“Why did you drive fifty miles away when you’re from Outer Rim?” Sage asked carefully. “From what I understand, there is a doctor’s office there. You could’ve saved yourself a couple of hours’ drive if you’d gone to the one in your town.”
Outer Rim was a town about twenty miles from Bear Pass and Sawtooth as the crow flies, but two hours thanks to the mountains you had to go around and up.
And Sage was right.
There was a doctor’s office there.
Why wouldn’t they have taken Dean there?
Why here?
More suspicion bloomed.
“Why don’t you mind your own goddamn business!” Brooke boomed.
“Brooke,” Nadine cautioned.
Something slammed.
The coat rack trembled harder.
I didn’t listen to anything else that was said after that.
I dropped down to one knee and gently pulled the coats apart, finding myself staring into gray eyes just like my own.
The same freckles were dotted under those eyes, all across cheekbones—high just like mine.
The same black hair. The same nose. The same lips.
The same chin dimple.
I swallowed hard when I got to the boy’s neck, knowing that if this was Dean, he’d have a…
I spotted the birthmark just like my own.
I’d always gotten teased about it as a kid.
It was a small mark on my neck that was right where one would put a hickey.
His was exactly the same as mine.
Oh, fuck.
I was staring into the eyes of my own kid.
A child that I’d thought was dead for seven years.
“Hey, kiddo,” I croaked. “Can you tell me your name?”
His lip trembled, but no words came out.
“You can talk to me,” I promised. “I’m a police officer, see?”
He looked down at the badge that I’d pointed to on my hip, then back up to my face.
“You can tell me anything, and nothing bad will ever happen to you,” I promised again. “What’s your name?”
The quietest “Dean” came from his lips.
