Page 16 of Sutton's Shadow

Dodd bristled at the criticism. His eyes darkened, and he leveled her with a glowering stare. “Just because you think yourself to be some hotshot lawyer since you won a few high-profile cases does not give you the right to dictate to me how to do my job.”

“I wouldn’t have to dictate to you if you woulddothe job. Another child has gone missing in your jurisdiction. I understand that without the Nighthawks’ intervention a few years ago, two children would have died.”

Dodd’s face reddened further. Dylan skewered him with an unflinching scowl, unafraid of the ire radiating off the sheriff. “And what about Kacey Lawrence, who disappeared three months ago? And Mary Edmonton, who went missing four months before that?” Dylan glanced down at her hand and began ticking off names with her fingers. “Sadie Dwyer. Lacy Smith. Christina Hiddleston. Ella Rodriguez.” She peered up and met the sheriff’s shocked eyes. “Shall I go on?”

“That’s not necessary,” Dodd grumbled with a noticeable twitch in his jaw. Dylan’s words had hit the mark.

“All went missing since you’ve been elected sheriff.” She tilted her head in that way Wyatt was coming to learn meant she was about to hit him with her worst. “Tell me, Sheriff Dodd, how many of those girls are safely at home with their families?”

Dodd kept his mouth shut tight, the ire in his gaze speaking volumes. “Oh, that’s right... none. They’re all still missing.” Wyatt’s anxiety for his sister ramped up to the extreme. All those missing girls. What happened to them? His thoughts turned to child trafficking, the fear for Bethany freezing the blood in his veins. Would she meet the same fate?

Wyatt considered Ian to determine whether his friend had been aware of the missing girls in the area. From his appalled expression, it was obvious he wasn’t privy to that information. As he watched, the shock morphed into anger.

Sutton appeared as pale as he felt. All color had leeched from her face as the ramifications of the information Dylan had just spewed settled in.

“Runaways. Nothing more,” Dodd asserted.

“Can you prove that?”

Dodd ignored that comment and turned to Ian. “Please see Ms. Solis and her clients out, Deputy McClintock. Thank you for bringing Miss Tinsley’s situation to my attention.” The man turned to head back into his office, unconcerned with everything that had just spilled out in the hallway.

Wyatt saw red. He lunged for Dodd, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt as he shoved him up against the wall. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say about my sister? All those missing girls? Do you intend to let my sister become one more statistic?” Ian grabbed his shoulders, attempting to pull him off Dodd, but his rage overrode his common sense.

“Come on, Tin Man, let him go,” Ian insisted, wrapping an arm around his chest to pull him back.

“You better find my sister or there will be hell to pay,” he commanded.

“Is that a threat, Mr. Tinsley?” Dodd asked, his tone laced with his own venom.

“If it needs to be.”

“You Nighthawks think you’re above the law, but I’ve got news for you; you’re nothing but a bunch of washed-up soldiers who couldn’t cut it in the service. Your sister probably saw the truth of that and ran away rather than be saddled with you as her guardian.”

The rage drowned out everything around him as a red-hot haze flitted over his vision. He’d never wanted to cause violence to a civilian more than he did at this moment. “The fuck you say?” he gritted out between teeth clenched so tightly his jaw ached.

“Face it, Tinsley, she’s a runaway, just like all the others. Probably met someone on the internet and is shacking up with him at this moment.”

Sutton gasped, and Ian groaned, but all Wyatt could do was tighten his fists on Dodd’s shirt. “You find my sister,” he warned. He leaned closer to the portly man so only he could hear his words. “You find her, or I will rain a hell down on you like you’ve never seen before.”

“You’re the search and rescue guy... why don’t you find her?” Dodd sneered.

“I intend to.”

“I’ll come after you if you don’t stay within the limits of the law,” threatened Dodd.

“Then do your job and you won’t have to exert yourself coming after me.” His gaze dropped to the man’s significant gut. “We wouldn’t want you to suffer some health misfortune chasing me.”

Wyatt forced himself to loosen his hold and step back, but Dodd had one last threat for him. “You better watch yourself, Tinsley.”

“Or what?”

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

Wyatt snorted. “You call the Nighthawks a bunch of washed-up soldiers, but have you looked in a mirror lately, Sheriff? We’re not the ones who are washed-up.”

He released his grip on Dodd’s shirt and stepped back. Dodd attempted to straighten the fabric with flaring nostrils as they glared at each other.

Ian was still trying to pull him away, but he ignored his friend’s urgings. “Do your job, Dodd.”

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