by Stacey Wilk
“We’ve been in the car for days. And I hate all the ugly hotels you make us stay at. Adam said his family always goes on vacation to nice places with lots of rooms for them to run around in. None of the hotels we stayed at looked like that.”
“Then you’ll pretend? You’ll say your last name is Kennedy?”
“Okay.” He squeezed his monkey around the neck and pulled it close.
“Promise?” She pushed a smile into her voice.
He kept his gaze on the ground. “Promise.”
She gripped him in a hug and kissed the top of his head. “I love you around the world a million times.”
He wiggled out of her grip. “Can I have more hot chocolate?”
She should tell him the time was late, or he had to go get washed up before bed, or that much sugar was no good for him. The smile had returned to his onyx eyes. Matt’s eyes. She shook her head. No more thoughts of Matt. She had to act as if he was dead. She would never be able to get away with her scheme otherwise.
She grabbed another packet out of her oversized tote and poured it into a mug. “More hot chocolate coming up.”
She was hardly in a place to enforce rules. She was a liar, and a stealer. She wasn’t much better than her husband. Well, former husband. One very big difference remained between them – she may be a liar and a thief, but she was no murderer.
She managed to get Landon tucked in. Thankfully, the place came furnished. She had remembered to grab his night light from his room in California before she left. If he woke, he would see the Spiderman lit up and flying. She had left the hall light on too in case he woke up during the night and needed the bathroom.
The house creaked and groaned against the growing winds. All houses made noises. There was nothing to be afraid of. No trail of them had been left. Her cell phone was at the bottom of a river. Her car would be found in a bus terminal parking lot. In the glove compartment was a receipt for two tickets to Seattle purchased the week before. If she had been alone, she would’ve faked her death like Julia Roberts did in that movie, but she didn’t know how to pull off faking Landon’s. Just the idea of losing him had her shaking. This way was better.
She triple checked all the doors and windows were locked then opened her suitcase, found her favorite sweatpants and climbed under the covers. She had managed to pack her gray fleece travel blanket because everyone needed that one thing that made them feel safe.
A gun might make her feel safer, but she didn’t have one. She had to rely on her smarts and her fists. A gun would leave a trail, or she could buy one off the streets. She hated guns. Although, a gun at the moment would be handy.
A good book might help her sleep, but she didn’t have one of those either. Add that to the list of things to buy tomorrow. Or maybe they could find the library. Did this town even have a library? More records that could be traced. No one could completely disappear. If the right people were looking, they could find her. She only hoped she’d thrown them off her scent long enough to convince Matt to stop looking. Landon was more of a trophy Matt liked to take down from the shelf and dust off from time to time. His hands-on father skills lacked quite a bit. She prayed he’d get tired of looking instead of wanting revenge on her for stealing their son.
Her eyelids grew heavy. The long drive had caught up with her. She’d rest for a while then she’d check the doors again. She should think about that gun. In the morning.
In the morning everything would look better. It couldn’t look any worse.
Chapter Three
Chase hit the send button. The email to Grey Holden was out in the stratosphere. His resignation was final for the second time. Grey may be dedicated to fighting evil, but he was one stubborn SOB who needed to back off. Grey could find another guy with his skills. The Omega Team would not miss him. The use of some descriptive words this time should get his point across to Holden. If not, well, he’d figure that out later.
He yanked at the packing boxes he kept lined up in the office filled with files of old cases and some odds and ends he must not need because in the six months he’d lived in Silent Water, he hadn’t looked for them once. He’d promised to send Deke his old notes on a cartel out of southern California. Sin Piedad was a ruthless group trafficking drugs and weapons. Deke and Max had been reassigned to a new team after he quit. They were putting another special op in place to hopefully catch the bad guys. He heaved a deep breath. The Omega Team may not miss him, but sometimes he missed his job.
What he didn’t miss was staring down the end of a semi-automatic rifle held by a kid scared for his life if he didn’t shoot and more scared if he did.
A persistent knock banged against the front door. He checked the clock. Barely seven in the morning. He barreled downstairs from the office and yanked open the door. The cold air smacked him in the face.
“Yeah?” He expected to be eye level with whoever stood outside making noise. Instead, no one stood before him. He scanned the yard, nothing, then dropped his gaze. “What are you doing here?”
The boy from next door stood on his porch. He wore a knit hat low on his forehead, the zipper to his coat touched his chin and under his arm was a stuffed animal. “Hi, I’m Landon. I moved in next door.” The boy pointed as if Chase couldn’t see the house from the porch.
“Is there something I can do for you, Landon from next door?”
“Um, I was wondering if you knew how many acres of property you had? I’ve been walking around all morning, and I keep losing count of my steps. I saw something on the internet that said you can count acres by counting steps. But all I keep doing is forgetting where I was and then starting over. Counting that is. Anyway, I’d really like to know if you happen to. If it’s a secret I won’t tell. I’m good at keeping secrets.”
He squatted down to look the boy in the eye. “Who’s your friend?”
A red flush creeped across Landon’s cheeks. “His name is Walter. I don’t sleep with him. It’s just…I’m kind of lonely since we moved.”
He patted the monkey on the head. “Is this Walter’s first time away from home?”
Landon nodded.
“Walter looks like a good friend to me, and I bet Walter feels less scared when you let him crawl under the covers with you. He needs you.”
“Can I come in?”
“Landon?” The neighbor’s voice crashed against the morning sounds of birds chirping. A few of said birds flew out of their perch in the evergreens in response. “Landon, where are you?” The shrill in her tone hurt his ears.
“He’s over here.” Better to stop the woman before she shattered all the glass in a three- mile radius.
His pretty neighbor dashed across the yard. Her hair bounced off her shoulders. She skidded to a stop and yanked Landon into her arms crushing him against her. “You can’t run off like that without telling me. I was worried sick.” She held the boy at arm’s length. “Do you understand?”
He nodded. “I was walking around checking out the woods. There’s some cool stuff in there. I found pine cones. Look.” He pulled several out of his coat pocket and held them up for his mother’s approval.
He cleared his throat. The reunion would be better had on their side of the property. “If you’ll excuse me.” He began to close the door.
“Wait.” The neighbor straightened up and met his gaze. She barely came up to his chest. Her face was void of makeup. She had a speckle of tiny freckles across her nose, but shadows bent beneath her eyes. The lady hadn’t slept much.
She straightened her sweatshirt then rubbed her hands over her arms. Not exactly the kind of weather to come out in without a coat, but he got a chance to notice her thin waist and long legs shoved into shearling boots. Expensive.
“I’m sorry if Landon bothered you. I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.”
“But he’s a nice man, Mom. He met Walter, and said Walter was a good friend.” The boy dropped his chin and slid behind his mother’s leg.
“He did?” She turned
from her son to him with widening eyes. “That was very nice. I’m Raine Kennedy. I’m sorry if I wasn’t very pleasant last night.” She held out her hand.
He slid his grip around hers. Her fingers were cold against his skin, but heat ran up his arm instead. “Chase Shepherd. Landon was no bother.” He squatted down again to look Landon in the eye, but the boy had grown quiet. “You can come over any time you want, but ask your mom first, okay? And bring Walter.”
“He won’t be coming over again but thank you. Okay, then. We’ll be going.”
He nodded his goodbye ready to shut the door and leave for work. The kid was cute, but the woman had a story. He’d been a cop and a special ops team leader long enough to know when someone’s past was littered with explanations, excuses, and consequences. He could smell it, and though the scents of vanilla, pepper, and soft woods danced off her enticing his sense of smell and a few other things, she smelled like a problem.
Raine pushed the door open and peered around it. “Um, Chase. Can I ask you a question?”
“I’m running late for work.” Not a total lie. What question could he possibly answer for her? He wasn’t in the market to babysit. She would know better than to ask a complete stranger to watch her kid, wouldn’t she?
“Sure. I’ll make it quick.”
Didn’t look as if he could stop her. “What’s up?”
“Our heater died during the night. Do you know someone in town who can come out and fix it? I tried to reach Mr. Badger, but I keep getting his voice mail.”
As had he. “Better to wait for Badger. He’ll take care of the repair.” And hopefully tell Raine Kennedy she needed to move on and find another place to live. They couldn’t possibly stay in that house without heat. A broken heater may have solved his problems.
“We can’t stay in the house without heat.” She echoed his thoughts. “I don’t even have firewood yet. You’re sure there’s no one I could call? It’s a propane heater I think.” She rubbed her arms again and blew on her hands.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
“Are you for real? Badger said you’d been living here for a while and you worked in town. There must be someone who can fix propane heaters. I’d search myself, but there’s no internet and no phone book in the house.” She scrunched up her nose rearranging the golden freckles. What did they taste like?
The thought sent him fumbling back a few steps. He hadn’t been interested in a woman in a long time. Logic fought with the idea this woman would grab his attention, and so quickly. He could never stay away from a good mystery, and she was one. If he wasn’t careful, this woman and her son would be the itch against his skin that needed scratching. Better not to get involved or risk being sucked in to something he needed to stay away from.
“Try Ackerman’s.”
“Thanks. Hey, do you have any milk?”
“We aren’t going to be the kind of neighbors who swap recipes and share sugar. If it were up to me, we wouldn’t be neighbors at all. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He shut the door without another word.
“Big, fat, jerk.” She yelled from the porch. “Let’s go, Landon. Stay away from him. He isn’t nice.” Her voice trailed off like the wind.
He leaned against the door. “You are a big, fat, jerk, Shepherd.”
****
Chase turned his pickup into the parking lot of the General Store and parked in his usual spot in the back. He locked the door more out of habit than of necessity. The crackle and bang of firecrackers burst the morning open. He ducked. Sweat popped out on his lip, and his heart kicked into overdrive. He searched for the cause, instinctively reached for his piece which was no longer there, and rested his gaze on Lou’s pickup truck spewing exhaust at the gas station. “Damn it.” He ran a hand over his face. He needed to get his shit together. How much longer would he duck and run?
The sky was gray and the air smelled like snow. Another storm was due in later that day. Not much accumulation, but the temperatures were dropping every hour. By nightfall, the wind could make things very cold. Below zero cold. What was his cute neighbor going to do without heat? Not his problem.
Why was he thinking about that woman in any way that had to do with cute, or good looking, or worse - sexy. Because he needed to get laid, that’s why. He didn’t even want to think about how long it had been.
He shoved his way through the back door of the General. The smell of grease and the heat from the stove met him. He growled under his breath. He’d fix the damn heater as soon as his shift was over if she hadn’t found somebody by then.
“Mornin’, Chase.” Jim waved at him with his spatula. The General Store was more of a breakfast and lunch place that served up the usual fare. They made homemade muffins the size of tires that had people driving for miles to buy. Jim had been working behind the counter so long he had become the same color as the paint. He’d bought the place when Lyndon Johnson had beat out Humphrey. If anyone asked Jim when he was going to retire and sell the place, he’d snarl at them and say, “what the hell am I going to do if I retire?”
“Jim.” The best thing about working for Jim was he required few words to fill the space. Jim had never asked him where he was from, why he wanted to work at the General, or what brought him to Silent Water. He had only wanted to know if Chase could turn an egg over easy.
“I hired someone to replace Betty Lou. Starts tomorrow.” Jim pulled a tray of carrot cake muffins with cheese cake filling out of the oven. The smell of warm carrots and cinnamon tickled his nose and made his stomach grumble.
He swiped a hot muffin off the tray and split it open down the middle. Steam floated into the air. Who had Jim hired? All the kids in college had returned to their schools this far into January. Had old Marty finally retired from the post office? Or maybe Sue’s daughter had moved back to town. She’d been hoping to reunite with her daughter.
He caught a lot of the local gossip while people sat at the counter or at the tables and ate their food. His job as a cook was a good way to keep his finger on the pulse of what happened where he lived.
And the good people of Silent Water watched out for their own. They weren’t quite ready to open their arms to him when he first arrived. They didn’t trust strangers, but Jim had set a few people straight, and Mr. Badger had made a few calls and let it slip about the security cameras, and how handy Chase was with fixing things around the place. Some folks were hoping he’d become the local handy man too. Russell had the job, but that was only because his dad had been repairing things for years and then Russ took over the business.
The muffin melted in his mouth. “Who’d you convince to work in this dive?”
The clink of the bell above the door turned his attention away from Jim. He squashed the muffin between his fingers and dropped crumbs on the floor. Raine Kennedy headed right for the counter towing her son behind her.
“Hi, Chase.” Landon waved.
Raine stopped in her tracks. She fixed her gaze on him and moved forward like a cat burglar. “Do you work here?”
Jim turned from the grill. His spatula was in mid-air. “You two know each other?”
“Yes.” That should answer both questions.
“Well, good then because that’s who I hired to replace Betty Lou.” Jim’s smile folded into the lines on his face. He turned back to his work with a whistle.
“Oh, no. She can’t work here.”
“Why not? You know something I don’t know? She measured up fine,” Jim said.
“I can work here and I will. Jim doesn’t need your permission.” She tilted her chin up at him. Nice chin. “Jim, I was wondering if you knew someone who could fix my heater? We’re staying at Mr. Badger’s small place, and I can’t get him on the phone. I tried Ackerman’s, but I had to leave a message.”
Jim didn’t look up from the grill. “Chase here is pretty handy. Ain’t you living in Badger’s big house? You’re right there. Help the lady.”
“I - ”
“No, than
k you. Mr. Shepherd has made himself clear. He doesn’t believe in helping out a neighbor.”
Jim dropped two eggs and some toast on a plate. He slid it on the counter and pointed at Raine. “I know you’re not on the clock till tomorrow, but can you bring this to Doug? He’s the greasy one in the corner.”
She pressed her lips together, but she grabbed the plate and walked away. Jim turned on him. “Something wrong with you? A lady needs help and you’re going to say no? Where were you raised? Or is this some young people code I don’t know about because in my day, if a beautiful lady came knocking on my door I’d be sure to open it.”
Now the man gets wordy. Chase wiped a hand over his face. “I was planning on stopping by tonight after my shift. I wasn’t going to let her and her son freeze.” The last thing he wanted to do was go over there, but he’d meant what he just said. He’d planned on stopping by with his tools long before the lady marched in here on her sneer.
“Shift’s over.” Jim offered up his crooked smile. He had one tooth missing on the side.
“I can finish out the day. She can wait.”
Raine returned to the counter. “Doug says you made the eggs too runny again, but he won’t give up the plate.”
“Eat your damn eggs, Doug.” Jim stood on his toes and shouted.
“So, Jim, do you know anyone I can call? We can’t stay in the house without heat. I’m on my way to get some firewood next, but I’m worried about the pipes.”
“Chase is hanging up his apron and coming over right now.”
“He’s my best bet?” She sagged as if someone had let the air out of her.
“He’s quick and available.”
“No, thanks.” She shoved her chin up at him, grabbed Landon by the hand and whisked away.
“Bye, Chase. See you at home.” Landon waved again as they headed out the door.
