One Last Song (A Thomas Family Novel Book 3) by Kristi Cramer

Author:Kristi Cramer [Cramer, Kristi]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Kristi Cramer Books
Published: 2017-05-09T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Cody’s phone buzzed on the surface of the bar and chimed with an incoming text, but he almost didn’t look at it. He didn’t want to deal with a demand for information from Janie, and he couldn’t conceive of anyone else texting him.

The bartender looked over at him, saw his pint glass was empty, and tilted his head. “You want another?”

Cody nodded and took several deep drags off his e-cigarette. The vapors weren’t quite cutting his tension, and he contemplated buying a pack of Marlboros.

He’d been in the bar at the hotel since Sanderson and Dylan had left, running a tab with instructions to the bartender to keep the pints coming. An hour in, the bartender had convinced him to switch from his usual Bud Light to a regional brewery’s offering called Elevated IPA, and he was enjoying it—as much as he could enjoy anything in his despondent state.

“You going to check that?” Tad, the bartender, nodded toward the phone as he brought another pint over. “Could be news.”

Tad was friendly and a good listener—a classic bartender—and Cody had shared what was going on with the man. It was Tad’s tempering influence that kept him from drinking himself into stupidity. Even so, he wasn’t good for much at the moment, other than holding up the bar by leaning against it.

“Could be her mother,” Cody responded.

“And?” Tad waited, and shook his head when Cody didn’t respond. “Way I see it, there’s only one way to find out.”

Cody peered over the rim of the pint glass at the phone’s flashing LED light. He finished a long drink, sighed, and reached for it.

With no small amount of surprise, he saw the text was from Janie’s father. Curious, he tapped open the messaging window and read the enigmatic text.

Why is US 70 closed?

“What the...?” he muttered, typing a reply.

Cop was killed. Where are you?

There was a delay before the response came through.

Elida, NM.

As Cody stared at that information, wondering how—or, more importantly, why—Colton Thomas, Jr., was in New Mexico, a new message appeared.

Tell me my g-daughter is safe.

The phone slipped out of Cody’s hands and clattered to the bar, and he quickly snatched it back up. He didn’t know how to respond, but he knew the man deserved the truth.

No.

When he realized his answer could be misconstrued, he quickly added something.

Can’t, not yet.

Even though he stared at his phone for several minutes, no response came through. After ten minutes, he set the phone back down.

“What’s that then?” Tad asked, nodding at the phone.

“My daughter’s grandfather.” On impulse, he picked up the phone again and called Janie. It rang several times before a quiet male voice answered. It wasn’t Blue, so it had to be Tim. “Where’s Janie?”

“Getting a little sleep,” Tim whispered. “Is there news?”

Cody almost asked him to wake her, but decided against it. He knew she hadn’t slept at all the night before and surely needed the rest. “Tell Mrs. Thomas that Mr. Thomas is in New Mexico, just in case she didn’t know.

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