Thirty-One and a Half Regrets (Rose Gardner Mystery #4)

by Grover Swank, Denise

  I headed for the woods.

  I felt a little guilty for leaving Officer Sprout behind, but then I remembered my vision. I tried to keep quiet, but there was no disguising the crunch of leaves beneath my feet. Judging from the continuous sound of gunfire behind me, though, I was safe for now. Part of me was surprised no one was in the back looking for me, but they’d probably expected to catch us by surprise. Still, I wasn’t sure how much time I’d bought. Crocker wanted me alive, so they would soon figure out I wasn’t in the room and start searching the woods.

  I ran about fifty feet, deep enough for the darkness to make it difficult to move around. Hopefully that same darkness would help conceal me. The gunshots stopped after about a minute and my heart lurched. How long until Crocker’s men came looking for me? Just as I was about to turn and go deeper, sirens started to wail in the distance. I closed my eyes, for once relieved to hear them. Tires squealed as cars sped from the parking lot. Some of the sirens continued down the road in pursuit, but I could see red lights bouncing off the trees now.

  I started to get up but hesitated, unsure who to trust. Did I really want to be under the protection of the Henryetta Police Department?

  Several minutes later a shadowed man appeared around the side of the motel, a flashlight beam jiggling on the ground in front of him.

  “Rose!” Mason’s panicked voice called out.

  I started to cry as I stood and ran toward him. “Mason,” I called out, almost knocking him over as I rushed into his arms.

  He wrapped me in a tight embrace. “Thank God. I thought they took you.” I sobbed into his chest, but he tilted my head back to look at me. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

  “My butt’s a little sore from falling out the window, but other than a few scratches from the trees, I’m okay.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, clinging to him.

  “You’re safe now.”

  Was I? I wasn’t so sure.

  “Mason, what are you doing here?” Jeff asked as he walked around the corner.

  Mason’s head jerked up and his body stiffened. “Imagine my surprise when I found out that Rose was under the protection of the Henryetta Police Department and not the Fenton County Sheriff’s Office as I’d been told.”

  Jeff shifted his gaze and kicked a stump on the ground. “Mason…”

  “We’re friends. Which means you should have told me.”

  “That fact that you’re here right now is exactly why I didn’t tell you. How did you even find out where she was?” He shook his head with a sigh. “You’re the judicial leg in this system, Mason. You have your own job to do and you need to leave Rose’s protection to the people who were trained to provide that type of help, the law enforcement officials!”

  “Jeff, she was almost killed!”

  “No. They wanted her alive.”

  “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Mason shouted.

  “Mason, you’re too personally involved to be objective.”

  “You told me she’d be protected. She obviously wasn’t.”

  “She was, Mason. Why do think my men got here so quickly? Those Henryetta bunglers may have official protection of her, but I knew they’d screw up. So while we were waiting to get her protection transferred to us, I had men stationed in the area, close enough to get here within a minute or two. The desk clerk alerted us as soon as he saw the first sign of trouble.”

  Mason huffed in a breath and I rubbed his arm. I knew I had to help defuse this situation. “Mason, I’m fine. Really.”

  “You’re fine after you dove out a window,” he said, but he seemed to be calming down. He looked up at his friend. “How did they find her?”

  “How did you find her?”

  I hoped Mason wouldn’t rat me out to Jeff. But he must have felt me tense beside him because he said, “From what I hear, the Henryetta safe house isn’t so safe. They use the same damn place every time. Once I knew they had her, it wasn’t hard to figure it out.”

  “Exactly,” Jeff said. “All Crocker’s men had to do was find a previous occupant and they put two and two together. It’s a miracle that none of the Henryetta Police Department’s witnesses have been killed by now.” He grimaced. “After this fiasco, we shouldn’t have any trouble getting her officially transferred to our watch.”

  “So what happens now?” I asked Jeff. “You’re telling me you’ll put me under your protection, but what does that mean?”

  “We’ll find our own safe house, but for now you and Mason will come to the sheriff’s office. Even Crocker wouldn’t try to get you there.”

  I looked up at Mason, who nodded his agreement.

  “Well, that’s settled,” Jeff said. “We’ll take her to the sheriff’s office and met you there.”

  Mason’s arm tightened around my waist. “I’ll take her.”

  “Mason.” Jeff shook his head. “She’ll ride to the office in a sheriff’s patrol car. You can meet her there.”

  He started to protest, but I put my hand on his arm. “It’s fine.” I turned to the deputy. “Can we go soon? I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”

  “We can go now.”

  I grabbed Mason’s hand and followed Jeff around the building to the parking lot full of Henryetta Police cars and Fenton County Sheriff cruisers.

  Jeff stopped next to a marked sheriff’s car and talked to the deputy standing next to it before turning to me. “Rose, you’ll ride in this patrol car and we’ll have another car follow.” He paused. “Just in case.”

  I didn’t want to think about what “just in case” entailed.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mason got to the sheriff’s station moments after I did and disappeared into Jeff’s office with him. Someone ordered sandwiches, and I ate two of them while delivering my statement. Afterwards, I sat at an empty desk and waited for Mason. Someone gave me a Sudoku book, but I couldn’t concentrate. I kept eyeing the phone. Jeff had told me he hadn’t heard anything about Bruce Wayne, but I also knew the department was more concerned with finding Crocker. Jonah was still looking, though, and might have a lead.

  Still, it was close to midnight and too late to call him. Jonah was an early-to-bed kind of guy and although he wouldn’t mind me waking him up, I couldn’t do it. I also considered calling Violet. I wanted to hear how Muffy was doing. I hadn’t seen my little dog in a day and a half and missed her more than I would have thought possible.

  Just when I’d started to think they’d be in there forever, Jeff’s door flew open and Mason and Jeff hurried out of the office. Mason stopped at my desk and sat on the edge, his no-nonsense expression on his face. “I have to go out for a little while. Jeff had a couple of cots set up in the back. If you’re tired, you can lie down and get some sleep.”

  “So I’m going to spend the night here?” I wasn’t about to complain. I felt safer here than I did hiding at the motel.

  “Yeah, it looks like it.”

  I could tell he was distracted. “Mason, is everything okay?”

  He leaned over and kissed me lightly. “Yeah, get some rest, okay.”

  He was lying. Something was wrong, but I decided to let it go. I had to trust that he had a good reason for not telling me. If they’d found Crocker I’d be told soon enough. Unless…

  My eyes flew open. “Is Violet okay?”

  “What?” He blinked. “Yes. She’s fine. But I’ll have Jeff send someone to check on her to ease your mind, okay?”

  “Okay. And could they check on Muffy?” My mouth twisted into a grimace. “I know she’s just a dog…”

  He took my hand. “Rose, she’s not just a dog. She’s important to you.” He gave me another kiss and then stood. “I should have checked on her for you. I’m sorry. But Neely Kate and Jonah were okay when I talked to them this afternoon. I’ll have the deputy make sure she’s okay when they check on Violet. Now I have to go.”

  “Okay.” I couldn’t help but worry as I watched him and Jeff head for the exit.
Something was really wrong.

  He still hadn’t returned a couple of hours later, but when I asked the other deputies about it, they only gave me vague answers. I tried waiting up for him, but I kept dozing off and writing nonsense numbers on the Sudoku puzzle I was trying to solve, so I finally gave up and went to the back storage room to rest on one of the cots.

  When I awoke, Mason was sleeping in the cot next to mine. I watched him for several minutes, wanting to reach across the three feet between us and smooth the worry lines from his face. I hated to think that I was the one who put them there.

  As though he sensed me watching him, his eyes opened and a lazy grin spread across his face. “All the times I’ve imagined sleeping with you, this was not what I pictured.”

  A shiver ran down my spine and my mind turned to dangerous thoughts. “You’ve imagined sleeping with me?”

  He didn’t answer, but his grin grew wider.

  “Where’d you go last night?”

  I’d asked the wrong thing. His expression turned serious as he angled his body toward me, still lying on his side. “My office.”

  “Why the big secret?”

  “It was broken into.”

  “Why would someone break into your office?”

  He hesitated. “They were looking for files. On you.”

  I sucked in my breath. “And did they get them?”

  He rubbed his face. “Yes.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would someone want my files?”

  “Not someone. Crocker. Or more likely, his men.”

  I sat bolt upright, and he did too. “Why would he want my files?”

  “I don’t know. To find out what you’ve said about him? To get more information on you? Because he’s obsessed with you? I’m not sure, but one thing is certain: files are gone.”

  I tried to absorb the information. “Why were you away for so long?”

  “Because my office was trashed… And because Crocker left a note.”

  I gasped. “What did it say?”

  “‘Smart men don’t take what is mine.’”

  I felt like I was going to be sick. “He threatened you because he knows we’re together…”

  He stood and pulled me off my cot, taking me into his arms. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “But they still don’t know where he is.”

  His tightened his embrace. “No.”

  “He’s going to hurt you, Mason. Because of me.”

  “No, Rose. Jeff’s worried enough that he wants me to go into protection with you.”

  I buried my face in the nape of his neck. Was it wrong that I was relieved that he was going with me? Even if his life was in danger? I pulled back to look at him. “Where will they take us?”

  A hesitant smile lifted his lips. “Your farm.”

  Not my farm. My mother’s farm. Fear washed through me, not of Daniel Crocker but of the unknown from my past that awaited me there.

  “I told Jeff about the farm and he had two deputies he trusts check it out yesterday afternoon. It’s perfect because so few people know it exists. But we’re only telling a few key people. We think there might be a leak in the department.”

  “What?”

  “Jeff and I have suspected as much for a couple of months. Our lunch date the other day was just one of many meetings we’ve had to try and piece it together. Even though the Henryetta safe house wasn’t so secret, the sheriff thinks Crocker’s men might have gotten a tip from someone inside the Henryetta or Fenton County law enforcement departments.”

  “Then how can we trust them to protect us?”

  “Because Jeff has handpicked a handful of men whom he’s positive he can trust.”

  I struggled to breathe.

  “By going to your farm, we’ve added an extra layer of protection. It’s not one of their usual safe houses and no one knows anything about it. We’ll hide there with the detail and wait for them to catch Crocker.” He cupped my cheek and leaned down to kiss me. “I know you’re scared, but trust me.”

  “Always.” I grabbed his face and kissed him to show him not only how much I needed him, but how much I wanted him.

  He wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me to him, kissing me until I was breathless.

  He groaned and pulled back, staring at me with eyes full of longing. “As much as I want this to go further, a cot in the back room of the sheriff’s department doesn’t seem like the best place.”

  I rested my cheek on his chest. “Is it wrong that I want you on the farm with me?”

  His hand stroked my arm. “No. It would be wrong if you didn’t.”

  The door opened and Jeff appeared in the doorway. “Oh, good. You’re awake. It’s early, so half the county’s still asleep. Now would be a good time for us to head to the safe house.”

  “Yes, we’re eager to get settled,” Mason said.

  “Then let’s get going.”

  After ordering his men to pull two unmarked cars behind the building, Jeff led us to the back door, stopping with his hand on the door handle. “I’ll be in contact a couple of times a day. You’ll have one guard during the day and two at night. Here’s the list of guys who will be watching you.” He handed Mason a folded sheet of paper. “Hopefully, we’ll catch the bastard soon and you won’t have to be out there for very long.”

  Mason shook Jeff’s hand and pulled him into a guy hug, thumping him on the back. “Thanks. You have no idea how much I appreciate all your help.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  We followed Jeff into the parking lot. “You’re going to take separate cars just to be on the safe side.” He opened the back door of the first car and I slid onto the seat, then looked back to watch as Mason climbed into the other car.

  Mason’s car pulled away from the curb immediately, but Jeff still hadn’t closed my door. He squatted down in the opening. “Rose, I’d like to apologize for yesterday. I think we got off on the wrong foot. When we were in Mason’s office last night, he confessed that he’s had feelings for you for months and that you two have been friends for even longer.” He took a deep breath. “I was just being an overprotective friend and I jumped to the wrong conclusion. No hard feelings I hope?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  “I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention yesterday’s talk to Mason.” His face reddened. “It’ll make him angry and he has enough to deal with right now. Maybe we can all sit around and laugh about it someday.”

  “I don’t see any reason to tell him. And I appreciate that you’re such a good friend to him.”

  “Thanks. And don’t worry. We’ll catch this guy.” He stood and shut my back door, thumping the roof with his hand.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I watched out the back windows, the rising sun casting a warm glow over the pine trees lining the county road. Of all the times I’d thought about visiting my birth mother’s farm, I had never once considered going there in the back of an unmarked sheriff’s car.

  I glanced at the front of the car and noticed the deputy was watching me in the rearview mirror.

  He smiled. “It shouldn’t take much longer.”

  “Thanks.” I leaned my head against the window.

  “I’m Deputy Miller and I’ll be on watch today.”

  “Nice to meet you, Deputy Miller. I’m Rose.” But he already knew that. I took another look at him. It was hard to get a full-fledged impression, since I could see little more than the back of his head, but his eyes looked kind in the mirror and he didn’t seem to hate me. Both were steps in the right direction.

  Neither of us spoke as he drove for several miles on the two-lane road before turning onto another county road and driving for several more miles past a few farms and sections of untouched woods. Finally he turned onto a one-lane gravel road, the entrance nearly hidden by overgrown tree branches.

  “So far, so good,” the deputy said, looking in his rearview mirror. He dropped his speed to keep from flinging gravel. “I
t’ll work in our favor that the drive is so hard to find.”

  My stomach twisted into a knot as the tree branches thinned and a clearing spread out before us, a war of emotions stirring inside me. With all the commotion and stress, I hadn’t really had time to absorb the fact that this would be my first visit to my birth mother’s home.

  A two-story, white clapboard, Victorian-style farmhouse sat at the end of the drive, the other sheriff’s car parked in front of it. A large red barn with a wooden fence enclosure was situated several hundred feet behind the house on top of a small hill. Several acres of overgrown fields lay to the left of the farmhouse and several acres behind the house was a gently sloping hill covered in evergreen trees.

  The deputy pulled up next to the other car. I climbed out and shut the door, staring at the front porch that wrapped around the right side of the house. Mason was already standing on the porch, surveying the land, but he came down the steps and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “What do you think?”

  I had wanted to hate it out of anger. Dora hadn’t chosen to die, but my childhood had been ruined after her death. I recognized the ridiculousness of my reaction, but that didn’t change the way I felt. Still, as I stared at the peeling paint of the Victorian-style house, my anger started to fade. “I’m reserving judgment.”

  “Fair enough.” He spun around and took in the circular drive. “But this is an amazing safe house. We’re completely secluded here with open space all around the house. And from the looks of it, there’s only one way in and out. It couldn’t be more perfect,” he said and whistled.

  Well, I was glad something was going our way.

  When we walked onto the porch, I realized we had a problem. I turned to Mason, who was still looking all around, absorbing the details of the place. “I don’t have the keys.”

  “I’ve got a couple of sets,” Deputy Miller said, walking up behind us. “Once we determined it was a safe location, we had a locksmith come out to change the locks.”