Marlena narrowed her eyes at me before turning around to Mike. Her anger instantly folded into feigned innocence. “No, sir,” she replied, smiling. “I was just leaving.”
She waltzed back to the table, took one last sip of her Diet Coke, and stormed out of the restaurant, not bothering to leave any money for her drink.
“You okay?” Mike asked me.
At that moment, I noticed how fast my heart was pounding. It had probably been beating out of control this whole time, but I had been too busy concentrating on defending myself to notice. “Yeah. I can’t believe I just stood up to her.”
Mike smiled like a proud father. “Me, neither. We don’t need the likes of her in here if she’s going to treat my staff like that. Not to mention not pay for her drink. Don’t ring up her soda. I don’t want that coming out of your tips.”
“Thanks, Mike.”
“No problem. I’m proud of you for not backing down. You done good, girl.” He winked before heading back to the kitchen.
I stood in place for a minute as my heart rate returned to normal. I still couldn’t believe what had happened. My confidence surprised me.
I wondered what Marlena was thinking right now. She was probably as shocked as I was that I had the nerve to stand up to her.
“Hey, Laken!” Mike shouted across the restaurant. “Your dad’s on the phone.”
My attention returned to the pizza I was still holding as I realized I hadn’t even heard the phone ring. I hurried over to the kitchen, set the plate on the counter, and rushed over to the phone next to the register. “Dad?”
“Laken, I’m looking for Noah. He left here about an hour ago to visit you and get a late lunch. Have you seen him?”
“Yeah. He was just here. But he got a text from you and then rushed out the door. He should be at the station by now.”
“I’m not at the station.” Sirens sounded in the distance on the other end of the phone. “Oh, there he is. Never mind. I’ve got to go.”
“Dad, what’s going on?”
“I can’t talk now, Laken. I’ll see you at home tonight and tell you everything. I love you.”
A feeling of dread washed over me. I remembered the dark worry in Noah’s eyes when he had read my dad’s text. Suddenly, I forgot all about my confrontation with Marlena. “I love you, too, Dad.”
As I slowly hung up the phone, a sickening feeling settled in my stomach. Something was going on, and I would have to wait to find out what it was.
***
The house was empty when I returned from my shift. I took a long hot shower, washing the greasy pizza smell out of my hair and off my skin. After brushing the tangles out of my wet hair, I slipped into a pair of blue pajama pants and a white hoodie.
Silence loomed through the house when I headed back downstairs with a book in my hand. As if a teenage vampire novel could take my mind off whatever it was my father hadn’t told me. I set it down on the kitchen table and opened the refrigerator to grab a ginger ale. As I filled a glass with ice, my mother shuffled in through the door from the garage, a few shopping bags in her hands. She pulled her sunglasses off and put them with her purse on the kitchen desk built into the cabinets, her keys clanking against the countertop. “Hi, honey,” she said. “How was your day at work?”
I popped open the can of soda and poured it into the glass. “Fine. I saw Noah today. He came by the pizza shop for a late lunch.”
“Oh, that was nice.” My mother placed her bags on the desk chair before turning back to me.
I was dying to ask if she had talked to my father in the last hour or so, but I refrained. “Did you go shopping?”
“Yes. Nancy and I went over to the outlets. I was thinking about taking you there this weekend for some new school clothes. Are you working on Sunday?”
“Not unless someone asks me to pick up their shift. I’d love to go if I don’t end up working.” I paused, deciding it was time to just come out with my questions. “Mom, have you talked to Dad this afternoon?”
Her expression grew somber. “Yes, about an hour ago.”
“Something happened today. While Noah was at the restaurant, he got an urgent message from Dad and then he bolted without saying a word. Mom, what’s going on?”
She took a deep breath. “You better sit down for this.”
I sank into a chair at the kitchen table. “Okay, now you’re scaring me.” Nothing could have prepared me for what she was about to say.
“A couple of hikers decided to explore the back country off the trails today. They found a body.”
“What?” I wasn’t sure that I had heard her correctly. It sounded like she said a body had been found in the mountains that we called home. As far as I knew, that had never happened here, at least not in my lifetime.
“And that’s not all.”
I cringed, not sure I wanted to know anything more at this point. “There’s more?”
“A little boy’s shoe was found near the body.”
“Ryder,” I whispered.
She nodded. “It looks like Ryder didn’t wander off, after all. It looks like he was taken.”
It made perfect sense. I knew a little boy, just barely three years old, could never have walked that far up the mountain by himself. Not to mention that his mother was certain she had left him in a secured backyard with a locked gate.
But with those answers came more questions. I frowned, thinking about what this meant. “Why would anyone take a little boy out of his own backyard? Does Dad know who this guy is? Is he from town? It was a guy, right? How did he die?”
My mother shook her head. “Slow down, Laken. You’re asking too many questions, and I don’t have any answers. Your dad only had a few minutes to let me know what was happening. I don’t think he knew much yet.”
“He’ll know more by the time he gets home, right?”
“I’m sure he’ll have some answers, but it may take a while for them to unravel all of the details of what happened.”
An unsettled feeling washed over me. “Oh.”
“Well, I’m going to put my things away. You’re not the only one starting school next week,” my mother said. Even though she changed the subject, I could tell she was still thinking about the body that had been found today. She picked up her bags and started to leave the kitchen, but stopped and turned. “What are you in the mood to have for dinner tonight?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll just make my own dinner when I get hungry.”
Acknowledging my answer with a nod, she disappeared around the corner.
I twirled my glass, clanking the ice against the sides, and sipped the remaining soda. After finishing it, I grabbed my book and headed upstairs to my room to wait for my father to return home, hopefully with answers to at least some of my questions.
***
I often spent long hours in the comfort of my bedroom, and this afternoon was no exception. My bedroom and bathroom were the only rooms on our second floor, giving me the privacy most teenagers only dreamed of. I had selected the oak furniture, pale purple comforter set with matching curtains, and the silvery gray paint for the walls. The hardwood floors surrounding the huge white throw rug under my full-sized bed were scuffed enough to give a distressed look. Some people paid good money for that look, but my floors looked like that from years of old-fashioned wear and tear. Over my headboard hung a large white-framed print of a gray wolf standing ankle-deep in the snow as fluffy flakes fell from the Rocky Mountain sky. Framed photographs that I had taken of moose, bears, foxes, and owls lined the other two walls. My desk sat facing the only window in my bedroom so that I could glance out into the backyard as I did my homework. I loved gazing outside as I sat at my desk, but it often backfired. The mesmerizing snowflakes drifting down from a winter sky were enough to cause me to forget whether I was trying to solve Algebra problems or write an essay.
I spent the afternoon in my room trying to read with little success. The text messages coming in on my phone were distracting
. One from Ethan and another from Brooke, both asking the same question. Had I heard that a body had been found in the woods today? News like that spread like wildfire in our town. I didn’t answer either one of them. I was certain that as soon as I did, they would fire back with the same questions I had asked earlier and still had no answers to. As much as I loved both of them, I needed a little time to process this. It hit too close to home in so many ways. I felt like I was at the center of this since I was the daughter of the town sheriff and I had been the one to find Ryder.
A soft knock sounded on my bedroom door. Tossing my phone aside, I propped myself up against the purple pillows that matched my comforter. “Come in,” I called.
My father stepped into my room, his hair disheveled once again and his eyes worried. He sat down in the wooden chair at my desk, facing the backside and resting his arms on it. He sighed as I met his uneasy brown eyes. “Your mother said she told you what happened today.”
“Yes, she did. But she didn’t have any details. Do you know who it was?”
“No. He wasn’t from around here. He had an ID on him, so we now know he was from a pretty rough part of Boston. We think he took Ryder last week because a little boy’s shoe was found about thirty feet away from him. Of course, we can’t be sure until we check with the Thompsons, but I can’t imagine that it isn’t his.”
Fear raced through me. I had really hoped that I was wrong and that Ryder had just wandered off like my father originally thought. Knowing Ryder had been taken chilled me to the core. “Why would someone take a child out his backyard?”
“I have no idea. I think that’s the worst part of this whole thing. Frankly, it makes me sick. Children should be safe in their own backyards, and in this town, they always have been. At least until now.”
My father had addressed all of my questions except for one. “How did the guy die?”
“We can’t be sure until the coroner finishes with him, but it looked like he fell down a ravine and hit his head on a rock.”
“Wow. Really? He must have been even clumsier than me.”
As if it was even possible, my father’s frown deepened and his voice grew more serious. “I don’t think he just suddenly tripped and fell, Laken. I think he fell because he was chased.”
“Chased? By who?”
“You tell me. He had bite marks on his forearms. They were about the size of a wolf bite. Do you think Dakota did this?”
“What? I don’t know. Maybe, if he was trying to protect me or Ryder. But he was with me all night. He ran ahead a few times, but I don’t think he had enough time to chase this guy down in the few minutes he was out of sight. Unless it happened after I got home with Ryder.”
My father ran his hands through his hair. I could tell that this weighed heavily on his mind. “I have mixed feelings about this. First off, all I can think of is that this guy was out there that night while you were traipsing through the mountains, alone.”
“I wasn’t alone. Dakota was with me.” And an owl, a black bear, and possibly other animals.
“What if this guy had a gun? Dakota wouldn’t have been able to protect you.”
“Did he?”
“No, at least not as far as we can tell. We searched the area and didn’t find any weapons. But that doesn’t make me feel any better. Laken, what you did that night was far more dangerous than I first realized.”
I nodded in understanding. “I guess I didn’t think about anything other than getting Ryder home safely. I didn’t see any signs of another person where I found him.” Except for the fire pit, but it had been cold and dry to the touch.
“Where did you find him? Could you take me there?”
Pursing my lips in thought, I slid my gaze away from his questioning eyes and stared at one of my photographs on the wall, studying the black bear that stood amongst the green ferns on the forest floor. It immediately reminded me of the bear who had kept Ryder warm until I could get to him. “I don’t think so,” I said.
“What if I take you to where the body was found? Maybe you’ll remember it.”
“It was really dark. I don’t know that I’ll recognize anything.” Unless Dakota comes with us. He would take me back there if I asked him to, but how am I going to tell my father that Dakota understands every word I say? I just wanted to push the whole thing out of my mind. Pretend it had never happened. But unfortunately, it had and there was no way to erase it.
“Okay. I’m not going to force you. There’s not really anything left to solve aside from his motive and I doubt we’ll learn anything by dragging you back to the scene of the crime. But we have another problem. A wolf problem. Once the town realizes that an animal bit this guy, and believe me, they will find out once the coroner’s report is released, people are going to worry that this animal will attack an innocent person next. I don’t know what we’re going to do with Dakota once that happens.”
I shot up away from the pillows I had been leaning against, not quite sure what he meant. But I knew I didn’t like the sound of it. “What does that mean? Dakota’s not a threat to anyone. He’s lived here for five years. Five years, and he has never caused any trouble. Besides, I really don’t think he did this.”
My father sighed as he rose to his feet. “Well, let’s just hope this blows over fast. Please be extra careful with him for a while. I know how much he means to you and I don’t want anything to happen to him. I know he’s been keeping his distance lately, so just see to it that he’s extra vigilant for now. This would not be a good time for anyone around here to find out we have a wolf.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure he stays away,” I said earnestly.
My father offered a faint smile. “Good. I knew you’d understand. Your mom and I are going out for a walk. Will you be okay here alone for a while?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll be fine. While all of this is unsettling, I still feel safe.” As I said it, I suddenly remembered my first evening back from the hospital when Dakota had growled at something in the woods. I flashed a smile at my father, hoping that I had convinced him because I hadn’t convinced myself.
“Good. Because it doesn’t change anything. It was a freak thing and I don’t think it will happen again,” my father said before slipping out of my room and leaving me alone. I froze for a moment as I turned my attention to Dakota’s extra-large dog bed on the floor next to the wall. It normally bore an impression from his hundred-pound frame, but right now, it was soft and fluffy from not being used. It had been over a week since Dakota had slept on it. I suddenly felt more alone than I had in five years. The silence and emptiness was overwhelming.
I jumped up from the bed, rushed out of my room, down the stairs, and out the back door to the patio. The sun had dropped below the mountains, darkening the sky to a hazy purple. A gentle breeze whispered through the leafy trees. The crickets were hiding from the cool temperatures again, and it was quite possible that we had heard the last of them now that the cool fall nights were right around the corner.
I scanned the shadows buried within the woods, looking for any movement, hoping to find Dakota. “Dakota!” I called. “Here, boy!” But there was no sign of him. I stood on the edge of the patio, not ready to give up. “Please come here, Dakota. I just need to know that you’re out there.”
A movement deep within the trees caught my eye. As I glimpsed a smoky black shadow and amber eyes, relief washed over me. He was still out there, watching over me. But as quickly as I saw him, he took off, disappearing into the woods without a single sound.
“I thought I would find you out here,” a familiar voice said from the edge of the yard.
I gasped as I turned to see Noah walking through the grass from around the side of the house. His sudden appearance explained why Dakota had taken off like he had.
I sighed, managing a weak smile. Forgetting about Dakota, I raised a hand to tuck my loose hair behind my ear, at once feeling self-conscious in my pajama pants. Noah still wore the jeans and light blue shirt he’
d had on earlier, but he looked tired from the day’s events, so maybe he wouldn’t care. “Hi.”
“I rang the doorbell, but no one answered. I thought I’d see if anyone was out back. Were you talking to someone?”
I felt a blush creep along my cheeks, but it was getting dark, so hopefully he couldn’t see it. “Stray dog.”
“Was he here? Did I scare him away?”
“I thought I saw him in the woods, and yes, he bolted just before you walked around the house.”
“Sorry about that.”
“That’s okay. He’ll be back.”
“Well, I won’t stay long.” Noah walked up the patio steps and stopped beside me as he held out a large letter-sized envelope. “I was just bringing your dad a report from the Boston PD about our friend from the woods.”
“Mom and Dad went out for a walk, but they should be back soon. You can wait or leave it with me and I’ll give it to him.” I really hoped he would choose to wait. I didn’t want to be alone right now.
He must have read my mind. “I’ll wait. So how are you handling all of this?”
I looked up at him to meet the concerned look in his eyes. “It’s a lot to process right now. I’ve lived here my whole life and nothing like this has ever happened. I keep wondering, if this guy really did take Ryder, which seems pretty likely, why did he do it? What was his motive?”
“I don’t know. I wish I had the answers, Laken.”
“The only thing I can think of was that he was going to hold Ryder for ransom, but there’s no way he could have thought he’d get a huge payout from it. The Thompson’s aren’t rich. Anyone can see that. So if it wasn’t money, then what did he want? What if he planned to abuse him or kill him? What if he planned to keep him?” I shivered, thinking of all the sickening possibilities, and gazed at Noah, wishing he had the answers.
He reached his free arm out around my shoulders, pulling me against him. With a heavy sigh, I rested my cheek against his chest as he rubbed my back.
Shadows at Sunset: Sunset Trilogy ~ Book 1 Page 8