Page 38 of A River of Crows

“Anna?”

“Anna, who takes me to see Dad. Anna, who I thought was his secretary or friend, but turns out, she’s much more than a friend.” Sloan kicked a rock.

“You mean . . . ?”

“Yep, she’s his wife.”

Noah shook his head. “Wow. You did have an awful day.”

“Pretty much. And I don’t plan to visit again for a while. Mom says it’s up to me. I think I’ve gotta let him go. I want to be a strong woman.”

Sloan expected Noah might try to change her mind. She sorta wanted him to—wanted him to tell her it was possible to stand by her mom and still love her dad, but he didn’t. Instead, he paused on the path. “We should go back.”

Sloan stopped too. The smattering of trees from the creek was visible now. She hadn’t been this close to the creek since the search parties ended. She shouldn’t want to go back, ever, but something in those trees called to her. “I’m going to walk to the river.”

Noah blew out a breath. “You said you didn’t want to go back there.”

“I’ve got to move on. Let it go. I don’t want to be weak.”

“Come on, Sloan. You’re the toughest girl I know. You’ve got nothing to prove. Not to me.”

Sloan kept walking. “I need to prove it to myself. Ridge loved the creek. He wouldn’t want me to spend my life avoiding it.” She turned back to Noah, still frozen on the path. “Thanks for talking. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Noah hesitated, but only for a second before jogging toward Sloan and taking her hand.

Chapter 13

Mallowater, TX, 2008

“Sorry for texting so late.” Sloan waited till Noah closed his office door to apologize.

“No big deal,” Noah said, but even as he sat behind his desk, facing Sloan, he avoided looking at her.

“Was Vickie upset?”

Noah shook his head. “I’m a cop. She’s used to my phone going off at all hours.”

“Good. I didn’t want to get you in any sort of trouble.”

Noah finally met her eyes. “You realize this information I'm getting for you could get me in trouble, too, right? Bigger trouble than you could ever get me in with Vickie?”

Sloan sat up straighter. So, he had found something. “I'd never tell anyone you’re helping me.”

“Well, there’s nothing on file about an attempted kidnapping in Mallowater in or around August 1989,” Noah said.

Sloan threw up her hands. “You said you had information.”

Noah smirked. “Are you going to let me finish?”

Sloan put her hands on her lap. “Sorry, go ahead.”

Noah opened a file folder on his desk. “Eddie Daughtry was arrested on August 20, 1989, for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He supposedly offered drugs to a fifteen-year-old boy, but the case was thrown out.”

“That’s how he got Dylan, with drugs,” Sloan said.

“Dylan Lawrence? What do you know about that case?”

Sloan twisted her watch. “We had dinner with him.”

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