Page 71 of Mountains Divide Us

Well, why the fuck hadn’t he shown me that first?

He led me out the front of the store and around the side of the building to the back. And sure enough, there were a few drops of blood in the snow to the right of the back door. He should’ve shoveled the shit days ago.

I called Carey on my radio. “We need dogs.”

“What?”

“I’ve got blood behind the Stop and Go. I need a K9.”

“Hold on, Frank. We don’t know who it came from. Is there damage to the store?”

“Cracked window.”

“That’s it? Nothin’ was stolen?”

“No, but maybe I missed somethin’.”

“I doubt that. I can’t put a call in for dogs for that, and you know it.”

“Carey, it could be the kid’s blood.”

“It could,” he said, “but we need more to go on. Why are you so fixated on this? We have zero evidence. We don’t even know if this kid is missin’. He coulda just been out fuckin’ around.”

“Dammit.”

“Frank, I know you’re frustrated, but we need more.”

Fuck. I hung up. I’d apologize later.

When I got back to my truck, my cell rang, and I barked into it, “Yeah?”

“Deputy Sims?”

“What?”

“This is Gina Horowitz. I own the Stop and Go. Listen, I just spoke to Ted. He called earlier, but I’ve been in the ER getting stitches. I stopped by there early this morning to check on things after that wind last night. We’ve been having the craziest weather. My husband usually checks all the properties we own after bad weather, but he’s out of town. Anyway, the back lock was frozen over, and I cut my hand trying to get in. That’s my blood Ted showed you. No one tried to break in. There was a big tree branch on the ground out there. I’m guessing that’s what caused the damage.”

Fucking Ted had probably moved it so he could deny Shelley was right.

It had nothing to do with the kid. And now Shelley would know she was right. Great. That was bound to make my life hell for a long time.

“Thanks for lettin’ me know.”

“Sure thing. Ted said you were headed out on some manhunt, so I wanted to call before it went too far. Sorry for causing a commotion.”

“Alright then.”

And that was how the rest of the day went and the five days before that. Every call sounded like it could be about the boy, but when I got there, it didn’t take but a minute to figure out that it wasn’t about him. I still had no leads, and I still had a rock in my gut about it all.

I was projecting my own shit on the kid. I knew next to nothing about him. Carey was right. He could just be some delinquent, fucking off around town, trying to get into trouble. I had not one goddamn iota of evidence that he needed my help.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

SAMANTHA

When he picked me up Thursday morning to drive me to the library, Frank was exhausted.

“Did you get any sleep last night?”

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