Chapter 43: Chapter 44

The sun momentarily distracted him and he blinked hard to clear his eyes. “A little over an hour ago.”

The expression she wore belied the casualness in her voice. “That’s not so bad, you nut. He does like walking.”

Dustin turned back to Christina, his eyes pleading. “I know. Tell me I’m crazy. Tell me not to be worried.”

“Why do you think you should be worried?”

“Shyla came back,” Dustin told her. And the words sounded so much worse than they’d felt up in the apartment. “Alone.”

She paused only for a second. “Come on, Dustin. Let’s go see Papa.”

* * * *

“For what purpose,” ‘Suko said, “would we contact the authorities? We should try and find him ourselves. After all, what can we say? A grown man has gone missing? Less than two hours ago?”

“A blind grown man,” Dustin interjected. “Besides, where would we look?”

“A blind, grown man, with his dog. They will not help us.”

“But Shyla—”