Page 88 of Sutton's Shadow

“Don’t know. She’s begging for Bethany’s help. She wants to sneak her and her camera into the house while a party is in progress to check it out.”

“And that’s when Bethany got the pictures of Kaitlyn,” Marcus interjected.

Wyatt raked his fingers through his hair. “We need to know where that house is. Ian, did the sheriff say anything about it? Does he have an address?”

“Let me call and check.” He stepped out the slider to the back deck to place his call.

“I may have a few contacts I can call as well,” Dylan said and went out the front door, phone in hand.

“The house has to be close,” Logan reasoned. “She walked there, right?”

“Yes, right.” Wyatt should have thought of that. Recognizing she could have been nearby during those weeks she’d been gone angered him all over again.

“We can start knocking on doors,” Finch suggested.

“While you guys do that, I’m going to dig around the dark web. See if there is any chatter about the sales,” Emma declared.

“Are you sure you should do that?” Marcus asked.

“I’ll be careful. They won’t even know I’m there.”

Ian came back into the room, and everyone looked at him expectantly. “Sorry, guys,” he started with a shake of his head. “The sheriff just got word from a judge who got word from someone else that she had been found and was being taken to the office. That’s all Sheriff Dodd knew.”

“And you believe him,” Dylan asked, having rejoined them as well.

“No reason not to,” Ian answered. Dylan huffed, obviously still harboring a lot of animosity toward the sheriff.

“Let’s knock on doors,” Graham commanded.

Chapter 27

Bethanyheardthescreamas she ran away from the house. Panic swelled up inside her, choking out the air in her lungs. Her hand covered her mouth as if to hold in her own scream. Terror gnawed at her. She wanted to go back to help Sutton but noticed Kaitlyn struggling in her weakened state. The best thing she could do right now for Sutton was run and get help.

She wrapped an arm around Kaitlyn’s waist, feeling her hip bones jutting out under her hand. She appeared half starved; it was no wonder her strength lagged. Lia got on Kaitlyn’s other side, and the three of them ran as fast as they could through the neighboring backyards.

Once they thought they were far enough away, they made their way to the sidewalk. Bethany got her bearings, then headed in the direction of Wyatt’s house. She didn’t think it wise to stay on the sidewalk, so they crossed the street to the wooded side of the neighborhood, keeping a row of trees between them and the street.

They stopped to allow Kaitlyn to rest several times, staying out of sight. A slow-moving car had them hitting the ground. They crawled under low foliage, hoping to stay hidden from whoever was driving, assuming they were searching for them. And she knew they would be searching. There was no way they could let them go. Not knowing what they knew. They had Kaitlyn. That was all the proof they would need to put the bad guys away for good.

She just hoped she could get to Wyatt before something happened to Sutton.

Wyatthuffedoutasigh as another door went unanswered. He understood it was the middle of the day and people were working, but it did nothing to tamp down his frustration. As he waited for Jude, who was banging on the door of the next house, Wyatt watched an SUV with tinted windows drive slowly down the street. It seemed odd to him. There wasn’t a soul around to cause someone to drive that slowly. He noted the license plate as it passed, an ingrained habit he didn’t even realize he did anymore.

He rubbed at his chest, trying to ease the ache festering behind his rib cage. The cavity felt hollow. Like his heart was missing.

His thoughts inevitably went to the two women who held his heart. One, a girl on the cusp of womanhood who he’d do anything to care for and protect. He hoped by sharing the simple occasions such as dinner with family, he could help remove the shadows she’d lived with for way too long.

The other, a woman he found irresistible but who was fighting her own shadows. He wanted to feel guilty that Liam, his friend, would not get to spend forever with her, but the more time he spent with her, the more the guilt receded. He hoped he hadn’t irrevocably harmed his chance at forever with her.

Watching the two women laugh together over a simple meal the previous night had his heart bursting at the seams. It was what family looked like. He’d experienced it so briefly in his late teens with his grandparents, he had almost forgotten what it was like.

Bethany, he knew, didn’t remember the good times she’d had with their mother early in her life. She’d only known the strife of living with an addict. The hungry nights, the embarrassment at school while wearing clothes with holes, the anxiety of coming home wondering if she’d find a dead parent. It was something that rotted away at one’s soul, leaving nothing but the shadows.

Wyatt was determined to erase all that. He wanted to see his sister live in the light.

Sutton’s shadows were more difficult to combat, but he felt up to the challenge. He could see the grief and the sudden flashbacks of whatever she’d experienced. There was also the guilt and shame that dwelled in the deepest parts of the shadows.

She was not responsible for Liam’s death, as she’d believed for so many years. Wyatt vowed to do everything he could to alleviate that mindset if she’d give him the chance. The shadows she was fighting could not have her, and he would fight right alongside her to bring in the light for her as well.

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