Page 41 of Search for the Truth
“Give me a deputy’s badge over a sheriff’s any day.”
He left with a laugh. Liam went back to his paperwork. However, his attention strayed once again.
Had the McClennan cousins really tried to use Blake to shake them away from looking into Missy? Did their fathers’ loyalty to Missy’s father really run so deep that the children would risk such harsh consequences?
And why go after Blake and not him directly?
Unless Ray had simply pulled up behind the wrong car and had meant to target him instead.
This wasn’t helping his hunch that something had happened to Missy that led to her death. If she really had taken her own life, then why was there this much resistance to his investigation?
And what about the flash drive?
Liam looked down at the locked drawer of his desk.
As far as he knew, only two people knew about the flash drive he had found under the bridge. Price and his friend who had analyzed the information he had found on the drive.
It was the main reason his gut wouldn’t let her death go.
Liam had almost told Blake about the flash drive that night out on the porch. Instead, he’d stopped himself. Then he’d told her he could handle it alone.
And a week had gone by with no word from her.
Not that he could say a thing about that. He hadn’t reached out either.
Liam glanced at his cell phone on the desk. He could send her a text to see how she was? To see how Clem was doing? How Bruce and Lola were too?
As if he willed it, his cell phone lit up right before it started to vibrate.
It wasn’t Blake’s number. It was Theo’s, and he said just about the only thing that would make Liam leave his work behind without hesitation.
“Hey there, boss.” Theo was whispering. “I just thought you should know there’s a woman and a baby in your apartment right now. The lady’s looking for you, and if I’m being honest, I don’t think she’s doing too hot.”
BLAKE’SHEADFELTlike a vise was squeezing it. She blamed sinus pressure. She squinted through the pain at a picture frame on the TV stand. She was standing in Liam’s apartment and staring at a photo in a nice wooden frame.
It was easy to find Liam at first glance. Among the group of men in the picture, he was the tallest. A tree among weeds. If Blake had felt better, she would have laughed at her own analogy at that. Instead, she traced the weeds with her eyes. Six men in total, all in varying stages of laughter. They were in military uniforms, but it looked to her like basic training rather than active deployment. Each man, Liam included, was covered in mud. Liam had some on his cheek. It made the gigantic smile on his face all the more charming.
Blake couldn’t help but wonder when the last time he smiled like that was.
Maybe he was always that happy-go-lucky, but it was just reserved for certain people.
Maybe there was a special woman who did it for him too.
A thought that only popped into Blake’s head after she had knocked on the sheriff’s apartment door. It wasn’t like they had talked about their personal lives that much. Apart from scanning his ring finger, she hadn’t inquired about a wife, girlfriend or anyone else in that relationship realm.
You’re only here to tell him something, not interrogate him, she had reminded herself while waiting for the door to unlock. Though bringing a baby probably wasn’t a move she should have taken. Clem was at home doing crafts with Lola and Blake had to admit the situation last week had given her all kinds of feelings about the kids. She’d been sleeping with Clem, and anytime Bruce was near, she felt the urge to pull him up into her arms.
When she realized she wanted to loop Liam into her new little plan, she scooped Bruce up without a second thought. He’d even giggled when a teenager had opened the door with wide eyes.
After Theo had introduced himself, he’d been quick to cut off the questions popping up one after the other from her.
“I’m not his kid, by the way,” he had exclaimed. “I live in the apartment complex. Liam lets me hang out here when my mom’s working.”
Bruce had trilled in delight at a new face, while Blake had spied a full meal on a plate at the table behind the teen. She also noted his shoes by the door and what appeared to be another set of the same size shoes next to them. There was a book bag too, slung on the couch arm. A cell phone was on top of it. He excused himself to make a call to Liam.
Theo had seemingly marked Liam’s apartment as a safe space. It had warmed Blake’s heart.
Now her heart did a little flutter as the dead bolt on the front door slid open. Bruce swiveled hard enough that Blake’s balance tipped. Her head swam as she took a step to keep herself right. The ache around her head pulsed.
