Page 58 of Hurt for Me

“It’s a character from a show,” Lily said.

“Based on the books,” Klo added.

“Hopefully that’s not a bad thing.” He turned to Rae as if she would be able to confirm, but she shrugged.

The teens giggled, and Rae wanted to yell at them to eat faster. She needed to see the bodycam footage. She knew it was a near impossibility, but she hoped against hope she’d see Devon in the background of the party somewhere.

“This is delicious,” Dayton said to Rae, and she saw he was almost done with his plate. “It’s the first home-cooked meal I’ve had in two weeks.”

“Glad you like it.”

“So, why are you here again?” Lily asked him.

“He’s a part of an investigation I’m helping with.” Rae felt Dayton’s eyes on her.

“But, Mom, I thoughtyouwere the one being investigated.” Rae could tell by Lily’s lopsided smile she was being facetious, but she didn’t need the reminder. “Aren’t there, like, rules against having dinner with a suspect?”

Dayton cleared his throat. “Uh, your mom is helping me with a different matter.”

The teens peeked at each other, a knowing look passing between them.

After they were done eating, Rae cleared the plates, declining Dayton’s offer to help, before they settled in her office. She dragged over her extra chair so they could sit side by side at her desk. He pulled out a flash drive and plugged it into her laptop.

“Sorry about the dinner interrogation,” Rae said. “I did warn you.”

Dayton looked at her, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “You know, Lily’s not wrong. About there being rules. I could get into serious trouble being here with you.”

“Then don’t be here.”

He appeared hurt by her words. “That’s kind of the problem, Rae. I can’t seem to not be around you, and it’s distracting me from my work.” He paused as if he was carefully picking his words. “I think you’d agree we skipped a few steps last night. And as much as I’d like to know what it’d be like to kiss you without being drugged by nutcases, I ... I don’t think it’s a good idea right now. I think they wanted to distract us, and we can’t let them.”

There it was. She knew he was right, but hearing it felt like a hundred wasps stinging her chest at the same time.

She forced herself to say, “I completely agree.”

He seemed like he wanted to say more, but he shifted to face the laptop.

“So, your daughter—Carli—spends a lot of time at your mom’s?” Rae said, trying to shift to a less uneasy topic. “Not with your ex?”

“There is no ex.” He turned back to her. “I didn’t think to tell you this before, but Carli is my cousin’s daughter. My parents took care of her after Tula was murdered, but then my father passed, and my mom started having health issues and couldn’t care for her full time. So, Carli’s been with me since she was about three.”

“But you call her your daughter.”

“To her, I’m the only father she’s known. And I look at her as my daughter.”

She wished she hadn’t pried because it only made her yearn to know more about him, and for the first time in years, she wanted someone to know her.

“I didn’t mean to be nosy. I was just curious,” she said, not wanting to make things more complex than they already were between them.

“She’s a lot like Lily. Witty and bright and full of Gen Z jokes I’ll never understand.” He smiled.

“Lily’s definitely got the witty thing down.”

“What about Lily’s father?” he said. “Does she get to see him often?”

Clint’s face flashed in Rae’s mind. “No, he’s never been in the picture.”

Dayton nodded, probably assuming Lily’s father was simply a deadbeat dad, and turned back to the computer. “Okay, let’s take a look at this thing.” He pulled up the biggest file on the flash drive and hit play. “If you see any of the missing women, let me know. I’ve seen their photos, but you would probably spot them better than I can.”

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