The whole town had known that Robert MacGregor was crazy, and had a grudge against Sheriff Paul Larsen. Everyone knew it would come to a head one way or another. Aaron had seen the worry in his dad’s face, the tightening of the skin around his eyes because of the stress. And he’d overheard Dad promise Mom more than once that he wasn’t going to calls by himself. But for some reason he’d gone out to Dead Bend in the middle of the night, alone.
Aaron heard an echo of his mother’s voice again:“Where wereyou?”
And then, before Aaron could even wrap his head around what had happened, he and Mom were packed and leaving, and she’d never talked about Spruce Creek or Uncle Will again.
Had sheknown?
No, she would have told him if she did. But she must have suspected that it was more than a mistake that Dad had ended up at Dead Bend alone that night. Because he’d promised. He’d promised not to go to any callouts alone.
Had Uncle Will gone with him, stepping out of the way at just the right time to make him an easy target?
“Uncle Will says we should leave before Quinn,” Aaron said, keeping his voice even. “Says Quinn can catch us up.”
Charlie crossed her arms over her chest. Her forehead creased with worry. “You think so, Sheriff Henderson?”
“I think,” Uncle Will said quietly, “that it’s very unlikely Quinn will be meeting you kids later.”
Charlie blanched.
Aaron felt sick to the stomach.
Uncle Will had made sure of that, hadn’t he?
* * * *
Aaron wasn’t sure how he got through the next ten minutes. When Uncle Will pulled him into a hug, Aaron wanted nothing more than to shove him roughly away, to grab for his gun. To hold it against his forehead and demand answers or something crazy like that. Instead he thanked Uncle Will for taking care of selling the house, and promised he and Charlie would leave now and hope Quinn would catch them up.
“To Vegas, probably,” he said when Uncle Will asked. “That’s the plan, anyhow.”
Charlie caught his gaze, but didn’t contradict him.
They waved Uncle Will off from the front door. Aaron kept his smile plastered on as the headlights of Uncle Will’s cruiser arced over his face as Will reversed down the driveway.
Then he slammed the door shut.
“What’s going on?” Charlie asked.
“Give me your keys,” Aaron said. “You and Lennox take my truck. Head east, like we planned. If you don’t hear from me, just keep heading east, okay?”
“Aaron!”
Aaron was aware that Lennox was staring, his dark eyes wide.
“I saw his phone,” he said, his voice rasping. “He had a message from ‘JM’. It said, ‘He told you he’s a cop?’”
Charlie clasped a hand over her mouth.
Aaron hugged her hard. “Get the hell out of here. Don’t stop unless you hear from me or Quinn.”
She nodded, tears welling in her eyes, and handed him her car keys. “Please be careful.”
Aaron hurried out into the night.
Chapter 19
The warehouse was bigger than it looked on the outside, especially in the dim evening light. There was some sort of sitting space in the front with some old couches and a coffee table, and Quinn saw a fridge and a coffee maker in the corner. Made sense, in a way, for Jimmy’s guys to have somewhere to sit in their off time.
There was enough space in the front to back a large truck in, but there was very little Quinn could see contents-wise. He guessed all Jimmy’s merchandise was hidden behind the walls dividing the place.
