Liam settled into the chair next to her.
“Unfortunate name,” he observed. He was mindful of the sling on his arm.
Like several hours before, Price was with them again. This time, though, he was in person, sitting opposite them. It was now morning, but the McCoy County Sheriff’s Department paid no mind to the change. The meeting room they were in had one window, and its blinds were drawn tight.
Price shook his head in what seemed to be equal parts anger and disbelief.
That feeling was amplified in Blake.
He could see her fist tightening still. Liam reached out and gently tapped that fist twice.
Blake’s gaze flew to him. She silently released her own hold.
“I know of the family but not Mater specifically,” Liam admitted, hand back on his phone. “Other than the obvious reasons why we should be upset, why are you twothisupset?”
Price was in a full snit, but he acquiesced to Blake for her answer. It almost felt like a hierarchy move, like Blake had seniority, and it was his job to let her take the lead. A part of Liam couldn’t blame him for the instinct. Despite being on cold medicine, forced to violence in her own home, and then dealing with the aftermath of getting her scared family together and settled in the sheriff department’s break room, she still was a pillar.
Liam didn’t know if it made him proud or worried. Or both.
She needed to rest; she couldn’t yet.
And apparently, some of that had to do with this Mater Calhoun person.
“Mater Calhoun—” Blake’s voice was undeniably angry, even the pause she forced herself to take after his name felt weighted. Whatever she had originally been about to say, she looked like she changed her mind about it. Instead, she was steady with her next words. “He’s the reason I left Seven Roads all those years ago.”
Liam couldn’t help but lean a little toward her.
He quirked an eyebrow.
She was quick to wave her hand at the first thought that sprang up at the statement.
“He was only a friend at the time, and, well, even that’s generous,” she continued. “He lived on the same block my dad did and liked to come over to the house to hang out a lot. Whether it was with me or Beth, he was an easy guy to get along with. Even my dad liked him, which is saying something.” She let out a breath. It was hot with anger still. “Then one day Mater came to the house all upset—like really upset—saying that he needed my dad’s help. He’d gone and messed up at his summer job at the steel mill and gotten into a fight with a new hire there, and now everyone wanted a piece of him, including the sheriff’s department.”
She snorted. There was no humor in it.
“My dad, someone who’d only had daughters but wanted sons, told Mater to stay hidden at our place until he could get things sorted. He told me I was in charge of making sure he was okay. I didn’t mind it at first, but then, well, then I found out what he did.”
Price cut in with a sharper edge than Liam had expected of him.
“The trouble he’d gotten into was because he beat that guy so badly that he ended up losing an eye,” he said. “And the man didn’t even start the fight. He only swung back in defense, and even then, he looked like he was pawing at pillows.”
“The security footage of the fight was spread around pretty decent before Dad could even make it to his lawyer’s office,” Blake tagged back in. “I tried talking to Mater about it, but he just got more and more tight-lipped. But you could tell he was in the wrong and he knew it. Then he’d come to the only place in town where someone would fight for him.”
Blake looked like she was about to say one thing again but, instead, switched to something else.
“Then Sheriff Dean showed up on our doorstep,” she said. “He knew my dad saw Mater as a surrogate son and came at me with the same feeling. He gave me a speech about doing the right thing, about people who did the wrong thing, and he really dug deep into the idea that one bad choice doesn’t necessarily mean a life filled with them. But it didn’t matter what he said, because I already made up my mind. I let him in the house and let him take Mater, only stalling long enough to put on my shoes.”
Blake’s expression grew more solemn. She readjusted in her chair before continuing.
“Dad showed up right as Mater was being driven off by a deputy. He was so spitting mad, face all red and running up like he was about to fight the entire sheriff’s department.” Blake paused again. This time, Liam knew there was a lot that she wanted to say but didn’t. “Sheriff Dean didn’t budge at anything my dad said, and after that, my dad never forgave me. We got into a yelling match out near the park on the way home from the department and... Well, it was good for everyone that I left town. Mater, even with a lawyer, ended up in prison later. His sentence was ten years, last I heard.”
Blake looked to Price.
He nodded confirmation.
“He got out early for good behavior but stayed out of Seven Roads until a few years ago,” he said. “He’s been living in the duplex out on Grantham Street. He married a woman he met after he got out. Forget her name, but would you believe where she works? Steel mill. Same place that caused him all the grief. That’s probably why he’s been doing so many odd jobs through the years, trying to make enough to get her to leave the place.”
“And tonight he was with Ray,” Liam finally said.
