There’s nothing family about him.”
“Agreed,” Caleb muttered.
“You know anything about him?” Micah asked, watching Wyatt’s face.
Wyatt was quiet a moment, his jaw working. “I’ve heard things. Nothing concrete, but—word around town is he’s been running with some shady people lately.”
Micah’s stomach tightened. “What kind of shady people?”
“The kind who’d take a baby and never give her back.” Wyatt’s words came out flat and serious. “If they thought it served their purposes. Or Richard’s.”
The words hit like a punch.
Micah had suspected Dale was trouble. He’d felt it from the moment the man had smiled at them through the gate. But this confirmed something darker.
Dale wasn’t just family trying to stay connected. He was a potential threat. And if he had people backing him—people willing to do whatever Richard wanted—then Grace wasn’t just at risk from a custody battle.
She was at risk, period.
“We need to be careful,” Micah said, his voice tight. “All of us. Keep eyes on the property. Don’t let anyone we don’t know get close.”
Caleb nodded. “Agreed.”
They reached the back gate, and Caleb pulled out his key. The metal scraped as he unlocked it, and the three of them stepped through into the woods.
The temperature dropped immediately. The canopy closed in overhead, filtering the light into a dim, grayish haze. The ground turned soft beneath their boots, thick with fallen leaves.
Micah scanned the tree line, his senses sharpening. The woods were quiet—too quiet, maybe. No birds. No rustling in the underbrush.
Just the sound of their footsteps and the dogs moving through the leaves.
The bad feeling in Micah’s gut deepened with every step.