Page 107 of High Water

“Thought you got divorced?”

“I’m remarried. Sorry, must have forgotten to mail your invitation. Now tell me where my daughter is.”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re terrible at your job, do you know that?”

“I don’t know where she is, but I do know how to get her back.”

“How?”

“They’re willing to make an exchange. Fallon for you.”

“For me?”

“They believe you know where the relic is. If you agree to be swapped for her and lead them to the relic.”

“Again, I don’t believe anything they say. We have no reason to trust they’d actually go through on their word and return her.”

“They’ll give her to me. I’ll make sure she’s secure before I let you go to them. I’ve got a time and a place for an exchange.”

“They were sure enough that you’d deliver on this that they’ve already told you where and when?”

“They know how you all feel. You wouldn’t leave Fallon out there like that. You know that. I know that. So let’s get this on the road and get her home.”

“What’s your angle in all of this?”

“As the sheriff? Getting a missing girl back home to her family. As a Stockton, being able to show you all that I made some mistakes once, with the best of fucking intentions, to keep my family safe. But it doesn’t mean I won’t be there for you when you need me.”

“Did you know about Creighton and my dad?”

His eyes flash with the question, but he deflects. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I don’t think now is the time for trips down memory lane. There’s a timer on this deal, and it’s running out quickly. Are we doing this or not?”

“I want to tell my brothers what’s happening.”

“No.”

“No?”

“That’s part of the deal. No brothers. No security. No family besides me. No other police force either.”

“What’s to say they don’t kill us all on sight? That she isn’t already dead, and this is a trap to lure more of us to our death.”

“There’s nothing to say that.” He’s blunt in his answer. “But I don’t see that we have another choice. So just do your best to behave yourself and follow instructions. I want to get out of this alive every bit as much as you do.”

We wait in an empty parking lot on the outskirts of town that’s far off any of the main roads and completely overgrown with weeds and littered with trash. I pace as we wait for them to show up, repeating the same two sentences in my head on a loop. I need my daughter to be okay. I’m fairly certain I’m going to die.

But if I have to die to give Fallon a second chance at life, I will.

I hear the sounds of tires on the gravel scattered down the road that leads to this abandoned lot. The car comes to a stop, still shrouded in darkness from the tinted windows. Two men who look like security get out of the car and walk around to the back door. One opens it, and the other reaches around to hold out his hand for the passenger.

“Fallon,” I breathe out her name the second I see her, my heart pounding in my chest when I see her trying to yank her arm away and cursing at the men who are holding her captive. They remove the zip ties from her hands and push her forward.

“Mom!” she yells once she sees me, and we run toward one another. I wrap my arms around her and squeeze.

“Are you okay, sweetheart? They didn’t hurt you, did they? I’ve been so terrified.”

“No, they just tied me up and wouldn’t let me go. Someone else picked me up last night, and he insisted I go with him on a little detour. It turned into a long detour, and I thought I texted you, but I don’t know.”