Page 27 of Flashback

“The man was shot in the backandin the head?” Kane came closer, his voice low.

“Yeah. What of it? Why are you acting so weird?” Dakota sat on one of the stumps.

Houston sank down next to him. “The body Sophie and I found burned to a crisp? In an area that hadn’t been reached by the fire yet? It wasn’t too far from the campground hiking trails. No identification last I heard, but COD was a gunshot to the back and the head. And a necklace was found near the body.”

A chill cut through Dakota. Kane shoved his shoulder. “No surprise you didn’t connect the two, since you were distracted by a certain search and rescue handler.”

“Knock it off.” The last thing he needed was the hotshots asking questions about how he knew Allie. She’d never said if she would keep the old Dakota where he was. In the past. And now she was staying with Emily, Sanchez, and Jojo. Hopefully it wouldn’t come up. But the boys?—

“You really think those boys witnessedthatmurder?” Dakota asked. “That body was nowhere near a cabin. That’s where the boys saw everything go down.”

“The body had been moved. Someone tried to cover it up. Did the boys say when they saw the shooting?”

Dakota shook his head. “Ethan just said the last time they were here. I don’t know when that was.”

“Sophie and I found the body when we were out looking for her horses after the evacuation for the ranch came through. We brought the body back to town, but I haven’t heard anything since. She thought the guy was her brother, dead. But it turned out he’s alive.” Houston grabbed his canteen and took a long drink. He grabbed his chain saw and joined the others on the saw crew.

Dakota pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d been so focused on keeping his past a secret and doing his job that he hadn’t connected the boys’ story with the body Houston had found. “Did they figure out who did it?” he asked Kane.

Kane shrugged. “No idea. Guess the only way to know what actually happened to the guy is to talk to the kids again.”

He snatched another branch off the ground to drag it over the line. “That’s a little tricky since I’m not a cop.”

“But you were.”

Dakota stilled. He’d never said so. And Kane wasn’t asking. He knew. “Not anymore. Besides, pretty sure after I let fists fly with Ray Haroldson, I’ve burned any chance of the LEOs sharing info with me.” He squared off with Kane. “But you seem to know more about this body than I do. Did they identify it yet?”

Kane shrugged. “Dunno. I imagine you still have friends in law enforcement. Ask them.”

Thankfully, he let it drop, and they got back to work. If he wanted to get into Dakota’s sordid past, Dakota had some questions of his own he was pretty sure Kane wouldn’t want to answer. There was some kind of history with Sanchez, Kane, Hammer, and Saxon. Maybe even Ham’s little brother Mack was in on it, but they were all rather secretive. They came across like a military unit, guys who moved in sync. Who seemed hyperaware of the world around them.

Who reacted faster than Dakota had on SWAT.

“How about you?” Dakota eased into the question, all casual-like. “Who were you before Ember?”

Kane only snorted under his breath.

He wasn’t going to answer? Dakota didn’t have time to dig when there was more going on in this forest than just a raging wildfire.

It could involve a murder, if the boys were to be believed.

But was Dakota projecting his history onto Ethan when he assumed Ray was abusive and the story of the bad man was a cry for help? Had the brothers really witnessed a murder? Allie had seemed to think they were scared of Ray as well, so at least that was confirmed.

If the wrong person found out Ethan and Nolan were witnesses to a murder, they might be in even more danger than a simple jerk stepfather situation.

Kane continued clearing the brush they’d mowed down. “So, what’s going on with that woman we saw this morning? Emily’s friend.”

“Allie? Nothing.”

“But you know her, right?”

“Not well, but yeah. We met last year.”When she saw me lose it and then drove me eight hours to rehab.

“So…there’s no relationship or anything?”

“Wait a minute.” Dakota spun around, frowning. “You wanna ask Allie out or something? What about Sanchez?”

“Sanchez?” Kane balked. “What are you talking about?”

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