Liza and Sondra opened their mouths to say something but it was then that Chace’s phone rang and every eye at the table came to him.
“On call, need to take this,” he muttered, pulling it out of his back pocket. “My apologies. I’ll take it in the other room.”
He saw a couple of understanding nods before he got out of his chair and looked at the display on his phone. He hid his confusion at what he read as he hit the button to take the call.
Then he walked with swift, long strides around the table toward the kitchen and put the phone to his ear, saying, “Keaton.”
“Man, shit, f**k, man,” Deck said in his ear and Chace’s gut clenched as he walked faster to get to the living room.
“What?” he demanded low.
Hesitation then, “Fuck, man.”
“Deck,” he clipped quietly and stopped in the living room. “Give it to me. What?”
“Found your kid,” Deck said, his tone was not good and Chace’s clenched gut twisted.
“Talk,” he ordered.
“Talked to the old guy in the alley.”
“Outlaw Al?” Chace asked.
“Yup, if that’s the old guy in the alley lives behind the coffee place. Talked to him before. Man was three sheets. Talked to him tonight, he was only two and made some sense. Sees the kid around. Followed him once. Told me where to go. There’s a reason why I couldn’t catch wind of him, so off the beaten track, there is no track. Found him in a shed, east side of town, up in the hills a fair ways. Shed’s gotta be about two hundred years old by the look of it. Long forgotten. Definitely not in repair. It provides some protection against weather but that’s it. Got a roof on it, holes in it, snow inside, but it’s somethin’.”
“Cut to it, Deck,” Chace growled.
“There’s also a reason he didn’t come to you and your woman,” Deck said quietly.
“Say it.”
“Kid’s f**ked up, brother. Face f**ked up, arm f**ked up, look of it, broken and his leg looks like it was caught in a trap. Saw the blood trail in the snow. Drug himself back home to this shed from wherever he got nailed. Had to pry himself loose with his hands, means they’re f**ked up too, still got his gloves on, mangled, brother, and a dried, bloody mess. But, a week of him in that shed alone, injured with no medicine…” He pulled in an audible breath. “Got a pulse on him, weak but it was there. Called an ambulance. He was lucky he had that sleeping bag or he’d be gone, hypothermia on top of trauma and maybe shock. Other than that, he was f**ked. Dragged shit close to him to eat, get water but I suspect he gave up on that days ago. Not eatin’, not drinkin’, leg, arm, hands and face f**ked up, he was unconscious, Chace. Couldn’t wake him so maybe even comatose. They’re takin’ him to the hospital now. I’m in my truck, followin’ them. County.”
“Faye and me’ll be there in twenty,” Chace told him immediately.
“Right,” Deck replied.
“Do me another favor. Call the Station. Get someone up to that shed. Follow that blood trail. I wanna know where he was comin’ from, he got caught in that trap. I want them to follow his footprints in the show. We haven’t had snow since last week. They’ll show where he went and where he came from. Leads to anything of interest, they don’t approach. They tell me. Once I get Faye in my truck, I’ll call myself to confirm your communication. But I want them on the move now.”
“Right,” Deck repeated.
Chace started moving back to the dining room while he muttered, “Thanks, Deck.”
“No thanks, brother. Shoulda gone back to the homeless guy days ago.”
Chace stopped in the kitchen and said firmly, “You didn’t. But you found him. Now, he’s getting help.”
Deck was silent a moment then, “Yeah.”
“See you in twenty,” Chace stated.
“Later, brother,” Deck murmured.
“Later,” Chace replied then disconnected.
He sucked in breath.
Then he moved to the wide opening that led to the dining room and all eyes came to him.