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“Appreciate that. I’ll probably take you up on your services, come to think.” Cooper took the card from Denny and pocketed it. “That said, Sarah Harper is a human. We still deal with those on our own.” He arched a bushy eyebrow at Denny. “You really keep that girl locked in a pantry for an evening?”
Denny only shrugged.
And Cooper laughed.
How the hell did he get away with that?
“Ah, hell.” Cooper lifted his arms in surrender. “This is a goddamn clusterfuck, isn’t it?”
“Doesn’t have to be,” Denny pointed out. “How’s the girl doing?”
“Oh, she’s fine now that she’s calmed down a bit. Though, that won’t last for long,” Cooper mused. “We’ve managed to convince her that the baby is really yours. That got her talking. If she’s telling the truth, she didn’t know the baby was kidnapped, which throws all of this into a gray area, but it’s not up to me to decide whether she’s innocent or guilty, unfortunately for her.” Cooper sighed. “We’re gonna have to book her. The State will decide whether or not to press charges, and we’ll let the courts handle it from there.”
“We good, Sheriff?”
“All good here.” Cooper patted the pocket that held Denny’s business card, then rose to shake Denny’s hand. “Next time I’ve got ferals to deal with, I’ll be giving you a call.”
Cooper shook Xander’s hand next, then mine. He even hunched down to shake little Rylan’s fist with his finger as well.
Then, just like that, we were free to go.
“How did you do that?” I hissed, walking alongside Denny as we headed back out to the lobby. Xander fell in behind us. I could hear the clench in his jaw as he ground his teeth.
“Do what?” Denny asked innocently.
“Oh, don’t play dumb. How did you talk us out of that?” I shoved his elbow. “You did hold Sarah hostage. Cooper knows you did.”
“I didn’t admit to anything,” Denny pointed out.
“No, but—”
“Look.” Denny turned around quickly, stopping right in front of me. “He didn’t want to book us. Anyone with eyes and ears could tell he didn’t want to mess with shifter shit. I didn’t have to do anything. I just stayed calm and followed the flow. That’s all.”
He wheeled back around just as quickly and headed out the door.
Xander and I were about to follow him when we heard another door open behind us.
“Ma’am? Ma’am, please!” Sarah’s voice screeched from behind us. I turned and found the female officer who’d brought us in handling Sarah, who was now in cuffs. “Please, tell them… tell them I had no idea—”
I looked to Xander, who had a thousand-mile stare in his eyes.
Sarah was lucky. Innocent or not, she’d assisted Melony in keeping our son from us. She should’ve been grateful she wasn’t dead.
I took Xander’s hand, and together, we followed Denny away.
Sheriff Cooper stopped us just as we were about to head back outside.
“Hey! Wait just a second.” He jogged over to us, flapping a piece of paper. “That Sarah woman? Damn near forgot. She wanted me to give this to you.” He held it out, then pulled it back, like he was having second thoughts. “Probably, I should hand this over to whoever’s handling your sons’ case through the proper legal channels. So don’t do anything stupid with it.”
Denny took the paper and gave Cooper an easy smile. “We’ll keep that in mind.”
He didn’t bother looking at the paper until we were back in the truck.
“What is it?” I asked. Xander was still silent. He’d gotten good at knowing when to keep his mouth shut over the last twenty-four hours, but now I wasn’t sure he remembered how to open it again.
“An address. Here.” There was a growl in Denny’s voice as he reached back to pass the paper to me.
It was indeed an address—one in Vegas. Next to it, carefully penned in loopy, girlish cursive, was the wordSorry.The paper was stained with tears. Sarah must have written it herself.
