The Bad Daughter(71)

“Gotta say, I couldn’t give a shit.”

“What do you want, Dylan?” Melanie said.

“What do I want?” he repeated. “Well, let’s see. For starters, access to my daughter would be nice.”

“She doesn’t want to see you,” Robin said.

“I’m sure she could be persuaded, if you were to talk to her, get her to see reason.”

“The reason being?”

“That I’m her daddy. Her real daddy. And I want to take care of her, make up for all the time we lost.”

“Not happening.”

“We’ll talk to her,” Melanie said. “See what we can do.”

“What?” Robin gasped. “We’ll do no such thing.”

“The man has a right to see his daughter,” Melanie said.

“Finally. The voice of reason.” Dylan tipped an invisible hat toward Melanie.

“There is no way I am letting you anywhere near that little girl,” Robin insisted.

“We’ll talk to Cassidy,” Melanie said as another car pulled to a stop behind them.

Robin watched the car door open and a pair of scuffed brown leather cowboy boots hit the gravel shoulder of the road.

“Is there a problem here?” Sheriff Prescott asked, the rest of him emerging from behind the wheel.

“Well, hello there, Sheriff,” Dylan said. “Now isn’t this a coincidence? Us all being out here together.”

“Problems?” the sheriff asked again.

“Nothing we can’t handle,” said Melanie.

“Dylan was just leaving,” Robin said.

Dylan nodded toward Alec. “When are you gonna arrest this man, Sheriff?”

“When I damn well feel like it, Dylan.”

Dylan chuckled. “Okay. Seems like we’re all a bit sensitive today. Must be the heat. Guess I’ll get going, leave you guys to it. I’m staying at the Red Rooster Motel, if you need to get ahold of me. You’ll talk to Cassidy?” he asked Melanie.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Robin said as Dylan sauntered back to his car.

“Please don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“Well, you won’t get any help from me,” Robin said.

“When have I ever gotten any help from you?”

Robin bit down on her tongue to keep from snapping back as she watched Dylan get into his car and drive off.

“The man is Cassidy’s biological father,” Melanie said. “As far as I’m concerned, if he’s willing to take Cassidy off my hands, then I’m more than willing to let him.”

“There’s no way I’ll ever let him get his hooks into Cassidy,” Robin said.

“You may not be able to stop him. He has rights, whether you like it or not. Whether Cassidy likes it or not. She’s a minor. He’s her father. What do you say, Sheriff?”

“I say that you’ll probably have to talk to a lawyer about that,” Prescott said. “Jeff McAllister, for instance. I hear you’ve already paid him a visit. Care to share, Alec?”

Alec laughed. “Not much in a sharing mood, I’m afraid.”

“What are you doing here, Sheriff?” Robin asked. “Surely you have better things to do than trail after us all day.”

“Just doing my job. Keeping tabs on the good citizens of Red Bluff. Hoping they stay out of trouble. You do know that the city limit is just a few miles up the road. Wouldn’t want to see your brother get hauled off to jail because he was unfamiliar with the town’s boundaries. Or you, for inadvertently aiding and abetting.”

“My brother has no intention of leaving Red Bluff.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“So why don’t you stop harassing us and concentrate on finding out who shot my family?” Robin said as the sheriff turned to leave.

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do, Robin. I’ll be in touch.” He climbed back in his car and drove off.

“Wow,” Alec said to Robin. “When did you get so feisty?”

Robin spun toward her brother. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Whoa. What?”

“Did you do it, Alec?”

“What?” he repeated, looking helplessly toward Melanie.

Melanie shrugged. The shrug said, Don’t look at me.

“Because I gotta tell you,” Robin continued, a line of perspiration wriggling down her neck, “I’m getting really sick and tired of all this bullshit.”

“What bullshit?”

“I want you to stop with the excuses and the evasions and the smart mouth and tell me the truth.”

“I have told you the truth.”

“You didn’t shoot anybody,” Robin stated.

“I didn’t shoot anybody,” Alec confirmed.

“Then what the hell were you doing in Red Bluff that night? I need to know, and I need to know now. Do you hear me?”

“I can’t tell you. If they call on you to testify in court…”

“Then I’ll plead the fifth, or I’ll lie, or God forbid, I’ll tell the truth. God knows somebody around here has to start.”