Dean walked over and clapped me on the shoulder, shaking my hand. “That’s great news. I always knew you were good for my Blake.”
“What?” Mav shouted over the whooping and hollering. “That’s your reaction?”
Dean pulled me in for a hug, smacking my back a little harder than necessary. “Glad you got out of that jam. I know you were up against the world, but you came out swinging. That’s exactly the man I need for my little girl.”
“Well, she’s not so little, sir. In fact, she’s already shoved two people through windows.”
He chuckled loudly. “Yep, that sounds like Blake.”
“Hold on a minute,” Mav cut in. “This guy knocked up your daughter! And he didn’t tell you! Aren’t you going to get pissed? Maybe beat him up a little bit?”
Dean eyed my former friend. “Didn’t you say you were the sheriff?”
“Yes, but?—”
“Son, what the hell is wrong with you?”
Mav actually looked confused by the question, which was fucking hilarious to me.
“So, you’re not gonna tie me to the bed of the truck and drive around town?”
“Are you kidding?” Dean laughed. “I’ve been waiting for you to finally pull your head out of your ass and marry my girl.”
“It’s only been like four months since I last saw you.”
“And that’s four months too long. Now, where is my little girl?”
“Uh…at home. She’s actually investigating a murder.”
The man laughed, slapping me on the back again. “Of course she is. Let’s go see her.”
When Mav started to follow me, Dean turned and glared at him. “Not you.”
“Seriously? What the hell did I do?” he asked.
“Well, I think setting me up to take the fall probably did the trick.”
“Fucking ridiculous,” he muttered. “You’re the one who knocked up his baby girl.”
Grinning, I followed my new family outside. “Well, let this be a lesson to you.”
“To find a woman and knock her up?”
I shrugged. “It worked for me.”
As the door swung shut, he shouted, “Yeah? Out here, that would get me shot!”
13
BLAKE
I wentover the statements from the Walkers and all the neighbors for the fifth time. There wasn’t a single thing that pointed to who might have taken the little girl.
But that patch of trees across the road at the vacant lot… Something told me that was the key to the whole thing. Pulling up a map on my phone, I studied the area, then started moving the map around, expanding what I could see.
There was nothing for miles and miles except trees and a lake. Even if someone lured Dakota away through the trees, where would they take her in the middle of a snowstorm? They couldn’t have walked that far. Murky Falls was too far away.
As for motive, I still couldn’t find anything to go on. There was no one in town, other than the psychotic Austin Callahan, who would do something like this. And he was too young at the time for such a violent crime.
