Chapter Ten
A week passed and nothing about it was satisfying.
Ray and Chase McClennan remained committed to their story.
They had believed Blake was their friend Henry, driving a new car and messing with them.
They had followed her into the field because they thought it was funny.
Chase hadn’t known about the gun Ray had in his hand, and Ray had been insistent that he had simply had it to give Henry a funny scare.
If Ray hadn’t had a permit for the gun, he would still be in jail.
But both of them were now out and about.
It had absolutely riled Liam up.
That wasn’t even figuring in the lack of laptop either.
Liam had gone through every part of the original investigation again to try to find the computer that Missy had had at the coffee shop, but he had come up short.
He was on the fence about reaching out to her father again to see if maybe he had any idea where it might have gone and was still thinking about it when Price knocked on his office door and let himself in.
“Winnie heard some talk at school about the McClennan boys,” Price said, bypassing a traditional start to a new conversation. He sat down opposite him in a chair that squeaked at the weight.
“We’re still talking about those two?” Liam asked, instantly grumpy. “Also, isn’t your daughter in high school? What talk about the McClennan cousins are going around there?”
Price adopted a high-pitched, flitty voice.
“‘Oh, Sheriff, haven’t you seen Chase McClennan?’” He dropped into a more dramatic voice.
“He’s young enough that the high school girls think they might have a chance with him if they say just the right thing.
He’s also just old enough that flirting with him at the restaurant he works at has become the ‘it’ dare in the past few months.
According to Winnie, Amber Bell even live-streamed her asking for his number. He declined. She was mortified.”
Price said everything with a straight face. And with an absolute sincerity. Liam could always tell the difference when Price was talking about anything that had to do with Winnie, including the talk that she was simply relaying to him.
Price Collins loved his daughter immensely.
Liam didn’t have children, but he couldn’t deny that his deputy’s dedication to his daughter made him appreciate the man more.
“So even the high school has its own rumor mill about the rest of us,” Liam mused.
Price nodded to that.
“Based on what I’ve heard since Winnie started, it’s way more vicious than this fluff we have out here.
” He sat straighter and leaned forward a little.
“And they get some of theirs from eavesdropping on their parents, which makes the new theory floating around the school more interesting than it already is.”
Liam couldn’t help it. He leaned in a little too. “Theory?”
Price’s retelling of the news he had heard from his daughter was delivered in his own voice this time.
“No one at that school thinks that the guys were going after a friend but instead trying to mess with—drumroll please—you.”
“Me?”
Price nodded.
“Apparently a lot of the parents have been talking and, when they found out Blake was helping you with looking into Missy’s death, they all decided that Ray and Chase went after her to scare her off or maybe send you a message.
” Price held up his hands in defense before Liam could start in.
“This is just what Winnie said she heard from a group of seniors. The word is that Blake went back to her old ways of being an outcast sheriff and teamed up with you, another outcast sheriff, to dig into the Missy thing.”
Liam balled his fist.
“Why would they even care? Ray and Chase, I mean.” He was trying very hard not to go on a tangent. “Were they friends with Missy?”
Price’s expression tightened a bit. He was annoyed at his own words.
“I asked Winnie, and she said the only friend Chase ever really hangs around is Cooper Han. He’s a senior, I’ve met him once or twice.
Good kid, as far as I can tell, a whiz with computers too.
Not exactly on brand for someone who might want to send the sheriff a threatening message.
Ray was acquainted with Missy, but they never ran in the same social circles. But their fathers...”
Liam nearly growled. He remembered Blake’s words from the week before when they were sitting out on the porch.
“They’re fans of Jonathan Clearwater, Missy’s dad,” he finished.
Price nodded.
“Bingo,” he said. “Winnie said she’s heard the theory that Ray and Chase were following their dads’ orders, or they were trying to win some points with them. Both men have been pretty vocal about you being a problem since word got around that you were still investigating on the sly.”
Liam took the pen he had in his hand and slammed it down on the desktop.
“This is absolutely ridiculous,” he said.
“It’s also just a bundle of rumors from teenagers who were eavesdropping on adults, probably just shooting the breeze to pass the time.
Either way, it doesn’t look good on the boys’ intelligence.
” He held up two fingers. “If their story about thinking they were messing with a friend is true, that was an absolutely ridiculous plan. If the story about them trying to mess with you and Blake because of the Missy investigation? Well, that’s a special kind of stupid if you ask me. ”
Liam had to agree with that.
“I think Blake is the kind of woman who digs her heels in when someone tries to make her stop doing something she wants to do,” Liam added after a moment. He shook his head. “That would have been a really bad plan on their part for sure.”
Price nodded his agreement. Then he was all sighs.
“I know Seven Roads is a small town, but when you start seeing how everyone is connected, it sure feels smaller.” He stood and stretched.
“Either way, I thought you should hear what’s going around.
I’m not sure it holds any water, but I wanted you to know just in case.
I’m heading out for now, though, unless you need me for something else. ”
“I appreciate it, but, no, I’m good here.”
A smile stretched wide across Price’s face.
“Good. I’m doing a movie night with Winnie, and those have become rare since she hit teenagehood. You have any plans on this fine Friday, Sheriff?”
Liam motioned to the paperwork piled in his inbox tray.
“You’re looking at it.”
Price whistled, already moving to the door.
“Give me a deputy’s badge over a sheriff’s any day.”
He left with a laugh. Liam went back to his paperwork. However, his attention strayed once again.
Had the McClennan cousins really tried to use Blake to shake them away from looking into Missy? Did their fathers’ loyalty to Missy’s father really run so deep that the children would risk such harsh consequences?
And why go after Blake and not him directly?
Unless Ray had simply pulled up behind the wrong car and had meant to target him instead.
This wasn’t helping his hunch that something had happened to Missy that led to her death. If she really had taken her own life, then why was there this much resistance to his investigation?
And what about the flash drive?
Liam looked down at the locked drawer of his desk.
As far as he knew, only two people knew about the flash drive he had found under the bridge. Price and his friend who had analyzed the information he had found on the drive.
It was the main reason his gut wouldn’t let her death go.
Liam had almost told Blake about the flash drive that night out on the porch. Instead, he’d stopped himself. Then he’d told her he could handle it alone.
And a week had gone by with no word from her.
Not that he could say a thing about that. He hadn’t reached out either.
Liam glanced at his cell phone on the desk. He could send her a text to see how she was? To see how Clem was doing? How Bruce and Lola were too?
As if he willed it, his cell phone lit up right before it started to vibrate.
It wasn’t Blake’s number. It was Theo’s, and he said just about the only thing that would make Liam leave his work behind without hesitation.
“Hey there, boss.” Theo was whispering. “I just thought you should know there’s a woman and a baby in your apartment right now. The lady’s looking for you, and if I’m being honest, I don’t think she’s doing too hot.”
BLAKE’S HEAD FELT like a vise was squeezing it. She blamed sinus pressure. She squinted through the pain at a picture frame on the TV stand. She was standing in Liam’s apartment and staring at a photo in a nice wooden frame.
It was easy to find Liam at first glance.
Among the group of men in the picture, he was the tallest. A tree among weeds.
If Blake had felt better, she would have laughed at her own analogy at that.
Instead, she traced the weeds with her eyes.
Six men in total, all in varying stages of laughter.
They were in military uniforms, but it looked to her like basic training rather than active deployment.
Each man, Liam included, was covered in mud.
Liam had some on his cheek. It made the gigantic smile on his face all the more charming.
Blake couldn’t help but wonder when the last time he smiled like that was.
Maybe he was always that happy-go-lucky, but it was just reserved for certain people.
Maybe there was a special woman who did it for him too.
A thought that only popped into Blake’s head after she had knocked on the sheriff’s apartment door. It wasn’t like they had talked about their personal lives that much. Apart from scanning his ring finger, she hadn’t inquired about a wife, girlfriend or anyone else in that relationship realm.
You’re only here to tell him something, not interrogate him, she had reminded herself while waiting for the door to unlock.
Though bringing a baby probably wasn’t a move she should have taken.
Clem was at home doing crafts with Lola and Blake had to admit the situation last week had given her all kinds of feelings about the kids.
She’d been sleeping with Clem, and anytime Bruce was near, she felt the urge to pull him up into her arms.
When she realized she wanted to loop Liam into her new little plan, she scooped Bruce up without a second thought. He’d even giggled when a teenager had opened the door with wide eyes.
After Theo had introduced himself, he’d been quick to cut off the questions popping up one after the other from her.
“I’m not his kid, by the way,” he had exclaimed. “I live in the apartment complex. Liam lets me hang out here when my mom’s working.”
Bruce had trilled in delight at a new face, while Blake had spied a full meal on a plate at the table behind the teen.
She also noted his shoes by the door and what appeared to be another set of the same size shoes next to them.
There was a book bag too, slung on the couch arm.
A cell phone was on top of it. He excused himself to make a call to Liam.
Theo had seemingly marked Liam’s apartment as a safe space. It had warmed Blake’s heart.
Now her heart did a little flutter as the dead bolt on the front door slid open. Bruce swiveled hard enough that Blake’s balance tipped. Her head swam as she took a step to keep herself right. The ache around her head pulsed.
Sinuses.
That’s all it was.
The door was open, and Liam was frowning. Blake pulled on a smile she hoped would defuse it. Theo spoke before either of them could.
“Wow, boss, you made some good time,” he said. “You must have broken some of those speeding laws you were supposed to be keeping good.”
Liam’s gaze slid to the boy’s.
“And you must be done with all of your schoolwork?” Liam motioned to a door that must have been the second bedroom. “Why don’t you go check?”
Theo raised his hands in defense but laughed. He gave a deep nod to Blake and scooped up his book bag.
“And on that note, I’ll give y’all some space.”
Blake felt bad for her intrusion and making the boy leave the living space, but at the same time, she didn’t want him to listen to what she had to say.
“It was nice meeting you,” she returned. Her smile was nothing compared to Bruce’s. He did a little dance when Theo waved.
Then it was just the three of them in the living room.
Blake took a deep breath as dark eyes settled on hers.
There was no point in beating around the bush.
“I did something that you’re not going to like.”