Word to the Wise

by Jenn McKinlay

  When Sully had mentioned to Lindsey that he’d always thought he’d get married on the island, she had been all in. They agreed that it would be a simple civil ceremony with just their closest friends and family in attendance. Lindsey was pretty sure they could handle that. Mike and Joan Sullivan’s house on Bell Island had a large yard, and Joan was a gardener, so it was a beautiful space eight months out of the year, before the winter snow hit, which was beautiful, too, in its own way.

  The men had been successful in their fishing, and they ate a hearty meal of grilled sea bass and red potatoes under festive paper lanterns hanging across the backyard. Mary and her husband, Ian, had ditched their duties as restaurant proprietors for the night to join them for dinner. Lindsey was grateful as Ian managed to jolly the worried expression off Sully’s face.

  While Joan and Christine whipped up a dessert of strawberry shortcake in the kitchen, Lindsey and Mary sprawled on a blanket watching baby Josie crawl in the grass with Heathcliff at her side. The men lounged on the deck overlooking the water to enjoy their cigars downwind of the rest of them.

  “If I knew my brother less well than I do, I might not notice that he’s been watching you all night,” Mary said. “And while he’s clearly smitten, this is more of a worried look. What’s going on?”

  Lindsey debated not telling her future sister-in-law. She really didn’t want a fuss. But then, she knew that the situation with Grady was probably going to come out anyway, and perhaps having as many eyes on her problem as the town could muster wouldn’t be such a bad thing. She gave Mary the short version. It didn’t make it any less weird or creepy, and judging by Mary’s face, she wasn’t assured that it was nothing.

  “Listen, I can tell you’re embarrassed by this, but you shouldn’t be,” Mary said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I know—I do—but I just keep thinking I should have handled the whole thing differently, and then I wouldn’t be dealing with this mess,” Lindsey said.

  “No, this isn’t on you,” Mary said. She reached across the blanket to scoop up Josie, who had grabbed a dandelion and was about to shove it into her mouth. She took the flower and then did a magical switcheroo with one of Josie’s wooden blocks. Josie grasped the wooden block in her chubby fists, completely distracted.

  Mary looked back at Lindsey and said, “Before I met Ian, I was working in New Haven as a bartender. One night after closing, one of my coworkers followed me home. He pushed his way into my apartment and—”

  Her voice broke, and Lindsey studied her friend’s face. The look of pain etched there made her stomach knot. The sweat from the warm evening felt clammy on Lindsey’s skin, and she wanted to grab Mary’s hand and give it a squeeze or wrap her in a hug. She didn’t. Instead, she just sat and waited.

  “He pinned me to the floor,” Mary said. “I was terrified. He told me that I’d been asking for it. That the way I walked around all flirty and smiley told him that I was just begging for it.”

  She blew out a breath. She shook her head. Her long reddish-brown curls danced around her shoulders, and she looked at Lindsey and gave her a wry smile.

  “What he didn’t realize was that I had a badass older brother in the navy who taught me how to defend myself. I kneed him in the junk, then I jammed my thumb in his eye until he screamed. We brawled until we were both bloody and sweaty, and I told him if he left, I wouldn’t call the police.”

  One single tear slid out of Mary’s eye, and Lindsey reached across and grabbed her hand. She squeezed her fingers and said, “Wow, you are my shero.”

  Mary busted out a laugh. “Thanks. I ended up quitting that job and moving all within a week’s time. I couldn’t make myself work with that guy, knowing that he knew where I lived. Yeah, I couldn’t do it.”

  Lindsey nodded. She’d have done the same.

  “I did go to my manager afterward,” she said. “But he was friends with the creep, and he didn’t believe me, so I didn’t even bother going to the police. It was my word against his and back then, well, I knew how that was going to go.”

  “I’m so sorry, Mary,” Lindsey said.

  Mary shrugged. “It’s not any different than most women’s stories. I got lucky. I knew how to protect myself. And I made damn sure that every woman who worked at that bar knew exactly what he’d done. I didn’t want him to do that to anyone else.”

  “You are so brave,” Lindsey said.

  “Maybe. The sad truth is that most women have to deal with this sort of thing at one time or another, and it’s crap,” Mary said. She patted Lindsey’s hand with her free one. “The point I’m trying to make—and I do have one—is that you, like me, didn’t do anything wrong. This guy has no right to follow you home or put you in a position where you have to reject his attention. It’s total BS.”

  “Thank you, I needed to hear that,” Lindsey said. She dropped Mary’s hand and put her arm around her shoulders, giving her a firm squeeze. “Thank you for telling me your story. It never goes away, does it?”

  “The fear? No, it doesn’t,” Mary said. “But don’t you worry. We’ll take care of this guy.”

  Josie gave a cry and threw her wooden block up into the air. It rolled on the grass, stopping a few feet away. She looked at them and clapped in delight.

  “And by the time Josie grows up, maybe the world will have changed, and she won’t have to deal with this stuff,” Lindsey said.

  “Exactly,” Mary said. “At least, we can hope so.”

  * * *

  • • •

  I noticed you and Mary had quite the deep conversation,” Sully said. They were in the water taxi with Heathcliff, heading home. Lindsey was grateful her parents were staying with the Sullivans for a few days, as she didn’t want to have to tell them about Aaron Grady.

  “We did,” she said. She raised her voice to be heard over the engine. Even though the sun had set, the air was still thick and hot. “I told her about the situation.”

  “Good,” Sully said. “The more eyes on that guy, the better. I called the police station. Emma is out on rounds. Do you want to stop by tonight and leave a report with whoever is on duty or wait until morning to talk to her?”

  “I already called her and left a message for her to stop by the library tomorrow,” Lindsey said. When Sully opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hand and nodded. “She’s patrolling tonight, and I don’t think I need to pester her with this right this second. I’ll fill her in tomorrow. I promise. I know it’s important to start a file on the guy.”

  “It is,” he said. “I know it may not feel like it, but it is.”

  As they approached the pier, Lindsey scanned the area, looking for Grady. She glanced at Sully and noted that he was doing the same thing. Thankfully, the dock was empty.

  As Sully coasted the boat into a smooth landing, Heathcliff jumped for the dock, and Lindsey scrambled out after him to steady the boat. Sully tossed her the rope, and Lindsey began to tie up the bow while he hopped out and did the same with the stern. When the boat was secure, they crossed to the stairs that led up to the pier. Sully and Heathcliff took the lead, and Lindsey followed.

  At the top, she glanced around again. The pier was empty except for the Blue Anchor, Mary and Ian’s restaurant, at the end. The lights were on and the music was blaring. The sounds of conversation punctuated by the occasional laugh drifted out over the water at them.

  “Looks like the coast is clear,” Sully said. He took Lindsey’s hand in his, and they made their way down the pier to where he had parked his truck. Lindsey tried not to be jumpy, but when a door slammed nearby, she started. Sully glanced at her and she shrugged.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I’m just on edge, I guess.”

  He nodded. The look in his eyes was dead serious. “I suspect Mary told you about what happened to her.”

  Lindsey nodded. “It was awful, and I can’t be
lieve her manager didn’t believe her and did nothing.”

  “Yeah, well, just because he didn’t do anything doesn’t mean nothing was done,” Sully said.

  Lindsey lifted her brows. They had reached the truck, and Sully opened her door and waited for her to climb in. When she was sitting on the seat, they were face-to-face.

  “One of my old navy buddies had retired and was on the New Haven PD,” he said. “He and I had a chat with that guy, and I’m sure he never pulled another stunt like that again.”

  “Because you beat him up?” Lindsey asked. Try as she might, she couldn’t feel sorry for a man who had assaulted her friend.

  “Well, that and my friend made sure that the guy was watched by every cop working in that area. If that guy so much as sneezed in the direction of a woman, he was seen.”

  Lindsey reached forward and hugged her man. “Mary sure got lucky when she got you for a brother.”

  “We’ll see if you still think that tomorrow,” he said.

  “Why? What’s happening tomorrow?”

  “You are going to start training in self-defense,” he said.

  “What?” Lindsey asked.

  “Uh-huh,” he said. “And not just you. Your entire library staff is going to learn some down-and-dirty self-defense tricks.”

  “We are?”

  “Yup.”

  Lindsey met his gaze. Her usually mellow, laid-back future husband had his stubborn face on. It was a look she had seen very rarely, but the few times it had made its appearance, there’d been no talking him out of whatever he’d just made up his mind to do. She thought about her staff and realized that they were predominantly women, they worked nights, and they were frequently alone. She nodded.

  “I think that’s an excellent idea,” she said.

  * * *

  • • •

  Before the library opened the next morning, Lindsey held an impromptu staff meeting to inform them of the self-defense training that would be happening. She greeted Ms. Cole, Paula, Ann Marie, Beth and two of their part-time staff members when they came in the back door. She had made a large pot of coffee and brought in muffins and fresh fruit from the bakery down the street.

  Because the largest open space in the library was the story time room, they gathered there. To Lindsey’s surprise, Robbie Vine joined Sully to teach the class. Robbie was a rather famous British actor who had come to Briar Creek several years before to raise his son.

  Robbie had tried to get Lindsey to date him, but her heart had always belonged to Sully, and Robbie had found a fiery connection with Briar Creek’s chief of police, Emma Plewicki. Over the past couple of years, Robbie had become one of Lindsey’s closest friends. And while he and Sully liked to give each other a hard time, she had noticed over the past few months that the two men were becoming “mates,” as Robbie would say. Sully had even included Robbie in his monthly fishing excursions with the guys.

  While Sully explained that he and Robbie were going to share a few self-defense techniques, Lindsey met Robbie’s gaze and lifted her eyebrows. He hit her with his patented star-power grin. He ran a hand through his strawberry blond hair, and his pale green eyes sparkled with mischief. Then he leaned close and said, “Sailor boy told me what’s happening. If you need me to shadow you just give me a holler.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “I’m planning to see Emma today, and I’m hoping that she can check his behavior and it won’t have to go any further than that.”

  “Stalkers,” Robbie said. “I’ve had my share. They really don’t get it until you get right in their face. It’s unfortunate but true.”

  Lindsey sighed. She feared he was right.

  “Robbie, over here,” Sully said. He waved Robbie over to him, and Lindsey moved to join the rest of her staff members, who were sitting in chairs in a circle to watch the demonstration.

  “Robbie and I are going to show you some quick getaway techniques if you find yourself alone with a patron who puts you in an untenable situation.”

  “More accurately, you mean if someone traps you in a corner and cops a feel?” Ms. Cole asked.

  Everyone’s head swiveled in her direction. She kept staring at Sully, who nodded. “Yes, good example.”

  Ms. Cole crossed her arms and looked at the rest of them. “I’ve been around a long time. I wish we’d had training like this twenty years ago. We used to have this one patron who would try to get you alone in the back of the stacks, and he’d grab your bum when you bent down to get a book for him off the bottom shelf. We complained but were told to take it as a compliment. I did not.” She glowered. “One day I just snapped, and before he could grab me, I spun around with a book in hand and nailed him right in the privates. It was a very big book.”

  Both Sully and Robbie grimaced.

  “Then I told him if he ever did that to anyone again, I was going to tell his wife.”

  Paula held up her fist, and Ms. Cole looked at her in confusion. Paula wagged her fist and said, “Knuckle bump, Ms. Cole.”

  “I think not,” Ms. Cole said, and she reached over and somberly shook Paula’s fist, causing Beth to burst out laughing, while Ann Marie snorted and Lindsey grinned. The other staff members, who were new and still in awe of Ms. Cole, looked nervous.

  “I must say, well done, Ms. Cole,” Robbie said. That was all he got out before Sully grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms to his sides.

  “Ah!” Robbie shrieked.

  “Try and break out,” Sully said.

  Robbie wriggled and wiggled. He tried to step on Sully’s foot, but Sully evaded him. Lindsey watched the two men grapple and struggle. They were well matched in size and strength. Robbie broke one arm free and managed to hook it around Sully’s head, bending them both over. Their faces were red, and sweat beaded up on their foreheads as they scuttled across the floor like a crab with a bad sense of direction.

  “Is it wrong for me to picture them with their shirts off while they do this?” Ann Marie asked.

  “Yes, you’re objectifying our self-defense teachers,” Paula said. But she was smiling.

  “Quit moving, sailor boy,” Robbie snapped when Sully slipped from his hold.

  “You quit moving, you overgrown ham,” Sully returned. “We’re supposed to show them how to break a hold, not try to get their aggressor into a headlock.”

  “Argh.”

  “Humph.”

  The two men continued to tussle and grunt, much to the amusement of the assembled staff.

  “Why are my boyfriend and your fiancé putting on the most boring mixed martial arts match ever?”

  CHAPTER

  5

  Lindsey turned her head to see the chief of police, Emma Plewicki, standing there. Emma had been dating Robbie for a while now, and it was clear from the look on her face that the man still charmed her silly even when he was being an idiot.

  “It was supposed to be a demonstration on self-defense, but it turned into . . .” Lindsey gestured at the two men.

  “What not to do,” Emma said. “Got it.”

  She strode over to where Robbie and Sully were huffing and puffing while trying to—well, at this point, it was hard to figure out what they were trying to do.

  Emma grabbed a hand—Lindsey wasn’t sure whose—and said, “A quick release technique is to find the soft part of your captor’s hand, the fleshy part between the thumb and index finger, and then dig into it.” She demonstrated, and there was a yelp that seemed to come from Robbie. “Once they release you, go for their more vulnerable spots.” She lifted her heavily booted foot and brought it down on an instep, which looked like Sully’s. There was a grunt. “Then you can go for a finishing blow, and a solid punch or knee to the thigh will disable your assailant.” Emma demonstrated, and Robbie dropped to the ground. “Of course, a thumb in the eye socket will render your attacker useless.”
>
  She reached toward Sully, who had the presence of mind to tuck and roll away from her. He popped up on his feet with his hands in the air.

  “And that’s a wrap, as my friend would say,” Sully said. He reached down and pulled Robbie to his feet. Robbie’s leg was still rubbery from Emma’s charley horse, so Sully draped Robbie’s arm over his shoulders and hauled him toward the door. He glanced at Lindsey and said, “Call you later.”

  Lindsey nodded, trying not to laugh as the two men hurried away as if afraid Emma was going to chase after them and do some more damage.

  At the door, Robbie paused to glance at his girl and with a wink said, “I can’t wait for round two, love.”

  Emma blushed a faint shade of pink and then shook her head at him. “Idiot.”

  Once the men were gone, she turned back to the room. “Fancy moves aside, if ever you find yourself in a vulnerable situation, the number-one thing you can do to help yourself is make noise. Make it as difficult as possible for your attacker, scream, kick, punch, fight. Most attackers are counting on your shock and surprise to keep you docile. They’ll threaten you with ‘Be quiet and I’ll let you go.’” She shook her head. “If they’ve grabbed you, they aren’t going to let you go. Fight like your life depends upon it, because it probably does. That being said, the odds of being attacked by a stranger are slim—about fifteen percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, so while it’s good to be prepared, you don’t have to make yourself crazy. Just be aware of your surroundings and act accordingly. The much more likely scenario is that a woman will be attacked or harmed by a man she knows, and that is much harder to guard against, because they aren’t strangers.”

  There was a grim twist to Emma’s lips, and Lindsey knew that as a police officer, she was in the thick of domestic situations all the time. It had to get old.

  “The librarian in me appreciates your stats,” Lindsey said.