Page 79 of Claws and Feathers

Cooper took the image from Ryan’s hand and went still. His muscles stiffened, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. The man in the photo was younger with less wrinkles and scruff, and far less sorrow in his eyes, but there was no doubt in Cooper’s mind, thatyes–

This was The Withered Man.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Ryan croaked out. “He’s the one who hurt my sister?”

Cooper swallowed, nodding his head as this sinister puzzle found its final piece. “Yeah… it’s him.” But while the pieces were connected, the puzzle was far from complete. Cooper had so many questions. So manywhys.

A sudden look washed over Ryan’s face as he gripped the box. He glanced at Cooper with contemplative concern. “The guy you were talking to on the phone… he said Larkin hit one of your men? That means he’s in Wisconsin?”

Cooper blinked. Oh,shit.

His stomach sunk and his world came crashing down. He’d been so wrapped up solving this mystery, so wrapped up in connecting the dots, that he’d failed to connect the biggest dot of all.

The hit-and-run. Ashland.

Larkin was only twenty minutes away from Crow’s Peak.

FromAbby.

Cooper began to spiral as he leaped from his place on the couch, his insides wrenching with unparalleledfear. He felt sick. Dizzy. Desperate.

Ryan took note of Cooper’s reaction and the two men locked eyes. Ryan’s face registered an unmistakable dread. “Abigail,” Ryan said. It was a whisper. It was a command.

It was a ‘run’.

Cooper didn’t know when his feet began to move, but he was out the door and running down the steps two and a time, fumbling with his phone. He felt like everything was moving in slow motion as he jumped into his car and began to dial Abby’s number.

Ring, ring, ring, voicemail.

Again and again.

He gunned it out of the neighborhood, his lights and sirens blaring, driving as fast as he could. He tried calling James. He tried calling Kate.

No answer.

No answer.

He wasn’t with her. He wasn’t there. He couldn’t protect her.

Cooper pressed his foot against the accelerator as if he could somehow get there in time. He was four-hundred goddamn miles away. He had never felt more helpless.

Cooper called Chief Reynolds as he gripped the steering wheel and sped off into a dire unknown. The lump in his throat was practically choking him. He wondered if it would.

“I need you at Seventeen Bluebird Trailnow.”

“Chug-a-lug,” Kate said, clinking her glass against Abby’s on the living room couch.

Abby brought the rim of her flute to her lips, her eyes gleaming back at Kate. “I feel like this is becoming a thing with us. Alcohol. All the time.” She scrunched up her nose as she took a sip, grimacing as the liquid slid down her throat. “Gross. I thought you made me a mimosa.”

“I did,” Kate shrugged. “With vodka.”

“Ugh. So, you made me a Screwdriver. At ten-thirty in the morning.”

Kate took a large swallow of her own cocktail, pulling her legs up beside her on the sofa. “Hey, McDonald’s starts serving lunch at ten-thirty. That’s what I go by.” She grinned, wiggling her eyebrows. “Besides, you’re stressed to the max. You need something to take the edge off.”

Abby instinctively checked her phone – no new updates yet. She couldn’t help but smile dreamily at the last text she’d received from Cooper:I miss you, too.

“Okay, enough of this.” Kate snatched the phone out of her hands and set it down on the side table. “Your heart is, like, palpitating right now. Less lovey-dovey shit and more drinking. Cheers.” She tipped her glass towards Abby and took another sip.

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