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She fisted her hands. “You want her around our daughter?”
He flinched and shook his head. “I don’t think she would do it again.”
“I didn’t think she’d do it in the first place! But we nearly lost Kylie because of my sister. And that also meant you nearly died. I won’t be quick to forgive and forget. The ripples from her actions are still ongoing. Glenn’s buddies are after me because of her. Her plot enveloped us all in a whirlpool of danger and betrayal that is still unresolved.”
He reached toward her, and she took a step back. “Maybe I should just stay here.”
“Don’t, love.” His soulful eyes pleaded with her for understanding. “You’re right. We can’t trust her yet. But I have to admit the way she looked at you tore at my heart.”
“When?”
“In your old bedroom. She fought tears the whole time. Being back at the cabin brought back a lot of feelings for her. If she could go back and change what she did, I think she would.”
“Well, she can’t!” Annie stepped around him and marched down the hall.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. They needed to get to the Blue Bonnet before the storm hit.
She’d give anything if she could erase what Sarah had done, but it was still too fresh.
***
The sea of green trees passed quickly by the window as Annie drove her Volkswagen truck toward Baraga. First thing this morning she’d gotten a tip via a text from Shainya that Joel West was hiding out in a cabin outside the city limits. Annie had called Mason, and he’d told her to call for backup if she found him. Annie planned to ask some questions while she waited for a deputy.
Jon consulted the map on his phone. “Take a right on Baraga Plains Road. It’s about half a mile.”
Her thoughts ran with possible scenarios. Would he come to the door without suspecting why they were there? He might not even be involved, and this would be a wild-goose chase. Or would West face them down with a gun?
“You’re quiet this morning,” Jon said.
“I want answers, and I’m afraid West isn’t going to cough them up when we find him. If we find him. He could have skated out by the time we get there.”
He put down his phone. “Or he may spill everything when you put the pressure on him. Where’s your usual optimism? You’ve got this, Annie.”
“Oh, so now you have confidence in me when last night you wanted me to hide and wait?”
“I never said to do that!”
She chuckled. “Got you. I’m just a little discouraged today. We’ve been following Sean’s trail for over a month. For a while we thought we had him pegged. Buried and forgotten. Now it appears much of what’s going on in the area swirls around him and his influence. I’m not sure what we’ll uncover next or how many layers we’re going to find.”
“Sarah’s memories really threw you yesterday.”
“Yeah. I don’t like remembering that time, and here I am digging deeper into events that I should have forgotten by now.”
“It made you strong, love. Stronger than any other person I know. You’ll get to the bottom of it.” He pointed. “Whoa, I about let you miss it. It’s this house.”
She braked in front of a narrow drive that backed into a thickly wooded forest. Tall weeds poked through the gravel, and branches nearly covered the opening in some places. “Doesn’t look like anyone is living here.”
“He might have just arrived when he fled his house and business. In fact, what if we park out here along the road and walk back? He might have done the same so no one knows he’s there.”
“Not a bad idea.” She pulled onto the shoulder of the road and shut off the engine. “Let’s circle around back and try not to be seen.”
A flock of birds took flight when she stepped into the ditch by the shoulder and entered the forest. There was no fencing around the property, and the trees grew so closely together here it was easy to get disoriented. She stopped a few times and figured out where they were going.
Jon trod a few feet to her right, and he gestured to her. “I hear music,” he whispered.
She heard it now too. Johnny Cash crooned “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and the music came from behind the house. Trying not to snap any twigs under her feet, she veered away from the house and moved past it to stand in the woods thirty yards from the backyard.
A rickety deck clung to the back of the cabin, and a rustymetal yard chair held a man in his late twenties. He had a full beard and wore a denim shirt and jeans in spite of the heat and humidity of the day. The bag on the deck next to him was from McDonald’s, and he popped the last bite into his mouth. Once he swallowed, he belted out the words of the song blasting out of his phone.
