“I trusted you. Jeremy asked us to keep you out of it, not to tell anyone that he was here, so… I agreed to do that. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to keep anything from you, and I didn’t want to mislead you about anything, I just did what Jeremy asked me to. I thought it would just be for a day or two, and then everything would go back to normal again.”
“Do you think there was someone outside the house, or do you think it was just a threat? Was it to flush him out?”
“I… I didn’t doubt that there was someone outside waiting for him.”
“Did you hear any vehicles leaving? Did anyone pass by your windows in either direction?”
“I… I didn’t hear anything,” Erin said uncertainly. She looked at Jeremy. “Did you?”
“No, I didn’t hear any engine… if they had a vehicle, it must have been a block away, out of earshot, and they didn’t gun it out of here. I suspect that when Erin hung up on them, they knew what was happening and quietly left.”
“You hung up on them?” Terry asked, his mouth quirking up slightly.
Erin nodded. “Well… I guess I did. I didn’t see any point in letting them threaten me. They had their say and I wanted you to come and… take care of it. And I wanted to make sure that you were okay, and my dream wasn’t real.”
His look had softened a little. “What exactly was it that you dreamt?”
Erin thought for a moment about whether she could tell him about it, and then shook her head. “Just a dream,” she said. “I guess I must have been thinking about Don Inglethorpe when I went to bed, and my brain changed that into thinking it was about you.” She swallowed. He could figure it out from there.
“I’m sorry, Erin. You know… you might want to reconsider seeing someone… I know you said you don’t want to, but sometimes it’s for the best. We all need help sometimes. If you were on the police force, there would be mandatory counseling. It’s not weak to need help working through something.”
“I’m working through it my own way.”
“I think your brain is trying to work through it… but you could maybe speed the process along if you were willing to take it a step further.”
“Weren’t we talking about Jeremy?”
Terry conceded and turned his attention back to Jeremy. “So what made you decide to come to Bald Eagle Falls?”
“I told you. I wanted to be with Vic. I knew she’d put me up for a few days while I figured out what to do.”
“Except that meant that you could be traced. If you had just left town and gone for parts unknown, you would be a lot less traceable than if you stay here with your sister. Anyone could follow your trail here. And with all of the new activity in town… the timing seems just a little suspicious. If you wanted to get away from the clans, then why would you put yourself right into the middle of the playing field?”
“I just… wanted to get away, and to make sure Vic was okay.”
“We’ve got all kinds of out-of-town representatives hanging around, causing trouble.” Terry leaned back, looking at Jeremy as if he were one of them. “We’ve got drug dealers and enforcers and we’ve got other people who seem totally unconnected, but I sure wouldn’t bet the farm that they aren’t clan… It’s all connected, somehow.”
“I wouldn’t have come here if I thought it would put Vic in danger. Or Erin. I’m sorry. I didn’t think I was important enough for anyone to care about.”
Terry let it go. “Who do you think came for you tonight?”
Chapter Thirty
J
eremy’s face was an unreadable mask. In an instant, all of the caring and animation was gone from his face and he was like stone. “I don’t know.”
“You must have some idea. Who would they send after you?”
“I hardly know anyone that active in the organization. Everybody my age was just like me… taking part in the benefits without really doing anything to earn it. So, I don’t know who they’d send.”
Vic bit her lip and looked at Jeremy. “Did the others know where you were going?”
“No. I just told you that. No one else knew where I was going.”
“I don’t mean the bosses in the clan, I mean… the family. Joseph and Daniel. Did they know? Did Pa?”
Jeremy shook his head. “No. I didn’t tell them where I was going. I just got on a bus and left. There wasn’t anyone to say goodbye to. I just packed my bag.”
“But your family knows about Vic living here. So they could probably figure out that if you needed a place to stay, this is where you would come.”
Vic and Jeremy looked at each other. Vic nodded slowly. Jeremy still denied it, but Erin could see it was more out of fear than belief. Had he been betrayed by his own brothers? Had they just told someone where Jeremy might have gone, or had one of them actually been waiting outside the house for Jeremy? Or could it be their pa? Erin hated to even consider the possibility.
“Regardless of why Jeremy came or who else might be in Bald Eagle Falls, what are we going to do now?” Erin asked. “How are we going to keep Jeremy safe? People are after him. It doesn’t matter if it’s somebody in the family or someone more distant. What do we do next?”
Vic looked at Terry. Terry sat there, saying nothing, considering the question.
“You’re not responsible for me,” Jeremy said quietly. “I got myself into this mess, I’m the one who is responsible for getting out of it. Not you. There’s no need for anyone else to jump in and help me.”
“Of course there is. You’re here. You’re family and you need somewhere safe,” Erin told him.
“I’ll leave town. I can’t stay here and make you or Vic a target.”
“I don’t want you leaving town,” Terry said. “Not before I can establish whether you’re involved in anything that’s going on. If I have to, I’ll take you into custody.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Not forever, but maybe a couple of days will give me time to sort things out and figure out what to do with you. Do you have any outstanding warrants for the work you’ve been doing for the clan?”
Jeremy’s face tightened. “No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Go ahead and check.”
“I will.”
“There has to be somewhere Jeremy could stay that no one would think to find him,” Vic said. “What about with Adele?”
Erin grimaced. “I don’t think that would be a good place for him. The summer house only has one bed and an open plan, so neither of them would have any privacy. We don’t know whether Rudolph is staying with Adele…”
Terry frowned. “Why would her ex be staying with her?”
“He’s not an ex,” Erin reminded him. “They’re still married.”
“Doesn’t mean he has to stay with her. After all of the dramatics earlier, why would she allow him to stay with her? In a one-room home with no privacy?”
Erin and Vic exchanged glances. “They met at the restaurant. Like you suggested, a public meeting…” Erin started.
Terry nodded, encouraging her to go on.
“We happened to be there for supper too…”
“Happened to be.”
“We wanted to make sure everything was okay, that he didn’t get abusive with her.”
His eyes were narrow. “And how did he behave?”
“They seemed to get along together really well. Holding hands, eye contact, deep conversation… that’s why I say, he could be staying there. I know she said she wouldn’t take him back, but a lot of women say that, and then they do. Even when it’s a really bad relationship. She said he came to get back together with her, and it looked like he was getting on pretty well.”
Terry shook his head. “I didn’t get a good vibe from the guy.”
“Did you run a police check on him? Does he have any police history?”
“Fraud and theft. Nothing violent, no drugs.”
“And he doesn’t have any connection to the clans?”
“No
ne immediately apparent.”
“What about treasure hunting?”
Terry frowned. K9 shifted his position and let out a loud sigh, expressing his displeasure with having to lie in one place for so long. Terry patted his side.
“Why are you asking about treasure hunters?”
“Just because of Beaver… Rohilda…”
“I thought you said you were staying out of trouble.”
“I am. I haven’t done anything. We just met her at the restaurant. She was evasive about what it was that she did, so we looked her up.”
“You need to stay out of it!”
Erin was surprised and hurt at the snap in Terry’s voice. She swallowed and turned away from him, looking for Orange Blossom. The cat was watching her from the hallways, ears pricked forward while he watched K9. Erin smacked her lips to call him, but he paid her no attention.
“It’s not Erin’s fault,” Vic said. “Beaver really did just walk up to us and invite herself to our table. And I was the one who said we should look her up. I didn’t think it could hurt anything to look her up on the internet to see what it really was that she did. I figured she was just winding us up.”
“And you think that people who want to hide who they are put it on the internet?”
“No,” Vic’s voice took on a belligerence Erin had rarely heard in her. “I figured if she was really someone dangerous, we wouldn’t find anything online. How does us looking her up damage your investigation? We haven’t interfered with anything!”
“You need to stay away from these strangers and just keep your head down. You shouldn’t be doing anything that will attract attention to you. You made yourselves obvious at the restaurant. That will make people ask questions about you. When they find out who you are and your histories…”
Erin did have a reputation for having put more than one person in jail for crimes committed in Bald Eagle Falls. And Vic had, under her previous identity, been part of the Jackson family. Someone who, like Jeremy, might have benefited from clan activities and be expected to prove her loyalty and do something in return. If Beaver or someone else who had seen them at the restaurant had thought they were acting suspiciously and started asking questions, they might decide that Erin and Vic were getting too close to their secrets and had to be eliminated.
“I’m sorry,” Erin said. “I didn’t realize…”
“You know it’s dangerous in Bald Eagle Falls right now. You were the one Charley told about it. If she’s scared, don’t you think you should be too? Don’t you think maybe you’d better stay out of the way?”
Erin looked over at Vic. “Why did she come over to us? People don’t just invite themselves to other people’s dinners.”
Vic frowned. Her arms were folded across her chest and she had adopted a very aggressive posture. Having her brother threatened and Erin called out by Terry brought out her protective mama-bear streak.
“It wasn’t anything we did. She just looked around while she was waiting to be seated and saw us. So she came over and asked if she could join us.”
“But why?” Terry asked. “How obvious was it that you were there to watch Adele and Rudolph?”
“Well… it might have been obvious.”
Terry looked at his watch. “I’m going to check out the summer house as soon as we’re sure everything is secure here.”
“Aren’t you already sure of that?” Erin asked, the anxiety that had waned since his arrival already building back up in her chest at his words.
“The sheriff was just going to check out the garage and the loft to make sure everything is safe.”
“The loft?” Vic demanded. “I didn’t give you permission to search my apartment.”
“We don’t need your permission to search the loft,” Terry said evenly. “We have reason to believe that there may be a dangerous person on the property. Criminal threats have been made. We need to assure ourselves that there is no further threat. It’s our duty to protect the citizenry.”
“But there wasn’t anyone in my apartment. I was there, so I know it’s clear. You don’t need to search it.”
“It’s procedure. It won’t take long. Then you can go back to bed if you like.”
“I don’t want anyone searching my apartment.”
Erin looked at Vic, not understanding the irritation in her voice. “They’re not going to mess with anything. They’re just making sure it’s safe.”
“I don’t like having my privacy interrupted. And I don’t like my civil rights being violated.”
Terry’s voice was calm and even. “No one is violating your civil rights. Yes, you have a right to privacy, but you give up some portion of that right in a case like this.”
“It won’t be long,” Erin repeated, wishing she could say something else to make Vic feel better. But she couldn’t understand why Vic wouldn’t want her apartment to be cleared just like the rest of the property.
“You’re going to stay here for the rest of the night?” Erin asked Jeremy. “You won’t be able to find anywhere else tonight.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Terry said with a frown. “Whoever called is going to know that he hasn’t left. They could come right back, and with no warning this time.”
“I’d rather someone else was here with me. And Jeremy shouldn’t have to find somewhere else in the middle of the night.”
“We can provide Jeremy with somewhere for the rest of the night.”
“What, sleeping at the police department?”
“I’m not sleeping in a cell,” Jeremy interrupted. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I might have done something stupid, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You can sleep on Sheriff Wilmot’s couch with a blanket and pillow,” Terry said. “We don’t even have a holding cell. So just cool it.”
“Okay,” Jeremy gave a little shrug. “Sorry, but I’m a little sensitive…”
Erin still didn’t want Jeremy to have to leave the house in the middle of the night. And she’d sat on that couch; she remembered how uncomfortable it was. He’d be better off sleeping on the floor.
Chapter Thirty-One
T
om stuck his head in the door. He nodded to Terry. “Sheriff said to let you know it’s all clear.”
“Great. Vic, if you want to go back to your apartment, you can. Or if you’d like to stay here with Erin, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. Jeremy, I think, should come with me. I don’t want him drawing unwanted attention to you girls.”
“I can handle it,” Vic said, patting her side.
Erin frowned, studying her. “You have a holster on under that housecoat?”
“You really should too. Especially when stuff like this keeps happening!”
“It doesn’t keep happening, this is the only time…” Erin trailed off. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to call Terry to the house to take care of an intruder. And it wasn’t the first time someone had threatened her or someone in her home. She didn’t like Vic sounding like it was something that happened all the time, but she also couldn’t deny that it wasn’t the first time they’d had to make an emergency call in the middle of the night.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll call Willie,” Vic suggested to Terry.
“Well, yes, I’d feel better if I knew he was here.”
“You think the poor women can’t look after themselves?”
“Let’s just call it a southern gentleman looking after the ladies,” Terry said, and he gave Erin a little squeeze. “I’m just old-fashioned that way.”
Vic snorted. “Good way to hide your chauvinism.”
“Give him a call. I want to head over to Adele’s to make sure everything is good over there.”
“Go ahead. You heard what the sheriff said, it’s all clear, and he and Tom are still here to defend the helpless ladies. You don’t have to wait until Willie gets here.”
“And I’m still here,” Jeremy pointed out, gesturing to himself.
; “No offense,” Terry said, “but I know Vic, and I suspect she handles a gun just as well, if not better than you do. What I’d like is someone with a bit more muscle and experience, and that’s what Willie’s got.”
“I can shoot—” Jeremy started to protest. Then he met Vic’s eyes and faltered. “Okay, she can shoot better than I can. But two guns are still better than one.”
“Are you armed?” Terry hadn’t done a pat-down of Jeremy or Erin when he had come in. They had been completely focused on the outside threat.
Jeremy’s hand dropped and Terry went stiff. He was off the couch and onto his feet before Erin realized what was happening.
“Hands up!” he ordered Jeremy. “Keep them away from any weapon!”
“I’m the one who told you—” Jeremy raised his hands in the air slowly, moving with caution.
“Just be still. What have you got?”
“Handgun in a back holster.”
Terry lifted Jeremy’s shirt to reveal it and then removed it carefully from the holster.
“What else?”
“That’s all.”
“What else, Jeremy?”
“I just got out of bed. What makes you think I’m sleeping with my guns on?”
“Hands on the wall.”
Jeremy obeyed, grumbling to himself. Terry put his hand on Jeremy’s back, holding him still.
“Now, are you going to tell me, or you want to get it automatically confiscated because you’re lying to an officer?”
“I’m not.”
Terry started to pat Jeremy down, his fingers firm and deliberate.
“Ankle,” Jeremy admitted, before Terry got down past his waist.
Terry continued his careful pat-down, until he reached Jeremy’s ankles. He lifted Jeremy’s pajama pant leg to see the other holster, holding a second small gun. Terry removed that one too.
“And is that it?”
“You know that’s all there is. You would have found anything else.” Jeremy’s voice was sullen, almost a pout.
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