The teen lifted his chin a little. Liam noticed his eyes were a little swollen.
“My name’s Cooper. Cooper Han.”
Liam did the mental math fast. He was the best friend of Chase McClennan.
“I need to talk to you,” Cooper said again. “Now, please.”
Liam said okay and directed them to the closest, most private area they could find. They sat on either side of a small table next to a cluster of vending machines. Liam could tell the boy was serious, but he could also tell he was nervous.
Still, the nerves didn’t win.
He got straight to the point.
“I hid Chase McClennan away, and I’m not telling anyone where he is until you arrest the man who killed Ray and the man who told him to do it.”
Liam was gobsmacked.
“Come again?”
Cooper didn’t back down.
“While Chase made a mistake listening to Ray during the car chase, nothing that has happened has been his fault,” he said. “He just fell into his cousin’s problems and didn’t know how to get out. So I decided to take him out of all of this until all you professionals get it fixed. You can’t see or talk to him until I know it’s safe.”
A part of Liam admired the conviction and obvious care. The other part, the sheriff taking the demands of a teen without any background information, wanted more to go on.
“The car chase? When you say he fell into Ray’s problems, what do you mean? Does Chase know who killed Ray? And you said there’s someone else behind that gunman? Does Chase know who?”
Despite his nerves, Cooper seemed to have come prepared for the questions.
“Ray was the one with all of the answers, Chase doesn’t know anything.”
Liam tilted his head to the side a little in disbelief.
“Then why would he be in danger if he doesn’t know anything? Because, to me, it seems like Chase and Ray shared some anger, and that anger somehow got to me and maybe even one of my friends. Now that anger has led to a murder and I’m still trying to put all the pieces together to make sure nothing else bad happens. How can I do that? How can I protect anyone if I don’t even know who I’m protecting them from?”
This question stumped the boy. His brow knitted together, he bit at his bottom lip. Then, that resolution that had demanded the sheriff to do his job all at once disappeared.
Cooper balled his fists and squeezed his eyes shut. His words came out quick but clear.
“Chase isn’t the one who knows anything. It’s me. I’m the one who told him about the code, and Ray’s the one who overheard me do it. I’m the one who started this. I’m the one who—”
Liam froze.
His question didn’t.
“The code?” he interrupted. “What code?”
Cooper opened his eyes. He looked pained again, but his answer was as clear as day.
“The code that I gave to Missy before she died.”
Chapter Twenty
Price was upset. He made that clear. Blake made it even clearer that she wasn’t going to lose her chance to get some answers.
“Listen, this isn’t my first rodeo,” she told him, swinging into the open car door. “I’m Sheriff Trouble remember? I should be able to handle talking to Mr. Grant senior.”
Price wasn’t so sure.
