Speaking of which, since changing direction, the blowing snow was now coming from right to left, numbing that side of his body. He winced, not from the cold this time. The constant act of arching his legs around Wayne’s generous torso was pushing against his knee. Three operations later and the thing was no less defective. That was something they didn’t tell you growing up—that your parts wore out and needed replacing. Made him feel like an old jalopy sometimes, a Model T in a world of Teslas. Maybe Dakota’s colorful description of him hadn’t been that far off after all.
Up ahead, the road curved gently to the right, hugging the frozen Rock River. On the other was one farmer’s field after another, fenced off and stretching to a range of nearby hills. It would be this way for much of the journey to Rockford. More importantly, any sign of tire tracks had long since faded. Whoever intended on fleeing Byron had already done so. At least, that was how it seemed.
Dakota was riding next to him, moving in the saddle as Sundae worked her way across the challenging terrain. Just past her, something in the field caught his attention—a dark figure, working its way through the deep powder. This guy wasn’t giving up.
Nate pointed and Dakota turned her head to see.
“Shadow,” she said, sounding pleasantly surprised. “I had a feeling we’d see him again.”
The feeling brewing inside Nate was far from pleasant or surprised, however. This was a wild animal, one that had been following them since they left the middle school. He recognized that it could have attacked them then and it hadn’t. That had to mean something. But can you ever really trust a wild creature?
“He isn’t a poodle or a stuffed animal,” Nate reminded her.
She spun and scrunched up her face. “Uh, duh.”
“Did you know that every year dozens of people around the world are killed at zoos climbing into polar bear enclosures or lion cages? The ones that survive, you know what they say?”
“‘I wanted to pet Simba?’”
“Exactly. They just got done watching Lion King for the hundredth time and wanted to get his autograph.”
She laughed. “No way.”
“I’m serious,” he replied, his gaze periodically moving past her. Shadow was still visible, navigating the weather with impressive ease. “You can’t make this stuff up.” Nate wasn’t out to denigrate such a majestic creature. Nevertheless, he hoped Shadow wouldn’t do something stupid and force his hand.
He decided to change the subject. “I noticed you got a bit funny back there at the farm when your mom’s job came up.”
Dakota’s gaze was focused down the road, her face an impenetrable mask.
“I understand you didn’t get along with your folks, but I’m sure, given all that’s happened, they deserve to know you’re all right.”
“It’s complicated,” she said in return, an unstable ice shelf of emotion building behind her normally soft voice. “Frankly, I don’t think they give a damn whether I’m alive or dead.”
“All I know is if you were my daughter and you were taken, I’d be heartbroken. I can’t imagine they’d be any different.” Although he said the words to Dakota, he might as well have been talking to his long-lost sister, Marie.
The girl looked at him, her eyes gleaming. “You would come find me, wouldn’t you?”
“Sure I would.” Nate quickly realized he had probably said the wrong thing because Dakota bent forward, her body convulsing. With one hand on the pommel of his saddle, he leaned over and rubbed her back. “I’m sure they love you, even if they don’t have a clue how to show it.”
“It’s not that,” she said, the tears still in her throat. “The stuff about my parents…”
“What about it?”
Dakota’s eyes were sullen and downcast. “I lied.”
Chapter 29
Nate stared at the girl, not entirely sure what to think. “Then I take it your father isn’t an entrepreneur and your mother isn’t in real estate.”
Dakota fidgeted with the reins, refusing to look at him. “The only way my dad could be counted as a businessman was hawking the pain pills my parents didn’t take themselves. They weren’t successful or brilliant. You couldn’t even say they were ordinary. Subpar. Losers. Take your pick. One is as good as another. When they weren’t whacked out of their minds on drugs, they were usually fighting. Throwing things. Hitting each other with whatever was around. Ashtrays, cans of Coke, you name it. A real battle royale, just like the videogame. You know, the one all the kids are playing.”
Yeah, Nate knew a thing or two about that. “You were ashamed. I get that. Although I don’t like that you lied to me.”
“I don’t know why I did it. At the time, I guess it somehow felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t want you to hate me.”
“Hate you for having lousy parents? Do I look like that big a prick?”
The hint of a smile. “You did look a little frightening when I first met you,” she admitted. “I wasn’t sure if you were freeing me or whether I was simply changing captors.”
Nate’s eyes returned to the road. “You’re free to go whenever you’d like.”
She looked down again. “I know. I’m thankful. It’s partly why I thought you deserved to hear the truth.”
“Sooner or later, I would have figured it out on my own,” he said before tapping the side of his nose. “Call it a cop’s instinct, but I could tell back at the farmhouse something wasn’t adding up.”
“I know. I wanted you to hear it from me, rather than finding out some other way.”
The horses struggled to blink away the fat blowing flakes coming at them. Ahead lay a sea of white, broken only by a screen of trees to their right, a mix of old elm and evergreens. There was no sign of any cars or trucks anymore, except those buried under several inches and in some cases feet of snow. Nate’s thoughts circled back to the fib Dakota had told him. “And your folks. Your real folks. Where are they now?”
She shrugged. “No idea. Dead for all I know. The state eventually came and took me away. Sent me to live with my uncle Roger, the only known relative we had. He had a house in Rockford. He was older than you by at least ten years and never had kids. It was a big adjustment for the both of us, is probably the nice way of saying it. Though I will say he taught me a lot in the short few months we lived together. He was one of those survivalist types.”
“What happened?”
Dakota made the international sign of a bottle with her thumb and pinky and tilted it at her lips.
“Oh,” Nate said, getting the implication. “Addiction runs in your family.”
“It’s why I try to never touch the stuff, even if I’m not allowed to do so legally. When he was sober, Uncle Roger would bring me fishing and hunting. Taught me how to survive in the wilderness and make my way around if I ever became lost. Learned more in my short time with him than I did in all my years of formal schooling.”
“I don’t doubt that one bit. The education system needs to be seriously reformed.”
Dakota couldn’t disagree more. “Reformed? I think the whole damn system needs to be torn down and remade, the way some people gut the inside of their house and rebuild it from the ground up.”
Nate’s eyebrows did a little dance. “Looks like you may have gotten your wish.”