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When I’d gotten home, Kobe was gone, as was the sheriff.
I had a feeling I wouldn’t be seeing Kobe until he wanted to be seen.
In the meantime, I called all my contacts to get a check-up on everything that was going on with Graydon’s sister.
After a whole bunch of nothing to give me from each of my guys, I called the FBI agent, Sunny.
“I got a whole bunch of nothing, too,” Sunny added, sounding aggrieved. “But I’m not going to give up. Nobody is this squeaky clean.”
I agreed.
Nobody was.
Everyone looked at stuff they weren’t supposed to on their computer. Yet, there wasn’t even a search history to be found on Annalise Graydon’s school computer, home computer, phone, or anything else she frequented.
Why would you need to delete your browsing history so often?
Hell, I hadn’t done it in a fuckin’ year or more.
Pissed off and needing a release of some kind—and having no Dutch here to throttle it the best way I knew how—I laced up my tennis shoes and made my way out the door, sans Tex, since I planned on making it a long run.
Since my wife was at the beach, and I knew she would have a break coming up soon, I’d decided to run there.
I’d cool myself off in her trailer and bum a ride from someone on the way back.
Or, maybe I’d stay there and wait her out, drive her home, and skip the phone call that would commence when she arrived to ask me to turn the beast around.
My jog took me an hour and fifteen minutes to complete.
By the time I arrived at the RV, her last patient was making his way down the steps, looking excited to be at the beach for his appointment.
Before his mother could catch him, he was racing toward the beach with a cry of glee.
I grinned as I watched, wishing I could go back in time to those years with Lolo.
Maybe one day I’d get to experience those again with a different child…
“Do you want kids, Wake?”
Dutch’s words had me turning to her.
“You read minds now?” I teased.
She shot me a smile, then looked back toward the beach.
“That little boy lost his father a few weeks ago,” she said quietly. “He’s confused. Lashing out. But today I think was the turning point for him. He finally realized that he doesn’t have to act out to show that he’s sad. His dad was a real macho man…” She looked at me. “Like you.” She winked. “His dad told him never to cry while he was gone. He was in the military.”
I felt my stomach sink.
“I hope I didn’t fuck Lolo up by leaving the way that I did,” I admitted carefully.
“You didn’t,” she said as she laughed.
The little boy had made it to the water, and the mom sat down and watched him swim.
“You also avoided my question very skillfully.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and said, “If you were pregnant right now, I’d be ecstatic.”
She smiled softly then.
“I’m not,” she replied. “I started my period today. About halfway through my first client, actually.”
“Bummer.” I held out my hand. “Better luck next time.”
She took my hand, taking a seat on the lowest RV step before saying, “You want that? Kids with me?”
I answered her seriously. “As many as you can give me. More if you’ll allow it. I have a lot of money, and quite a bit of free time. I’ll allow you to be the moneymaker with your life changing work, and I’ll stay at home with all the kids. Teach them how to fight and run wild.”
She giggled. “You may not have raised Lolo full time, but she’s a great kid. I’d be a fool to say no to that.”
I looked toward the Gulf where the mom was now in the water with the child.
“I just don’t want to fuck them up like I did with Lolo,” I admitted.
“You didn’t fuck her up,” Dutch said sharply. “You did a great job raising her. In fact, I would fight anyone that said differently.”
I smiled. “Contrary to what you think, I didn’t really have a hand in the later years. She came and saw me for two hours every few weeks for half of her life.” I hesitated. “But it was worth it. To know that she was here, safe, while I was there, suffering? I’d do it all over again. And twice on Sunday. As long as it meant that she could breathe easy.”
“And that’s why you’re an amazing father,” she replied. “You think that a normal person would do that? No. They would sit there and allow the police to take care of it. And if they didn’t, well then that would just be how it was.”
I snorted. “Any man worth his salt would protect his babies.”
