“What’s your name?” Few people ignored a question Linc asked; the kid took one look at him and answered.
“Zach Archer. I wasn’t doing nothin’ wrong. I was just waiting for him. I’m . . . I’m his grandson.”
Linc’s gaze shot to Carly, whose shoulders stiffened at the news.
“Zach Archer. Your father wouldn’t be Ray Archer?” Linc saw Carly putting the pieces together same as he was. Archer, the guy who had vandalized her house.
“He’s my dad. I need to see Joe.” The boy reached into the pocket of his dirty jeans and pulled out an envelope, tightly folded and yellow with age. Carly took the envelope from his small unsteady hand, carefully unfolded it, and pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper.
The boy looked up at her. “My mom said if I ever got in trouble, I should come to Iron Springs. I should ask for Joe Drake. The letter has directions how to get here.”
“Keep going,” Linc encouraged when the kid hesitated, but seemed to have something else to say.
“Joe was my mom’s dad. She died but she left me the letter. She said Joe would help me.”
Carly glanced down at the note. When she finished reading it, she turned to the boy. “Zach, I’m really sorry, but your grandpa died almost two months ago.”
The kid’s face went bone white, making the bruise on his cheek stand out. He stumbled backward, caught hold of the desk to steady himself. “Joe can’t be dead. He can’t be.”
Linc set his hands on the boy’s narrow shoulders. Beneath his plaid shirt, he was trembling. Linc squeezed gently, commanding his attention.
“Joe isn’t here, Zach, but I am. Joe was my friend. That makes you my friend, too. That means if you need help, I’ll help you. You understand?”
“I can’t believe he’s dead.”
“Listen to me, son. Joe can’t help you, but I can.”
The kid blinked as if he was only now hearing the words. Then his eyes teared up. “You mean it?”
“I mean it. We’re both going to help you. How did you get here?”
Zach sniffed, wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “I hitched.”
“When was the last time you ate?”
“I don’t know . . . yesterday, maybe. I took the money out of my savings bank, but I ran out a couple days ago.”
“How long have you been traveling?”
“Five or six days, I guess. I didn’t leave town right away. One of my friends hid me out for a couple of days and I got stranded a few times on the road.”
Probably left Austin the night his father went on a rampage, Linc figured as the puzzle became clearer. The night Archer beat the hell out of the woman he was living with and apparently his son, as well.
Linc’s gaze remained steady on the boy. “All right, Zach, here’s whatwe’re going to do. First we’re going to get you fed, then we’re taking you home. We’ll talk and we’ll figure this out.”
“Who are you?”
“Like I said, I’m a friend of Joe’s. My name is Lincoln Cain.” Linc managed to smile even as he was thinking of putting his hands around Ray Archer’s throat and squeezing some sense into him. “You can call me Linc. The lady is Carly Drake—she’s Joe’s granddaughter.”
The boy’s gaze swung to Carly, who managed to summon a smile. “I think your mom and my mom were half sisters. I know Joe had two wives and they each had a daughter. One of them must have been your mom. That makes us cousins.”
Hope washed away some of the worry in the kid’s blue eyes. “Really?”
Carly’s smile went from forced to sincere. “Yes. It’s nice to meet you, Zach.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too. Are you really gonna help me?”
“You’re family. Of course we’re going to help you.”
