“I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to protect Vic. I thought it would be easier if I was closer.” Jeremy looked at Vic and swallowed. “I knew I wouldn’t ever be able to talk her into leaving Willie and the bakery and running away somewhere else. So I thought I would stay here… keep an eye on things… make sure that if there was violence, she would be out of the way.”
“But you couldn’t guarantee that, could you?” Erin pointed out. “You haven’t stayed with us. You don’t know what might happen while we’re out. Who else might get killed. Maybe someone like Inglethorpe, a pillar of the community. Or maybe someone’s wife or child. Or someone’s sister.”
“I didn’t want anything to happen to either one of you,” Jeremy reiterated. “I came here to protect you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
T
hey had gone to bed without anything being resolved. Jeremy didn’t want to leave, but likewise didn’t want to talk to Terry to tell him what he knew. Vic didn’t want to kick him out and was worried about their security. It had failed before, and they couldn’t be sure that it would keep them safe in the future.
Vic ended up calling Willie to come back to the house. She had Jeremy go back to the spare room and didn’t tell Willie their specific concerns, she simply told him she needed him there and asked him to stay. Maybe Willie already knew there was clan activity going on around Bald Eagle Falls. He had, after all, been part of the Dyson organization at one point, and still had occasional contact with them to help with computers or one of Willie’s other specialties.
“Should we all stay in the house?” Vic asked Erin. “Would you feel better if Willie was there?”
“No, you can stay in your apartment.” They couldn’t all be in the main house without Willie figuring out pretty quickly that there was someone else there who shouldn’t have been. It would look pretty suspicious if Erin wouldn’t allow them to sleep in the empty bedroom. “I’ll be just fine here with the burglar alarm and Orange Blossom. You know he’ll attack anyone who tries to break in during the night.” Erin laughed. It was Orange Blossom who had fended off the previous intruder, until Vic had been able to get there with her gun.
“You should have some protection,” Vic encouraged. “I can leave you with this.”
She patted her concealed weapon. She had a permit for it and knew how to use it properly, but Erin did not. At some point, she might have to break down and do as they were all telling her to and take a firearms course and practice shooting at the range. Then she might feel confident enough to have a gun and to use it if she needed to.
But it was Erin’s opinion that if she weren’t armed, there would be less opportunity for anyone to shoot her. They would see that she was just an inexperienced, unarmed civilian, without any ties to organized crime or any kind of crime at all, and they would leave her alone. They would let her go.
“No. No guns. I’ll be just fine.”
“You should call Terry,” Willie said, a twinkle in his eye, “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind acting as your bodyguard.”
In spite of herself, Erin felt herself blushing again. She glared at Willie, then made a shooing motion with her hands.
“I’m going to sleep now. No need for extra people or guns. Everybody out.”
Willie obeyed, chuckling. Vic gave Erin a quick hug and whispered in her ear that Jeremy would look out for her.
Erin was too tired to do anything but go to bed. She’d been up too late the night before and had early bakery hours in the morning.
But sleep eluded her as she thought about Don Inglethorpe and the pool of blood and about Jeremy and Vic’s other brothers.
They were all expected to be soldiers for the clan. What if they refused?
What if they accepted?
“Somebody didn’t get enough sleep over the weekend,” Adele observed, when she caught Erin yawning. Erin tried to cut the yawn short, but it was no use. She smothered it with the back of her hand.
“I had a hard time sleeping last night,” Erin explained.
“And maybe you didn’t get to bed until late Saturday night.”
Erin looked at her. “You live in the woods, isolated from everyone else. How do you know about that?”
“I have my sources.”
“Well, that’s freaky. Have you got Skye spying on me?”
Skye was Adele’s crow. Or a crow that sometimes spent time with Adele; she didn’t claim any ownership over him. Adele didn’t answer. She just looked mysterious, not filling Erin in on who her source might be.
Adele had come in the afternoon, when the bakery was usually quiet before school let out and people started rushing in to pick up something to go with dinner. She was the only one there.
“I had a run-in with a trespasser a couple of days ago,” Adele said, as she waited for Vic to ring up her total.
“Who? A kid?” Erin asked.
“No. A young woman. I’m still not sure what she was out there for. She said she was just out for a walk, but…”
“You didn’t know her?” Vic asked. “I think you know pretty much everyone in town now, don’t you?”
Adele nodded. “She wasn’t from around here. I would say she was native to Tennessee, but not to Bald Eagle Falls.”
“What did she look like?”
“Army fatigues. Long, blond hair. Little or no makeup.”
Erin thought she recognized the woman who had rear-ended the drug dealer’s car in the description. She wished she had taken a picture so she could show it to Adele.
“Long nose and a big mouth?” she asked Adele, a bit embarrassed to be pointing out anyone’s flawed features.
Adele nodded. “Sounds like you know her.”
“No. Just saw her once. A couple of days ago. She rear-ended a guy on Main Street.”
“That was not very bright. It isn’t like we have heavy traffic.”
“It might have been intentional… I don’t know. I couldn’t say for sure. But she certainly didn’t seem upset about it. And she basically got away with it, because the guy she hit didn’t want to open his glove box for Terry.”
“You don’t know who she was?”
“No. Terry would know her name. You didn’t find out anything? Just that she was out for a walk?”
“That’s as far as it went. I told her she was on private property and where the boundaries were, and she eventually went on her way. But I don’t like people with guns hanging around on the property.”
“Back up a minute!” Vic interjected. “This woman had a gun?”
Adele looked surprised at the question. “A hunting rifle. I mentioned that, didn’t I?”
“No, you sort of missed that part!”
Erin tried to reconcile the picture with a drug dealer. But army fatigues and a hunting rifle didn’t sound like a drug dealer or anyone else from the clans. It sounded like someone who was out hunting or participating in some war games.
“Did you ask her name? Or for some ID?” she asked Adele.
Adele’s eyes were surprised. “I’ve never done that before.”
“If we’ve got trouble coming into Bald Eagle Falls, then maybe we should start. If you don’t know who it is, I mean.”
“What trouble?”
Erin looked at Vic. “Well, we can’t say for sure, but rumor has it… that the Dyson and Jackson clans are battling for possession of Bald Eagle Falls. No verification that it’s true, of course, but here have been more strangers in town lately.”
Adele considered this seriously. She took her bag of baked goods and her change. “I’ll keep my eyes open. But I don’t know why they would be interested in Bald Eagle Falls.”
She turned and took a step toward the door, then froze.
Chapter Twenty-Four
E
rin looked to see what had caught Adele’s attention.
“Speaking of unsavory strangers,” Adele murmured.
There was a man getting out of a shiny red convertible outside the bakery. He
was middle-aged, but had an irresponsible playboy look about him. His hair was artfully mussed, and he had laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. Adele turned and looked at Erin.
“Do you think I could sneak out through the kitchen?”
Erin was floored. Adele was always so calm and serene. She never seemed to hesitate over anything. She avoided crowds and preferred to be on her own, but she had never gone so far as to avoid contact so obviously.
Erin didn’t want to set the precedent of allowing a customer to walk through off-limits areas, but Adele was different. There was no one around to see the breach, and she was sure that Adele wouldn’t take advantage of the situation, assuming that letting her into the kitchen once meant she was allowed to use it any time she liked. Adele had always gone to great lengths not to take advantage of Erin’s hospitality.
“Okay,” she said quickly, as it became apparent the stranger was headed straight for Auntie Clem’s, “go, go!”
Adele scurried around the counter, past Erin and Vic, and into the kitchen. Vic looked at Erin in surprise.
“What was that all about? I was sure you were going to say no.”
“I know. I would have, but…” Erin looked toward the door.
The man walked in through the door, making the bells jangle. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and cargo pants, but somehow made them look as if he’d just stepped off a yacht. He gave Erin and Vic a smug smile.
“Hello, ladies. How are you this fine afternoon?”
Erin had not been expecting the New England accent. She had opened her mouth to greet him and ended up just staring at him, mouth open.
“Good afternoon,” Vic greeted cheerfully. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in these parts before.”
“No ma’am,” he agreed. “First time I ever set foot in town. My name is Rudolph Windsor.”
Even Vic was speechless for a beat. Then she smiled.
“Welcome to Bald Eagle Falls, Mr. Windsor. I’m Vic and this is Erin. What can we help you with?” She gestured to the bakery display case.
Windsor barely looked at the baked goods. He clearly wasn’t there to buy a turnover.
“I wonder if you fine ladies would be able to help me. I am here looking for my wife.” He looked at each of them expectantly. “That would be Adele Windsor.”
There was a long pause while they considered what to tell him. Adele clearly did not want to meet up with him. She had never spoken of her husband; they had only recently discovered she was even married.
“Your wife,” Vic repeated. “Adele has never mentioned you.”
“Well, I’m hurt.” His smile suggested that he was not. He didn’t give the impression of being a family man. “To tell you the truth, Adele and I have been estranged. But she is still my wife, and I’d appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction?”
“She lives backwoods,” Erin finally found her voice. “You’ll need someone to show you the way. She doesn’t have an address you can put in the GPS.”
“I’m sure I could find it if you just point me in the right direction. I am pretty good at finding things.”
Something about the way he said it gave Erin the willies. She rubbed her arms, not sure why she would be getting goosebumps in the Tennessee heat.
“Maybe Terry could help,” Vic suggested.
Erin nodded, relieved to find a solution. She didn’t get a good feeling about Rudolph Windsor and didn’t want to give him directions to Adele’s cottage. “I’ll text him.”
She did so, giving him a heads-up that Rudolph Windsor was not someone that Adele wanted to see. He acknowledged the message.
“Should just be a couple of minutes,” Erin told Windsor.
He smiled and nodded, pleased with the way the matter was progressing.
“Could we get you a cookie and an iced tea while you’re waiting? First cookie is always on the house.”
Windsor looked down his nose at the display case, shaking his head. “I eat low carb,” he advised. “This stuff is pure poison to the body. Worse than cocaine.”
Vic bristled at that and Erin held up a hand to stop her from going off on Windsor. Best if he were still in one piece when Officer Terry Piper got there. “Different strokes for different folks,” she murmured.
“But your baking—”
“Shh.”
Vic subsided. “I’d better go check on those cookies,” she muttered, and retreated to the kitchen.
Windsor gave Erin another sardonic smile. He turned and looked out the front window, waiting for his escort to show up. When he saw the uniformed police officer and his K9 partner approaching, he did not look pleased. Erin saw him take a quick look back and forth, looking for a way to avoid meeting him.
Terry opened the door and walked in. He nodded to Erin, and turned his polite, no-nonsense, public-service smile on Windsor.
“Good afternoon, sir. Something I could help you with?”
Windsor took another look at the door. “I think it’s all taken care of, officer.” He cast a glance over to Erin for confirmation.
“This is Terry.”
Windsor didn’t seem to know what to do about that. “I don’t think we need to put the police force out. I can find the way on my own.”
“What was your name?” Terry asked, flipping his notebook open and holding his pen at the ready.
“Rudolph Windsor.”
“And where are you from?”
“I don’t see why you would need to know that.”
“Are you refusing to answer?”
The superior smile was gone from Rudolph’s face. He licked his lips. “No need to be that way… Massachusetts.”
“Boston?”
“Thereabouts.”
Erin wouldn’t have pegged his accent as Bostonian, but she kept her peace.
“Little bit different coming to a small town like Bald Eagle Falls,” Terry commented.
“Yes… it certainly is.”
“So, Miss Windsor knows you were coming to see her?”
“Mrs. Windsor,” the man retorted. “I should know. I married her.”
“And she knows you’re coming?”
“Is there some kind of law out here that I’m not aware of? That a man isn’t allowed to visit his own wife without some kind of appointment?”
“If we actually knew you, that would be a different story. But we like to look after our own. I don’t know you from Adam, and even if you are who you say, that’s no guarantee Miss Windsor didn’t come here with the express purpose of leaving you behind. The fact that you’re avoiding my question suggests that she doesn’t know you’re here.”
“Look, Officer,” Windsor attempted to turn on the charm, smiling in a way that made Erin’s flesh crawl. “There’s no bad blood between my wife and I. I appreciate your desire to protect your citizenry, but you don’t have the right to keep me from visiting her or to detain me. So rather than making a big thing of this… I’m just going to leave.”
He held up his hands like he was fending off an attack and retreated from the bakery. Terry swiveled, watching him go.
“Where’s Adele?” he asked Erin, without turning back around to look at her.
“I’m right here, Officer Piper.”
Erin startled at the voice behind her. She hadn’t expected Adele to still be in the kitchen, but well on her way home. Adele appeared in the doorway with Vic.
“I’m sorry to cause all of this trouble. I just lost my head when I saw him. It’s okay, really. There’s nothing to be concerned about.”
Adele wasn’t the type to lose her head. Erin studied her for a minute, wondering what the story was. But Adele was a very private person and she wasn’t about to tell them about her personal life.
“Have you ever had a restraining order against him?” Terry asked.
Adele walked past the counter into the front area of the bakery. “No. No restraining orders.”
“Does he have a criminal record?”
�
��He might… I don’t know.”
“You don’t know if your husband has a criminal record.”
“People often don’t know everything about the people they live with. Rudolph has a past that I was not involved in. It’s been some time since I left him. Even while we were together… I wasn’t with him every minute of the day, and there were nights he didn’t come home… Could he have a record? Of course. Does he?” She shook her head. “I have no idea.”
Terry scratched his chin, considering this. Erin figured that since Adele hadn’t immediately jumped in to say that there was no way her husband could have a record, that she was aware of criminal activities that he might be involved in. The way she answered suggested that it was entirely possible that he’d been caught breaking the law at some point.
“How do you want this to be handled?” Terry asked. “Do you want him to stay away from you and your house? Do you have reason to get a restraining order?”
“No… I shouldn’t have run away. I could have just stuck around here and dealt with him face-to-face out in public. I just hate having my dirty laundry spread out for everyone to see.”
“Do you feel safe seeing him? If you don’t want this guy showing up on your doorstep, we should set up a meeting away from the cottage. Do you know what he wants?”
“What Rudolph always wants. To get back together. But that’s not going to happen.”
“You’re not worried about any violence?”
“No. We had… different lifestyles. But he never hit me.”
“Still, you make sure you meet with him in public, a restaurant or somewhere people won’t overhear your conversation but are around if he does get angry.”
Adele nodded. “Okay. I will. Sorry for the trouble, Officer Piper. I didn’t mean to cause any concern.”
“No problem. I’d rather be here when I wasn’t needed than not be here when I am. He knows I’m around and that people are keeping an eye on things. He’ll think twice before doing something stupid.”
“Oh, you don’t know my husband,” Adele said, her mouth curling into a slight smile. “He’s never in his life thought twice before doing something stupid.”
Sour Cherry Turnover Page 12
