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Something like hope widened her eyes as she looked between them. “You’re FBI? And a PI? Like, you know FBI agents that can do stuff like on TV?”

Vera cocked her head. “What kind of stuff, Daisy?”

She chewed the inside of her cheek. A war was waging in her eyes. Teddi begged silently for her to speak, for someone to finally break the silence around Sylen. Tell me, she chanted. Tell me why everyone is so scared. Tell me why everything is a secret.

“Can you tell us about your Dad?” Vera asked and Teddi nearly deflated.

The pinch between her brows gave way to sadness. “What about him?”

“What kind of dad was he?”

“He was fine. He was a dad, y’know?”

“Dads come in all shapes and sizes, Daisy.” Teddi offered a tender smile. “Mine was a total asshole who thought kids were capable of parenting themselves by age eight. But Vera has an amazing dad. He was always there for her, helped her with her homework, and sat by her bed every time she got even the tiniest illness. Was your dad like that too?”

Her eyes shined as she shook her head. “No, my dad wasn’t like that. He wasn’t….” She looked down at her boots. “He wasn’t like either of your dads. He could be intense.”

“Intense like he yelled?”

“Yeah, he yelled. He got into fights a lot.” She wiped her nose on her sleeve. “It’s been quiet since the accident. The house is really quiet.”

“I’m sorry you experienced that, Daisy. I’m sure it was really difficult growing up with a dad like that. It’s kind of unnerving how much space one person can take up in a home, isn’t it?” Teddi remembered how much her father took up when he got in a mood. Which was almost always caused by Teddi leaving things where they weren’t supposed to be or not doing what she was told the second the words fell out of his mouth. Some angry fathers were bigger than the house they occupied.

“Can I ask what fights he got into?” Vera’s gentle voice made Teddi want to reach for her hand.

Wiping her eyes hard, Daisy huffed out a breath. “I dunno. Fights with some of the guys in town. My mom kept me out of it mostly, but I know he got taken in a month or so ago.”

“Taken in?”

“Arrested. They only held him one night but it was good… it was good for us to have a night off, as horrible as that sounds.” She forced a laugh before her face fell once more. “He was still my dad.”

Teddi wanted to bundle the girl in a hug so tight it would put all those broken pieces back together again. Some tiny, sick part of her was glad for the fact that whatever her dad put her through, he couldn't do it anymore. Maybe this was why her mom was so reluctant to talk.

As if she just realized what she said, she began to walk around them, speaking quickly. “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry. I have to get going, my mom is going to start wondering where I am.”

“Are you going to be ok?” Teddi asked.

Plastering on a forced smile, Daisy walked backward. “Of course, it was nice to meet you. Really. I gotta go.”

Something snagged in the back of her mind. A conversation from their first visit to the diner. “Wait, Daisy. How many kids are there here, in Sylen?”

The teen looked confused at the change in topic before answering. “Just me and the Grennan boys. Why?”

“No reason.” She forced a smile. Daisy disappeared around the hedge seconds later. A black leaf floated to the ground after her.

“What was that about?” Vera asked.

“There are three children in this town. Why is that? Even with their low population, I'm pretty sure that's an unusually low birth rate.”

"Lily is nineteen so yeah, just the three. Everyone else is at least in their thirties. Does it matter though?"

Teddi unlocked the vehicle and slid into the driver's seat, turning the engine over to get the heater going. "Maybe not. I don't know, I just think it’s kind of weird."

“I'm pretty sure weird is a requirement for this place. That’s allegations of abuse in two out of the four cases so far.”

Two for four and three children in the entire town. Maybe ‘weird’ didn't begin to cover Sylen.

Chapter 24