Part 5

Previously, in City of the Lost…

Hot on the tail of a sadistic killer, Casey receives a midnight visit. Eric confesses to lying about his relationship with Abbygail, the young woman found dismembered just days before.

But Casey soon realizes that her suspicions of Eric were unfounded. She and Dalton come to believe that Hastings—who made many sleazy moves on Abbygail—killed the vulnerable young woman. Then Mick, a former cop who is Isabel’s lover but was Abbygail’s friend, killed Hastings to avenge Abbygail.

A wood shed catches fire. Inside, Mick is found stabbed to death. Diana is also found nearby—unconscious, bloody, and extremely high. Dr. Beth Lowry confirms that Diana murdered Mick.

The council then deals Casey another horrible blow—Diana wasn’t running from her abusive ex-husband, Graham. Instead, Diana was running from the law. Graham had manipulated Diana into stealing from her employer, and then Graham took the money and attacked Diana—playing Casey, who promptly made Diana disappear. Graham even hired a hit man to make Casey think her own dark past had returned.

This confession means Casey’s free to leave—No danger awaits her down south. And she just might. Casey loved her job, and she misses Kurt, her sexy, no-strings-attached ex-con lover.

But Casey also wants to explore her growing tenderness for Eric, and she could never leave a job half done. Casey vows to catch the killer.

One

Of course I’m going after Dalton. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m staying in Rockton, and I need to tell him that. He did not, however, head out for a quiet walk in the woods. I’m halfway across town when I hear the roar of an ATV and look to see him on one, ripping into the forest.

I don’t have time to get an ATV. I know the path he’s on, and the next one over will let me cut him off if I run. So I run as fast as I can, ignoring the stares and the calls of “Casey?” and “Detective?”

One of the militia guys tries to come after me, alarmed, but I yell back, “I just need to talk to Eric. He didn’t take his radio,” and he nods and waves away the concerns of anyone else who finds it troubling that their detective is running like a madwoman for the woods.

The paths converge about a half mile in, so it’s no short sprint. But I manage to make it to the convergence point just in time to see him ripping around a bend. When he spots me, he’s off the ATV almost before it comes to a stop.

“Get the hell back to town,” he shouts to be heard over the engine.

I shake my head. “I want to talk—”

“No. You know the rules. Get your ass back to town. Now.”

I loop past him and shut off the ATV. “I want to talk.”

“And I don’t.”

I walk over to him and look up. “You’re overreacting, Eric.”

I expect a flash of rage and a hot denial. Instead, he says, teeth clenched, “Yes, which is why I’m out here. By myself. And why I don’t want to talk.”

I back up to the ATV and perch on it. He looks down the side path, the one he’s just come from, and I know he’s ready to walk away, leaving me with the ATV, so I can get safely back to town.

I take the keys from the ignition and pitch them into the forest.

“What the hell?” he says.

“If you walk away, so will I. In the other direction. Which leaves me out in the forest alone.”

His eyes narrow. “That’s not very mature.”

“Just following your lead, sheriff.”

I get a glower for that.

“I admitted I was overreacting,” he says. “It’s been a fucking long day. I’m exhausted, and I’m on edge. This morning you said if I got kicked out of Rockton, you’d come with me, and then, a few hours later, you’re thinking about leaving? What the hell was that this morning, Casey? Why the hell would you say you’d come with me—” He breaks off, shaking his head sharply as he steps back, putting distance between us. “I’m tired, and I’m overreacting, and I’m going to ask you, again—”

“You never said I could stay.”

“What?”

I slide off the ATV. “Twice last night, I said I would leave with you … if you weren’t going to kick me out after six months. You never said you’d changed your mind.”

“We were joking around. Fuck, how could you even think I still planned to send you back?”

“Because you’ve never said you changed your mind. Because you don’t threaten unless you mean it, and until you say I’m allowed to stay, I’m going to presume I’m still on probation. I just found out that my best friend betrayed me. Completely and utterly betrayed me. Then Beth—whom I considered a new friend—tells me I have no reason to stay, and that stung. But you know what hurt a whole helluva lot more, Eric? When you let Beth go on about me leaving and said nothing.”

“I was waiting for you—”

“—to say I wasn’t leaving. And I was waiting for you to say I can stay. So it was a misunderstanding, and I’m here to clear it up. There’s nothing for me to think about. I don’t want to leave. I have work to do—”

“Work to do …”

“Yes, and I’d never leave you in the lurch like that.”

“It’s not about leaving me in the lurch, Casey. Goddamn it. This is about …” He looks away and lowers his voice. “Maybe you should go home.”