“Macon,” she whispered.
The man in uniform she’d been speaking to came forward. “Sir?”
“This is Macon...he’s my...he’s mine...” Dakota sputtered. “I mean, he’s with me. Macon, someone matching Adam’s description was seen around the school. He took him. I know it. He had to have.” Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked them away. She was so fucking strong. I hated that she had to be. We’d both break later, but for now, we needed to focus on getting Joshua back.
“Jesus, okay. They’re going to find him. We’re going to find him.” Dakota slid her hand into mine, and I looked up at the other man. “Right?” I growled.
“Yes, we will.” The man narrowed his eyes. “I remember you.”
“Yeah, I remember you, too. Thanks for your help in saving my life.”
Dakota’s gaze moved between the two of us, and I shook my head. “He was there that day. Don’t worry about it. Now, what do we do?” I asked the familiar man, though I couldn’t remember his name.
“Right now, we have the description of the perp and the vic, and we’re taking statements from others. Can you tell us where you were?”
Dakota raised her chin. “Macon doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
I squeezed her hand. “It’s fine. It depends on the time, but I’ve been at my vet practice all day. And I was never alone because we were pretty busy. Surgeries and checkups mostly.”
“Okay, I just needed to ask.”
I gave the other man a tight nod. “I get it, just find him. He’s got to be scared. He’s never met Adam.”
“He doesn’t even know what he looks like,” Dakota said. “I don’t even know how he could have found out what Joshua looks like,” Dakota repeated.
Adam. Adam didn’t even know what his son looked like.
“We’re going to find him, ma’am.”
“Please stop calling me ma’am. That’s not helping,” she spat.
I squeezed her hand, and her whole body shook.
“Go home and wait for a phone call. Or a visit. We’ll send people with you. There’s nothing you can do here. You’re welcome to keep your business open, but I figure you might want to sit at home and wait.”
“We’ll take care of everything here,” Pop said.
“I promise,” Jason began.
“We’ve all got it,” some of the customers said from around us, and tears filled Dakota’s eyes. She blinked them back again.
“You find that baby boy,” an older woman chimed in from behind one of the tables. “We’ll take care of your shop. We’ll make sure everything gets handled. You just take care of yourself and Joshua. We love seeing him when he comes around. And you are such a good woman. You always know what we want and remember all of our names. You care. We care about you. Now, go find your son.”
Dakota’s small part of town had rallied around her in an instant. Somehow, she’d made connections when she hadn’t thought it possible, and I was so fucking proud of her. But for now, I knew this shell-shocked version of the woman I loved needed to be at home and near the phone.
We had to find Joshua.
And the family Dakota had created out of ashes would help her along.
“How did this happen?” Dakota asked as she began pacing in the living room, Tink curled in her hands.
As we left the Boulder Bean to come home and wait for news, word had got out among our little community, and people were coming in, ordering coffees, trying to support her as much as they could. They were also searching for Joshua, as was everybody else. But the authorities had relegated Dakota to sitting at home as they searched and kept an eye on the place, coming in and out often.
So, I was here, too.
Jeremy had dropped off the kittens and Mama Cat, as well as a casserole that Marni had put together. I didn’t think anyone would be eating, but Marni had needed to do something with her hands, and I appreciated the gesture.
So now we were at the house, the other three kittens climbing around on my feet as Mama Cat watched us all, the tension in the room almost palpable. At any moment, an officer could come in, ask more questions, and add more pressure to the situation. They were giving us space to breathe while we waited for news, but the break wouldn’t last long.
“I want to be out there, looking for him. But Adam is going to call you, I just know it. And that means we need to be where he might show up.” It was the line of thinking I’d let myself go down, though I wasn’t sure if it was at all rational.
“What if he doesn’t?” Dakota asked as she leaned down and rubbed her cheek on top of Tink’s head. Tink mewed and stretched at Dakota’s touch.
“He’s going to. You know he wants money from you or your bakery or something. But he’s not going to get any of that.”
“I’ll give him anything he wants to get Joshua back.”
“I know, baby.”
“I hate this,” she said before she looked through the back windows into the trees beyond the yard. There was a small forest behind her house. The place backed up to the mountains, and there were trees with darkness. It was hard to see beyond it.
I never felt like anybody was watching me from here, but I knew that Dakota sometimes felt that way. Was it because of Adam? Or her past?
I didn’t know, but I hated that she looked so lost right now.
That Joshua wasn’t here to crack jokes or talk about farts.
I missed that kid so fucking much.
There was nothing I could do but stand here. The
