No One But You (Silver Springs #2)(44)

Now he wished he hadn’t made that decision. If he hadn’t been living in Silver Springs, he wouldn’t have picked up that hitchhiker. And if he hadn’t picked up that hitchhiker, he believed his parents would still be alive.

But he’d been with them in their final years. He tried to console himself with that. He felt like he’d done his part to return the love they’d given him.

Now he just had to find their killer.

Ignoring the curious stares he received as he walked in, he found a seat at the far end of the bar.

“Look, it’s the dude who killed his parents! He’s out of jail.”

Dawson heard a man at a nearby table whisper that loudly to his companion. The pair gaped at him, as did everyone else, but no one got up to confront him. Dawson considered that a good thing. He was afraid of what he might do to anyone who tried to throw him out.

Half expecting the bartender to be the one to walk over and ask him to leave, he felt like a tightly coiled spring until the man wiping down the bar merely looked up and nodded. “Be with you in a minute,” he said and, true to his word, came down as soon as he’d tossed his rag into the sink. “What can I get for you?”

Dawson felt the tension in his body ease. “I’ll take a Guinness.”

“You got it.”

The bartender looked to be in his midtwenties. Dawson decided he hadn’t paid much attention to the murders, or he didn’t care about a crime that didn’t directly affect him. But when he returned with the beer, he said, “You been out to see Aiyana yet?”

Dawson lifted his eyebrows in surprise. The guy spoke like they knew each other, like they were friends. “No, but Eli and Gavin stopped by the farm. Why? How do you know the Turners?”

“I went to school at New Horizons, too.”

“When?”

“Graduated seven years ago. That’s a bit after your time, but I heard about you, of course. Everyone’s heard about you. My father’s a criminal defense attorney in LA. A good one,” he added. “Aiyana had me set up a meeting with him.”

“She did?” She’d never mentioned that to Dawson. “Why?”

“She was hoping he could help.”

“And? Did that meeting ever take place?”

“It did, although nothing really came of it. He took a look at the evidence to see if there might be something more he could suggest to your attorneys. But my dad told Aiyana that your team was doing a good job, that you should get off, and you did.”

Dawson sipped the foam off his beer. “Nice of her to go to the trouble. Nice of your father, too.”

“He has his moments,” he responded. “I wouldn’t have been sent away to a boys school if we’d been able to get along. But...things are better between us now.”

“What was the problem?”

“I wish I could say it was him, but I was a spoiled brat, needed to grow up.”

Dawson liked this guy already. “And now?”

“I’m damn near perfect. Can’t you tell?” He grinned as he walked off to refill someone else’s glass.

As Dawson drank his beer, he eyed some of the women in the bar. He’d come here for a much-needed diversion. Considering the amount of flesh on display, he felt he’d come to the right place. If anything could distract him, it should be this. It’d been so long since he’d had a woman, and he was beginning to feel every one of those days.

And yet...he wasn’t as interested as he’d thought he would be.

He told himself it was because ogling the cleavage he saw felt a little desperate and shallow and he’d outgrown that type of thing. But he was afraid it was more than that. He was afraid someone else had already captured his imagination, someone he’d at first thought was too skinny to be attractive to him. It wasn’t her breasts so much as her big eyes and that full mouth that turned him on—not to mention her legs—

“Would you like another?”

The bartender was back.

“No, thanks. I’ve got to work in the morning.”

“I hear you’re getting the farm up and going.”

This guy was pretty friendly. “What’s your name?”

“Gage. Gage Pond.”

“Who told you I’m getting the farm up and going, Gage?”

“You’re kidding, right? You’re all anyone can talk about these days.”

“I’m all anyone has been able to talk about for a long time.”

“True, but with the verdict and your release...well, that has them all stirred up again.”

Them. This guy didn’t consider himself one of “them.” That was apparent. “People will always talk. Nothing I can do about that.”

“True enough.” He hesitated as if he had more to say. Then he smiled and walked off as if that was it, only to come right back. “Look, I realize you might want to put the whole thing behind you...”

“But...” With that kind of a lead-in, Dawson expected several uncomfortable questions, including Did you do it? He didn’t want to deal with that, but he liked this Gage enough to indulge him, to a point.

“But that hitchhiker you told the police about?”

Dawson sat up straighter. He hadn’t expected Gage to bring up the hitchhiker. No one wanted to talk about the hitchhiker because most people didn’t believe he existed, and if he did exist, they couldn’t be so sure of his guilt. “Yes?”