Silas’s eyes moved over Chace’s face then they swung into the living room and finally he looked back at Chace.
“Right,” he whispered then, louder, “I’m goin’ into town. The kids’ folks will be here soon and I wanna do what I can to assure them their grandbabies are in a good place and, least one of ‘em for a spell, had folks lookin’ out for him. Sondra’s on the phone with Betty to get them rooms at Carnal Hotel. We wanted ‘em to stay here while they’re doin’ their testing but the psychologist thinks that’s too much for now. Miah feels safe here and Becky feels safe with Miah. That’s fragile so we gotta see to it. But Liza’s makin’ a coupla lasagnas to bring over. The psychologist can show tonight so they can come and have the reunion soon’s we can manage it. Good one, with family and food and my Liza makes a mean lasagna. But Liza’ll drop ‘em off and go. It’ll be just you and Faye, Sondra and I, the grandparents, the psychologist and the kids. Sondra’s bagged a coupla pop bottles the kids drank from and I’m takin’ ‘em in with me for DNA.”
“All that’s good. Thanks, Silas,” Chace replied.
He watched Silas’s expression change and read it instantly.
“Miss him,” Silas muttered, his eyes drifting to Miah. “He’s a good kid. Nice to have a lil’ bugger in the house again.” His eyes drifted back to Chace and when he spoke again, his voice was tinged with sadness but it was firm. “But they should be with family.”
“They should be with family,” Chace agreed.
Silas nodded. “Off with me then,” he murmured and moved away.
Chace watched him go then his eyes went back to the living room when he heard laughter. It came from all the women and Miah but there was also a little giggle from Becky who was looking timidly at Faye.
Faye had made her giggle.
That was his girl. She could break through anything. Even shit this huge. He knew it since she’d done it for him.
He felt his lips tip up as his phone rang and he saw Faye and Miah’s eyes cut to him and Becky jump, terror filling her features, her eyes cutting to her brother.
He automatically sent a reassuring smile their way, pulled out his phone and, for Becky’s sake, stayed calm and acted like what he was doing was just what it was, normal and natural.
He looked at the display and, at what he saw, he figured he knew the reason behind the call.
He took the call and put the phone to his ear.
“Frank, they at the Station?”
“They arrived twenty minutes ago,” Frank replied. “We got them sorted with coffees from La-La Land and some of Shambles’s brownies. Gave them a briefing up to now. Took the DNA samples. Lab is primed to fast-track it. But, uh…” he hesitated, “not callin’ about that, Chace.”
Chace felt his brows draw together. “What’re you callin’ about?”
“You got privacy?” Frank asked.
Fucking shit.
“No,” Chace answered.
“Get it,” Frank said quietly.
Chace didn’t look into the family room as he moved out of the doorway, up the stairs and into the living room on the top floor.
“Got it,” he said to Frank.
“Right, well, brother… fuck,” Frank started then stopped.
“Frank,” Chace prompted impatiently.
At his prompt, Frank went on hurriedly, “Okay, man. We got an outta town biker in holding, no big thing, pulled him over for reckless driving, he’d had a few, not over the limit, he was just jacking around. But when we ran his license, found he had a bench warrant on him, tickets he hasn’t seen to in C Springs. But he’s been in there with Enid most of the night and apparently, she’s been rambling. Some of the shit she said he thought was more fucked than what seems to be her usual fucked. When he got breakfast, he told Jon. Jon told me. We pulled her outta holding and put her into an interrogation room and asked more questions. Took a while, brother, but got it out of her.”
When he didn’t go on, Chace asked, “Got what out of her?”
“The reason she cast Jeremiah out.”
“And that would be?” Chace pushed when Frank again stopped speaking.
“Okay, Chace, shit, okay…”
“Frank,” Chace clipped when he trailed off.
When Frank continued, he again did it quickly. “Apparently, Jeremiah got away. He’d been attempting escapes frequently with zero success but he made it clear. He was in the woods. Brother, from what we can tell, he was in Harker’s Wood. What he saw there flipped him right the fuck out. So right the fuck out, he went back to the only thing he knew. He went back to her.”
Chace’s body went still as a statue and his mouth felt strange when it formed the words, “What did he see?”
“From what we can get from her, he saw a blonde woman givin’ a man a blowjob.”
Oh fuck, no.
Please God, no.