Page 47 of Last Seen

She is unmoored and unloads everything. The kid, the Jeep, the tire, her sister, Theo’s threat, the stranger, and before she realizes what’s happening, he’s holding her as she weeps.

He’s an awkward comforter, patting her shoulders and saying “Now, now. Now, now” over and over, but somehow, it works.

She finds herself again; the fear, the pure dismay receding until she is finally able to take a full breath and a step backward.

It’s the first time a man has willingly touched her in months.

She doesn’t want to admit how normal it makes her feel.

“Sorry about that,” she says, wiping her eyes. “I feel like an idiot.” She hears a truck’s engine roaring up the road, tenses, but it’s a tow truck with Eddie’s Garage stenciled on the side. She passed that garage last night.

Brockton pats her shoulder again. “For having emotions? Don’t. You’ve had a few shocks this week. Eddie will take the Jeep back to his place and fix the tires for you.”

“Something else is wrong, too. With the engine. Someone made sure I couldn’t leave.”

And left a note asking for help in my bag. For some reason, she holds this back. It feels too ominous to mention. She doesn’t know who wrote it, or when it was put there. It could have been any moment from the second she left the jail until now.

The sheriff is speaking; she tunes back in. “We’ll figure it out. Now, show me where this little boy was?”

They head back to the tree line. Halley explains seeing the child out of the corner of her eye, then stopping and following him into the woods.

“He’s so little. So dirty. I can’t imagine he’s okay out here.

Are there people living in these woods? Or was he a lure to get me to leave the vehicle long enough for someone to sabotage it?

I heard a car while I was looking for him. It has to have happened then.”

Saying it aloud sends shivers down her spine. What if she hadn’t been in the woods? What if she had still been in the Jeep? Would she have come face to face with Kater’s killer?

Is it the stranger from the bar? Or is someone she knows all too well after her?

The sheriff tries to calm her. “Miss James, this is quite the story. Sure you’re not writing mystery novels in your spare time?”

“This is not a joking matter. You were the one who wouldn’t let me leave last night.”

“About that,” he starts, but freezes, holding up a finger. She hears the crashing seconds later, impressed that he was so attuned to the woods that he heard it first. He peers into the forest, hand on his weapon, then relaxes. “Deer.”

“How do you know?”

“I have eyes,” he says, pointing, and sure enough, she sees the soft tan flank of a doe twenty yards away. The doe stares at them for a moment, tail twitching, then puts her head down to the grass and starts cropping it.

“I wasn’t holding you hostage, or in custody. I just didn’t want you on the switchbacks late at night. In case something happened.” He points at the Jeep. “Turns out that was a good thing. If there’s a maintenance issue—”

“Oh, come on. I take perfect care of my vehicle. Someone slashed the tires, and I bet you ten bucks when Eddie the mechanic over there gets the hood open, there will be something else damaged, too.”

He narrows his eyes. “I don’t gamble.”

“Is there a car rental in town? You do have all the amenities.”

“No, there isn’t. Closest one’s in Bristol. Let’s just see what’s up with the Jeep first.”

“I don’t feel safe in Brockville,” she says. “Obviously.”

“You’re safer in Brockville than out here alone in the woods, looking for phantom children.”

“That boy was no phantom. He was as real as you or me.”

He squints toward the woods. “Whatever you say. Like you said, having a youngster on their own in these woods is pretty unlikely. Now, let’s go back to town. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee. Since I know you already had breakfast.”

“Oh, we’re busted, huh?”

“Noah is ... impetuous. And you’re just as reckless as him, tearing out of here like this without letting me know. People are dying, Miss James. A killer is on the loose. I take that rather seriously.”

They’re back to the road now. Eddie is hooking the Jeep to his wrecker.

He wears a classic mechanic’s jumpsuit like he’s in a 1950s movie, blue-and-white stripes, with a rag in his hand, grease stains along his thigh, and a white cap on his head.

He is good looking in a devil-may-care way, lots of scruff and muscles.

“Fan belt’s worn straight through. You’re lucky you weren’t farther away, you’d be stuck with no reception waiting for a stranger to come by.

I can fix it, but I’ll have to order the part.

Your tires, well, that is going to be a few days at least to get the replacements here. ”

“A few days ?”

“Yep. You have these fancy Firestone all-terrain tires, and I don’t have them in stock. Unless you want to change out the whole set, which will run you a couple thousand, and all I have is more of a performance truck tire rather than rugged off-roaders. Your gas mileage must suck.”

She nods. It does. But the bigger tires are cool, so she splurges. Replacing the whole set, though ... it’s not like she has money to spare. She’ll have to wait it out.

He continues scolding her. “If you’d broken down before the winter it would have been different, but it’s spring now.

Everyone’s shifted out of the snow tires, so that’s what I have ready.

As for the belt, well, you’d be better off with the factory-made than a generic replacement on this particular vehicle. Your call, of course.”

“Let me guess. A few days for it to come in?”

“Yep.”

She’s stuck, and they all know it. “Fine. Order the tire, and the belt. I’ll figure something out.”

He nods. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And Eddie? Thank you,” she adds, turning on the wattage, and he gives her a shy smile back. She needs to keep as many people on her side as possible.

“Sure thing. I’ll be in touch when I have exact times, okay?”

“Thank you. My number—do you have something to write on?”

“Don’t need it.” He gives her a look, and inside, she squirms. “I’ll be able to find you. Town’s not that big.”