Page 32 of Light My Fire

Tucker glanced at her then, his eyes tightening just a little around the edges.

“I told you it was complicated.”

“Still seems pretty simple to me. Except the part about your dad.” He kept walking.

“It would have been simple, had I listened to him.” She tucked her hands into her windbreaker, not sure how far back to go. “My dad had been sheriff in Copper Mountain for about eight years. He knew Chad pretty well—had coached him in football, had picked him up a couple times at parties for underage drinking.” She drew in a breath. “Had taken a report from a girl who said he attacked her. She later recanted.”

“He told you to stay away from Chad.”

“If you haven’t noticed, I am a little…”

“Stubborn?”

“Headstrong. Always have been. I don’t like people telling me what to do, how to live my life, and I was twenty-one-ancient-years old at the time.”

His lips tightened. “But you’ll always be daddy’s little girl.”

“I was a deputy. I knew how to handle myself. Or…I thought I did. Hold up.”

Tucker stopped, and she pulled the binoculars from his pack. Scanned the forest. “Nothing.”

“We’ll climb up the ridge and see if we can spot them.” He was pointing to a bald spot in the forested mountainside.

She handed him the glasses.

“If you hadn’t noticed, the only place in town to go to watch the game or unwind is Vic’s. Chad and I were there, and I saw my dad walk in, so I wanted to leave. Chad thought I meant something else…”

Tucker handed her back the glasses after scanning the forest, and she put them back in his pack. “I’m feeling a lot of empathy for what I think your dad is about to do.”

“He was coming out of the bar just around the time I pushed Chad away. Just about the time Chad came back at me—”

“And they didn’t call it self-defense?”

“Dad shouted his name right when Chad took a swing at me. Which, by the way, I deflected. Give me credit for being quicker than that.”

“Did your dad lose it?” Tucker’s jaw had ground tight.

“No, actually. He was completely calm. Called Chad out. Probably to give me a chance to get away, but I suddenly didn’t want my dad fighting my battles. I told him to go away—that I could handle it. He ignored me completely. Walked up to Chad, who decided he wanted a chance at him. Then Dad lowered his voice so I couldn’t hear him. Whatever he said, Chad freaked out and took a swing at him. Dad ducked, then hit him so hard he dropped Chad right there. Except Chad hit his head on a cement parking curb.”

“Wow. That’s dark. But again, self-defense.”

“Nate saw it—said Dad had provoked Chad. It only took a couple seconds for Nate and a couple other guys to pin Dad, and by the looks of it—well, I couldn’t just stand there and let them beat him to death.”

“Nate’s a cop, right?”

“Yeah, but not back then.” She shook her head. “Nate had run against Dad in the last election for sheriff and lost. Nate quit the department—didn’t come back until after Dad was sentenced.”

“What did you do, Stevie?”

She drew in a breath. “I arrested my dad. Right there in the parking lot with blood running down his face, his nose broken, and the stench of death in the air.”

“Which meant your testimony was compromised.”

“I couldn’t testify as the victim, no. But…well, even after I told my side of the story, I didn’t know what Dad had said to Chad, and that, plus the fact that Dad had been drinking…he got three years.” They stood at the edge of the ravine, the forest gathering on the other side. “And I left town.”Punk. Stop. Don’t run away!

She couldn’t look at Tucker, even when he reached out and lifted her chin. “Stevie.”

She winced, pulled herself away. But he found her hand. “Stevie, listen to me. We’re going to find him. And Skye. I promise—”

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