Finally, it was ten o’clock. Time for her to go to the coffee shop to meet Jo. They were going to learn how to run the machines there to make all that fancy coffee she’d never tried before. That ought to be loads of fun.
When she walked into the coffee shop, Jo was already there and she was behind the counter talking to Dick and Dianne.
Two hours later, Dick told them that he thought they had learned enough to try things on their own for a little while. Sue Ann wasn’t so sure about that. It was lunchtime and those machines were much more complicated than she’d ever thought they would be. But it did look like Jo was really getting the hang of them. Maybe that would be good enough to get them started.
Nevertheless, Dick and Dianne retreated to the kitchen prepared to help if needed. There was some comfort that the kitchen was directly behind the counter, just not too visible from the seating area.
So there she and Jo were standing next to each other behind the counter. Mutt and Jeff as they’d been called many times while growing up. If she was really honest about it, they did look kind of funny next to each other. She was five ten and Jo was barely five foot.
Sue Ann turned to her best friend and said, “You, my friend, are going to sit on this stool as much as possible. I don’t want Gil fussing at me because you get too tired.”
Jo snickered and said, “Don’t worry about that, he does enough for both of you. I’m all right though. I’m only about nine weeks pregnant now and I haven’t even had any morning sickness yet. Maybe I won’t.”
Sue Ann knew not to push so she tried to smile and said, “Are you ready for this Jo Jo?”
Jo giggled and said, “I think I am. But we’ll find out soon enough. Here comes our first customer.
When Sue Ann saw who it was, she groaned. She wanted to step in front of Jo and even push her back into the kitchen. It was Hershel Hollis. Not only was he one of the meanest men that Sue Ann knew but he was the cousin of the man who’d attacked Jo eight years ago and then kidnapped her again last fall.
Hershel didn’t come up to the counter for which Sue Ann was thankful. He sat at a table by the front window.
She turned to Jo who had gone a bit pale. “I’ll wait on him. You just stay right there on that stool behind the counter.”
Jo didn’t argue with her and Sue Ann was glad. She had protected Jo many times when they were kids and she was ready to do it again. After all, Hershel was built just like his skinny cousin Jake had been just shorter. In fact, Sue Ann was just as tall and probably weighed about as much as Hershel did. That made her smile to herself as she approached his table.
She was pleased when he didn’t even look up but growled at her. “Coffee and tuna on rye.”
As she was going back to the kitchen, Sue Ann thought wow that was easy and painless. After giving her order to Dick, she took a coffee pot out and filled Hershel’s cup.
By the time she made it back to the kitchen, the sandwich was ready and she took it out to him. She sat it on the table in front of him and said, “Is there anything else right now Hershel?”
He just shook his head and ignored her as he picked up half of his sandwich and took a bite.
Sue Ann retreated to the counter beside Jo to watch as Jo began making a latte for another customer. It sure looked like Jo had the hang of it all right. That was good since Sue Ann wasn’t too sure she ever would. But maybe that was okay. She could wait on tables and maybe cook more and just let Jo run the machines.
Besides that would be better for now since it would make it easier for her to keep Jo on the stool which would keep her pregnant little friend from running around the place waiting on tables.
Sue Ann was surprised and somewhat pleased to see that they had a rather busy lunch hour. She and Jo had both stayed busy with just the counter and tables. She was also surprised at how much food they had sold. The sandwiches, soup, and chili had all gone very well. This place was going to be even better than either one of them had imagined.
She was extremely pleased that neither Dick nor Dianne had had to come out of the kitchen to rescue them a single time. That had to be a good start.
She’d been by to refill Hershel’s coffee cup several times during that time. She’d already given him his check over thirty minutes before. Now, it looked like he was ready to leave. He was making his way to the register hanging up a cell phone as he went.
Jo was at the register and Sue Ann didn’t think it would look too good if she took Jo’s place now so she stepped up beside her friend just in case.
Hollis made a show of reaching back, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket, opening it, and pulling a one-hundred dollar bill out of it. While Jo was counting out his change into his open left palm, his right hand came around and clamped onto her wrist.
“I sure don’t see what my cousin ever saw in you. You’re too puny for my taste.”
Before Sue Ann could do or say anything, Hershel threw back his head and laughed. It was so evil a laugh that it just froze both women as he turned and swaggered out the door still laughing.
Sue Ann found her voice first. “I’ll call Floyd and he’ll have that joker in jail before he can even get home.”
Jo placed a cold hand on Sue Ann’s hand that was on the phone. “No, Sue Ann. He didn’t hurt me. And besides, we won’t have much of a business if we start out by having our customers thrown in jail, now can we.”
Sue Ann looked into Jo’s eyes. The fear was gone replaced by a determination that Sue Ann knew quite well. Her friend may be little but she was a fighter.
“Okay, but we do need to tell Floyd about it so he can keep an eye on Hershel.”
Jo nodded. “That’s fine.” She placed her hands on her hips, looked around the room, and said, “Now, we need to come up with a name for this place.” She giggled. “I don’t think Dianne’s Espresso will work for us do you?”
They both laughed and put their heads together to come up with a new name.
* * *
Floyd was getting a little drowsy sitting at his desk after lunch. Penny had talked him into ordering a pizza. He was beginning to wonder if that kid could eat pizza three meals a day. But he had eaten more than he usually did at lunch and now he was paying for it.
He was pleased with the interruption when Penny appeared at his side. She took one look at him and shouted out, “You were getting sleepy too weren’t you?”
She laughed when he shook his head to clear it. He just smiled back at her and grabbed her hand to lead her over to the armchairs.
Once they were settled there, she looked up at him with her big brown eyes, which were so much like his and said, “Is that nasty dude still out there wanting to kill you?”
He didn’t really want to answer that question. But when he looked into those eyes and he didn’t see fear, just concern, that encouraged him considerably.
“Yes, Penny, as far as I know he is. But we’re going to get him before he even tries anything, okay?”
She looked back at him so closely it was as if she was trying to determine if he was just putting her off or if he was actually being straight with her.
She looked away seemingly satisfied with his answer. Before either could say anything else, his desk phone rang and he reached over and picked it up. It was dispatch.
“Sheriff, Walker is following a pickup that he thinks is being driven by Matt Hennesey. They’re heading south on County C and are just passing the lake.”
“Did he get close enough for the registration?”
“Yes, the truck is registered to Herschel Hollis.”
“I’ll be out there right away.”
He hung up the phone and took off running as he called over his shoulder. “I gotta go Penny. Stay with Crystal, okay?”
He heard her call out, “Okay” as he ran for the back door.
Taking the back streets and running with his lights only, Floyd was still able to catch up with Walker before they had gone very far. As he pulled in behind Walker, he keyed his mic.
> “Dispatch, 100. Do you have any other units in the area?”
“10-4, 101 is up ahead of you with 120 sitting up a roadblock.”
Great! Walker was a good man who’d been with the SO almost as long as Floyd had and with Hal and one of his sergeants down at the other end setting up a roadblock, he felt good about this one.
With everyone in place, Floyd keyed his mic again and said, “Okay 123, light him up.”
As soon as the lights went on, the pickup pulled to the side of the road. Floyd was wondering what was going on. It looked like the guy was just waiting for the lights to come on so he could pull over. Did the guy want to get caught?
“101. We’re stopped, come join us.”
Floyd and Walker both waited until Hal parked his vehicle directly in front of the pickup close enough that it couldn’t move forward. The sergeant pulled in behind Hal.
Two approached the vehicle from each direction with their handguns drawn but pointing slightly down. Floyd shouted, “Step out of the truck with your hands on your head.”
All four of them were shocked when Hershel Hollis stepped out, grinned at them while he placed his hands on his head, and leisurely walked toward Floyd and Walker.
Floyd said, “Keep an eye on him Jason while we take a look at the truck.”
Floyd and Hal looked in the empty cab and then the bed, which only held three bags of feed.
Hal snorted, stepped close to Floyd, and in a low voice said, “You think it’s really feed in those bags?”
Floyd shook his head. “Even if it isn’t, we’re not supposed to do anything about something like this right now.”
Floyd was frustrated as he and Hal joined Walker and Hollis. They had all holstered their guns.
“I’m sorry for stopping you like this Hershel but someone reported seeing Hennesey driving this pickup a little while ago. You can go now.”
Hollis laughed and snarled. “You guys couldn’t catch him if he walked past right in front of you. He’ll get you McCracken. You wait and see.”
With that, he climbed into his pickup and waited for Hal to back his unit up so he could leave. They could still hear him laughing through his open window as he drove off.
When Hal joined the others, Floyd turned to Walker and said, “Jason was that pickup out of your sight for more than a few seconds after you first saw Hennesey driving it?”
Jason thought for a moment then said, “Yeah, it was. I picked him up back on Olive Street and when he turned onto Main, I was a couple of blocks behind him so it took me a little bit to get to the corner and turn after him.”
Floyd took off his hat and slapped it on his thigh. “Well, that must have been when they made the switch.” He watched a pickup go by then turned back to the others. “I’d sure like to know where Hollis was right before that.”
He put his hat back on and that was when it hit him. “Wait a minute. The coffee shop’s on that block. I’ll bet Hollis came out of there. I think I’ll stop in there on my way back to the office.”
With that, they all pulled out with Floyd heading back toward Main Street.
When he entered the coffee shop, he remembered Sue Ann telling him that she and Jo were going to be working there today.
As he looked over at the counter, he was glad to see that they were both behind it and there were no customers in front of them.
Jo called out, “Hi Floyd are you here as a customer or are you just here to hang out with Sue Ann?”
She giggled when she finished and Floyd had to smile down at her. “Hi Jo, Sue Ann. I’m afraid it’s neither this time. I guess you could say I’m here on official business today.”
When they both grew serious and looked at him expectantly, he said, “Was Hershel Hollis in here earlier?”
Sue Ann quickly said, “Yes he was and that weasel harassed Jo too.”
Floyd’s temper almost got away from him before he could calm down enough to say, “What happened?”
Jo elbowed Sue Ann and said, “He just said that his cousin had bad taste in women, that’s all.”
Sue Ann almost shrieked. “That wasn’t all. He grabbed her wrist.”
“But he didn’t hurt me.”
Floyd took almost a full minute to calm himself down enough to ask, “What time did he leave here?”
Sue Ann shrugged her shoulders, but Jo said, “It was one fifteen. I looked at the clock when he left. Why, Floyd?”
Floyd was uncomfortable. He didn’t really want to tell them, especially in this public place. “I’ll tell you later, okay?”
After that, they told him a little about their day and he left to go back to the office.
* * *
Sue Ann had had a wonderful day working alongside Jo while they both learned how to run the coffee shop. She was more than ever positive that she and Jo were doing the right thing. They were both just going to love owning the shop together. Most of all, it would give them so much more time together. They hadn’t had much of that lately, especially since Jo had married Gil.
When she pulled into the garage at home, she tried to steer her mind in a different direction. She needed to talk to Andy about his dad. That was not going to be easy or fun in any way. She had dreaded it all day.
Now, as she entered the kitchen from the garage, she looked over to see Andy sitting at the table with the wall phone cord stretched across to him and the receiver at his ear.
She stood there glaring at him with her hands on her hips until he looked up at her and said, “I gotta go. My mom just got home.”
He started to get up to hang the phone back up but she took it from him and set it in its wall hook.
When she turned back around to him, he looked guilty so she crossed her arms across her chest and said, “Who were you talking to Andy?”
He smiled sheepishly up at her and said, “Penny.”
“Penny?” She tried to frown but his sheepish face was so comical that she couldn’t keep a straight face. She turned away in an attempt to keep him from seeing her smile but it didn’t work.
“Yeah, she was telling me all about how sometimes parents aren’t what you think they are until you see the real deal.”
Sue Ann was still trying to process that when he said, “I’m okay now.”
He started to get up and leave but she placed a hand on his shoulder and gently forced him back down in his chair.
“Just what do you mean when you say you’re okay now?”
He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I know that Dad’s not the best father a kid could have so I’m just going to make the best of it like Penny said she did when she lived with her mother.”
He looked like he wanted to say more so she looked him in the eye and said, “What else do you want to say, Andy?”
He blushed a little and looked down. “She said that you’re the real deal.”
“And what do you think Andy?”
He grinned and said, “I guess I do to.”
Sue Ann wrapped her arms around her son and big tears began streaming down her cheeks. Good grief. What had that girl told him? Whatever it was sure seemed to do the trick.
Then she thought about something else. Maybe she needed to put a bug in Floyd’s ear to try to talk to Penny more about her life with her mother. It sure didn’t sound like the poor girl had it very good.
She blew out a huge breath and said, “All right. If you’re okay with everything then so am I.”
He started to leave again but she said, “One more thing though. Do you have any questions after your little pep talk with Penny?”
He shrugged his shoulders again the way only seven-year-old boys can. “Nope. I understand everything now.”
She just had to smile at that. “Okay. But remember, the social worker’s coming tonight at seven to talk to both of us, okay?”
He yelled, “Yeah,” as he ran to his room.
She let him go then but she was wondering if she still needed to find out more about what Penny had told him.
Her mom came in and sat at the table giving her a knowing smile.
“Do you know what your grandson just said to me?”
Wanda smiled back at her and said, “Sure do. I was sitting in the living room listening to everything the two of you said.”
Sue Ann snorted, shook her head, and said, “Did you also happen to hear him talking to Penny?”
Wanda smiled at her daughter. “Yes, and it didn’t sound like Penny said anything bad.” She frowned. “Actually, I think that whatever she said to him must have worked. He seemed to go from really confused and even angry to understanding and calm in a matter of minutes.”
“Sometimes you’re good to have around Mom.”
They both laughed at that.
Wanda put her hands together in front of her on the table and frowned. “Do you think the court will continue with Ray’s petition now that he’s in jail for assaulting you?”
“I don’t know Mom. We might get some sort of an indication from the social worker tonight though.”
They were all three sitting in the living room at seven that evening when the doorbell rang. They all looked at each other before Sue Ann said, “I’ll get it.”
When she looked through the peephole, she wasn’t surprised to see a woman who from Floyd’s colorful description had to be the same one who had brought Penny to him. She was a very prim and proper middle-aged woman with gray hair in a bun, dressed in a very conservative dark blue suit and carrying a briefcase.
When Sue Ann opened the door, the woman cleared her throat and said, “Are you Sue Ann Vickers?”
She stepped back to let her in and said, “Yes, I am. Come on in.”
As she passed Sue Ann and headed for the living room, she said, “I am Miranda Watkins with the Missouri Department of Social Services, Children’s Division and I am here to conduct a home visit concerning the custody of Andrew Wayne Vickers.”
Sue Ann tried to smile at the sourpuss. “Of course, come in and have a seat.”
Mrs. Watkins walked into the room and looked directly at Andy. “Are you Andrew Wayne Vickers?”
Andy nodded but when the woman continued to glare at him, he said, “Yes.”
A Better Solution (Crowley County Series Book 2) Page 13
