Page 57 of Search for the Truth
Chapter Fifteen
Once that decision was made, Blake and Liam didn’t speak much.
It was understandable, they both were moving parts that needed to be moved. Liam saw to the department, assigned jobs and made phone calls while doing both. Blake wasn’t connected to his movements but was always near. She had the kids, her and Lola packed in a flash. In the next, she had them unpacked at the only house in Seven Roads that could be considered a secret.
At least, according to Price.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but I once tried my hand at flipping houses a few years before you showed up,” he explained once Liam and him had inspected every inch before ushering the Bennet clan inside. “And by ‘tried my hand,’ I mean I’ve been renovating my aunt’s house for a long time...with a slow hand and thin patience.”
He pointed to the field behind the two-story home and then brought it around to the two houses on either side, though with a lot of space between all three.
“This backs up to the Becker Farm’s western pasture and no one’s home in any of these. They’ve been that way for ages though. One’s an inheritance to a city dweller who hasn’t set foot in town in years, and the other has another lazy renovator who hasn’t done much over the years.”
“And no one knows you own this place and you’re letting us all stay here.” Liam wanted to make sure.
Price nodded.
“Despite popular belief, therearesome places in town that even gossip gets bored of. No one comes out here anymore. There’s no point in it.” He clapped Liam on the back and smiled. “That said, I’m not a man who just leaves an empty house sitting alone. This baby has a security system and cameras around the outside and the inside of the front and back door. If anyone comes by unannounced, you’ll know it quicker than a second sneeze.”
Price didn’t add onto the fact that, unlike last night, this time Liam was also prepared. His service weapon, along with a bag he’d packed quickly, had definitely come along with them.
“Thanks for this,” Liam said once they had done another recap of what needed to be done next. “I know as sheriff I probably should be hanging around the department during a time like this but...”
He didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t have to for Price to understand. Or for him to respond about the woman on his mind.
“Sheriff Trouble and her family have been through a lot already. If you can help ease some of their burden, I would think less of you if you didn’t try.” Price smiled. That smile changed a little in the next moment. “Plus, from what I know of her, Blake doesn’t often let people into her life so easy, never mind letting them help her. Other than Lola, I can’t think of a single person she’d let get as close as you’ve gotten to her and the kids. It’d be a waste if you didn’t use that to help her out.”
Liam couldn’t deny that hearing those words meant a little more than they maybe should have. It felt like only yesterday that he had handed Blake his shirt, and yet at the same time, he realized he was as comfortable around her as if she had been in his life for a long while.
Though, his lack of information on her was a quick reminder that that wasn’t the case.
A question that had been in the back of Liam’s mind came out of his mouth.
“By the way, did anything else happen with Mater Calhoun? Back then, I mean. When he was arrested.”
Price’s eyebrow went up in question. Liam clarified his meaning.
“Anything else, that is,” he said. “When Mater was brought up, you and she just seemed to have a lot of anger directed toward him. A lot more than I thought there would be for the situation. I was wondering if there was part of the story I was missing.”
They were standing in front of Price’s cruiser, a good distance from the house and the family inside. Still, he lowered his voice a little when he answered.
“It’s not so much about what Mater did as what happened after he was arrested.” He nodded toward the house. “Blake really undersold the fight she had with her dad. He was so mad at her for letting the sheriff in to take Mater that he kicked her out of the car downtown on the way home from the department. He yelled at her pretty badly on the sidewalk with an audience and everything.”
“What was he fighting withherfor?” Liam couldn’t help but feel defensive.
Price sighed.
“Loyalty. And how she didn’t know what that word meant. There was more to it—I wasn’t there personally—but a few bystanders at the time stepped in to try to calm him down.”
“What did Blake do?”
Price shrugged.
“She took as much as she could stand. Then she yelled right on back about Mater being in the wrong, and, well, she kept going. They started yelling about her mom leaving them, and then suddenly she said she was going to do the same. She kind of dragged the town through it too, calling it small and noisy and a place she never ever wanted to come back to.” He shrugged. “We’ve all said some mean stuff in a fight before but that’s where a lot of Seven Roads’s locals get their anti-Blake feelings from. No matter if she meant it or not, the rumors and gossip were really bad after that. For her, her dad, and Mater. A month later she was gone. Honestly, I thought she’d never come home again.” The deputy let out a breath. There was some defeat in it. “Though, I guess she didn’t come back for really happy reasons in the end since her sister passed. Now...now all of this is happening.”
They let that sit for a moment.
Then they said their goodbyes.
