Page 52

CHAPTER 51

CHESTER WOULD LOVE to toss the Hardy brothers in a cell for a few hours. It’d scare ’em a little, wouldn’t it? Plus they could keep Dougie company. Give him an audience for his whiskey-fueled jokes.

But then he’d be late picking up Lacey from the hospital. Plus he’s pretty sure Reginald Hardy will punish his sons worse than jail could. Not for attacking Kai and Holo, but for doing such a shitty job of it. For losing the gun. For getting caught.

For being bested by a girl .

So after a little talking-to down at the station, he sends Mac and Logan on their way, their mom tearfully trudging behind them. Don’t let me ever catch those boys with a gun outside of hunting season again. You understand me?

“Hey, Chief,” Officer Randall calls as Chester’s heading out. “There’s a message from an Agent Dunham—”

“Put it in the circular file, Randall,” Chester says.

Randall looks at him blankly.

“The trash can ,” Chester says, wishing once again that his second-in-command was just a teensy bit brighter. “If Dunham wants to talk to me, he’s going to have to keep calling.” He pushes the door open and then turns back. “Course, I may or may not answer.”

Some wordless instinct makes him want to keep Dunham as far from Kai and Holo as possible. Maybe it’s because he wants to protect them.

Or maybe it’s because, deep down, he’s pretty sure they’ve got something to hide.

When Chester arrives at the hospital, Lacey’s waiting impatiently in the lobby. She jumps up when she sees him, her dark eyes sparkling with relief. He wraps her in a hard hug and buries his face in her shiny black hair. “I missed you,” he whispers.

Lacey’s shaky on her feet still, but she’s talking a mile a minute. “I swear, I wasn’t going to last another second in that room. Do you know how many episodes of Nailed It! I watched? Thirty, Chester, thirty , and all the while you were doing everything without any help at all. How are the kids? I can’t wait to see them! I feel like I’ve been gone forever.”

“It’s been three days, babe,” he says.

“And Holo’s probably grown just as many inches! You don’t eat like that unless you’re growing like a weed. Does he look taller? They’ve got Levi’s on sale at the Feed & Seed. We could get him a new pair this weekend.”

Chester shrugs. “Sure, okay, whatever you say.”

Smiling excitedly, Lacey tucks her arm into his elbow as they walk to the car, and Chester decides not to tell her about the fight. The gun. The feud with the Hardys that keeps getting worse. For now, he can let her enjoy being released from the hospital, her life miraculously saved by a girl whose past is still a mystery.

He stops at the store to get a bottle of wine, so it’s nearing dinnertime when they pull up to the house. Lacey hurries inside, calling for Kai and Holo in an eager singsong. Chester takes an extra minute in the yard, letting the stress of the day fall away. He breathes deep. The air smells clean and fresh, and the meadow’s dotted with wildflowers. He feels a smile start to tug at the corners of his mouth. He’ll grill those fancy sausages he got the other day, he decides, and Lacey will open the wine and make a salad, and the four of them will sit around the worn kitchen table together. Maybe afterward they’ll all watch a movie.

Everyone’s home , he thinks. Tonight is a good night.

Then Lacey comes out breathless onto the porch. Her face has gone white. Stricken. “Chester,” she says, “they’re gone.”

Gone? What the hell is she talking about?

“Sweetie,” he says, “they’re probably just out by the creek, catching trout for dinner or something.”

Lacey thrusts out her arm. It’s still bruised and awful-looking. A folded piece of paper sits in the center of her swollen, bandaged palm. “They’re gone,” she repeats. “It says so right here. Is there something you aren’t telling me? Did something happen?”

He takes the porch steps two at a time. His heartbeat quickens as he reads the note. “Shit,” he whispers. He made a mistake: it wasn’t the Hardys he needed to talk to after the gun incident. It was Kai and Holo.

Lacey says, “Don’t even bother taking off your shoes, Chester Greene. You’re going out there, and you’re getting them back.”