Page 65 of Falcon

“Sure,” I answered, and Jayes shot off. A smile crossed my face. Jayes was slowly forgetting his learned behaviour, and that warmed me. That meant I’d not damaged my son permanently. People would always label me a failure. But they weren’t the ones receiving the beatings or the constant threats. It was easy for them to sit on their thrones and judge. Try walking in my shoes before casting stones.

“What do you fancy?” Falcon asked.

Awkwardly, I gazed at the menu, looking for the cheapest option, and Falcon reached out and plucked it from my hand. “Nope, we aren’t doing that, babe. Pick what you want, hear me?”

I bit my lip, unsure how to answer. “I don’t have the money,” I whispered, dropping my eyes.

“Hey, look at me. If you are Jayes are out with me, you never pay. Money’s not an issue for me. Okay? Myka, order anything that catches your fancy.”

“Lobster tails?” I murmured.

Falcon grinned, and when the waitress came over, he placed our orders and linked his fingers with mine. He was making a statement and wanted everyone watching to see it. That warmed my insides like nothing else ever had.

Falcon

I was still smiling the next morning after my date last night. Myka had opened up, showing me some of herself. I now knew Myka loved singing, although she claimed she was tone-deaf. She also enjoyed reading. Myka had wanted a career as a gardener, but Dawson had forced her to leave college after knocking her up.

Despite having feelers out, nobody had seen Dawson after that sighting at the shop with his father. Billy-Ray had been taken in for questioning but had walked. He’d been so blind drunk, the fool couldn’t remember his name, let alone meeting his son. The whole family was disgusting.

Calamity rotated the prospects in pairs to monitor the Beauregards, but there was no lead yet. I’d been surprised to learn they owned two acres of land, on which the entire lot of them lived there in trailers. Myka hadn’t been exaggerating when she said they all stuck together. So, it didn’t make sense that Dawson had moved away from family.

I reckoned that Dawson had seen it as being above the rest of them. He’d bought a house, paid a mortgage, and held a decent job. This was Dawson’s way of thumbing his nose at his low beginnings. And yet he remained a Beauregard and didn’t appreciate when he had something precious within his grasp. A knock on the door caught my attention as I picked out my breakfast, and I looked up to find Cates entering.

“Whatever this is, it can wait. Grab a plate,” I ordered.

“Falcon, I’m here officially.”

“Good for you. Want my co-operation? Eat!”

Cates grinned and shook her head. “Fine. I need coffee; I’ve been up since three this morning.”

That early surely meant only one thing. “A body.”

“Yeah.” Cates placed bacon on her plate and began filling it up. I put my breakfast on the table and motioned for her to sit while I fetched drinks. Cates followed me as I set the mugs down and sat opposite me.

“Whose?” I asked, biting into toast.

“Merle Beauregard.”

My hand paused on its way to shoving the sausage into my mouth. That wasn’t who I’d been expecting.

“How?”

“Beaten to death,” Cates stated.

I showed her my hands. “No split knuckles, Sheriff.”

“Noted. However, we know it wasn’t one of you.” Cates bit into her toast.

“Yeah? How? Got us under surveillance?”

“No. Because we’ve got footage of Rawson dumping Merle’s body,” she replied. “This stays between us.”

“What the hell?” I gasped as Calamity came and sat down.

“Did I hear you right?” he asked, snatching a sausage from my plate. I stabbed at him with a fork.

“Go get your breakfast. We’ll hold this conversation for now,” Cates said, smirking as Calamity whipped his hand back with bacon this time. Calamity forced a smile, standing back up. He felt this pressure, too. If Rawson was able to kill his cousin, a family member, then Myka and Jayes weren’t safe.