The Time in Between

by Kristen Ashley

  “Nope. Makin’ my baby dinner at home,” Coert answered.

  “Hamburglers?” she asked.

  “You want hamburgers?” he asked back through a grin.

  “Yes!” she yelled.

  He kept grinning at the windshield. “Then I’m making hamburgers.”

  “And curly fries,” she ordered.

  “And curly fries,” he agreed.

  “And after we clean up, we can make cupcakes.”

  Coert chuckled but said, “Maybe the next weekend I have you we can make cupcakes, Janie.”

  “But it’ll be fun to make them tonight.”

  Only she thought it was fun. Coert having to clean up after the cupcake-making bomb exploded in his kitchen was not fun.

  “Weekend, baby,” he said quietly.

  “Al’right, Daddy.”

  Damn, she was a good kid.

  She’d always been a good kid.

  This was obviously awesome and always had been, but right then, something about that rattled him.

  He got them home. They made hamburgers and they ate them. His Janie “helped” him through the making and the cleaning up after. She then grabbed one of her coloring books and sat on the floor by the coffee table, and with her tongue sticking out, colored with her book by his stocking feet up on the table while he watched TV.

  When she started to get tired, she crawled up next to her dad and burrowed in, cuddling and not really watching what was on the television.

  And when it was time, without a word after he said she had to go to bed, she went up with him and did what she did every night he had her with him. She brushed her teeth and got in her pajamas and she picked the book she wanted him to read to her. She then climbed into bed, snuggled into her dad and listened while he read until she fell asleep.

  That night, however, after Coert closed the book, unease stole over him as he stared down at her dark head and he thought about his sweet Jane.

  She was the perfect kid.

  This was not a proud father thinking that.

  She just was the perfect kid.

  Even her terrible twos had been more like mildly annoying twos. She didn’t throw tantrums. She didn’t get moody. She didn’t talk back. She did what she was told. She was bright and cheerful and sunny. She skipped and danced. She didn’t pout when she heard no.

  And stretched in her bed with his sleeping girl tucked into his side, Coert wondered if somewhere in her little girl psyche she got how she was made, and she got how her mom screwed that up and she got how it pissed off her dad, and they—most importantly he—were making her feel that she had to be perfect in order to smooth all that over.

  To make all of that worth it.

  Kim had stuck holes in the condoms he was obsessive about using even though they were in an exclusive relationship, precisely because he did not want to get her pregnant and that was one gravely messed-up move.

  But the bottom line was, he got Janie out of it.

  So why the fuck was he still pissed and taking that out on his daughter’s mother?

  This being a mental road Coert knew he needed to travel not only for his daughter and his relationship with her mother, but also another woman who was suddenly back in his life. It was also a road he couldn’t travel right then with his girl fast asleep beside him in her little bed.

  So he carefully extricated himself, tucked her in, kissed her temple, made sure Shnookie was close, turned on her nightlight, turned out the bedside light, and he walked down his stairs.

  The full report on the arson his deputy gave to him four hours ago sat on his desk next to Coert’s open, beat-up leather folder with the legal pad inserted.

  His notes scribbled everywhere on the pad, pages flipped up, others torn off, Coert looked from computer to his notes, pen in his fingers, flicking pages, touching keys on the keypad, back and forth.

  They’d found fires fitting the same MO in Nevada, Wyoming, Minnesota, one each in those states, four in Colorado.

  Minnesota and four in Colorado.

  And Maine.

  Could seem random. Could be a firebug for hire. Could be copycats admiring the work of the man out west and trying their hand. Could be the man out west had apprentices in the North and East.

  But the instant Coert read his deputy’s report on the fires, he felt his stomach sink because Colorado, Minnesota and Maine were not coincidences.

  It took four hours but he found it. He found the link. He knew why those shops had been burned down. And after he checked and double checked and the facts did not change, every molecule of his body prickled with adrenaline.

  The first thing he did was get up, grab his jacket, and he had to stop himself from jogging to his county Explorer.

  Or sprinting.

  He got in and drove directly to Janie’s preschool.

  He punched in the code to get in the front door and walked right into the administrator’s office.

  She was fortunately at her desk and looked up at him, surprise hitting her features.

  “Hey, Coert. Is everything okay?” she asked.

  He shut the door behind him, walked to the front of her desk and did not sit down.

  “When Kim and I enrolled Janie here, we had a chat about vigilance due to my position. I’m regrettably in a place where I need to remind you of that chat, Linette. I also need to request you speak to your teachers and staff and make sure they’re consistently aware of the grounds, outside the fences in the playground, and you do not buzz anyone in or give the code out to anyone that is not known to you, not expressly related to one of the children or on a parent’s official list.”

  “Oh my goodness, Coert, is everything okay?”

  No.

  Everything was far from okay.

  “A reminder of vigilance is good as a matter of course. Though I apologize if this alarms you but there’s a reason I need to make that reminder. Now just to say, starting very soon, there will be regular drive-bys of sheriff cruisers and at times there will be a manned cruiser parked close to this property. This is simply a precaution. Frankly, a father with the means doing what he can to be absolutely certain his daughter is safe. Cruisers or not, I don’t care if you or one of your staff feel you may be acting rashly, but if you’re even mildly concerned about someone you see, you call the station and me or one of my men will come and check it out.”

  “Of course, Coert, but I have to know if Janie, which means the other children, is in danger.”

  He shook his head. “My hunch, no. But I’m not in the job of taking chances with people’s safety. So I need you concerned enough to be alert but not so concerned you’re frightened.”

  That was what he said.

  What he didn’t add was that if something happened, it would likely happen to him.

  Or Cady.

  “Oh, Coert, I’m so sorry,” she said, sitting there with a pale face, staring up at him.

  “An important part of your job has always been to keep my daughter safe, Linette. I don’t want Janie scared or worried so her mother and I won’t be changing her routine. But I do want the adults around her to be notified and act accordingly.”

  “We will. I’ll call a quick staff meeting tonight after the kids are gone and see to it. And you should know I’ll need to share with the other parents.”

  “It’s your job to keep them all safe so you do what you have to do. And if you have any questions at all, or they do, tell them to feel free to phone me directly.”

  She nodded.

  “Thank you, Linette,” Coert ended it, turning toward the door because he had a lot to do and he needed to do it.

  “Stay safe, Coert,” she called as he walked through the door.

  “Will do,” he returned, not looking back.

  He didn’t go see his girl because he rarely popped in to see his baby and it wouldn’t be good to do it now with where his head was at.

  And he didn’t have time.

  So he got in his truck and drove to his next de
stination, doing it calling Kim.

  “Hey, Coert. What’s up?” she answered.

  “I’d like to do this in person but I don’t have time to do it in person right now so I need to do it over the phone.”

  “Oh God,” she muttered.

  “We talked a long time ago, Kim, about things I’ve had to do in my job and the fact there are people who won’t like it. One of those people got out of prison not long ago and he’s been active since then. I’m going to be calling an alarm company later today to have them install an alarm in your house. If you can’t be off work to be there when they install it, you tell me and I’ll be there. Once it’s in, you keep it active at all times, when you’re in or out of the house, with Janie or not. And I’ll pay the bills. That said, my men will be driving by and sometimes even sitting outside your house when you’re there. Don’t alert Janie to it and don’t concern yourself with it. When the threat is gone, I’ll let you know. It’s important to point out I’m uncertain there is a threat to either of you. But I’m not taking any chances.”

  “Shit, Coert, what’s going on?”

  “We talked about this, Kim. Just be smart, be aware of your surroundings, and if you think something is fishy, you phone me immediately.”

  “Is Janie in danger?” she asked fearfully.

  “My gut says no but she’s our daughter, Kim, so like I said, I’m not taking any changes.”

  There was a hesitation before, “Are you in danger?”

  He gentled his voice when he replied, “There’s always that and you know that too.”

  “Okay, I . . . okay, I . . .” She didn’t finish that.

  “You got this, Kim. Yeah?”

  “I can . . . I can . . . pay for the alarm, Coert.”

  “I’m not discussing that now. If we need to chat about it later, we will. But now just let me do what needs to get done. I’ll be around later to give you a picture of the man who got out so you can be aware. Again, I doubt you’ll see him. But if you do, you don’t call me. You call 911 immediately.”

  Kim hesitated again before she asked, “Are you gonna handle this?”

  “Yes,” he said low. “I am absolutely going to handle this.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  He heard her relief and he had to admit it felt good he could give her that, not to mention she gave such easy indication she believed he could do what he said.

  But he couldn’t focus on that now.

  “Gotta go,” he told her.

  “Of course,” she replied quickly. “Be safe. Stay safe, Coert. Okay?”

  “Right, Kim. Later.”

  He cut her off while she was saying goodbye, and he made more phone calls that needed to be made that also had to do with the safety of people in his life but more about bringing that about in a permanent way.

  He did this as he drove to the lighthouse.

  He ended the call he was on with one of his deputies when he stopped outside the gate.

  He got out and punched in the code. He returned to the truck and was driving in when he saw Cady walking up from the direction of the coastal path.

  She was wearing a light down jacket with horizontal stitching in a green olive color, jeans, lace-up Storm Chaser boots with a patterned wool hat pulled down over her ears, making her mass of dark red hair bunch out the sides.

  She looked like she was born in Maine.

  Then again, transplant her to a mountain, she looked born for the Rockies.

  She also looked ticked and her gait changed from wandering to irritated when she saw his truck. This meaning she advanced toward it quickly while he drove to the side of the lighthouse.

  He parked, got out, and she was almost on him when she called out irately, “I’m really going to have to ask that you—”

  “Did you get a dog?” he asked over the whipping wind.

  “Really, Coert, it’s not—” she started, still advancing fast.

  “Did you get a fucking dog?” he barked and watched her stutter step and stop.

  So it was him that took the last four strides to get to her.

  “Asked a question, Cady,” he prompted tightly.

  “No,” she said softly, staring up at him.

  “Get your purse. We’re going to the pound.”

  She blinked, her head jolting and she opened her mouth.

  He didn’t let her get anything out. He turned his back on her, walked directly to the door and turned the knob.

  Fortunately, it was locked.

  “I’ve got the key,” she said, still soft.

  Using her shoulder to push him out of the way, she unlocked the door and went in.

  He went in with her.

  She moved to the island where her purse was, nabbed it, but turned around and stayed right where she was.

  “Talk to me,” she urged gently.

  “In the truck,” he said.

  She looked a little panicked before she tried, “Maybe we should—”

  “In the goddamned truck, Cady,” he growled.

  She took him in with big eyes, nodded and scurried to the door.

  He closed it and took the keys out of her hand to lock it mostly because he was too unsettled to stand there doing nothing. He handed them back to her when he was done, and she moved double time to keep up with his long strides as he walked to the passenger side door.

  He opened it and closed the door when she was up and in.

  He knifed up into the other side, rounded the truck in her huge yard and headed back to the gate.

  He hadn’t closed it so he could drive them right through. It was annoying to have to get out and hit the keypad to close it but no way in fuck he was leaving it open.

  He got back in and started driving.

  She was silent beside him and he could feel her unease.

  Finally, she got up the nerve to start, “Coert—”

  “Lars got out of prison. Two years ago. He did his whole stint. Since then, fires have been started in Wyoming, Nevada and Minnesota with four more in Colorado. Lots of destruction. No deaths.”

  “Okay,” she whispered shakily.

  “The deaths occurred from five days to three weeks after the fires were set. The lighting of huge fires with a good deal of damage caused by arson being a focus, the murders of every member of Lars’s crew would not go unnoticed, but they would go unlinked.”

  “Oh my God,” she breathed, fear wrapped around each word.

  He didn’t like hearing that, he hated being the cause of it, but she had to know it.

  And know it all.

  “Lars thought you were a snitch. You were with me, and I turned out to be who I was so he thought you were a snitch. Maria knew that you knew dick, but Maria is a whacked-out bitch. As far as I know she did not disabuse him of this notion. They knew Lonnie was stupid, and Lars calling for his hit was about him being stupid, not being stupid in giving all he gave to me, because at the time Lars didn’t know it was very bad for him that anyone gave anything to me. But it wasn’t only Lonnie who spilled shit all over the place. I got close to two of Lars’s other crew, and Lars was a wannabe big man but he was not dumb. When he went down, with the scope of evidence we had against him, he knew his boys were not as smart as him. So he’s out and he’s pissed and he wants vengeance, and knowing that man like I do, he doesn’t care none of them ratted him out. He’s working his way through all of them to make them pay for his dream dying and his ass rotting in jail for fifteen years.”

  “And you think he’ll come after me?” she asked.

  “I think there’s a possibility he’ll come after both of us.”

  “Oh my God,” she breathed.

  “You need a dog. You need an alarm. You need a peephole. And we’re getting you a gun.”

  He knew she’d turned her head his way when she whispered, “Coert—”

  “Not arguing about it, Cady. You get all that or you move in with me.”

  “I’ll get a gun,” she stated immediately.

&
nbsp; Coert clenched his jaw.

  He unclenched it to say, “We get you one, I’ll teach you to use it. It’ll be all good, Cady.”

  “Okay.”

  She said it but she totally didn’t believe it and he didn’t blame her.

  “We get this done at the pound, I’ll get on the phone with my boys back in Denver. I’ve already got men at the station on calls with the folks in Nevada, Wyoming and Minnesota, sharing the link with them, others on the job of alerting local law enforcement what we’re on the lookout for. We all work together, one way or another, we’ll get him.”

  “So you think he’s here now?”

  “I think he’s here now.”

  “You think he’s watching us?”

  “I think he’s watching us.”

  “Oh my God.”

  He knew it was a tall order but he had to give it.

  “Keep it together, Cady.”

  She grew silent.

  Coert did too.

  She broke it.

  “How did he find us? I mean, is it that easy to find people?”

  Shit.

  Shit.

  “Coert?”

  Shit.

  His name came more urgent now because she felt his mood. “Coert!”

  “Your investi . . . I mean, Moreland’s investigator.”

  “I’m sorry?” she asked.

  “He didn’t just keep tabs on me.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “That I got,” Coert told her. “He wanted to keep you safe so he kept tabs on all of them.”

  “How do you know this?” she asked.

  “Several years back, I broke into his hotel room and read the shit he was handing over about me. When I did, I found he had a lot of shit on that whole crew.”

  “And . . . what? He worked for Lars on the sly?” she asked.

  “I’ve no idea. And this might be jumping to conclusions. I just know I clocked him because I’m a cop. We notice when people are following us. Lars is a felon. He’d notice the same. And when Lars got out, my guess is Moreland would be sure to put that guy on him. And Lars is probably a whole lot better at breaking and entering than me.”

  Cady said nothing.

  “It might not be that,” he told her. “There aren’t a lot of Coert Yeagers in the world. Cady Morelands either. We wouldn’t be hard to find. That said, the rest of that crew would make it so they aren’t easy to find and only someone with investigative skills could find them. So it’s a stretch to put that two and two together, but maybe not that long of one.”