Page 73 of Dust and Desire
“Caroline,” he said, standing. He glanced over at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Alex is gone,” I said without preamble, my voice crackingslightly. “He left work early today and now he’s nowhere to be found. Just left this behind.” I nodded to Ali, who pulled the note from her pocket and handed it to Marcus.
The sheriff’s face darkened as he read it, his jaw tightening. “Shit,” he muttered, then looked up at me with something that looked like guilt. “I was afraid this might happen.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded, stepping closer to his desk. “What’s going on?”
Marcus ran a hand through his hair, suddenly looking older than his years. “Alex came to see me earlier this week. He was... scared. Said someone from his past had found him, someonepossiblydangerous.”
My heart stopped. “Who?”
Marcus paused for a long moment.
“Tell us, Marcus,” Caroline said, her tone leaving no room for argument. “I don’t care about your confidentiality bullshit. The man is clearly in trouble.”
Marcus let out a long sigh. “An ex-boyfriend named Keith Bordeaux. From Louisiana.” Marcus’s voice was grim, making my stomach twist in knots. “Alex said the guy had been stalking him for years, following him from job to job. He thought he’d lost him when he came to Sagebrush, but...”
“But he found him anyway,” Ali finished, her lawyer’s mind already piecing together the implications.
Marcus nodded. “Alex found a dead bird on your porch a few days ago, along with a postcard. It was Keith’s calling card, apparently. His way of saying he was watching.”
The blood drained from my face as I remembered Alex’s strange behavior, how he’d been jumpy and distracted. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He was trying to protect you,” Marcus said gently. “Said he couldn’t bear the thought of dragging you into his mess. I told him he should tell you anyway, that keeping you in the dark was more dangerous than the truth.”
Caroline slammed her palm against the wall. “Goddamn stubborn cowboy. Of course he’d try to handle this alone.Men.”
“There’s more,” Marcus continued, his expression growing darker. “I did some digging on Keith Bordeaux after Alex came to me. The man comes from old Louisiana money, the kind of family that’s used to getting what they want. He’s never been formally charged with anything, but there have been complaints. Harassment, stalking, intimidation. The kind of thing that gets brushed under the rug when you have enough money and influence.”
My legs felt weak, and I had to grip the edge of Marcus’s desk to stay upright. “So, what are you saying? That Alex left with this psychopath willingly?”
“I’m saying Keith Bordeaux is the kind of man who doesn’t take no for an answer,” Marcus replied grimly. “And if he threatened you or anyone else Alex cares about, Alex would do whatever it took to keep you safe. Even if it meant sacrificing himself.”
The room spun around me. This couldn’t be happening. Not when I’d finally found something real, something worth fighting for. “We have to find him.”
“Dustin—” Marcus started, but I cut him off.
“No. I don’t care how dangerous this Keith person is. Alex is out there somewhere, probably scared out of his mind, thinking he has to face this alone.” My voice cracked with emotion. “I love him. I’m not letting some rich psychopath destroy that.”
Ali stepped forward, placing a steadying hand on my shoulder. “What can we do, Sheriff? There has to be something.”
Marcus was quiet for a moment, clearly weighing his options. “I’ve been trying to track Keith’s movements, but he’s careful. Pays cash for everything, uses fake names. The red truck Alex mentioned seeing has Louisiana plates, but he might be obscuring the plate somehow.”
“What about his family?” Caroline asked. “If he’s from old money, there’s gotta be records, property, somethin’ we can use.”
“The Bordeaux family owns several properties throughoutLouisiana and Texas,” Marcus confirmed. “But that’s a lot of ground to cover, and we don’t even know if that’s where he’d take Alex.”
I felt helpless, like I was drowning in my own panic. Somewhere out there, the man I loved was in the hands of someone who’d been tormenting him for years. And I hadn’t even known.
“Wait,” Ali said suddenly, her eyes lighting up with an idea. “Dustin, you said Alex has been acting strange all week, right? Specifically, since our dinner last night?”
I nodded, not sure where she was going with this.
“What if Keith was watching then? What if he saw us together and decided to make his move?” Ali’s voice grew more urgent. “Think about it… Alex kept looking out the window, he was positioning himself between you and the street. He saw something that spooked him.”
Marcus straightened. “She might be onto something. If Keith was bold enough to leave a dead bird on your porch, he might have been watching from close range.”
“There’s a couple of rooms for rent right next to Dolly’s that she owns,” Caroline added. “What are the chances she’s renting one out to this Keith person?”
