“No,” said the sheriff, tilting it so it lay face down on the desk, “I guess it’s the family of whoever ran this town before all this. And this here sheriff badge ain’t real neither. I looted it from the toy department in the supermarket on the other side of town when we got here. I just grew the tache to fit the bill nicely, but Mandy who runs the Lone Star across town reckons it makes me look kinda porno.”

“What would she do if you got rid of it?”

“Kick me out of bed probably. But don’t tell Teddy I told you that. It’s secret until we know it’s a sure thing.”

Peter smiled.

The clock ticked.

The sheriff set his mug down on the desk, easing back into his chair. “Peter, what do you know of Timberdark?”

Slices of sunlight breaking through the slats in the blinds dimmed, dulling the shadows around the objects littered across the desk. And yet the office became brighter somehow. Luminous, even. Peter recognized the grey glow of heavy snowfall from many a day spent trapped inside the tree house. He parted two slats to watch it tumble down in thick drifts across the window. The last time the snow had fallen this heavily had been in the days following his very first kiss with Cooper in the boathouse. He’d spent so many hours pressed against the tree-house window longing to see him again, he thought that snowstorm would never end. Looking back now, the only thing standing between him and Cooper had been the days. Now there was a word. That word. And now the sheriff had brought it into the room with them, it stood directly over Peter watching, knowing full well its secret was so powerful it made the truth pitiful, that there was something about Cooper he had no access to.

“I thought Cooper was supposed to be invaluable now he can help stop the Dead from attacking,” said Peter after a while. “But it doesn’t sound like it.”

The sheriff’s eyes smiled sadly in ways that told Peter he completely understood his instinct was to protect him. But the matter still stood. “Drink your tea, son.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Teddy made it with more love than a damned cup of tea has any right to. He’ll be offended as all hell if you—”

“I said I don’t want it.”

“Then at least take a breath and realize we’re just tryin’ to help you. Of course Cooper’s invaluable. All Returnees are. With so many of the Dead left roaming the land, our reintegration is utterly dependent on them. Utterly. We just need to keep the government on side is all.”

“But—”

“And stamp any worrying words like Timberdark out before they catch fire.”

“He’ll tell you when he’s ready to.”