by Alice Sharpe
Torrence lowered his voice. “Are you carrying?”
“Yes, but that’s because of Neil Roberts, not David Lee.”
Torrence stared hard at Trip for a moment as Marnie showed up at the table wielding a carafe. She refilled the other two cups as she gestured at Trip’s. “What about you, handsome?” she asked Trip.
He smiled up at her. “Marnie, when are you going to leave that husband of yours and run off with me?”
“He’s away on another one of those blasted business trips, so don’t tempt me,” she teased, with a dazzling smile. “Meanwhile, coffee?”
“No, thanks. I’m trying to sweet-talk the sheriff.”
“You always have coffee,” she said.
“I know, but not today.”
“Okay, honey, you just holler if you change your mind,” she said with a wink, then sashayed off to an adjoining table.
Trip looked back at Torrence. “Well?
Torrence shrugged. “Sure, you can tag along. I’m meeting my deputy here in ten minutes.”
Fifteen minutes later, Trip trailed the sheriff and deputy to the Lee house, growing more and more surprised as the neighborhoods grew seedier. When Torrence pulled up in front of a single-story white house, he could barely believe his eyes.
From the front, the house appeared to be a single-floor dwelling, but after Trip pulled ahead to park, he saw another level below, with a sharply sloping driveway on the side. There looked to be a garage or workshop at the bottom of the gulley opposite the basement, then the heavily wooded land rose steeply up the other side of the ravine to meet the back of a row of houses. He bet the basement apartment got no direct sunlight.
Trip met the sheriff on the sidewalk, gesturing a half block away at an old white Mercury pulled up to the curb. “Looks like the son’s home now,” Trip said.
“Goody,” Torrence quipped.
The two officers walked up to the front door, oozing purpose, another day at the office. Trip hung back, out of the way. Torrence pounded twice and waited. It took a while, but the door was eventually opened by a haggard-looking woman in her late forties, wrapped in a polyester robe. Despite the early hour, she wore a full face of heavy makeup, including apple-red lipstick and thick black eyeliner.
“He still isn’t home,” she said.
“His car is here,” Torrence said calmly.
“It is? I didn’t hear him come in.”
“How about letting us take a look around?”
She glanced over her shoulder. Trip was so sure her son was lurking in the room behind her, he ached to kick the door out of her hand. He heard the creak of a floorboard as the landlady turned her attention back to Torrence. She raised her voice and demanded he leave her alone and stop harassing her, her boy hadn’t done anything wrong. The deputy rolled his eyes.
Trip stepped off the rotting wood porch. No one was paying him any attention. As he moved around the side of the house, he heard a door open and close somewhere down below. He pressed himself against the house.
Sure enough, the kid came tearing up the driveway, angling out to reach the sidewalk and his Mercury, apparently oblivious to Trip’s presence. At that moment, the deputy came around the front of the house, caught sight of Lee running toward his car and yelled, “Hey, you. Stop!”
Lee paused for a microsecond, then kept going. He was pretty fast on his feet for a walking muscle. Faster than the deputy, anyway. Trip, who had fallen back to let the deputy do his job, now saw the deputy was never going to catch David before he disappeared around the corner and into a labyrinth of back streets and alleys he no doubt knew better than any of them. Trip took off as Lee apparently rethought his plan and darted toward his car.
Out of the corner of his eye, Trip saw the deputy pull a gun. No way. He didn’t want David Lee shot—he wanted to know if the bastard had chased Faith the night before. He was afraid the young deputy’s inexperience and the heat of the chase would end up in a disaster, so he ran faster. Ruby Lee started yelling encouragements to her wayward son from the front porch.
Lee raced around to the driver’s door of his car and tore it open. Trip threw himself across the hood, slid on his stomach, landed on his feet and pushed his shoulder into the door, catching Lee half in and half out.
By now, the deputy had reached them, gun drawn, temper high. More shouting ensued as everyone told everyone else what they thought. Ruby Lee came running, her slippers slapping on the pavement, swearing like a sailor as her housecoat flapped around her legs. Trip pushed himself off the back fender where he’d spun after impact and watched the deputy snap handcuffs on Lee’s beefy wrists.
Bottom line, David Lee was unhurt though he threw Trip a glare of pure hatred. Trip had been the recipient of too many baleful stares over the years to quake in his boots with this jerk, but his fists bunched at his sides anyway.
FAITH LOOKED OUT THE window for the fortieth time in an hour. The sky was leaden and heavy looking, forbidding—a perfect reflection of her mood.
Though she sat on a small chair holding a picture book and reciting long-ago-memorized text, everything struck her as surreal. Twenty-four hours before, she’d defined the world by different parameters. She’d had goals—pay off her bills, be a good teacher, rediscover her trust in the world. She’d had fears, but they’d been drifting away.
Now, in the face of the violence of the past day or so, everything was different. Her leg hurt worse than it had in ages, and so did her damn back and some nameless place deep inside where she’d suffered additional injuries. Over and over again she found her fingers tracing her scars. Though she tried to remember the tender, warm feeling of Trip’s fingers and lips, she couldn’t.
A little boy seated on the rug closest to her feet opened and closed the Velcro closure on his shoes as he stared up at her, eyes round. Faith snuck a peek at Noelle, who sat off by herself on the edge of the group, dark circles beneath her eyes, pigtails drooping, gaze settled on the hamster cage on the shelf by the window. Was she thinking about her polar bear? Or about the car chase or her parents? How much pain should one child have to endure? Faith caught Noelle’s eyes and smiled warmly. The child’s lips curved for a moment.
The hall door opened quickly, causing Faith’s heart to jam in her throat. One of the secretaries stepped hesitantly inside the room, gesturing at Faith.
“Principal Cooper wants you in the office right now,” Paty Jones whispered, her green eyes bright with intrigue.
“My class—”
“I’ll stay here with the kids while you’re gone.”
“Okay,” Faith said, handing the secretary the book, her finger holding the place where she’d left off. “Do you know why Principal Cooper wants to see me?”
“They found a suspicious-looking man lurking outside.”
Faith swallowed what felt like a five-pound brick of ice. “A man? Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s he got to do with me?”
“I don’t know. The principal is ready to call the cops—you better hurry.”
Faith walked down the hall, the image of Neil Roberts vivid in her head. What if he’d used some ruse to get inside the school? What if he whipped out a gun the moment Faith entered the office? What if he’d already hurt Principal Cooper?
Her mind told her to stop being an idiot—no one would approach a school this way. It didn’t make sense.
She turned the corner into the principal’s office to find Principal Geri Cooper standing across the desk from a man Faith had never seen before. He looked to be about thirty, with sandy hair. Tall and thin, he was dressed in jeans, boots and a bulky parka. He held a new cowboy hat in big, rough-looking hands.
Best of all, he was not Neil Roberts.
“Do you know this man?” Principal Cooper asked, peering at Faith over the top of her bifocals.
“No.”
“My name’s Paul Avery, I work for Luke Tripper out at the Triple T, I told you that,” the man said. “Mr. Tripper t
old me to keep an eye on the school this morning, and I got cold so I walked around the place to see if anyone suspicious was hanging out.”
“You were seen walking around the campus three times,” Principal Cooper said. “That’s what was suspicious.”
“I’m used to moving,” Paul Avery said. “Don’t like sitting much.”
“The janitor noticed him,” Principal Cooper added as she glanced at Faith. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”
Faith recognized the name Paul Avery from dinner conversation the night before. But was this man who he said he was? “Why don’t you call Mr. Tripper and ask if he sent him?”
“I tried. His cell phone number isn’t answering.”
She leveled her gaze at Paul Avery. “Who’s the Tripper housekeeper?”
“Mrs. Murphy,” he said at once.
“And your brother’s name?”
“Which one? Hal works at the Triple T with me, Jason is still in school and Len is with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan.”
“I think he’s who he says he is,” Faith said dryly.
“Hm—” Principal Cooper glowered at Avery. “Why are you watching our school?”
Avery looked at Faith quickly, then away.
“I know why he’s here,” Faith said. “He’s watching over Noelle Matthews. There’s been some weird things going on at the ranch, right, Mr. Avery?”
Avery shrugged.
Principal Cooper lowered her voice. “Weird things? Why wasn’t I told about this before now?”
“I didn’t think trouble would follow anyone to this school,” Faith explained.
“What kind of trouble are we talking about?”
“A missing babysitter—”
“Who?”
“Gina something. I can’t remember her last name.”
“Cooke,” Avery said. “Her name is Gina Cooke.”
“I know Gina,” Principal Cooper said. “She went to this school. What do you know about this, Mr. Avery?”
Paul Avery looked ready to sink into the linoleum. He twisted his hat in his hands as he muttered, “Nothing. Honest. No one was supposed to know I was even here. The boss is going to kill me.”
“I wouldn’t worry about your boss right now,” the principal said. “I’d worry about me. If you don’t start making sense right now, I’m calling the police. The Chief used to be a student of mine, too. As would you and your brothers have been if you’d lived in this town long enough.”
Avery’s Adam’s apple slid up and down his throat.
“You’re here to watch over Noelle, right?” Faith said.
“Well, yeah, but not just her.”
“What do you mean?” Principal Cooper snapped.
Avery looked down at his worn boots and shrugged.
Principal Cooper was obviously nearing the end of her patience. “Ms. Bishop, Faith, sit down. Tell me what’s going on and how it affects the children in this school. Not so fast, Mr. Avery, you sit down, too.”
Paul Avery reluctantly parked himself on the indicated chair. As Faith took the other chair, she looked up at the clock, an uneasy feeling gnawing at her stomach. With Avery and her both in the office it left the classroom vulnerable to an attack by Neil Roberts. She got to her feet.
Principal Cooper looked up.
“I promise I’ll come back after school today and tell you everything I know, but please, I have to get back to the classroom. I’d like Mr. Avery to come with me.”
Principal Cooper leveled a stare at Avery. “You aren’t carrying a weapon, are you?
As Avery pulled a silver object from a coat pocket, Faith’s breath caught in her throat and the principal started to rise from her seat. He opened his hand to reveal a cell phone. “Just this, ma’am,” he said.
Shaking her head, the principal looked at Faith. “You have some explaining to do. I don’t appreciate your leaving me in the dark about security issues.”
“It wasn’t my intention—”
“There are only three more days until Christmas vacation,” the older woman said as she sank back down in her seat. “I, for one, can hardly wait. Okay, go on, go back to class. You, too, Mr. Avery. But be warned, I will call the police if I feel the need. And turn that phone off.”
Faith left in a hurry, only vaguely aware that Paul Avery trailed behind her. She had to get back to her class.
She rushed through the door at last, stopping dead in her tracks. But instead of a scene out of a horror movie, she found the children still sprawled on the rug, the secretary perched on the little chair, reading another book. As one, they turned curious eyes to stare at her. Faith’s gaze went straight to Noelle, who smiled.
Paul Avery bumped into Faith from behind and she whirled to face him.
“Sorry, ma’am,” he muttered.
The ebbing adrenaline rush of the last few moments left Faith’s knees weak. What was happening to her?
Damn Luke Tripper.
Chapter Seven
Trip pulled up to the school in the early afternoon. It had been twenty-four hours since the last time he parked in pretty much the same spot. Twenty-four eventful and incredibly frustrating hours.
He was just reaching for his hat when the front door of the school seemed to blow off its hinges. A slightly built blond dynamo emerged, breathing fire, covering the distance from the school to the parking lot in record time, hair loose from the chignon she usually wore.
Uh-oh.
She walked around the truck, opened the passenger door and climbed in, dragging her purse and book bag behind her. For a moment she sat staring out the windshield, her belongings piled in her lap, coat bunched around her legs. Waves of anger filled the cab.
He finally said, “Faith?”
She turned slowly to face him. “What?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Oh, no, nothing is wrong,” she huffed. “Well, unless you mean that my principal no longer trusts my judgment. She’s not too crazy about yours, either.”
He sat back in the seat. “I take it Paul Avery made a mess of things.”
“I hope he’s better with cows than he is with principals.” She dumped all her stuff on the floor by her feet and rubbed her forehead. “It never crossed my mind to fill Principal Cooper in on yesterday’s events. I never considered the possibility violence would follow me or Noelle to the school.”
“I did,” he said.
“I know. But you didn’t share your plans with me.”
“You didn’t want me protecting you.”
“So you went around my back?” she snapped.
As that’s exactly what he’d done, he sidestepped answering. “Did anything happen today?”
“Besides Paul Avery causing me a boatload of trouble?”
“No sign of—”
“Felonious killers? Nope. But that does not excuse your trying to protect me when I asked you not to. Promise me you won’t do something like that again.”
“I promise. But about Paul…It’s not like I have the FBI’s best agents to draw from, you know. You should never even have known he was around.”
“And that would have made your being sneaky okay?”
“I guess not,” he admitted.
“He circumnavigated the school three times and scared the janitor,” Faith added. “Didn’t he call and tell you about this?”
“He just left a message saying Noelle was with him and they were at the ranch and you were fine. I’ve either been at the sheriff’s office, on the phone with the FBI or trying to talk George Plum down off the cliff, because our erstwhile mechanic fell off the wagon last night.”
Her eyes shifted uneasily as she said, “The FBI? Did they catch that man?”
“No. But Colby—that’s my SAC—said he heard there’s an agent in Idaho with a lead on Roberts’s old partner.”
“Is that good? I mean as far as finding Roberts goes?”
He shrugged. “Maybe…hard to tell.”
She reached over her
shoulder and snagged the seat belt. “I’m sorry about the mechanic. Take me home, please, and tell me about David Lee.”
As he drove out of the lot, he told her about Lee’s arrest.
“Then he’s in jail?” she said with a relieved sigh.
“Not exactly. He swears he didn’t chase you and he doesn’t own a truck or a van. The sheriff let him out on bail—he had no choice. That doesn’t mean the investigation is over, it just means he’s not behind bars.”
“But he ran.”
“He owes a few hundred dollars in traffic fines. He says he thought he was being arrested for those, hence he panicked.”
“Great.”
Sheriff Torrence is no fool. He’s sure Lee is behind the chase…the jerk couldn’t quite keep a smirk off his face. To tell you the truth, I find it kind of comforting.”
“And how is that?” she asked.
He spared her a glance as he turned off Main Street and drove over train tracks. “David Lee is a two-bit loser. That doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous, but it does mean he’s not in the same league as someone like Neil Roberts.”
“Yeah, well, meanwhile, David Lee will probably be staying with his mother. If he makes one move toward me, I’m going to punch him.”
The spontaneous smile her words evoked from him faded away as he recalled the scorn in Lee’s eyes. Taking a deep breath he said, “You have to move out of there.”
“Don’t be crazy. I’m not leaving.”
“Just because Lee isn’t a cold-blooded murderer doesn’t mean he’s not capable of violence. Rape, for instance.”
“Don’t try to scare me,” she warned.
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. There has to be another apartment in Shay—”
“I can’t move, Trip.”
“Can’t or won’t? Don’t be stubborn.”
“Where do you get off telling me I’m stubborn?” she growled.
He reined in his impatience. He had no right to make demands of her. She wasn’t his employee or his lover. She’d told him to back off.
“I’m sorry,” she said when he was silent. “I’m the one who called you last night when I was in trouble. I’m the one who asked for help.”
