“No, of course not. I’ll drive back to Ms. Brown’s office and meet you at your place. I just need your address.”
Gary gave her the information and asked, “So what are the chances of the girls having to move to Atlanta?”
“Based on what you’ve shared, I’d be surprised if the judge entertains a change. Unless there’s something you aren’t telling me, the court isn’t going to uproot your daughters just because Mom’s lonely, especially when she didn’t want custody after the divorce.”
Gary was relieved to hear that.
Daphne stood, and her height filled his office. “I’ll let you get back to work. Looking forward to meeting your daughters.”
He walked her out and noted the stares her stunning presence caused among the shoppers. She didn’t comment, so he didn’t, either.
When he returned to his office, Gemma was there. “How’d it go?” she asked.
“I think we’re in good hands.”
As promised, Ms. Summers came by after school. Once the introductions were made, Gary went up to his room so the ladies could talk alone. While there, he ordered pizza so no one would have to cook, then got dressed and went for a quick run. He found running after work to be the perfect stress reliever and decided he preferred the nearly traffic-free roads near his house to the town’s boring oval track. His legs were in better shape than they were that first morning and he could now do a mile without having to crawl home afterward.
When he returned, the girls and Ms. Summers were enjoying the pizza, so he went upstairs to take a shower. He had no idea what they’d discussed, but they were laughing and talking, which made him think their meet was going well.
“Your daughters are a delight,” Ms. Summers said to him as he came into the dining room.
He smiled. “I think they’re pretty special.”
The girls grinned. He placed two slices of the pizza on a paper plate and sat down to join them. “Did you get all the information you needed?”
“I did. They were very honest and helpful.”
That the girls looked pleased was all he needed to see.
Tiff said, “Ms. Summers doesn’t think we have to worry about moving.”
Leah said, “Which is awesome.”
Gary agreed with Leah’s take. He wasn’t sure how he’d handle things were Colleen allowed to take them away. Now that he finally had some happiness in his life, he wanted to hold on to it with both hands.
The lawyer left a short while later, but not before reminding them to contact her as soon as they heard from Colleen’s lawyer. Once she was gone, he asked, “Who feels better after meeting Ms. Summers?”
Everyone, including Gary, shot up a hand. They laughed.
That night, Gary called Nori and told her about Ms. Summers allaying most of their fears.
“Great to hear, Gary. I feel better, too.”
She was on her way to Peru tomorrow to hike the famous Inca Trail, a twenty-six-mile trek through the Andes Mountains, cloud forests, and Inca ruins. It was a multiday hike, and Nori had added a few other places to her itinerary, so she’d be gone for ten days. “I’m already missing our nightly calls,” he told her.
“Ditto,” she replied. “But when I get back, my next trip will be to see you and the girls.”
That made him smile. They talked for a short while longer, but he knew she had a plane to catch in the morning and needed her sleep. “I’ll let you go so you can get your rest.”
“But I want to talk some more,” she protested with a mock whine.
He laughed. “Go to bed, Ms. Adventure, and make sure you bring yourself home in one piece.”
“Oh, okay,” she said with a pout in her voice. “I love you, son of Jor-El.”
“Love you, too, Nori. Bye, baby.”
She whispered. “Bye.”
Gary turned off his nightstand’s lamp and settled in to sleep.
Bernadine spent Tuesday morning on the phone talking with everyone from FBI agent Kyle Dalton about the ongoing search for Janet Roxbury, to her lawyers handling the ownership paperwork for the Three Spinsters restaurant, to Tina, in Nigeria signing contracts for the Bottom Women’s investment in an oil company there. The Bureau had finally been able to put a name to Roxbury’s driver, a man known simply as Romanov. He had ties to the Russian mob, which meant Roxbury probably did too, a deduction she found alarming. The colonel’s surveillance cameras remained on high alert and people in town had been warned about the potential for trouble, but Bernadine wanted the bad guys found and neutralized so everyone could relax.
In the meantime, she’d been pleased by Zoey’s gift to Mal, not just because it erased his debt but because it epitomized what Bernadine loved most about her little town: the way people took care of each other. When Zoey first came to live in Henry Adams, Mal had gone out of his way to help her combat her nightmares, and now Ms. Miami had paid it forward. Bernadine was aware of Mal’s ongoing Apology Tour and, like everyone else, was proud he’d stepped up and taken ownership of his crime. Jack said from the raucous way the kids cheered after his apology to them, one would’ve thought Rhianna had suddenly paid a visit. Luis was at the Dog this morning telling anyone who’d listen how moved he and Anna had been by Mal’s talk with Alfonso and Maria. Her former love was mending fences all over the place and was painting a fence, too. That gesture grabbed the attention of the citizenry more than all the rest of the apologies combined. In two more days, he’d be able to invoke the Zoey Rule, and Bernadine guessed more than a few people would show up to help. Although she’d never painted anything in her life, she was considering joining in because she approved of Mal being focused on reclaiming his place in the community and she wanted everyone to know it. The jury was still out on their becoming a full-fledged couple again, however, but she was closer to at least considering it. The agreement they’d made at Tamar’s about his texting her had been a first step, even if she had ignored his texts initially. Now she was at least reading them, but so far hadn’t responded. She’d considered sending him a thank-you for the coins, then decided he wasn’t owed anything for repaying a debt he had no business incurring in the first place. He’d stolen the money; he didn’t deserve a pat on the back.
But on Wednesday afternoon, she left work early. Once at home, she changed into her jeans and an old sweatshirt, tied up her hair beneath a scarf, and started out to the Jefferson place. She was on July Road and almost there when she spotted the black van in her rearview mirror. She sped up and hit the phone sync on her dashboard. “Barrett! That black van! It’s following me!”
“Where are you!”
“On July Road!”
The van rammed her from behind, and she screamed. Baby spun and almost went out of control. Determined not to do a replay of her near-fatal encounter with Odessa Stillwell, Bernadine clamped down on the steering wheel and kept her eyes on the road.
“You okay?” Barrett yelled.
She didn’t answer. She was too busy trying to stay in front of the van. Bullets blew out her back window.
“Bernadine!”
“They’re shooting at me!”
“We’re at Marie’s! Keep coming! We’re on the way!”
What was usually a quick trip seemed to take forever. The van sped up beside her. She saw a man pointing a gun at her through an open window. “Pull over!” he shouted. She immediately swung Baby hard to the left to do some ramming of her own instead. The force of the Ford’s high-strength steel sent the van reeling and the driver fighting to keep it from flipping.
Rolling now at eighty miles an hour, she screamed, “Take that!”
Up ahead she saw a small convoy of trucks spread across the two-lane road coming her way at full speed. The cavalry! And she laughed through her tears. Trent. Bing. Tamar. Mal. Rocky. The van, now back on her tail, was apparently so focused on her that its occupants didn’t see her rescuers until the last minute. They immediately tried a sharp turnaround. The convoy flew by her and that’s when she saw the c
olonel and the big oversized automatic rifle he called the Terminator in the bed of Trent’s truck. When the weapon’s power hit the target, the van jumped three feet in the air before coming down on its blown-out tires. The van’s occupants began shooting back but the Terminator along with the rifles of Henry Adams showed no mercy. The colonel’s rapid fire blew out the windows, pierced the trunk, and with each hit the van rocked from the force. Bernadine had pulled over to the side of the road to watch and cheer. The people inside the van decided to abandon ship and took off running across the field beside the road, but the three men and Janet Roxbury didn’t get very far, courtesy of Tamar’s shotgun. She picked them off one by one and soon all of them were rolling in the grass clutching their lead-filled legs.
Bernadine got out. Weak from fear and adrenaline, she leaned against Baby and tried to pull herself together. While the colonel and Tamar kept an eye on the bad guys, the rest of the cavalry ran back to check on her.
“Are you okay?” Rocky asked.
Bernadine nodded.
Mal’s eyes were filled with concern, so she repeated, “I’m okay. Thanks for being my own personal Tenth Cavalry.”
Trent did a tour of her truck. “You may need another vehicle, Bernadine. You’re leaking fluids and the back is pretty shot up.”
“Not again!” She’d replaced Baby three maybe four times already because of Henry Adams adventures.
Mal asked, “You sure you’re okay?”
“I am, Mal. Really.”
Bing said, “In the movies this is where the guy and his girl make up, so Rock, Trent, let’s go.”
Bernadine laughed. Mal chuckled. Bing and the others left.
Overhead, the sound of chopper rotors filled the air. She looked up, saw “FBI” decaled on the side and the belly.
Mal said, “We told Marie to call them when we rolled out. They got here quick.”
County law enforcement had arrived on the scene as well. Davida Ransom and two other deputies were cuffing the suspects while Will stood talking to the colonel and Tamar beside the decimated van.
Mal said, “I’ve been out of the loop. Who are these folks and why were they after you?”
Bernadine explained and finished with, “Why they wanted me is anyone’s guess. Trying to kill me makes no sense. Maybe they were just trying to snatch me and take me someplace to see if I really knew anything about the Millers’ location.”
“Well, when Barrett told us you were on the phone and I could hear him screaming your name, it scared me to death.”
“Imagine how I felt in the starring role.”
Their eyes met and held. In spite of all the police activity swirling around them, she lost touch with everything but the powerful aura Mal exuded. He checked out her attire. “Interesting outfit. Were you cleaning the house?”
She hesitated before answering. She wanted to lie, but confessed, “No. I was on my way here to help with the painting.”
“Really?”
She told herself she wasn’t affected by his veiled approval. “Yes, and don’t read anything into it other than that you needed the help.”
“I see.” His tone and what she read in his eyes were making it difficult for her to breathe evenly.
He told her, “Like Bing said, this is the part in the movie where the guy kisses the girl, but if I kiss you, you’ll probably sock me.”
“Repeatedly.”
He grinned. “Okay. I’ll save it for another time.”
Fighting to ignore the way her knees weakened at his words, she was glad when Kyle Dalton walked up and asked, “Ms. Brown, can I talk to you for a few moments?”
She nodded, took one last look back at the much too compelling Malachi July, and let Kyle lead her away.
Although Roxbury and her crew refused to talk when they were taken away, Kyle agreed with Bernadine that they probably intended to grab her and take her to an undisclosed location to make her tell them what she knew about the Millers. Barrett reviewed the camera footage later that evening, and it showed their van sitting in the Dog’s parking lot. When Bernadine drove by the building on her way to Marie’s, they waited a few seconds and pulled out behind her. Kyle’s people also found a small tracking device on Baby’s underbody, but there was no way to determine how long it had been there.
“So, is this over now?” Bernadine asked Kyle the next day as they all sat in her office.
“We’re pretty sure it is. The three Russians were in the country illegally and will be deported as soon as they recover from being shot. Roxbury is Canadian. She’s here legally, but the Mounties have multiple warrants with her real name on them. They’ll be flying down to pick her up as soon as she recovers, too.”
“Yay!” Bernadine cheered. “No more Russians, hit women, or shootings at movie night.”
Lily cracked, “We lead such boring lives here on the Kansas plains.”
Chapter 17
Gary, his daughters, and their lawyer, Ms. Summers, were seated in the book-lined chambers of Judge Steven Phillips waiting for Colleen and her legal representative. It was now thirty minutes past the hearing’s start time and he wondered if their flight had been delayed.
Judge Phillips, a portly middle-aged man with brown eyes and thinning blond hair, took a quick look at his watch. “We’ll give them another ten minutes and talk about rescheduling. I have other items on my docket that need my attention this morning.”
Gary understood, but he wasn’t going to be happy if the hearing had to be rescheduled. He wanted the issue settled today, once and for all.
Five minutes later, the bailiff entered and ushered in Colleen, then left. “I’m so sorry, Your Honor,” she said. “We flew in last night but got a really late start this morning, and then there was an accident.”
“Is your lawyer here?”
“Yes, he’s parking the car. He should be right in.”
She nodded at Gary and then cooed, “How are my girls this morning? I can’t wait for us to go shopping for the new furniture for your bedrooms. You’re going to love the new school I’ve settled on.”
Ms. Summers stood, and Colleen looked up with wide eyes and took a step back. Smiling coolly, Daphne extended her hand. “I’m Daphne Summers, counsel for Mr. Clark and your daughters.”
“Oh,” was all Colleen seemed able to say as she continued to stare. “Did you play basketball?”
“Volleyball.”
“Oh,” she said and took a seat.
The bailiff returned. “Her counsel is here, Your Honor.”
“Good. Send him in.”
And to Gary’s surprise, Howie Pratt entered. His too-small brown corduroy suit was paired with a white shirt and a brown bow tie accented with green polka dots.
He stuck out his hand to Gary. “So, Clark. We meet again. Have you spoken to Eleanor lately?”
The judge cleared his throat.
Pratt turned and inclined his head in apology. “Sorry, Your Honor. I’m Howard Pratt. Stanford Law School. Just inquiring about a mutual friend.” And then he saw Ms. Summers. “My, aren’t you a gorgeous tall drink of water.”
Her eyes flashed icily.
The judge snapped, “Mr. Pratt, show some respect. Take a seat.”
Howard did, but not before shooting Daphne a smile.
Gary saw Leah give Tiffany a look of disbelief and he was right there with her. He had a feeling this was going to be an interesting hearing.
The judge looked over the paperwork. “Ms. Ewing, you’re petitioning the court to alter the custodial agreement on what grounds?”
“I think Gary is a bad parent.”
“And your evidence?”
“Well,” she said, sitting up straight, “he just is.”
Judge Phillips glanced over at Gary, who kept his face calm.
The judge said, “I’m going to need concrete evidence. Are your daughters neglected? Does Mr. Clark do drugs? Does he not provide ample food or clothing?”
“He’s turned them against me.” br />
“Your evidence?”
Howie said, “Your Honor, my client had a perfect relationship with her daughters until the divorce proceedings, and now the relationship is frayed.”
Daphne interjected, “Ms. Ewing chose not to ask for custody during the divorce proceedings, Your Honor.”
Howie stared at Colleen. “You didn’t tell me that.”
Gary figured there was a lot she didn’t share with Howie, but he kept that to himself.
Judge Phillips asked, “Why did you not want custody?”
“I thought they’d keep me from finding another husband.”
“I see, but now you want full custody? Why?”
Leah said, “She’s getting divorced again and doesn’t want to be lonely.”
Howard snapped, “You don’t get to speak.”
Leah drawled, “Whatever.”
The judge said, “Is this true, Ms. Ewing?”
“Yes. I don’t want to be alone.”
Tiff said, “We told her to get a pet.”
The judge was almost able to hide his smile—almost. “Do you girls want to live with your mom full-time?”
“No,” Leah said adamantly.
“Tiffany?” the judge asked.
“No, Your Honor. I don’t like the way she treats my sister, or me.”
“What do you mean?”
Leah explained: “Your Honor, I love science. I’m still in high school, but KU is letting me take college physics classes.”
“That’s outstanding.”
“Mom doesn’t think so.”
He appeared confused. “Explain, please.”
Colleen interrupted: “This is what I meant about him turning them against me. I’m very proud of my daughter’s accomplishments, but my ex-husband has her convinced otherwise.”
Leah said, “Your Honor. She’s not telling the truth. Dad has always had my back. When I was younger and wanted to go to Space Camp, he had to argue with her for days before she finally gave in. And to prove she’s not telling the truth? My receipt.” Leah pulled out her phone, scrolled a few seconds, and set the device on the desk in front of the judge. “Tap the arrow on the video, Your Honor.”