“He left a thousand dollars. We each got two hundred a week.” The Mayes boy spoke.
Mitch exchanged a glance with Luke that told him they were thinking the same thing. It was a lot of money to pay kids to pull pranks. There was something more to this story. Something maybe the boys themselves were unaware of.
They were interrupted by Wayne and the two state police officers entering the room.
“Take them all to the station and, before you process them, see that their parents are called.” Mitch ignored pleas from the boys.
As soon as they were all cuffed and out the door, Luke asked Mitch the question bugging him. “Why would a man pay them that kind of money just to ‘keep me busy’?”
Mitch shook his head. “We don’t even know this man exists. Those boys would make up anything if they thought it might get them out of the mess they’re in. Instead of admitting it was their idea, they may be inventing a scapegoat. We won’t know more until I sit down and question them individually.”
“Thank you for letting me be here.”
“I’m just sorry you had to be the target of this, no matter the reason.” Mitch walked through the door. “I’ll let you know what we find out,” he said over his shoulder.
“I appreciate it.”
Luke drove by Holly’s house on his way home, relieved to see Hank sitting in his own car across the road. With Clarence to announce any visitors, and Hank to provide protection, she was as safe as she could be.
He couldn’t get the night’s events out of his head during his drive home. And the one question that rose above all the others. Why?
Chapter 39
“Girls’ night,” sang Tessa as she sashayed across the living room floor. “Ha ha, Clarence. You’re stuck here while we go out and have fun.”
Clarence yawned to show how impressed he was.
“I’m still not sure this is a good idea.” Holly had finally given in to her friend’s pleas after enduring a solid Saturday morning of whining.
“We’re partying.”
Holly sat on the sofa. “I don’t feel like partying.” She reached down to Clarence, who had laid his head across her lap, and scratched behind his ears. His thumping tail told her thank you. "Not when five of our seniors were expelled this close to graduation."
“They’ll be lucky if they don’t end up in juvenile detention or jail, Holly.” Tessa lost her carefree attitude. “Those boys broke the law. Just think what might have happened had they gotten away with it. It was easy to steal and not get caught this time, so why not try it again? I tell you, that’s how a life of crime gets started.”
“I still can’t believe Ted is the father of Tasha Hart’s baby. And Adam, of all people, has been his confidant. No wonder the boy has had trouble focusing on his grades.” Holly blinked away her tears. “Do you think Sammy or Ted will even have a shot at college now?” It still broke her heart to see them lose their dreams.
Tessa sat down beside Holly and spoke seriously. “Holly, you have to accept it. They took over ten thousand dollars’ worth of equipment and vandalized Luke’s farm. Each one of them will have that on their record for the rest of their lives. And it’s because of the choice each one of them made. Any one of them could have said no; he wouldn’t go along with it. But, not one of them did.”
“I understand.” Holly sighed. “My mind knows it, but my heart is having a hard time accepting it.” She leaned down and hugged Clarence. “Did Mitch find the tools where the boys told him they were?”
Tessa frowned. “Not even forty feet into Luke’s woods. Mitch said the equipment was covered with a net the boys had laced with grass and leaves. Homemade camouflage, I guess.”
Clarence nuzzled Holly’s leg, reminding her he was still there. “Why are you here so early tonight, Clarence?” She had heard a couple of doors close while she was in the shower, and was greeted by the dog as soon as she entered the living room.
“Luke just said he had something going on this evening and needed to leave him here now.” Tessa smiled a little too brightly.
“Is he okay?” Holly asked quietly.
“Other than being as daffy as you are?” Tessa crossed her arms and tilted her head back. “I should get Mitch to lock you two in the same cell and not release you until you work this out.”
Holly’s eyes burned. “Work what out? He doesn’t want to be with me anymore.”
“I am not having this conversation with you again.” Tessa suddenly grinned. “Nice try, sister, but we are going out. Now get a move on. You’ll see. We are going to have f-u-n!”
Two and a half hours later, Holly had to admit Tessa was correct. They had gone to a movie that had them both laughing so hard there were tears involved. And then Tessa insisted they stop at Tibbles for pizza. The subs they had for supper weren’t enough.
Holly was laughing at her friend trying to get a string of cheese into her mouth when she looked up, and her heart stopped.
Luke was walking in, and he wasn’t alone. A pretty woman with long, extremely dark brown hair was with him. He had his arm around her, and as Holly watched, he gave the woman a hug before pulling out her chair and getting himself situated beside her.
“What’s the matter?” Tessa let her cheese hang. “You’re not going to pass out, are you?”
Holly shook her head, tears blinding her. “No.”
“Then, what—” Tessa looked over her shoulder and then very slowly turned back around. “I don’t believe it. I just don’t believe it.”
A single tear ran down Holly’s cheek as, for the first time, she accepted the truth—no more pushing it away. She had been fooling herself for years. Friends, indeed. A woman didn’t want to share every moment of her life with a man because he was her friend. She didn’t want to be wrapped tightly in a friend’s arms and kissed silly. All this time, she considered him an important part of her life, but she was wrong. Luke Walker was her life. Holly was deeply in love with the man. But, now it was too late. “I waited too long.”
“No.” Tessa looked back at the couple. “There has to be an explanation for this.”
Holly sniffed and lifted her chin. “There is. He offered me something very precious, and I took him for granted. I’ve always taken him for granted.” She knew the words were true as she spoke them. “Luke deserves to be happy, and if he needs to be with...her...or any woman to do so, he should be.”
“Oh, nonsense!” Tessa put her napkin on the table. “I’m going over there and finding out exactly what is going on.”
“Please don’t.” Holly put her hand on Tessa’s arm. “If he’s found somebody who appreciates him and makes him happy, I don’t want to ruin it. Please just leave them alone. Let me keep some of my self-respect, and give him at least that much. Please, Tess.”
Tessa slowly sat back in her chair. “Okay.” She put her napkin back in her lap and picked up her pizza. “But just for the record, I think you’re wrong with a capital w.”
Holly wished she were, but she could still hear his voice: “Puppy love ends, Holly.”
“Good evening, ladies.” Tom Dwer stood beside Tessa.
“This is a surprise.” Tessa set her pizza back on the plate. “What are you still doing in town, Tom?”
He smiled. “I’m working on a project that will be easier to develop here. It should be finished in a couple of weeks.”
“What’s the project?” Holly could distract herself by focusing on Tom.
He lifted his index finger and wagged it back and forth. “It’s a secret, Holly. Don’t you know good businessmen never give their plans away?”
“Sit down and have a slice of pizza.” Tessa gestured toward the chair he was standing behind.
“If you’re sure?” Tom gave Holly a questioning look.
“Please join us.” She looked pointedly at Tessa. “If we don’t eat all this pizza, Tessa will take it home and try to sneak it to the dog. Even though he’s not supposed to get table scraps.”
“What
kind of dog do you have?” Tom sat down and helped himself to a slice of pizza.
Holly deliberately avoided looking at Luke. “He’s not really mine.”
“Don’t listen to her.” Tess took a bite of pizza. “She and Luke have joint custody of Clarence. The mutt is so spoiled, it isn’t funny.”
Tom’s gaze sharpened. “You and Luke share a dog? I knew you two were close, but I didn’t realize—”
“We’re not.” Holly spoke quickly. “He’s...loaning me Clarence for a while. That’s all.”
“I think people would have to be pretty close to share a dog.” His gaze was full of skepticism.
Always good at changing topics, Tessa spoke. “I’m glad you’re still around.” She reached across and touched his hand. Her voice dropped to a near whisper. “What you did—letting Mitch tell the others you set up that film as a joke—was one of the nicest things I’ve ever seen.”
He shrugged. “I pulled a lot of stunts in school. Who better to blame?”
To maintain the illusion the film was a hoax, Mitch had asked Tom for help. The former jokester immediately agreed. It gave Holly a headache trying to keep the sheriff’s logic straight—the stalker would know the film was live feed and think Wallace was dead. Mitch hoped he would give himself away.
“So, Tom, before the …movie, did you enjoy the class reunion?” Holly thought Tessa’s question was silly; she didn’t see how anybody could have had a good time.
His gaze slowly shifted from Holly to Tessa. “It was nice to see everybody.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” Tessa asked.
“We had a good turnout,” Holly offered.
Tom frowned. “I think Jen made a little too much over the fact Kevin is such a success.”
Holly wondered if the two remained friends. It looked like they hadn’t. “So, where’s home?”
“I live in Rhode Island.” He looked happy to share the information. “You’d like my house. Everything computerized; it practically maintains itself. And the design is unbelievable—two-story with a walk-around porch completely encompassing it. The view from the upstairs balcony is unbelievable. A dream house”
“It sounds very nice.” For some reason, Holly couldn’t picture Tom living in the house he described. She would have thought he lived in a more modern house, or even a condo or apartment. “Do you have any family?” She didn’t remember any mention of a wife, and he wasn’t wearing a ring, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.
His smile faded. “No. There’s someone special—very special. However, we have a lot of stuff to work out before I can convince her she and I can make a go of it.”
Holly exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Tessa. She hadn’t expected such a personal answer and was more than a little embarrassed by it.
“So, Holly and I both work at the high school.” It looked like Tessa was saving the day again. “It’s kind of strange to work in the same place we attended.”
“You must be a very good guidance counselor.” He set his pizza down and gave all of his attention to Holly. “Jen told some of us she had a special presentation planned for you because you’ve gone through a rough patch. It didn’t have anything to do with that movie, did it?”
She wasn’t sure what Mitch told Tom about the incident, but he obviously didn’t know everything. “No.”
“Then, can I ask what happened?”
“Nothing important.” There was no way she was going to explain the situation to Tom. “I hate to be a spoilsport, but I’m getting sleepy, and we do have to get up for church in the morning.”
She looked at Tessa and hoped her friend would go along with it.
“Yes. We’d better go.” Tessa picked up her purse and dug out a couple of dollars. “Please finish off the pizza, Tom. I really shouldn’t feed it to the dog.”
“The dog Holly shares with Luke.” There was an expression on Tom’s face Holly couldn’t quite read. It looked like either displeasure or disapproval, which made no sense. Why would he care if she and Luke shared a dog? She looked over Tessa’s shoulder to see Luke deep in conversation with his companion, and was suddenly too tired to try to figure it out.
The image of Luke and the mystery woman was still stuck in Holly’s mind as she pulled back her blankets a while later. Maybe it was why she didn’t check caller ID when she answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“You’re mine. I love you, and you’re mine.” The caller’s voice was tender as he crooned. “We’ll be together very soon, my Holly, and everything will be perfect. You’ll see.”
“Tess?” Holly sank to her bed, her phone dropping to the floor. “Tess!”
Tessa, pajamas on, appeared in her bedroom door. “What—Holly, what’s wrong?”
“He just called. He said he loves me, and we’re going to be together soon.” Pure panic hit her. “He’s coming back for me! He’s going to take me!”
Tessa knelt in front of her and framed Holly’s face with her hands. “Listen to me, Holly.”
Holly looked at her friend, still more frightened by this call than any of the others.
“To get to you, this guy has to get past Hank, Clarence, and me. We can go to your parents’ house if you want. Would you feel safer with your dad?”
She had to get a grip on it. “No.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. There was something different about his voice this time. Like he was trying to be romantic. Or maybe because I still feel his touch. This was worse than when he sounded threatening, Tess.”
“Lie down.” Tess waited until she was comfortable on the bed before she pulled the covers over her. Then Tess turned to Clarence. “Get up on the bed and keep her safe, you walking Chia pet! You know you want up there, anyway.”
Clarence looked at Tess for a moment, and just like that, jumped up on the foot of the bed. Holly felt him snuggle against her legs and lay his head across them. She immediately felt better.
“I’ll be right back.” Tessa left the room.
Holly didn’t know how long her friend was gone before she showed back up with a cup in her hand.
“I made you some herbal tea. It will calm you.” She waited for Holly to sit up far enough to drink some of it, and then helped her get cozy again. “I’m going to go call Mitch. He needs to know about this call. It might be something significant. He might even want to give Hank a heads up.”
“Okay.” Holly watched her friend turn to leave. “Tess?”
Tessa turned back around.
“Please leave the light on.”
Chapter 40
“Luke, are you in here?” Mitch’s voice came through the open barn door moments before he did.
“Hi, Mitch.” Luke turned back to the tractor. “I’ll be with you in a minute. I’ve just about got the fan belt back on.”
“Busted fan belt?” Mitch came over and looked at what Luke was doing.
“Yep.” Luke finished tightening it and looked up to see Mitch’s concerned gaze. “No vandalism this time—unless the culprits left mouse droppings.”
Relief immediately flooded Mitch’s face. “Good.”
Luke picked up a towel and wiped his hands. “So, what are you doing out here today? Any new information on the man the boys claim hired them?” It was Thursday, over a week since they’d caught the boys.
“Yes.” Mitch nodded. “The warrant finally came through. We opened the locker the boys said they used, a couple of hours ago.”
Luke’s interest was piqued. “What did you find?”
“Ten one-hundred-dollar bills, just like the boys claimed.”
“So, they weren’t lying.” Maybe it would make the judge go a little easier on them. The boys needed to answer for their crimes, but Luke hated to see their lives completely ruined. And, they had given Mitch the best information yet.
“Who is the locker registered to?”
“That’s just it.” Mitch looked confounded. “First of all, there’s no record of the locker having been rented.
The bus company doesn’t have any idea how the boys, or this man, could have gotten the combination.”
“Maybe something on a computer somewhere?” Luke speculated.
“Maybe,” Mitch agreed. “But the bus depot has a couple of security cameras aimed at the lockers. Difficult to see if you aren’t looking at them.”
“Cameras?” If they had a film of someone putting money in that locker, this should all be over.
“The depot owner gave me the security DVDs without a warrant. He knew about Holly’s stalker. Turns out she helped his niece with a problem at school, and he was glad for a way to pay her back.”
Luke couldn’t stop the surge of pride at one more person appreciating Holly’s skills.
“Do you want to come to the station and watch some movies?” Mitch presented him with a small grin. “There are at least a dozen, and I can only spare one deputy to help. Haley already has a disc in the dispatch computer, and she’s not impressed by what people do when they think nobody is watching.”
“I’ll be glad to help.”
An hour later, Luke rethought those words. So far, he had observed a harried mother sneak over by the lockers to change her son’s diaper—dirty diaper, a man change from street clothes into a waiter’s uniform, and he fast forwarded through the newlyweds making use of a little privacy.
“If we knew how much ahead of time he left the money in the locker, we might have better luck finding him.” Mitch looked like a hypnotized man, staring at the monitor. Luke would still rather have the desktop than this tablet. He had to zoom in for details too often, and saw some things too up close and personal.
“Hey, Mitch!” Haley yelled from the dispatch desk.
Even in these circumstances, Luke couldn’t stop his smile. The intercom system on Mitch’s desk was used so seldom, a thick layer of dust lay undisturbed on it. He had observed Haley and Mitch’s method of hollering back and forth too often.
“Yeah?” There went Luke’s right eardrum.
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