Page 28 of Owl’s Cherished Mate

“It’s Gray Barns. I’m down at the docks, near the commercial slips at the far end. There’s stolen equipment scattered on the dock and a fourteen-year-old kid who got pulled into something by men who should’ve known better.”

A pause. “I’m on my way.”

He arrived about thirty minutes later and took in the scene without saying much.

“Who wants to tell me what happened here?” he asked, stepping away from the open hatch of a fishing boat where equipment had been stripped out.

I stepped forward and gave him the basics. I said we’d found Lawson here with two other men stripping equipment from the boats. The men had loaded most of it into a truck and taken off when we confronted them. I left out everything that couldn’t be explained by normal means.

For obvious reasons.

“Son, you’re going to have to come with me down to the station,” Sheriff Wick said.

“Am I being arrested?” Lawson asked, sounding scared.

I didn’t blame him.

“He’s fourteen,” Bonnie said. “He’s a minor.”

“I’m aware.” Wick’s tone was firm but not unkind. “We’ll sort everything out at the station. You’ll need to come with him as his legal guardian.” He walked to his cruiser and opened the back door.

Bonnie gripped Lawson’s shoulder and locked eyes with him. “Go with him. It’s going to be okay. I’ll be right behind you.”

Lawson nodded and climbed into the backseat without arguing. The fight had gone out of him.

Guilt sat heavy in my chest. I’d called the Sheriff, and now Lawson was in the back of a police car. I knew it was the right thing to do, but knowing something is right doesn’t always make it feel that way.

Bonnie walked to my truck and climbed in the passenger seat.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I started the engine. “I didn’t think Wick would haul him in like that.”

“This isn’t your fault.” She looked at me. “Lawson is in that car because of his choices. Not yours.”

I didn’t argue with her. She was right, but she’d also been right when she reminded Wick that her brother was just a kid. I kept my eyes on the road and followed the cruiser’s taillights through the empty streets.

The police station was small and too bright. It smelled like stale coffee and musk. Lawson sat beside Bonnie in a plastic chair. His head was down, and his elbows were rested on his knees.

He looked like he might be sick.

When Sheriff Wick called them back into his office, Bonnie nodded for me to come too. I stayed near the door while they sat in the chairs facing his desk. I was close enough to be there, but far enough to give them space.

Bonnie told Wick everything. She named Darren and Cade, connected Darren to the Tidal Caverns pill operation, and even made it clear that her brother had been manipulated for months. Wick’s expression sharpened at Darren’s name. He knew just like anyone else that if there was trouble brewing, Darren’s name would be written all over it.

Lawson lifted his head. I expected him to argue with her rendition of how things had gone down now that he’d had time to process, but he didn’t.

“She’s right,” he said, his voice raw. “They told me it was just moving stuff. That it wasn’t anything bad. I didn’t believe them, not really.” He swallowed hard. “It was stupid, I know.”

He didn’t mention what Darren and Cade were. Neither did Bonnie.

“They used me,” Lawson said. “I get that now.”

Bonnie put her hand on his back, and I realized it was because he’d started crying. I felt bad for the kid. Hell, I felt bad for her.

That was when it hit me.

Something in my chest that I’d been circling for weeks stopped and landed.

I loved her.