Page 38 of Daybreak

“Yes, sir, I—”

Dixon ended the call in the middle of the man’s response, then threw the burner phone across the room and pounded his desk with both fists in frustration.

In that moment, Whistler was wishing he was anywhere but in Dallas with this man. He was going to get both of them killed or sent to prison. And yet he stayed—a silent witness to the threat. He didn’t have to comment. He’d seen and heard it all before.

* * *

Asher Kingston was steadily working through the list of names Gunner gave him, running background checks and accessing phone records and financial information. A dirty cop was probably using burner phones, but he had to check off all the boxes. Unless there was an offshore account somewhere, it would be financial records that gave it away.

So far, he knew Cliff Beale, Gunner’s partner, was a gambler and up to his eyeballs in debt. A man desperate for money could become suspect for selling information.

The female detective in the division was clean as a whistle with finances, but she was barely making it from month to month. She had a brother with priors, but he lived in Mississippi, so that pretty much ruled her out.

He kept going down the list while waiting for various background checks to show up, hoping the notifications about the hit being canceled had reached all the killers they’d set on Gunner’s trail.

The sites where Asher was not allowed to breach, like digging for offshore accounts, he’d given to his wife. Due to Nora’s line of work—finding online hackers and fraud within worldwide corporations—her security clearance was about as high as it got.

The moment Asher told her what Gunner was dealing with, she dropped everything she was doing and began devoting her attention to searching for secrets within the list.

* * *

Finally, it was the day of Helen Dillon’s funeral.

Business in Crossroads was about to come to a screeching halt. It was just after 9:00 a.m. when the black wreaths and black ribbons went up on the door fronts of businesses. Some stores were leaving skeleton crews to stay open, but the Tumbleweed Bar, among others, was temporarily closed.

The Yellow Rose Café was open with Davey the fry cook and Cheryl the waitress staying behind to keep it open.

Their menu was, for the time Pearl was gone, a small buffet with two meats and three sides and salad. All Cheryl and Davey had to do was keep the trays full. Pearl had already cooked what was meant to be served until she got back.

Belker’s Grocery was at half staff.

The bank had a black wreath on the door, but it was open for business.

Even though Lee Peters’s funeral service would not be held in Crossroads, school was still out for the day. He would have graduated high school in May.

The whole student body was in shock. People their age didn’t die. Or weren’t supposed to. It was their first experience of losing one of their own. Even if people weren’t planning to attend the services, they cared enough about the grieving families to honor their passing.

Sheriff Reddick had sent a uniformed officer to Crossroads for traffic control.

Gunner was ready and waiting in their living room when his dad and Pearl finally appeared.

“Mama Pearl, you sure look pretty,” Gunner said.

Pearl patted his arm. “Thank you, baby. It’s a shame someone had to die for me to bother about what to wear or how to look.”

Jacob kissed her cheek. “You are always beautiful in my eyes. Let’s get going. I expect parking will be a mess.”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to let you both out at the front of the church. I’ll find a place to park and meet up with you inside,” Gunner said, and he did.

As soon as he parked on a side street a block away, he hurried back to the church, then took a seat beside Pearl, leaving her sandwiched between them.

People were still arriving. There were pockets of people quietly visiting with each other, but the unusual silence was as noticeable as the single casket covered in a blanket of pink roses at the altar, and the two cowboys in starched Wranglers and pearl-snap white western shirts, standing like soldiers on guard at either end of the casket.

Finally, the music sounded, and with it came the family being ushered into the church and the long walk they had to make down the aisle to the pews reserved for them.

As he was watching it all happen, Gunner realized this had not happened for his mother and supposed she’d lost her right to be honored. He had no memory of ever seeing her grave and no idea where she was buried, or if her ashes had been cast in the wind.

He didn’t know Jacob was watching him, or that Pearl had slipped her hand in the crook of his elbow. His focus was on Holly and Travis’s arm around her shoulders. Like everyone here, his regret for their loss was real and deep.