Page 13 of Crow's Haven
The boys are in the backyard. Chase is sling-shotting acorns at an old wheelbarrow. Since he’s still wearing his cast and can’t use his slingshot, Scout’s yelling something about being the king of chrome while making motorcycle noises with his mouth. Both of them are barefoot and shirtless even though the grass is still damp with morning dew.
I shake my head, more amused than irritated that they’re goofing off instead of getting dressed, like I asked. My phone buzzes on the windowsill. Zen’s name is showing up, so I grab it because I’ve been waiting for an update on the woman I asked him to look into.
I step out onto the back porch and bring the phone to my ear. “Yeah?”
“Morning, brother,” Zen says smoothly. “Got that info you asked for.”
I glance at the twins. Scout is now yelling, “Throttle, man the fort!” Chase climbs into the porch swing and begins swinging while holding onto each side. I can tell he’s working on getting a cast like his brother without knowing it, so I tell Zen to hold on for a second, go out and pull him down from the swing.
“That’s dangerous. You could hurt yourself.” Jerking my chin towards the door, I remind them. “You two are supposed to be getting dressed. I laid your clothes out. If you’re quick about it, I’ll buy a treat at the grocery store.”
Of course they start cheering because they’re my boisterous boys. I turn slightly, shielding the phone from their chaos as they run inside the house.
“What’d you find?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
I can hear him typing on his keyboard as he answers, “Sharon Jackson came back squeaky clean. She’s got no criminal record. No priors, no outstanding warrants. DMV file is a bit thin, like she doesn’t have speeding tickets, parking tickets or anything. She graduated from high school. I don’t see any college, marital, or employment history. Last known address was in Hartford, five years ago, but no current address listed.”
I lean against the porch rail, chewing on that for a second or two. “That might be clean, but it leaves me with questions. Like how does she support herself?”
“That’s the billion-dollar question, brother,” Zen confirms. “I’m guessing she works cash-in-hand, or maybe she’s shacked up with some rich dude and doesn’t work.”
That gets a quiet grunt out of me. “So why did she get spooked by the police?”
Zen thinks it over for a minute before answering. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s a hooker and recognized him as one of her clients?”
I grunt again. “You read too much shit, brother. I saw the look on her face, she was scared, real scared.”
He reminds me, “You told me you thought she was on the run from a man.”
“Yeah, I remember. I’ve got that damn gut feeling she needs help, she’s just too spooked to ask.”
“If you feel that strongly about it, talk to Siege about getting some brothers together to canvas the area for her.”
“If she’s on the run that might make things worse,” I mutter, half to myself. “She looked scared, and it got under my skin.”
Zen must hear the worry in my voice because he encourages me to do something about it again. “Look, Crow. If you want, I’ll help you look.”
“Thanks for the offer, Zen. I’ll probably take this to Siege later today.”
I hang up and stand there, turning it over in my head. Part of me is thinking if she wanted my help she would ask. But another part believes what I told Zen, that she needs help but is afraid to ask. After going back and forth a bit, I can’t let it go. I’ve got to find her and at least offer to help. I get my ass moving because today is grocery day and we’re out of almost everything.
The twins grumble the entire way to the truck because we’re not taking the sidecar.
“Why can’t we take the bike?” Scout whines, dragging his feet across the gravel. “The sidecar’s fixed. We need to use it.”
“Yeah,” Chase chimes in, arms crossed over his chest. “You’re being stubborn.”
I smother back a smile because that’s what I tell the boys when they refuse to listen and now, they’re telling it back to me when they think I’m not listening to them.
“I promised we could take it most of the time,” I correct, unlocking the truck with a beep. “That sidecar is not going tohold you two, and a week’s worth of groceries. You wanna leave all your treats at the store?”
They’re still muttering as I gun it onto the main road, keeping pace with traffic. As we cruise past Patch’s office, a gas station, and the old feed store, my eyes flick to the mirrors. I’m a paranoid bastard, always watching for trouble—a tail in the mirror, a new face, some asshole lurking around town, but now I can’t help but look out for that mysterious woman who helped my boy at Patch’s office.
Ever since she showed up in my life, something in my gut’s been twisting away, keeping me on edge. I worry that whatever she’s running from is going to show up in our small town. If it does, I’ll break bad on any son of a bitch who thinks he’s tough but only goes after women or kids. I will mess a fucker up for beating on a woman, especially the one who was so kind and patient with my kid when he was in pain.
I pull into the Creekview Food Emporium and begin looking for a parking space.
That’s when I see it, a Subaru Outback. Tucked off to the side of the grocery store lot, in the shade of a big tree.
