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Dusty wasn’t about to tell her what was happening between her and Ben. Nikki would freak over that, too. And Dusty just wasn’t ready for the questions. “Don’t remember. Just knew Ben would be looking. Him and Fletcher and Gil. Where is he?”
“He and Gil took Joel and Zach and Rex Weatherby’s people out to where they found you. They are searching for signs of the man who took you.” Sage leveled a look at her, as Nikki helped adjust Dusty in the bed. “Those Tyler boys are on the warpath right now. You are being discharged as soon as you are awake. Dixie said they’d do a SART exam if you gave permission. I need to know what happened to you.”
“No need for that,” Dusty said as memories came rushing back. “I know exactly who took me and why. They didn’t hurt me. Just…apparently slipped me a little something in that snack.”
And the mere idea of it just infuriated her like nothing before. They…what if they had grabbedDaisyorMeyra? It would have been worse for one of those two. It would have traumatized Meyra completely. Daisy wouldn’t have handled it much better.
“Who was it?” Sage patted Dusty on her free hand. Nikki still had a death grip on her other one.
Before Dusty could tell her, the door opened. Her sisters were there. Three of them anyway.
“Perfect timing,” Dusty said drily. “I need a drink before I explain what happened. Preferably something strong and neat, but I’ll settle for water. I’m never drinking an orange sports drink again.”
Dixie rushed over, grabbed the water pitcher. She fussed over Dusty like she tended to do when one of them was hurt or sick. Dusty took a long drink and then another.
How on earth was she supposed to tell them?
“What happened?” Darcey asked. She had that warrior sister look in her green eyes. “Who hurt you, Dusty? Tell me.”
“First, they didn’t really hurt me.” Dusty was a Talley. She’d been raised to be honest. She wasn’t hurt. “Just…they drugged me. Well, he did. I don’t know that she had anything to do with that part.” Hermotherhad been fussing. Making sure Dusty’s cot had blankets and pillows, and everything. Making sure the heater was far enough away to not catch those blankets on fire. Calling Dustybaby,and everything. Fussing. Like…Dixie had just done. Until her father had basically carried Dusty’s mother out of the shed. Where Dusty had been left behind. “He thought I was Dixie at first.”
Dixie’s eyes widened. “Who?”
“Our father,” Dusty just said it. Her sisters all just stared. “He’s back. She’s back. And there are more ofusout there. All girls, but he wouldn’t tell me how many. I’m thinking at least three. He saidallof the girls, not both. So definitely more than two…maybe? He’d been shot, Sage. And I came up behind them right after it had happened. They forced me into their van, supposedly so the shooter couldn’t shoot me, too. She was seriously freaking. Kept saying the shooter could follow me home, what if he thought I’d seen something, too, and they couldn’t just leave me out there like that, they couldn’t.”
She paused for a moment. As she tried to put it into words. “She was almost acting like she cared or something. She seems the really nervous type. He said she had anxiety and nerve issues and panicked a lot. I don’t know if he even knew I was a Talley at first. I thought it was a wreck. I thought he was Uncle Gerald standing there. I thought they’d been in a wreck and I couldn’t see Rhea or Uncle Gerald’s truck. Just an older white van. I was afraid Rhea was hurt somewhere. But he recognized me. Well, recognized me enough to know I was one of his daughters—after I called him Uncle Gerald, though. So maybe not? Maybe he was just guessing.”
“What happened next?” Sage asked, when Dusty paused.
“I sewed him up in a travel trailer not far from where Ben found me. He gave me a sandwich and sports drink, but he’d drugged it. I stayed in a garden shed with a small heater all night. I slept for a while. Then I got away and headed toward the highway. He was with me after a few minutes. Saying he was going to take care of me, drive me home in the morning. That the roads were too slick to drive on. He put his hat on my head and put my coat on me. Wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. And we walked back toward the travel trailer—he held my waist, and we walked. Until…I heard a truck coming. And I got away again. Then Ben was there with Fletcher and Gil. Details are a little cloudy still. But they didn’t hurt me. Not really.”
“Why are they back now?” Darcey asked, fury in her tone. “What did they want?”
“They didn’t say. I have no clue. But he said…he said no Tyler was going to hurt one of the people he cared about ever again. And his girls—hisothergirls—had taken off. They were angry and left. He was searching for those girls.”
“What does he mean about Tylers?” Nikki asked almost indignantly.
“He wouldn’t say. She hushed him when he started…almost ranting, but contained. Quiet. Like Uncle Gerald does. His hair is dark brown. Dyed. He looked just like Uncle Gerald except his hair. She kept…fussing over me. It was really weird. She was acting like she honestly thought she had the right to fuss over me like that. And he hovered over her. Worse than Uncle Gerald with Aunt Rhea. He lovesher, at least. She has a really old long scar on her neck that she didn’t have in those photos. That is all I remember. I got away. And I walked through the snow. Toward the highway. Toward town. I knew…people would have found my truck. Would be looking for me. And I just kept walking. I knew…Ben or his brothers…they would find me. I knew…Marin would have told Ben…”
“Of course, Ben and the boys found you. They love you just as much as I do.” Nikki hugged her. Dusty resisted the urge to cling.
Her eyes met Sage’s.
Sage knew. About her and Ben. Dusty could see it in her eyes.
“I’m going to let you talk to your sisters and Nik. I’m going to call Joel. Tell him what you’ve said.”
“The van was white. The RV was an old travel trailer. There was a garden shed painted blue, I think. He said…he said it was his once. But it was obvious someone had been using it. For a hunting cabin maybe. It wasn’t that far from where they found me. There was fresh food in the cabinet, too. He had definitely been shot. She was terrified the shooters were still out there. She demanded he not leave me behind, kept saying it wasn’t safe for me. I genuinely think she believed they were protecting me somehow. In a twisted kind of way. She…was just panicking constantly. Over everything. What if the space heater caught fire. What if a tree fell on the shed. What if a bear broke in. All sorts of improbable things. He was constantly trying to calm her down. And she said… the rest of their girls were out there somewhere. And they had to find them beforethose monstersdid. She seemed so terrified for them. And really emotionally fragile.”
“We’ll find it. And we’ll find your parents, too,” Sage squeezed her hand, once.
“They aren’t my parents. And they never will be again.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Dixie said, hugging her next. “But we have you back now. And that’s what matters most. We’ll figure out whattheyare doing back in Masterson County later.”
Dusty looked at Sage. As she remembered… “One more thing. He said Morris Preston once. I think…this has something to do withhim.Or Bruce Tyler.”
Sage’s face tightened. She had scars on her arms from fighting with that man. “Then we’ll find out what. I can promise that. Rest. Joel and I will take it from here.”
