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“Yup,” the young teenager said.
Despite all the time Dax had put into putting her at ease, though, Bloom was sure she saw her tense up at the mention of the drug.
“And how do you know about it?”
“The big kids,” she said, perhaps a little too quickly. “I heard them talking about it.”
At this point, the mother interjected, “We really appreciate what y’all have done for us, but we told you everything we can. Everything we know. Okay?”
Dax put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “It’s okay. I’m sure you have. I just wanted to see if maybe there were any details you forgot that might be important to us, but might seem unimportant to you. Does that make sense?”
“Well, I guess. I just don’t know what else we can say. But she’s right. That drug is powerful all right.”
She’s frightened.
“And what else can you tell me about it? Or about the men who were after you? Do you know why they were trying to take you?”
The woman turned a shade paler and her lips turned to a thin line.
“We don’t know anything else.” She was shaking her head and squeezing her daughter’s hand.
“Please, anything you tell us can help. We can help you.”
“Dax, you got to understand we don’t have anywhere to go. That is, we really appreciate how kind you’ve been. We just can’t go back there. And…” The woman was growing more and more agitated as she continued.
Thankfully, Dax was drawing the same conclusion she was. As much as they wanted answers, this wasn’t working, and the hardball approach still didn’t feel right. They would have to be patient.
But it seemed he was intent on pushing them a little.
“Why, Chris? Why can’t you go back?”
The woman almost had tears welling up in her eyes at this point, but as she pulled her daughter close, she said, “You don’t want that drug here in Fae Crossing, okay? I can tell you that much.” She gave her daughter a hug. “Now, is it okay if we go rest a while, Bloom? We cleaned and restacked the whole storeroom for you earlier. And we really do appreciate y’all,” she added, almost apologetically.
“Of course.”
“Thank you, Chris. Kim. You were a big help.”
They just looked down as the two retreated from the room.
After they had gone, Bloom looked at him, “A big help? Were you being sarcastic?”
“Not at all. Itwashelpful. Did you see how scared she was?”
“Yeah, that’s what I mean.”
“That lets me know that whatever we are up against, we should be afraid of too.”
“Oh great,” she said. “So glad you find that ‘helpful’.”
“Hey, relax,” he said, “I’m not going to let anything bad happen. Not to you. And not to those women.” He was dead serious.
She felt that now familiar heat pour over her in spite of herself.
Maybe teaming up was not such a good idea.
In one afternoon he had almost completely dismantled her defenses.
Wendy had been right the other day.
