Page 22 of Broken Skulls

Anthony stops her. “You don’t have to tell him any of this. You don’t owe him, or her, anything.”

“I know, but what if …”

“We gave her plenty of opportunity to come clean,” he says. “I think I’m going to have to end this call JD.”

The dragonfly on my refrigerator taunts me. Why is it important to her? Other than a change of clothes, this was all Elizabeth had in the car with her when I took her.

“Wait, one last question. Did Lizzie have a special relationship with a kid? Like a cousin or maybe a child she babysat for?”

“No. Not that I remember.”

I glance out the window when I hear a bike pull in. Great, it’s Dan.

“I’ll let you guys go for now. Thanks for your help.”

“JD?”

“Yeah?”

“Good luck.”

From the look on Dan’s face as he marches up to the house, I’m going to need more than luck. Jesus. I hang up the phone, setting the glass on the counter. I try to cut him off at the front porch, but the man is on a mission and is at my door before I reach it.

“Mornin’,” I say, keeping the screen closed between us.

His gaze roams over the yard before coming to a stop on me. “Some folks in town said they heard a bunch of screaming coming from this direction last evening.”

“Hmm. Probably a bunch of teenagers hanging out up in the hills.”

He stares at me through the screen. “You didn’t hear anything?”

“No.”

“But you were home?”

“Yeah.”

He sighs. “Jesse wanted me to check it out.”

I open the door, stepping outside with him. “Yeah, I guess we better check it out. Better to be safe than sorry.”

He narrows his eyes at me when I close the door to the house behind me, but he lets me lead the way out back.

“So. Did you find her?” he asks as we’re walking through the junkyard.

“Who?”

“Tank’s ex.”

“She has a name, you know.”

The fucker laughs. “Touchy.”

“Well, I wouldn’t appreciate it if everyone referred to me as an ex.”

“So?”

No use lying to him. “Yeah, Brody and I found her. She was fine, so he stayed to enjoy his beach vacation, and I headed back. I had shit to do.”

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