Two Reasons to Run

by Colleen Coble

  Reid moved close and took her hand before he leaned down to speak in her ear. “Lower the hackles, Mama. They’ll be fine.”

  She slanted a glance up at him. “What if she hurts him?”

  “What if he hurts her? It’s young love. They have to find their own way.”

  “This parenting stuff is hard.”

  “I know. All we can do is guide him as best we can and let him be his own person. I grew up with an overbearing father, so I never want to be that dad.”

  She understood that sentiment all too well. If not for her dad, would she have ended up in law enforcement? It was hard to know since that was all she’d ever known. By the time she was ten, she could break down and reassemble a gun in minutes. She was a crack shot, too, thanks to her dad’s training. While she loved to draw, that interest had never been encouraged, and she only did it for pleasure because it relaxed her.

  She didn’t see herself ever leaving law enforcement—it was too much a part of her now. But if she’d grown up in different circumstances, she might be a completely different person.

  She didn’t want that for Will—she wanted him to follow his dreams and passion, to be his own man.

  Reid gestured for her to go ahead of him into the RV. The kids were already raiding the fridge, and the hot dogs were on the counter.

  Reid grabbed them. “I’ve got grill duty.”

  She followed him out to the grill with her sketch pad in hand. “Any recollection of where you know that guy who broke in?”

  He shook his head. “I think it’s fairly recent though.”

  “Your computer seems to be the only thing taken. And if you recognize him from somewhere—that’s troubling. What if he’s the same one who shot at us?”

  “I don’t know if he’s familiar from Pelican Harbor or from somewhere else. And my computer was worth more than anything else.”

  True enough, but it still didn’t sit right with Jane. Her fingers moving almost on their own, she sketched Reid at the grill as she sat in the sunshine. He grinned at her and she held it in her memory long enough to capture.

  He glanced at it. “You’re good.”

  “Just a hobby. It helps me relax.”

  The kids exited the RV, and Will wore an eager expression as he stopped. “Dad, I looked it up, and Wabash is only about five hours away. What if we go meet my grandparents? We could leave after we eat and get there early enough to see them yet today. We could spend tomorrow morning with them, then start for home.”

  Jane glanced at Reid. “We wouldn’t be sitting ducks here.”

  Will frowned. “Sitting ducks? What’s going on?”

  “Someone broke into the RV while we were gone this morning. Security video showed the guy breaking in, and your dad thought he looked familiar. You’d better check your things and see if anything is missing.”

  The kids rushed to go through their things as if they had jewels stashed somewhere. A few minutes later they returned wearing identical grins.

  “My iPad’s still here,” Will announced.

  “Mine too,” Megan said. “Nothing seems missing. Was the guy someone from home, Mr. Dixon?”

  “I can’t place him at the moment.”

  “You get a printout? Maybe I know him.”

  “We did.” Jane pulled the folded picture from her handbag. She unfolded it and passed it to Megan.

  She studied it and showed it to Will. “I’ve seen him hanging around the school. I think he works for the town. He wears a shirt with a town employee logo on it.”

  Reid nodded. “That’s why he looks familiar. I saw him throwing trash in the barrel by the basketball court a few days ago.”

  So he was from Pelican Harbor. That information upped the danger factor.

  Jane studied the picture again and shook her head. “I’ve never seen him, and I know most of the locals. When did you first notice him, kids?”

  “Just before you locked me up in the bunker,” Will said.

  Jane winced, and her gaze collided with Reid’s. She supposed they had that coming. They had acted like jailers, but it was for Will’s good. What were they supposed to do with a threat like that? Any parent would react the same way.

  Indecision filled Reid’s face. They could go back to the safety of the bunker, or they could get on the road and stay ahead of whoever had been here. She knew he wanted to connect with his family, and they were so close. Now it was Reid’s turn to wonder how a meeting would turn out. He might be as jumpy as she had been about it.

  At least he knew his grandparents were still alive. He wouldn’t be facing the same kind of shock she was today.

  “Let’s do it,” she said. “Who knows when you’ll have the opportunity again.”

  His gaze cleared, and Reid dropped one arm around her in an embrace. “Have I told you lately you’re pretty wonderful?”

  Her face warmed but not from the sun baking down. “Are you going to call first?”

  “I should, but some part of me wants to see their initial reaction. I need to sleep a couple of hours first.”

  All too soon this time away would come to an end, and the weight of law enforcement would be squarely on her shoulders again. She intended to enjoy this time with Reid and Will for as long as she could. Her job had been everything to her, but a family made everything different.

  Her gaze lingered on Reid’s broad shoulders and handsome face. What did the future hold for them? If she faced facts head-on, it might break her heart.

  * * *

  Reid’s knuckles whitened with his grip on the steering wheel. Wabash stood in the distance.

  The trip to Indiana had been without drama. Jane had played Yahtzee with the kids, and he’d listened to their banter with a smile most of the way.

  And here they were. Listening to his phone’s directions, he slowed to make the turn onto Falls Avenue at a brick church. He followed directions to Hill Street. It was a cute town with tree-lined streets, people walking dogs, and historical architecture.

  In front of a Craftsman home with a big front porch, he heard, “You have reached your destination.”

  He jammed on the brakes. The home resembled something out of a fifties TV show with its hanging flower baskets on the porch and the neat rows of posies along the sidewalk. Parking this behemoth might be a problem. He let the RV roll forward until the front tire bumped the curb, then shut off the engine.

  It had grown quiet in the back, and he swiveled his chair to face Jane and the kids. “This is it.” His voice quavered, and he cleared his throat. “Maybe you all better stay here and let me scope it out.”

  “I want to go too,” Will said.

  “We don’t want you to do this alone.” Jane stood.

  Megan nodded. “Let’s do this together.”

  He couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat, so he just nodded and got out. Sunset hadn’t come yet, but the shadows had lengthened. A mower cut off somewhere, and he caught the aroma of freshly mown grass and flowers. Through the screen door, he heard a woman’s voice singing along with the radio. His grandmother? He was too rattled to identify the song but recognized a few strains as a familiar hymn.

  He raised his hand to knock on the screen door frame, then dropped it back to his side. “What do I say?” he whispered to Jane, who pressed close to his left side. She kept her hand on Parker’s head to keep him quiet.

  “Just say hi and tell her who you are. Smile. She’ll love you.”

  He felt flushed. Awkward. Raising his hand, he looked through the screen door into a living room with traditional Craftsman built-ins and wide oak trim. Pretty and so homey. He let his hand fall on the door, then knocked again for good measure.

  The kids were to his back, so at least he felt he could protect them a bit if his grandmother hurled obscenities at him. The solidarity from the three of them stiffened his spine and lifted his chin.

  A woman in her seventies with a salt-and-pepper bob smiled as she saw him in front of the screen door. She wore k
haki slacks and a black T-shirt with New Life Baptist Church printed on the front in white.

  “Can I help you?” Her gaze swept over Jane and the kids, and her smile broadened. “Well, hello. I’m a sucker for supporting the schools. What are you selling?”

  “Um, you’re Gretchen Parks?”

  She tilted her head to the side, a slight wrinkle on her brow. “I am. And you are?”

  “I’m Reid. Reid Dixon.”

  Her eyes didn’t change for a long moment, then her mouth dropped and she cracked open the screen door. “Reid? My grandson, Reid?”

  “I-I think so, ma’am.”

  Tears gathered in her blue eyes, and she rushed out the door to take him by the shoulders. “Let me look at you.”

  Her gaze drank him in with a thirst that made moisture flood his eyes.

  “I haven’t seen you since you were four years old. You have your mother’s nose and mouth. You probably thought you resembled your dad, but let me show you some pictures and you’ll change your mind.”

  She released him and wiped her wet eyes, then stared at Jane and the kids standing behind him. “This is your family?”

  “The boy is mine. His name is Will. This is his mother, Jane, and Megan is a friend.”

  She stepped back and held open the door. “I don’t know what’s the matter with me. Come in. I didn’t mean for the whole neighborhood to witness our reunion.”

  He stepped inside and smelled something with cinnamon and apple, probably the candle flickering on the mantel. Comfortable tweed furniture sat atop an area rug over oak floors, and the family pictures adorned soft gray-green walls. He felt at home instantly.

  Jane and the kids crowded in behind him. His grandmother beckoned them forward, and they trailed her through the dining room to the kitchen, where a whole chicken waited on a tray to be carved. Beaters rested in a bowl of potatoes to be mashed, and steam curled from green beans with bacon in a saucepan on the stove.

  “I was just finishing dinner, and there’s plenty to share. Your grandpa is out back waiting for me. Let’s introduce you.” Her voice clogged with emotion.

  She took his hand and led him out the back door to a large deck that held patio furniture. A white-haired man sat in a rocker with a fat French bulldog at his feet. Parker’s tail began to wag, but Jane kept a hand on his collar.

  “Philip,” his grandmother said.

  The man’s gaze traveled from Reid to the rest of the group, then back to him. “We’ve got company.”

  “Philip. It’s Reid, Denise’s boy. He’s come back to us. And his son, Will.”

  The man stood and grabbed a cane to limp toward them. He opened his mouth, then closed it again before choking out the words, “I never thought I’d see the day you walked through these doors, son.”

  He opened his arms, and Reid stepped into them. He inhaled the somehow familiar scent of his grandfather’s cologne and knew he’d come home.

  Twenty-Seven

  The remains of a delicious dinner lay on the outside table where they’d stuffed themselves in the shade of a pergola. Sunset limned the trees surrounding the backyard with red and gold, and Reid couldn’t remember when he’d been more content. Traces of his mother were recognizable in his grandmother: the lilt of her voice, her expressions, and especially her blue eyes. It was almost like being with Mom again.

  Will was eating up the attention. His great-grandmother plied him with more and more food until he cried uncle and pushed his plate away.

  Reid took a sip of his iced tea, unsweetened since he was this far north, and regarded the lush backyard. “Did Mom live here too?”

  “She did. I’ll show you her room later,” his grandmother said. “We bought this place right after we got married. You haven’t said anything about your mom. When did you see her last, and when did you leave the cult?”

  A rock formed in his belly. This was a topic he’d dreaded. “I think she’s dead, Grandma. She was furious when my dad took another woman into the house, and they had a huge fight. She threw things and he hit her. She left and slammed the door. He followed her outside, and there was more yelling. I saw him drag her toward the woods, and I never saw her again. When I asked about her, he told me she’d left us. I don’t believe she would have left me there. And I-I found a shovel the next day with blood on it.”

  The words rushed out, details he hadn’t realized he remembered. The terror rose in a tide as visions of that awful night came back.

  Tears pooled in his grandmother’s eyes, and his grandfather’s head dropped forward. Reid wished he could take back the words, make them less harsh and kinder somehow. But truth was truth. His mom had died up in the Michigan woods, and his dad had buried her there.

  Jane reached over and took his hand, and he wrapped his fingers around hers. He’d been the one to offer comfort earlier in the day, and her gesture touched him. When she pulled her hand away and reached for her sketch pad, he wanted to protest, but her portraits were always wonderful, and he couldn’t wait to see the results. He’d always have a memory of this special day.

  “Did you hear about the raid that destroyed Mount Sinai?” he asked.

  They both shook their heads. “It’s gone?”

  “About fifteen years ago. Federal agents and state police swarmed the place to rescue a woman Dad had kidnapped. The place burned to the ground. Dad and many others died that night. Those of us who were left joined up with a sister group, Liberty’s Children. I only stayed about a year before sneaking off. I’ve been on my own ever since.”

  “With me,” Will said.

  He’d hoped to avoid talking about Jane’s involvement in that night, but his boy wanted them to know they’d been together all that time. “Will and me. We got out, and I got a job.”

  His grandfather reached down and petted his Frenchie, Wally. “I wish you’d come to us. We would have helped you.”

  Reid rushed to answer before he asked about Will’s remark. “My dad always said my grandparents were dead. It took years for me to question what I’d been told. I just found out your whereabouts a few days ago.”

  His grandmother reached over and touched his free hand. “I’m glad you came straight to us. We don’t want to presume, but we have three spare rooms if you want to spend the night.”

  “We came in a motor home, so lodging is no problem. We thought we’d spend tomorrow morning with you before starting back to Pelican Harbor.”

  “I could feed you one more time. Your uncle Randy and his family live here, too, and they’re due back from a trip tonight. You’d get to meet his wife and two daughters. Your uncle Rick lives in Arizona, and he has two boys about Will’s age. They’re twins.”

  While they could stay in the RV, they might be safer in a house if that guy had followed them. He had no way of knowing if that guy was back there with all the traffic running up I-65.

  Jane squeezed his hand and smiled at his grandmother. “We’d be honored to stay with you. Thank you for having us.”

  There were three bedrooms and four of them. “Will and I can share a room, and the girls can each take one.”

  “Wonderful,” Gretchen said.

  “Um, I wonder if you’d mind telling me about how my parents met and why they went off to join a cult like Mount Sinai.”

  Gretchen stilled. “It’s not a pretty story, Reid, and we’re not blameless in it.”

  “That’s okay. I’d just like to understand.”

  She sighed. “Moses came to town her senior year of high school. He saw Denise at Kroger one day and followed her to the car to talk to her. He was five years older and already had a good job at Ford Meter Box in the sales department. Dark, handsome, and arrogant. I didn’t much like him from the minute she brought him home. I told her he was too old for her and tried to slow things down, but she’d sneak out to see him.

  “She got pregnant. I think he wanted her pregnant because he knew we’d drop our objections. And it seemed we had no choice. They got married, and you wer
e born. When you were six months old, they went on a camping trip to Michigan. They came back—different. We later found out they’d met some people from Mount Sinai on that trip. They started to go back to Michigan about once a month. Moses started spouting crazy stuff about doomsday coming and religious babble that made no sense. We’re Christians, and we know truth when we hear it—his ravings didn’t have anything to do with the Bible. I couldn’t see how Denise would swallow all that. She was taught better.”

  “But love can change things,” Reid said.

  Gretchen nodded. “You were five years old when they packed up and moved away. Denise promised to stay in touch, but we never saw her or you again. We went up to the compound several times, but we weren’t allowed to go farther than the gate, and she never came out to talk to us. The last time we went there, no one was at the compound, and we didn’t know where they’d gone.”

  Reid touched her hand. “You didn’t know about the fire and deaths.”

  She shook her head. “We have wondered all these years.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “We prayed every day that we’d see you and your mother again. They had no other children?”

  “No.”

  “That’s good.” Gretchen looked at her husband. “You should probably call Randy and tell him.”

  Jane rose and began to clear the dishes. “Let Megan and me help you clean up. Philip, maybe you could show Reid and Will where to stash our things. I’m sure you’ll be interested in seeing the motor home we came in. It’s spectacular.”

  Seeing the curiosity on his grandmother’s face, Reid was sure she’d pump Jane for information through the washing up. Jane could handle it though. He motioned for Will to join him, and the three of them went outside where the stars were beginning to twinkle in the velvet sky. The air smelled fresh and clean.

  His grandfather whistled at the RV. “Wow, I never saw one like this. Looks like a tank.”