“So, Noah Henderson was the youngest of the men there that day?” Dakota asked as she took a sip of her lemonade.
Blade nodded. “Yeah, I can still remember being surprised to see him. He was only sixteen.”
Blade was almost eighteen and could clearly remember what it felt like to be sixteen. It was young, but old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. Being young was no excuse for what Noah did that day.
Even though Millie couldn’t talk, Blade knew that Noah was one of the men who had hurt her.
Blade had heard Noah brag about what he had done to her to the other men. The thought caused bile to rise in his throat, and he quickly pushed it away. He would allow the anger he felt toward Noah to resurface once they found him.
“The name sounds familiar,” Dakota stated. “But I can’t remember what he looked like.”
“I can, but since he was so young, his appearance could have changed a lot.”
“That’s what worries me.” Dakota sat back in her chair and tugged at a stray piece of hair. “How are we going to find him if we can’t recognize him?”
Blade shrugged. “I don’t know, but we will, and when we do, he’ll pay.”
Finding Noah proved to be a struggle. Blade and Dakota spent the entire day searching the town. They tried to be as discreet as possible but eventually had to resort to asking somebody.
“The barkeep at the saloon will know,” Blade stated, looking at the door as men entered and exited the place.
“Isn’t it too risky to ask?”
“They don’t know who I am,” Blade pointed out with a shrug. “And I don’t think we have much of a choice.”
Dakota chewed on her nail as she glanced up and down the road. “Okay, I’ll wait with the horses—just be careful.”
“Always am,” Blade lied, smiling as he tipped his hat and crossed the road.
The barkeeper was a short man with a big belly and a balding head. He smelled of alcohol and tobacco and had teeth that were so rotten they were hard to look at.
Despite his appearance, he was friendly and eager to tell Blade whatever he wanted to know.
After coming up with a rather convincing story in which Blade was Noah’s long-lost cousin, the barkeeper told him where he could find Noah.
“He lives in a trapper’s cabin on the outskirts of town,” Blade told Dakota as he mounted Africa. “The barkeep gave me directions.”
Dakota let out a deep breath, relief washing over her for a moment before being replaced with worry again. “He didn’t ask too many questions, did he?”
“Not at all.” Blade shook his head and gave Dakota a reassuring smile. “I gave him a fake name, told him I’m Noah’s cousin, and that was all he needed to tell me everything I wanted to know.”
“They’re going to know it was you when they find his body.”
Blade was aware of that fact, but it didn’t matter.
Even if the barkeeper, who appeared to be drunk, could remember what Blade looked like, nobody would ever be able to find him. Blade had given him a fake name and a fake story.
“Doesn’t matter. By the time they find him, we’ll be long gone.”
Chapter 15
Finding the trapper’s cabin wasn’t difficult, but once again, it was getting dark, and Blade got the feeling that a lot of their kills were going to happen at night. He didn’t mind that at all since it meant there were fewer people around, and it also gave them time to make an easy getaway.
“This isn’t good,” Dakota whispered as they spied on the cabin.
Once they found it, they secured the horses and snuck closer, being careful not to make any noise. The cabin was in a small field, close to a creek, and surrounded by trees. They were watching from behind a fallen trunk, overgrown with grass and shrubs.
“It’s not ideal,” Blade agreed, wondering how to proceed.
