Page 93 of Defending Casey

Hale murmureda few words of praise for Casey’s father as he looked at the app he’d found on the first screen of David’s phone.

No, Nora hadn’t been able to wear the necklace with the tracker on it, but she wore a watch all the time. A watch that her grandfather had given her.

A watch that had a GPS tag in it.

Opening the app, Hale shook his head.

Zeke leaned in to look at the screen. “That’s out in the middle of nowhere.”

Bodie managed to get a look as well. “Do you know where that is, Hondo?”

“Exactly,” he growled. “It’s where I grew up. I’m going to wring his neck.”

Stone gave him a curious look. “Your dad?”

Hale shook his head. He and his father had gone years without speaking, but after their conversation, after he’d given Hale the box of letters, he just couldn’t see his dad being involved in this willingly.

“It’s Brian. He’s not thinking. Clearly. Probably just a knee jerk reaction, thinking my dad would be okay with this.”

“You sure about that?”

Zeke’s question was a good one, but at this point, Hale had to go on his gut feeling because he couldn’t be all that certain that Brian was all that connected to reality at the moment.

“As sure as I’ll ever be about anything.” He looked at Bodie and then the rest of his team. “Let’s go.”

They all headed for the parking lot, ready to roll.

Hale put his hand up in the air as he ran for the driver’s side of his truck and Stone tossed him the keys. He knew the way and they would have to go off the road near the end. He could lead the others better at the wheel of his own vehicle, leaving Stone to relay information on the phone.

His truck hit the road and they made their way through town, pushing the limits of the law and safety, but once they were back on Iron Mountain, Hale pushed the pedal all the way to the ground and let love take over.

#

Casey felt numb.No, she was too angry to be numb.

She was seething.

Listening to Brian delve into the litany of things that Hale had done since they were kids seemed as petty as it was ridiculous.

It became quite clear that Brian’s parents had treated him like a little king. The things that he wanted, he got… from them.

And while they seemed to cater to his every whim and need, Brian increasingly wanted things out of their control. Things that the world had denied him.

Things that he blamed on Hale and other boys his age. Hale’s successes had somehow been failures. And while Casey hated hearing it, hated trying to swallow his twisted truths, she let him go on, virtually unopposed, because time was what they needed most of all.

Hale was coming.

She could feel it in her bones.

No, she didn’t have her necklace with the tracker in it, but she knew Hale. Knew everything they had overcome to be together again. He wasn’t going to let her go now. And Nora.

Casey gave her daughter’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

Hale would come because of their daughter.

Even though he’d just found out about her, he loved their girl like she did, with every cell in her body.

“You’re not even listening to me, are you?”

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