Another Solution (Crowley County Series Book 4)

by T. E. Killian

  Floyd pointed to the back of the locket. “All you have to do to turn it on or off is squeeze it with your thumb on the back of it. Okay?”

  Karen nodded as she took it and immediately fastened the chain around her neck.

  Jason watched as Floyd continued to search her face. Finally, he said, “You live in that big townhouse complex on the south side of town right?”

  “Yes.”

  He shook his head and turned to Jason. “That won’t do. Those parking lots are too open and there’s not enough light at night.”

  He seemed to be deep in thought for a short time then turned to Jason again. “Do you think Miss Hattie would put her up for a while?”

  Jason was grinning now. That was exactly what he had been hoping he could convince Karen to do and he had been pretty sure she wouldn’t agree to it. But coming from Floyd, she just might.

  “Sure she would. Karen has met her a couple of times and we were just out there yesterday.” He grinned at her. “And what’s more, Granny likes her.”

  Floyd looked at Karen now. “I think that would be the safest thing for you to do right now at least until we can find out for sure if this Palmer is going to be dangerous.”

  Karen looked from Floyd to Jason and he could tell her eyes were searching his for an answer. So he nodded his head slightly. He was afraid that if he said anything she would pick up on his enthusiasm for the plan and maybe get spooked.

  She looked back at Floyd and slowly nodded her head. “Yes, I think I would like that. After last night, I don’t really feel safe at my house anymore.”

  Jason looked at Floyd who nodded. He then pulled out his cell phone and called Granny who of course was pleased to have Karen stay with her for as long as she needed to.

  Before they hung up though, Granny said, “You’re going to marry that girl aren’t you Sonny?”

  Jason grinned and knew he was blushing but he said, “Yes ma’am that is my intention.”

  “Good! See that you do.”

  With that, she hung up.

  Jason turned to the others trying to avoid Karen’s eyes. He knew she was wondering why he’d just blushed.

  “She said it was fine with her.”

  Floyd stood and said, “Good, then we won’t have to worry about the nights. Jason, why don’t you drive her back and forth to work so she’ll be protected then too.

  Jason tried not to grin. Everything was falling into place just the way he’d hoped it would.

  When they were all rising, Floyd’s cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and answered it quickly. When he did, his face went pale and Jason wasn’t sure what to think.

  When Floyd disconnected he turned to them and said, “That was my cousin Jo. She just took Sue Ann to the hospital. We’re going to have our baby!”

  Jason knew from the way Floyd was reacting that he didn’t need to be driving.

  “Floyd, why don’t we drop you off at the hospital? After all, it’s on our way to Karen’s townhouse.”

  Floyd just nodded and ran out of the office.

  As he passed through the outer office, Jason turned to a bewildered Crystal and said, “We’re taking him to the hospital. Sue Ann’s there for the baby.”

  She smiled and waved as Jason and Karen rushed out to his Tahoe where Floyd was already waiting impatiently.

  * * *

  Karen was overwhelmed. So much was happening so fast that all she wanted to do was to crawl off into a small quiet room and just sit. But that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

  After they dropped an extremely agitated Floyd off at the hospital, Jason had driven her to her house where she’d packed a couple of suitcases. That should be enough of her things for a week and she hoped that it wouldn’t last any longer than that.

  Now, as they were driving down the dirt lane to Jason’s grandmother’s house for the second day in a row, she was flustered.

  She didn’t like being flustered. She had seldom ever been this confused before. She tried not to think about the one time she knew she’d been this disturbed. Larry had been the cause of that one too.

  Jason reached his hand out palm up and she placed her hand in his. That simple act calmed her down considerably. His large hand enclosing hers gave her the most comforting feeling she’d had for days. Nothing had been right since that first phone call from Larry Saturday night.

  “It’s going to be okay now Karen. You’ll be safe out here. My granny may not look it but she can take care of herself and you too. She keeps a pump shotgun and a 30-30 both near her front door. No one will mess with you while you’re there with her.”

  Karen giggled. She wasn’t sure if he was serious or not, but just hearing his soothing voice was calming her down some more. So much so that when they walked into the house she almost felt comfortable with the whole situation.

  Jason must have noted her skepticism before because as soon as they were inside he pointed to their left. And sure enough, there in a vertical gun rack next to the door sat the aforementioned weapons just as he’d said.

  Since he continued to hold her hand, she squeezed his and smiled up at him. She was beginning to realize how special a person Jason was. She really liked all that she was learning about him too.

  Hattie was standing in the kitchen doorway. She smiled and said, “Come on into the kitchen so we can talk while I finish supper.”

  Karen had grown up in Springfield, not a huge city but it was still ten times bigger than the fifteen thousand people that there were in Crowleyville.

  She’d always lived in modern houses so she was rather surprised at the huge kitchen with the big table right in the middle of it. She had to smile. Most of her townhouse would fit into that kitchen.

  “Sit down girl. We don’t hold much for formalities around here.”

  “Oh, but Mrs. Walker, you must let me help you.”

  Hattie turned back to glare at Karen and she was sure she was in trouble with Jason’s grandmother now. She looked at Jason for help but he was just grinning at her so she turned back to Hattie.

  The older woman placed her hands on her hips and said, “Now just what did I say to you last week when we were all at Thelma’s? Aint’ no Mrs. Walker around here. You will call me Miss Hattie. You understand?”

  Karen nodded and was barely able to croak out, “Yes ma’am.”

  Hattie gave her another look and Karen said, “Miss Hattie.”

  Then Hattie finally smiled and said, “You can check on the biscuits in the oven for me if you want.”

  Karen let the breath she’d been holding out slowly then quickly went to the oven to open the door.

  She happened to catch sight of Jason as she did and he still had that huge grin plastered on his face. She’d get even with him for this. He could have warned her a little more about how to act around his grandmother.

  She was shocked to realize how lighthearted she felt here in this old farmhouse kitchen with Jason and his grandmother. Oh my!

  The biscuits were a golden brown so Karen pulled them out of the oven. When she looked over at Miss Hattie, she motioned toward a large platter next to the range so Karen slid the biscuits off onto it.

  After placing the platter of biscuits on the table, Karen was startled when Miss Hattie called out in a loud voice, “Billy Joe, supper’s ready.”

  In less than a minute, Billy Joe Layton appeared in the room and said hello to her and Jason. He took a seat at the table without trying to approach Jason. She had the stray thought that that was probably best especially with everything else that was going on right then.

  Karen watched Jason to see how he would react to his father. He didn’t even look at Billy Joe. Instead, he was staring at her again.

  Even though Jason was giving her a strange look again, she suddenly didn’t mind that look anymore. Sometime during the last few hours, Jason must have stopped trying to hide how he felt about her. She could see the love in his eyes right then.

  Wow! She wasn’t sure what to
think of that. But then it suddenly felt . . . right. Why? Did that mean that she was getting the same kinds of feelings for him? She wasn’t sure she was ready to put a name to her feelings for Jason . . . not yet at least.

  As she turned her attention back to the table, she noticed that Billy Joe had taken a chair on the side away from them and not an end.

  Jason quickly took one end and Karen sat next to him while Miss Hattie took the other end, which placed her near Billy Joe.

  There wasn’t much talk during the meal and Karen was glad. It gave her the opportunity to study the others at the table with her. She tried to do it in such a way that none of them would realize what she was doing.

  First, she looked at Billy Joe Layton and she realized that she felt sorry for the man. It seemed to her that he truly wanted a relationship with his son, but didn’t know how to go about it. She vowed right then that she would see what she could do to help that relationship to develop.

  She looked at Jason and almost laughed at the way he was purposely avoiding looking at Billy Joe. Well, her next thought was that Jason was at least going to give the man a chance if she had anything to say about it.

  When she finally turned to Miss Hattie, she couldn’t help but blush at the intent look the older woman was giving her. Karen knew then that she wasn’t fooling Jason’s grandmother one little bit. The sly woman seemed to know exactly what Karen was thinking and what she had resolved to do. And to top it off, the shrewd older woman nodded slightly at Karen with a touch of a smile on her face.

  That was when Karen realized that Miss Hattie wanted the two men to have a relationship. Karen had a warm feeling spread throughout her being with that awareness. It made her think even more highly of Jason’s grandmother.

  Once they were all enjoying their coffee afterwards, Karen tried to come up with a way to get the conversation going to include Jason and Billy Joe when Miss Hattie beat her to it.

  “Billy Joe. Did you know that Jason has been a deputy for twelve years now?”

  Billy Joe turned to Jason and said, “You must like being a deputy then.”

  Karen was afraid Jason wasn’t going to answer at first but eventually he turned slightly toward Billy Joe and said, “Yeah. It really helps that I’ve got such a great sheriff to work for.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Floyd McCracken.”

  Karen was overjoyed that they were actually carrying on a conversation for the first time.

  Billy Joe leaned back and took a sip of his coffee. “Yeah, that’s a big family around the county.” He seemed to think for a minute. “If I’m not mistaken there was a McCracken who was sheriff back when I lived here.”

  “Yeah, that was his uncle. When he died, Floyd was appointed to replace him until the next election and he’s been elected once since then.”

  With that, Jason stood and held out his hand to Karen. “Would you come into the living room with me, Karen? I’d like to talk to you a little more before I leave.”

  Karen didn’t know what to expect as she followed Jason into the living room. She knew that there were things she would like to talk over with him, but was afraid that it might be rushing things a bit if she brought any of them up right now.

  As soon as they were sitting next to each other on the sofa, Jason took her hand again and said, “Karen, I know it took you almost a year to get to the point to where you would go out on a date with me.”

  He stopped as if not sure how to go on.

  “Well, I guess the best way to do this is like Granny always says, just spit it out. What I’m trying to ask is this.”

  He turned to face her. “Are you still comfortable with me Karen?”

  She almost smiled at the seriousness with which he asked such a simple question. But then she looked into his eyes and really wasn’t surprised to see that open affection there again. This was serious. Did she want things to get this serious between the two of them . . . especially so quickly?

  She decided to put it all out there for him to see. “Yes, Jason, I am. In fact, I think that I feel the same way about you that you feel about me.”

  With that, Jason let out a whoop and pulled her toward him to kiss her awkwardly. Before she could even think about kissing him back, he’d already pulled away and was looking deep into her eyes again.

  She could see the question in his eyes, so in answer, she leaned toward him and kissed him this time.

  Chapter Eight

  Tuesday morning Jason was sitting in his office before the briefing reflecting on the happenings of the day before. It was almost as if he could still feel the kisses he and Karen had shared. Wow! Sure, they had kissed several times before but this was different. She had actually said that she felt the same way about him that he felt about her.

  Did that mean that she loved him? Yes, that was how he felt about her now and he was ready to admit it to her too.

  All of a sudden, a thought hit him and he rushed out of his office to find Floyd.

  Jason had to laugh when he entered Crystal’s office. She had a banner above the doorway to Floyd’s private office, which read, “Congratulations Floyd & Sue Ann – Welcome Mary Ann McCracken!”

  Floyd’s head was bent over some papers on his desk when Jason came in. So he waited for the big sheriff to look up at him.

  When he did, Jason stepped up and stuck out his hand. “Congratulations Floyd. How’s it feel?”

  Floyd snorted and shook his head. “Weird. I didn’t even know about Penny until she was nine and that blew me away.” He grinned. “But this is the scariest and also the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  Floyd looked at Jason and said, “You got something else on your mind?”

  “Yeah, Floyd, I just thought of something we didn’t think of yesterday. Karen starts work at nine and gets off at five. I can get her okay at five but I’ll be with Palmer at eight-thirty when I’ll need to pick her up from Granny’s.”

  Floyd frowned and leaned back in his chair. “That’s right. Blast it all, we didn’t think about that did we?”

  He thought for another minute then said, “Okay, I’ll go out and get her this morning and after that I’ll have someone else ride with Palmer the rest of the week. I’d put him on a different squad, but that would make you short one deputy and the other squad one over. You’ll just have to try to get along with the guy for one more day.”

  He frowned again. “But I have a feeling that’s just not going to happen. As soon as Palmer finds out that you’re dating Karen he’s going to blow.”

  “I can handle him Floyd.”

  Floyd snorted. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of Jason. I don’t need one of my sergeants getting into a fistfight with one of my deputies.” He glared at Jason. “You understand me Son?”

  Jason tried to grin. “Yes Sheriff, I understand you perfectly. What you don’t hear about never happened, right?”

  Floyd laughed his booming laugh. “Get out of here Walker.”

  Jason turned to leave but as he was passing through the doorway, Floyd called out, “And Jason . . . try to keep a lid on it okay . . . at least for today. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  It was Jason’s turn to laugh as he made his way to the briefing room for the start of his shift.

  Half an hour later, Jason and Palmer were patrolling the state highway where it becomes Main Street going through Crowleyville when Jason looked up and saw a group of high school age boys on the sidewalk up ahead.

  He remembered what Mike had told him the other day and he had a bad feeling about this and said, “Pull over there by those kids Palmer.”

  When they stopped, Jason stepped out of the vehicle and approached the group of boys. He noticed that Palmer stayed by the front of their vehicle. That was normal procedure but the smirk on Palmer’s face wasn’t.

  He heard someone shout, “Cops!” And they started to scatter but Jason yelled, “Everybody stop right where you are.”

  All the boys s
topped in their tracks but they had cleared enough for Jason to see what had been going on. Two of the boys were standing with one on each side of Bert Smith. Bert was one of the residents of a home for adults who couldn’t live on their own but could function well otherwise with just a little supervision.

  Jason tried to control his temper as he approached the three. “Hey Bert. You doing okay?”

  Bert hung his head and grinned back at Jason. “Hey Mr. Jason. I’m going to work at the church.”

  Jason turned to the boys and said, “If I ever catch you boys bothering Bert again, you’ll be headed for Springfield real quick.”

  When neither boy responded, Jason said, “Do you understand me?”

  They both stammered “Yeah,” at the same time.

  “All right then, get on to school.”

  All of the boys jumped into three pickups that had been sitting by the side of the street and left.

  Jason turned back to Bert and said, “You be sure to tell Pastor Gil about this okay Bert?”

  “Sure Mr. Jason. I’ll tell Mr. Preacher soon as I get in there to work this morning.”

  When Jason was back in the vehicle trying to calm down Palmer laughed and said, “You should of left them alone. They were just having a little fun and they weren’t hurting the guy.”

  Jason had to grit his teeth to keep from saying anything for a few minutes as Palmer pulled back onto the street to resume patrolling.

  A short time later, Palmer pulled around back of a convenience store and parked. He sat there for a moment staring straight ahead before he finally turned to Jason.

  “You know a woman by the name of Karen Bierstadt?”

  Jason knew what was coming next and tried to keep his voice calm and as normal as possible when he said, “Yes.”

  Palmer looked through the windshield again then said, “I hear you been dating her.”

  Jason knew the least amount of comment from him was probably best so again he only said, “Yes.”

  Palmer was quiet for so long Jason thought that might be the end of it. But then Palmer turned to him and said, “She’s my woman. Stay away from her.”