Page 105 of Nowhere Good

Voicemail.

Then called her again.

This time, it rang and rang and rang, injecting some hope into his rapidly beating heart, but it ended up hitting her voicemail anyway.

“Shit,” he hissed. He clenched his fist and resisted lashing out at the steering wheel. There was only one reason this would happen, and it definitely did not involve Claire getting engaged to Dillon.

No, Ron had something to do with this.

Seth would bet money on it.

He went to turn on the car, to drive straight to Ron Dyer’s house, when his phone buzzed in his hand. A text from Claire.

Dillon asked me to marry him, and I said yes. I’m sorry. This is goodbye. Don’t contact me again.

What. The. Fuck.

No. This was bullshit. Absolute bullshit.

Claire would not do this. Especially after what she’d told him last night. No, her father, Dillon, somebody did something to her.

Take a breath. He had to collect himself, to not make any rash decisions. One wrong move could compromise everything. He had to do this right.

Please forgive me, Claire.

He dialed Chief Wells’s number.

THIRTY-ONE

Chief Wells rapped her fist against the door of Ron Dyer’s farmhouse, the sound booming through the countryside, resonant in the evening silence. She shot Seth a disapproving look, but he was too tense to care.

Yes, she was skeptical of the whole thing, but he’d managed to convince her to come look anyway, based on what Claire had told him. She’d been very apprehensive as to how, when, and why Claire told him all those things, but he’d left that part vague.

“Don’t expect much to come from this,” Wells said. “I told you, there are things you don’t know about Claire Dyer. It’s possible she did forgive Dillon and ran off with him.”

“That’s not what happened.”

Wells gave him another scrutinizing look. “Remember, we pitch this as a wellness check. I’m not pushing exigent circumstances or anything like that unless Ron gives me a hard time. You just keep quiet, or I’ll have you out of here. I’m leading this.”

He was certain he might grind his teeth into dust, but he nodded. “I appreciate it, Chief.”

“Let’s just see what happens.”

Footsteps thumped over hardwood inside, and Ron Dyer cranked the door open. He zeroed in on Wells, and only Wells.

“Roslyn, this is a surprise! Thought you already had everything you needed from me?”

“Evening, Ron. You wouldn’t happen to know where Claire is at, would you?”

A smile split Ron’s face in two. He still hadn’t looked at Seth, not once, which was not like him, but it felt intentional. As if to burn Seth from existence, and it worked to piss him off. “You didn’t hear? Babygirl finally got a ring on her finger—she and Dillon got engaged this mornin’. Spent the day here, helped Clementine settle in, then rode off in Dill’s car to celebrate, goin’ on a little road trip vacation. Left about an hour ago.”

“And you haven’t heard from her since?”

“Nope, but they said they were turnin’ their phones off, spendin’ some time together away from that social media crap. They’ve been strugglin’ since everythin’ went down. Dillon was havin’ affairs. Turns out Claire was too. Clementine nearly dyin’ smacked some sense into both of ’em, ’specially Dillon.”

Wells lifted a brow. “Claire was having an affair too, huh? With who?” she asked, although she didn’t sound all that curious. Seth remained a statue beside her.

“Now that, I don’t know,” Ron said. “Dillon don’t know either. Adultery’s no good in my books, but Dillon figured Claire was owed one, let bygones be bygones, and called ’em even. A bit beautiful how two people can come together after somethin’ like that, realize they’ve been wastin’ time chasin’ others.”