The Map Home (Collier’s Creek Christmas)

Chapter 9

NINE

Dakota

On the sidewalk outside Tad’s building, Dakota had to stop and lean against the brick facade for a minute to regulate his breathing.

“Just breathe, in and out,” he reminded his brain.

He’d fucking almost kissed Tad. What the fuck had he been thinking? Where had his self-control disappeared to? Tad Gillespie, all wide-eyed and hardly moving, watching Dakota like he was the hawk and Tad was the prey. And he’d liked it.

Forcing himself to take a deep breath in through his nose, he stepped away from the building and headed for his truck. He also tried to shove aside his mental image of Tad and that wide open and vulnerable expression. His ridiculous mustache came to mind. That thing was never going to grow in, regardless of what Curtis claimed. Instead of making Tad look older, it somehow achieved the opposite, making him seem even more vulnerable.

Making Dakota want to keep him safe.

Thank fuck he’d stopped himself before he’d done anything fucking stupid, like ruin his friendship with the best person he knew.

Pep talk finished, Dakota shook himself like a wet dog, unlocked his truck, and got behind the wheel to drive the three short blocks back to his place. Tad wasn’t wrong—it was dumb to have two apartments when they could have one together. They hung out at least every other day. Since meeting Tad when Dakota was fourteen and his mom had taken the job as a cook at G-Bar, the longest amount of time they hadn’t seen each other was when Tad had gone to Bozeman for college. And even then they’d still talked almost every day.

Unlike Tad’s cozy apartment, Dakota’s was chilly and felt barren. Probably, he thought grimly, that was because he hardly had anything on the walls—just a first responders and kittens calendar that Tad had given him last year as a joke. The guys were hot though. His single bookshelf was stacked mostly with textbooks from the criminal justice classes he’d taken.

He didn’t have many photographs, just the one that Mat Dempsey’s mom, Alyson, had given him and a few from Tad and Penny, mostly just of Tad and Dakota doing stuff. One was of Dakota saddled up on a big bay with Tad on his white and tan mustang right next to him, the two of them tossing their caps in the air on the night of high school graduation. Sure, most people just kept pictures on their phones, but not Penny Gillespie. She printed them out and then gave them away like party favors.

But none of the framed pictures scattered around the room were of his life before G-Bar. Ana had either left those ones behind or destroyed them. Dakota remembered having school pictures taken, but he’d never seen them. With people taking selfies these days, even if his mom had had photos, they’d been lost with her phone.

Sighing, he slung his coat over the arm of his couch, toed his boots off, and padded into the closet-slash-bedroom. After getting undressed and leaving his clothes hanging up haphazardly, he slid under the covers. As tired as Dakota was, he thought he’d fall asleep quickly, but instead he ended up staring at the ceiling for far too long.

Sunday morning, the station got a call from the mayor. All the teddy bears donated to the Kids-In-Need program had been stolen.

“Every last one of them is gone,” Sheriff Morgan fumed. “What is the world coming to?”

“Any cameras in the area?” Ben asked.

Quietly, Dakota scoffed. As if anyone if Collier’s Creek would put up with cameras. While there was plenty of petty crime, most shop owners saw no reason to spend their hard-earned money on security cameras. The way people talked, it was usually pretty easy to figure out which high school kid had gone on a crime spree.

“Nope. I don’t think anyone considered that the toys might be stolen. Something like this has never happened before. I’ve advised the mayor to offer community funding for cameras, but that’s a little bit like shutting the barn door after the horses escaped.”

“No witnesses?” Dakota asked. He also wondered if Penny Gillespie knew what had happened yet. She’d been so excited about “being a part of the solution.” She was going to be furious, and he didn’t want to be the one to tell her.

It was hard for him to believe that no one had seen or heard the donation kiosk being broken into. Especially since just about everyone in Collier’s Creek knew everyone else’s business. Maybe the nosey folks had been asleep?

“Not yet, that we know of.” Morgan eyed Dakota. “I’m assigning tracking down any witnesses to you, Green.” Dakota stilled, feeling all eyes on him. “We need you to do your best on this. Having this happen the first year is not a good look. Who knows? Maybe Geraldine was out walking Barky at three a.m. If she was, I want you to find out.”

“We don’t know what time the theft happened, do we?” Ben said.

“Nope. No one noticed the booth had been broken into until Kandy Kane needed some kind of photo with the toys. That was just before eight this morning. Could have happened anytime before then, or even Saturday night after the shops and restaurants closed.”

Great, no pressure, just save Christmas and all that.

“I’m on it,” Dakota responded.

“And, of course, you’ll also be on traffic duty as needed,” Morgan added.

Dakota nodded, absently patting his pocket to make sure he had his notebook. At least the weather folks weren’t predicting more snow for today.

“I’ll stop in at CCs first. The baker must start early, so maybe they saw something? But the bookstore and most other places still aren’t open yet.”

“Do what you can. The mayor is furious, and I have to say I am with him on this one.”

Dakota recalled the Santa who’d flipped him off and the Santa-less costume in the park. Any connection seemed far-fetched—about the only thing the two instances had in common were maybe happening around the same time. Still, he pulled out his notebook and jotted the incidences down before he forgot about them.

“Ben, any sign of our missing person?” Sheriff Morgan asked.

Ben, the sheriff’s real-life partner as well as a deputy, shook his head. “Nope, and Ms. Suarez is anxious. We’ve fielded several more calls from her. I hate having to tell her there’s nothing we can really do.”

Shit. Dakota opened and then shut his mouth. It had slipped his mind that Niall had offered up his coworker to help with research. He made another note to check in with his half brother, albeit reluctantly. He didn’t want to come across as a pest. Niall was doing the station a favor, not the other way around.

However, as fate, or luck, would have it, Dakota’s cell phone rang just as he got behind the wheel of the cruiser. A 360 area code was calling him again.

“Dakota here.”

“It’s Niall. I said Ryder would dig up information, and he did find a few things. No smoking gun though. Not sure how much help it will be finding your missing person, but you never know. I’ll send all of this to your email so you can do what you want with the information.”

“Thanks, we appreciate it.”

“I’m sure your sheriff won’t appreciate it when—or if—he finds out that we poked our noses in. But hey, like I said, forgiveness after the fact is a thing. Anything else interesting in Collier’s Creek?”

“Are you bored or trying to make conversation?” Niall snorted, which had Dakota grinning. They understood each other. “But to answer your question, we now have The Case of the Purloined Teddy Bears .” He went on to explain about the missing toys and the melted Santa Claus that Tad had discovered.

“Well, I can’t say it’s not interesting over there in Wyoming. Sounds like something kids would do to me.”

“It does, doesn’t it? But whoever did it was reasonably careful. They didn’t destroy the kiosk or anything like that.”

“Huh. Guess I’ll have to leave this one to you. Talk to you later.”

“Sure thing.”

“Outrageous!” Geraldine exclaimed hotly. Barky was secured on his leash, but the little dog was doing what he did best, which was dashing back and forth and barking loud enough that Dakota and Geraldine had to speak over him.

“So, you didn’t see anything?”

“No, I didn’t.” The older woman shook her head. “I took Barky out for his last pee around ten and we didn’t stray far. I don’t want to end up in the hospital like poor Curtis Lewis.”

Yep, everyone in town heard everything.

“Thanks for answering my questions, Geraldine. If you think of anything or hear of something from anyone, please call us at the Sheriff’s Office.”

“Oh, I will, Deputy. I am simply shocked. I can’t believe someone would just take the donations. They were for children! What is the world coming to these days?”

“I can’t say. Be careful out there. They say it might get icy again later.” Next on his list was CCs, where the baker should be just getting off her shift.

The coffee shop was located a bit down the street from the Christmas tree and the donation booth, but most of the other stores and restaurants opened later in the day. He’d stop by Jake’s too since maybe Tad saw something when he was stalking Honey Sweeting. But he also figured that he would’ve known last night if Tad had heard anything, and not this morning from Sheriff Morgan.

He stomped down errant thoughts of Tad; he couldn’t afford to be distracted.

The baker at CCs, Donna Pearce, spotted Dakota waiting by the counter and waved as she came out from the back to meet with him. A flour-dusted apron was tied around her waist and her hair was tucked back out of the way and also lightly dusted with flour. Dakota thought Donna was in her forties, but he didn’t know for certain. All he knew was that the few times they’d interacted, she’d been pleasant.

“Thanks for speaking with me.”

He had his notebook out just in case, but after his previous conversation, Dakota didn’t expect to have much, if any, information to write down.

“Sure, it’s not a problem. Always happy to help.”

Dakota explained about the missing toys. “We’re searching for possible witnesses. Did you see or hear anything unusual when you arrived this morning?”

Pursing her lips, Donna considered his question.

“It was pitch dark when I arrived this morning, of course, except for all the Christmas lights. And”—she grimaced—“I park in the back and just come right through into the kitchen. I can’t say that I heard or saw anything today. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me.”

Was he frustrated? Yes. Assuming that the crime had taken place in the early morning, he’d pinned his hopes on those employees that arrived early at shops around the area. The chances of learning who was behind this were fading quickly—if there’d ever been any.

“Do you want to talk to my son?” Donna asked. “He’s a server here and, seeing that he’s grounded from driving for a week, he’s been riding in with me. Ended up sitting out in the car for a while for reasons only known to himself. There’s a chance he was sleeping, but he could’ve been on his phone. Dang things.”

“If I have your permission to speak with him, that would be great.”

Looking over her shoulder, Donna spoke to a dark-haired kid behind her. “Joshua, when you have a minute, Deputy Green would like to ask you some questions.”

The spindly teenager lurking behind the counter was Josh, the kid who’d served him yesterday afternoon. He straightened up, his eyes going wide as he glanced between Dakota and his mother. Donna had turned back to Dakota, so Josh couldn’t see the slight smile on her face. Whatever he’d done to be grounded from driving, she was pleased he was nervous.

“Good morning, Josh, I’m Deputy Green. Do you have a moment to speak with me?”

“Um, sure?” Josh glanced at his mom again, who was still suppressing a smile as she gave him a curt nod.

Slowly, Josh came out from behind the counter but stopped before he got too close to Dakota.

Dakota relented and attempted a smile. “It’s about an incident that occurred nearby very early today. We think anyway. Your mom says you stayed in the car for a while after arriving in the morning?”

“Oh, yeah.” Josh relaxed. “Because I can’t drive in myself later like usual. I sat in the car for about an hour until it got too cold.” He shot his mom a glare.

“Did you see or hear anything out of the ordinary?” Dakota asked.

The area behind CCs was angled parking for all the businesses along the square. At four or five in the morning, it would’ve been dark and mostly empty, Dakota supposed.

Much like his mother, Josh pursed his lips together, actively trying to remember if he’d seen anything.

“I don’t think so?” The kid looked like he wanted to add something but wasn’t sure if he should.

“Did you see something not weird?” Dakota asked.

“Well, it would’ve been weird if it wasn’t just a couple weeks before Christmas, but I did see someone dressed in a Santa costume. I only noticed because they came around from the side of the building.”

“From the town square or from the other side?”

“I think from the square? I was watching some videos so I can’t be sure.”

“Any idea what time that was?”

“It had to be around six or so? I went inside to get warm and help open up after that.” Josh sounded grumpy about it.

“Other than the costume the person was wearing, did you notice anything else? Were they tall or short, carrying a big bag, walking with a limp?”

Josh missed The Fugitive reference, but a shake of Donna’s shoulders told Dakota she had not.

“No. They were just in a costume, you know? I don’t think they were carrying a bag or anything, but I kind of only saw them out of the corner of my eye. Maybe they’d been to a party or something and were just getting home. That’s not a crime, is it?” That last comment had an edge to it.

“It is if you’re drinking while under age and then accept rides from sketchy friends,” Donna interjected.

“Thanks, Josh,” Dakota said hastily. “I’ll let you get back to work now, but I might have some more questions for you later.” To Donna, he said, “Should I reach out through you?”

“Certainly.” Donna rattled off a phone number, and Dakota quickly wrote it down. “I need to get back to cleaning up.”

Realizing the interview was over, Josh practically ran back behind the counter.

“He seems like a nice kid,” Dakota said to Donna. He remembered the one time he and Tad had been on the receiving end of a “don’t be stupid” lecture from Waylon. He hadn’t even wanted to go to the stupid party they’d gotten in trouble for. Dakota had wanted to run away and hide in a cave for the rest of the school year. Waylon must have known what he was thinking because he’d pointed a thick finger at Dakota and said, “Don’t even think about it.”

“Oh, he is. He just needs to use his brains for thinking. If you think of anything else you need to ask, don’t hesitate to reach out.”

Lingering in front of CCs, Dakota contemplated Josh’s early-morning Santa sighting. What had Santa Claus been doing, and could they have somehow been involved with the toy theft? Dakota wanted to dismiss it as just some random person.

Josh hadn’t noticed if the person was carrying anything, and it seemed to Dakota that a bundle of toys would’ve been bulky enough even for a mostly oblivious teenager to see. He also admitted to himself that he wasn’t much older than the kid and that, contrary to what Josh said, the Santa could have been heading toward the square instead of away from it.

He’d started back to where he’d parked the cruiser when his cell phone vibrated. Tucking his notebook away, he pulled out the phone. It was Tad.

Of course it was.

T: I’m holding you to the Christmas tree

Dakota thought for a minute, then smirked and typed back, That sounds uncomfortable . Hitting send, he tucked his phone away again and allowed himself to enjoy an image of Tad, sputtering and maybe a bit red-cheeked at his response.