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“Swans in the pond outside the lodge?” Jack asked.
“I thought you’d be a bride-arrives-in-a-gilded-carriage type of wedding. Not sure I want to come now,” Luke said.
“You Trainers are really fucking annoying,” Ted said, then left.
“Job done,” Joe said. “Who else can we annoy?”
“Well, not him,” Luke said as Chief Blake walked in, his face serious.
“Trainers,” he acknowledged them.
That look on the local law enforcement instantly put them on alert. They didn’t break the law these days, but when you were on the wrong side of it for years, that memory was still inside you.
“What’s wrong, Chief Blake?” Piper said, moving closer to Luke, who was now standing beside Jack. Joe too, had stood, and suddenly they were shoulder to shoulder.
Luke felt suddenly tense, he just wasn’t sure yet why.
“I don’t want anyone else to hear this. Let’s sit somewhere quiet,” Chief Blake said.
“Benji, I’m just going to have a chat with Chief Blake over there.” Joe pointed to the table the staff usually ate at. Beside the bar but against the wall, it was rarely used for customers. “I’ll get Leah to bring you some fries.”
“Really? You said I couldn’t have them ’cause Mom said no.”
“Seeing as you’ve been so good, I reckon she’d be okay with it.” Joe kissed his son on the top of the head.
“Leah,” Piper said when the waitress came out from the back room. “Look after things for a bit and bring Benji some fries, please.”
“Sure thing, Pip.”
Chief Blake said, “First off, no one you love is hurt or in trouble.”
Luke heard his siblings and cousin exhale.
“I just got a phone call from the Sheriff of Lyntacky.”
Luke knew the town, about a six-hour drive from here. Bigger than Ryker Falls. He’d been there a few times.
“What did he want?” Joe asked.
“Does the name Claire Redden mean anything to you?”
They all shook their heads.
Chief Blake wasn’t tall; Luke topped him by a good few inches. But he was one of those guys who were lean and fit. Strong too, and he wore authority well. When he took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, it tended to be a big deal, because the man never looked rattled, worried, or upset. He was that now.
“What’s going on, Chief Blake?” Pip had Jack’s hand in a knuckle-whitening grip.
“Sheriff Dans said he had a young boy in his office. He’d found his mother Claire Redden dead on the floor of her bedroom this morning. She’d been shot. He arrived at the station with a letter in his hand. It was addressed to the Trainer Brothers in Ryker Falls, Colorado.”
Luke’s back was so tense, it ached.
The silence was absolute. No one breathed, twitched, or moved. Which was a big deal in his family, as silence or stillness were not their strengths.
“How old is he?’ Luke rasped. For some reason, that was important to him.
“Fourteen. His name is Nixon. Sheriff Dans sent officers to his address, and it was confirmed Claire Redden had been shot dead,” Chief Blake continued. “He also opened the letter. It was addressed: To my sons. Joe, Jack, and Luke Trainer.”
The silence was so loud, he was sure they’d hear it out on the street.
