“The fence is made up of wooden slats with space between each one, forming a barrier to the wind, slightly reducing it’s speed. The snow the wind carries falls behind the barrier. When the heavy winds pass, the snow freezes and makes a cool-looking drift. In the field, and not over the roadway, which is the entire purpose of snow fencing, to protect the roadway.”
Anthony smirked. “You learn something new every day.”
“Not me,” Mary quipped. “I’ve learned two.” She sat back from her plate, clearly done eating. “So, our voyeur is in the wind, is that it?”
Both men groaned at her bad pun. She grinned in response.
“More likely he stole another car,” Toby said. “There was enough left of the burned husk to identify it as a vehicle reported stolen, the day before we noticed him or her following us.”
“And we still don’t know who he or she is?” Mary asked.
“Well, we do know he’s not your crazy attacker,” Anthony said. “The NYPD informed Adam the guy is still in that mental institution, and likely to remain so. Adam received an assurance that he’ll be informed if that changes.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t.” Mary looked at Toby. “Any rumblings back in Casper, Wyoming?”
“Another one. You’re very punny today,” Anthony said.
Toby just chuckled. “Nothing. Adam said they’ve come to the conclusion that maybe there was no bad cop, and when he told me that, I figured the powers that be at the department finally arrived at the place you were weeks ago.”
Mary beamed. It occurred to Anthony that their woman was getting used to being complimented, but it was taking some time. He didn’t, for one moment, believe that anyone in her family had ever deliberately hurt her. He’d met her brother and now two of her cousins, and while yes, there was teasing, there was also love.
People sometimes inflicted wounds unawares. Not cruelty, then, but maybe a bit of carelessness. If you’re focused more on what you want than on what’s going on around you, the damage can be done, and you might never know.
“Back to our voyeur. You figure he’s in another car. When are the blockades going up?” Mary knew that the Town Trust was waiting to see if the need for making an exclusion zone was necessary. Apparently, at this point, contingency plans had contingency plans.
“They’re watching carefully, now. Most of the family has been accounted for and tested.” Anthony nodded. “That even extends to the families of Brittany Kendall and Kat Jessop and every other person married into this vast network in the last few years. The goal is to see that no one is left out or forgotten. And Samantha told me one more person has relocated to Lusty for the time being. Cameron Drake has taken an apartment here. He arrived in town a couple of weeks ago and has completed his quarantine.”
“He’s a friend of yours, isn’t he?” Mary asked.
“I met him through Jordan,” Anthony said. “I had a few group evenings with Jordan, Tracy, and Peter, as well as Cam and his late wife, Linda.” He frowned. “Because the uniform officer called to the scene of Linda’s accident knew that, he tagged me when it happened. It was a hell of a mess. I hope I never have to see good friends go through that kind of circumstance ever again.” He fell silent for just a moment, and his woman and his best friend let him. Mary laid her hand over his.
He wasn’t at all ashamed he’d cried at Linda Drake’s funeral or that thoughts of what had happened still brought a tear to his eye. And, yes, some of what he was feeling reached back to that day years ago when they’d lost his own father. His mother had been as in love with him as Cam had been with Linda. Sometimes, life hands us horrendous grief to deal with.
“How’s he doing?”
Anthony shrugged. He knew both Mary and Toby read the sadness in the gesture. “He’s broken,” he said. “It’ll take a while. But I’m glad he came here. I know he was having trouble living in the place he’d shared with his wife. It was a house they’d taken because of him being a builder…” Anthony let the sentence fall. Cam and Laura had worked with an architect and had finally settled on a plan. They’d gotten the blueprints about two weeks before the accident that had changed everything.
“If I know Aunt Samantha, she has him under her wing, even if he isn’t aware of it.” She reached for his hand and brought it to her lips.
That thought put a smile on Anthony’s face as well as one on his heart. Yes, Mary knew how he felt about Cam Drake and the hand that life had dealt the contractor. “I think so, too. And really, there’s no better place for him to be right now than right here, with the families.”
* * * *
He pulled his car to a stop on a small rise on the FM road. About a quarter of a mile ahead, the road he was on curved to the left, and he could see the road around the curve, and south, to the next rise. He stopped the car, because what he was looking at didn’t make any sense. He’d been on his way for a drive through Lusty, to make sure the Lincoln was still there. The tracker had stopped working a few weeks ago—whether it had been found or had been just a cheap piece of shit to begin with and had quit, he didn’t know.
Milo had sold it to him, and while he was good for his stuff, usually, he was currently too far away for him to throttle the little pecker for the shoddy device or get a refund.
So he’d staked out the main highway before dawn one day. Parking just west of the turn toward Lusty, he’d waited, and he’d struck gold. He'd followed the Lincoln with the two men in it, all the way into the city of Waco—and to the police headquarters building. He parked his own car, donned a hat and sunglasses, and taken a walk. He kept his head down because of the likely presence of surveillance. The Lincoln had not been left in the visitors’ lot, which answered every question he’d had. Both of those men had to be cops.
That wasn’t a problem. He knew cops and how they thought, how they operated. He’d known cops all his life.
Throughout that day, he’d driven past a few times, ensuring the car was still there, getting a sense of their routine. Then, around four in the afternoon, he’d been on hand to see the same two men get into the vehicle. He followed them until they’d turned off the state highway, heading back to Lusty.
He’d decided against placing another tracker on the car and to just casually drive past from time to time for now. He knew where they worked, and he knew where they lived. And he knew they were separated from the woman during the day. He didn’t need a tracker. He just needed to pay attention while he put together the best plan possible. So he’d decided that, once a day, at least, he’d take a drive to where they were. Cop shop through the week, Lusty on the weekends.
What he was looking at right now on this quiet road in the middle of nowhere might just throw a wrench into that plan.
What the fuck is going on?
He pulled his binoculars out of the glove box and took a look. Two men, under the direction of a third, appeared to be building…. what? A house? A shed? The two large block-like structures reminded him of elaborate gateposts, the kind some rich ranches sometimes had at the end of their long driveways. These two structures had been erected on either side of the road. As he watched, the men reached for something that was lying on the ground. And then they stood it up.
Fuck me, that looks like a steel gate!
He’d planned to take the route that had become familiar to him, one he’d driven a few times over the last several weeks—the one he’d taken that first time, when he’d first seen his target and put that tracker on the Lincoln.
Today, he was in a different car from that first time. He’d bought this Chevy for five hundred cash from a farmer about an hour’s drive away. He’d had to throw in an extra Benjamin to keep the plates, but that was okay. He’d stolen the first car he was driving when he’d been made on the night that he’d followed those three to that roadhouse.
He still couldn’t figure out how they had known he was there, watching them. He’d been careful. But he’d realized, as he’d watched their movements as they entered the
roadhouse that night, that somehow they’d known he was there. When those two other cops had come out after the three that he’d been following had gone inside and then had begun scoping the area? He didn’t think they’d seen him. He was too smart for that. But they’d likely seen the car he’d been driving and maybe even the plate.
He'd had no choice but to torch the car, the way he’d instinctively known to do to get rid of the evidence. That fucker had burned hot enough so he wouldn’t have been surprised if all that was left of it was a heap of molten metal.
He was not quite ready to make his move, to get his revenge. Not yet. He’d known he needed wheels so he could shadow them and, yes, gather whatever he was going to need to execute his plan. He still had his rental tucked away, the one he’d gotten at the airport in Dallas. There was no way he could use that for what he planned. That was his get-out-of-town-free card. He was paying to have it garaged, and that was where it would stay until his revenge had been executed and it was time to go.
A conversation with a guy one night in one of the many bars he frequented in Waco had led him to the farmer and this old, shit-brown-colored Chevy. Hell, buddy from the bar had even been good enough to take him there so he could do the deal.
He’d been living on his wits in a place he didn’t know since he’d flown in, and it occurred to him he’d been doing a damn fine job of things, too. They’d all called him a loser, maybe not in words but definitely in their expressions. Only he was a lot smarter than they were. He was here, and they had no idea where he was or what he planned.
He’d been sitting on this little rise too long. If he could see that work crew, they could see him. He set down the binoculars on the seat beside him and turned the car around and headed back the way he’d come. He’d made himself familiar with the area over the last few weeks and had, at one point, driven through that little town, traveling south and had made his way back to the state highway. He’d just go there now and enter town from the other end.
He headed back toward Waco. After a few miles, he took a right turn and negotiated the winding roads, which finally took him to the road that intersected the other end of the one he’d wanted.
He didn’t turn down that road. The land here was flat and even at this distance, he could see similar activity taking place here on the south end of the road as he’d witnessed at the north end of it. He pulled over and reached for his binoculars once more.
There, right there, just on the same road as on the other side of the town, another three-man crew and another construction project was underway, identical to what he’d seen moments ago.
It didn’t take him long to realize they were getting ready to lock down the town. He lowered the binoculars. Can they even do that? Something was definitely up. Oh, fuck. Clearly, their inability to find him had frustrated them all to hell and they were closing off the town because of him.
He caught sight of the black and white vehicle in his rearview mirror and quickly pulled his cell phone up to his ear. The cop car with a brown map image of the state of Texas on its door passed him then took the next right, heading toward those men and that construction.
The cop pulled his cruiser over onto the side of the road and got out and approached the work crew.
“Maybe I’m going to get to see some fireworks.” He used his binoculars to get a better look at the scene as it was about to unfold before him. Too bad there’s no popcorn and beer.
The cop started out by shaking hands with one of the men, the one who appeared to be supervising the other two.
But instead of the cop reading the riot act to the group for mucking about on a public road, he seemed to inspect the work and chat with all of the men. He focused on the cop’s face and read only approval there. He realized the cop knew these men, knew them and liked them. Friends? Damned if they weren’t, and that didn’t make any sense, either.
After a few minutes, the cop got back into his car and continued north, past the construction, and headed toward the town.
He set his binoculars down and pulled back onto the road. He continued east, past the road that would take him into Lusty. The cop had gotten through, but he didn’t want to try it himself—at least not with those men there. He might come back tonight and see if the gates were closed. If not, he’d try a drive through, and if anyone challenged him, he’d play lost tourist.
But right now, he needed to sit and think. He’d had the basic idea for a plan and had just needed to refine it some, first. Now he’d have to think about contingencies. Camping gear. He knew how to set up camp and do it in a way no one would ever know he’d been there. This was a town, but a small one, and it seemed to him there were lots of fields and clumps of trees that could conceal him. How hard could it be?
He’d sit down and write out everything he knew about that little town with the dirty name and the three people he’d been following—his targets. Then he’d make himself two solid plans—one he’d use if the gates were open and one he’d used if they ended up being closed when he was ready to move. Or if, for some reason, he felt the heat closing in on him. Yeah, that was a good reason right there to get the camping gear. He was proud of himself for thinking of it.
Chapter Thirteen
“What do you think, Mary? This is going to be great, isn’t it?” Her sister-in-law’s expression held such joy that Mary knew she had to give the space real consideration.
Her sister-in-law had begged her to accompany her, and Mary really couldn’t say no. Though Jacqui was a few years younger than Mary’s own 31 years, she liked her, and felt a very real connection to her. Jacqui Kendall was the little sister Mary had never had.
So she looked around at the spotlessly clean and currently unfurnished great room of a two-story Victorian-style brick house just down from the Lusty Combined School.
The space wasn’t nearly as large as the great room at the Big House, nor the one at the New House, for that matter, but it was, she thought, a good-sized space to be the main cage….er housing area…for the town’s new daycare center.
Jacqui, of course, was totally in favor of the project. All the parents would take turns, along with a newly hired early childhood educator, supervising the children. Just like the other moms not born in Lusty, she wanted her children to know their cousins and to know that they belonged.
“It’s…yeah. I guess I can see this working.”
Jacqui just laughed and gave Mary a quick hug. “I realize that kids aren’t your thing, sister. Thank you for being so patient with me. I know the boys are my main focus at the moment and practically all I talk about. Especially during those times, like now, when I’m not with them.” Will and Norm, who worked from home, were spending time with the twins back at their house, so Jacqui could come here for the first meeting of the board of directors of the brand-new Lusty daycare.
“It’s not that they’re not my thing, Jacqui. I’ve just never been around many babies in my life. I don’t know how to behave with them.” That was the truth. She did have to admit that each time she saw her little nephews, James and Keith, she fell a little bit more in love with them.
“But you see, that’s the great thing about kids.” Jacqui grinned. “They’re absolutely the easiest people in the world to be with. You just have to be yourself, and they’re good with that.”
Mary had to admit that she’d never thought about it before. Again, no experience with kids.
But what if kids were in her future? How could I have reached the ripe old age of thirty-one without once really considering if I wanted children or not? One of the problems, Mary decided then and there, with being the kind of person who could focus so keenly on achieving a goal was that other thoughts tended not to form or, if formed, be pursued.
What if kids are in my future? She let herself wonder about that for a minute, but the thought changed. She imagined in a flash, being pregnant with Anthony’s or Toby’s baby. The picture that formed in her mind was so clear, so real, so…evocative.
The wave of longing that swamped her nearly brought her to her knees.
“Are you all right?”
The look of concern on Jacqui’s face seemed incongruent with her inner thoughts and emotions. Like we’re in two different worlds.
“I’m fine.” Or as fine as a person can be when their entire world just changed in one explosive, mind-numbing, heart-melting moment of time.
Mary brought her attention back to her sister-in-law. She read the look of disbelief on Jacqui’s face and went with her gut.
“I just imagined myself with children of my own.”
Jacqui choked. “And that was such a terrifying thought you nearly fainted?”
Mary shook her head. “No, it was a new and unexpected thought.”
Fortunately, other people arrived and saved her from further explanation. The group was meeting to tour the space that Grandma Kate had thought would be a good space for the parents and little ones of Lusty to use.
They didn’t waste any time in looking at the entire building, instead focusing on those areas that would be most in use. The large main room was the house’s biggest appeal, closely followed by the nicely enclosed and shaded back yard.
Along with Jacqui was Ari and Shar Benedict, Tamara Kendall, Emily Ann Richardson, Penelope and Maggie Benedict, and Iris Kendall. These women formed the group that would make the on-site decisions.
“Just take your time, look around.” Grandma Kate beamed at them all. “Discuss the changes you’d like to make, and then we can discuss them with Jordan and Cameron.” Jordan Kendall entered the room. He had another man with him, and Mary was pleased to see him there. Because he was Anthony’s friend, she focused on Cam.
Her lover had said the man was broken, and while she saw no tears, neither did she see any joy.
“We won’t likely want to make any permanent changes to the building itself,” Shar said.
“That depends on how you define permanent.” Jordan Alvarez-Kendall stepped forward. “This is Cam Drake. We’ll be taking care of your needs for whatever remodeling you have in mind for the daycare.”
Love Under Two Detectives Page 12
