Count on Me (Petal, Georgia)

  Melissa hugged her as she walked by. “I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m worried about your safety.”

  “Right now we don’t know if it’s some jerk who got all bound up because a woman dared to have an opinion in public or if it’s the real killer. The first is way more likely.”

  Royal uncoiled himself from where he’d been pretending to lounge. “She’s staying here at least until she finds a new place that’s far safer. I know her landlord, the guy likes money, but he won’t hold her to that lease. Not after this.”

  “That means I have to drive in each day. Ugh. I hate that part. But it’s really not that far, and it’s better than waking up to find a weirdo having broken into my apartment standing over me.”

  “Not a fan of this type of joke,” Royal murmured, and she leaned forward to kiss him.

  “Sorry.”

  “Good. Hopefully that will work in my favor when I explain how I’m going to drive you to work and pick you up every day.”

  “We’ll talk about that later.” Puhleeze. She didn’t need an escort to work for goodness sake! But when he got all protective, it made her tingly so she’d let it go for a while longer.

  “You mean you’ll indulge me but eventually think I’ll take no for an answer.” He grinned at her, totally on to her game.

  “Until the sex is done at least,” she said in his ear.

  “Go ahead on if you think you can withstand all my persuasive ways.”

  She laughed, hugging him.

  They hung out for another hour or two before Melissa and Clint headed out.

  Royal turned to Caroline. “Glad they came over. I like them.”

  “I do too.” Melissa was the first real friend she’d made since moving to Petal and they’d become pretty close. “She’s smart and funny.”

  “And a bit of an outsider too.”

  Caroline nodded. “Yes. She knows what I’m talking about in ways no one else does.”

  “I’m sorry you feel so alone.”

  She took his face in her hands, glad they were both sitting so he wasn’t towering over her. “I have you.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, you do. But having other friends is important. I’d like to hope you also feel that way in the future about my group of friends.”

  “I like your friends. I mean, we had a rough start, but they’re all fine now. And I get it. Their loyalty was to Anne first. In some ways it’s nice to see the way you all come together the way you do.”

  “Nicer when you’re part of the us-versus-the-world stuff though.”

  “Agreed.”

  He pulled her into his lap. “Now, I believe I have some persuasion to work on.”

  Shane held up the disc containing the possible worthy tips and the scary calls from the tip line. “I listened to them all. Of the two tips that caught your attention, I think one has merit. I’ll have one of my people check in with the county to see if there was a road crew out doing any work around the diner. I’d hope it was addressed then, but.” He shrugged and tried not to appear angry, failing. The sins of the old chief were heavy on his shoulders, Caroline knew.

  “The other one I definitely don’t think. That dairy drive-through on the corner had been torn down two years before the murder.”

  She nodded. One usable tip in the few days after the radio interview wasn’t bad. Sixteen years after the murder too. She had to hang on to this new way of dealing with the case and hope that she’d find a way to process the lack of control.

  “As for the threat. You’ve got a male who references your radio interview and that he knows where you live. Since you had a break-in following that radio interview and the destruction was quite personal, I don’t think it’s a stretch to wonder if the two things aren’t related or if this is more than one person. These tip lines aren’t much help, but I’ve got someone on it. Right now I don’t know much, but I know enough that I don’t like it, Caroline.”

  “I don’t like it either. My renter’s insurance will write me a decent check. They’re replacing my clothes and shoes. But so much was ruined. Books and photographs. A stranger was in my home. I don’t like that one bit! He touched my things. Read my notes. Stole a picture of me and one of my mother. ’Cause that’s not creepy at all.”

  Shane reached out and patted her hand. “I know this is awful. I’m sorry. I can promise you we’ll do all we can.”

  “I appreciate it. I’ll get in touch if we hear anything else. I’m at Royal’s for the time being. On the days I don’t have to leave town, he even says he’ll drive me. Insists. Says. Suggests.” She snorted. “I’m going on television next Wednesday. So it may bring a lot of attention or nothing at all. You know how this goes sometimes.”

  “You’re going to need to be extra careful once you do that. This guy who’s behind the threats and break-in isn’t going to be happy about you taking this stuff out to a wider audience. And if he’s the real killer, he’s already killed at least one woman and let another person go to death row. That’s what we know. What we don’t know is far likely worse, and so he’s going to be eager to shut you up. Keep aware of your surroundings. If anything looks or feels weird, I want you to call me.”

  She nodded. “All right.”

  Justin walked her out. “You hungry? I haven’t had lunch and I’m starving.”

  “I think I’m still allowed to frequent the Honey Bear. It’s breakfast for lunch special day.”

  “Score.”

  “Hey you.”

  Caroline looked up to find Anne Murphy standing there. “Hey, Anne. What are you up to?”

  “Decided to come have Belgian waffles for my lunch. With strawberries and whipped cream.”

  Caroline took a risk and scooted over. “We were just about to order too. Care to join us or are you meeting someone?”

  Anne slid into the booth next to Caroline, across from Justin.

  Anne and Justin exchanged hellos as their drinks came out. Caroline had ordered her usual, and Anne paused in her chat with Justin to look at Caroline’s drink. “What’s that?”

  “Cherry vanilla coke. Best thing ever. Mrs. Proffit has the hand of God at the fountain, I swear.”

  “Oh yes, that’s it. I need that in my life along with the strawberry waffles.” Anne gave her order. Justin and Caroline ordered food as well.

  “How are you today anyway? Did you talk to Shane?”

  “Yeah. We were just at the police station.” She and Royal had gone over to the Chases’s home the night before for a freakishly huge and yet oddly intimate gathering. There had to have been at least thirty people there, and yet they all seemed to like each other and have a close relationship.

  Edward had come to stand next to her as she looked out over all the kids playing in the back yard.

  “I just wanted to tell you how much I admire you. I know things are unpleasant right now. And scary. But I wanted to say this is your home. You are Petal born and raised. That you were elsewhere for fifteen years doesn’t matter. Petal’s in your blood. You think I’m being sentimental and old right now, but in about ten years, after you and Royal have had your wedding and your babies and you’re dropping them off at school, you’re going to remember this moment and you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

  “It takes courage to believe in something when everyone else doesn’t. You have a steadfastness of spirit that I am in awe of. It makes you a wonderful attorney. You have a persistence of affection and loyalty to your parents. They’d be very proud of you today, I promise you that.”

  Caroline had blinked back tears, and Edward had continued to stand there with her. Not saying anything else or needing her to respond. He knew she was getting herself back together and he let her do it.

  Finally she sucked in a breath. “Thank you. I needed that.”

  Shaking that memory, she focused on Anne. “Anyway, they’re looking into the threat and one of the tips.”

  “Why don’t you and Melissa come out on Friday? We thought Margarita Friday neede
d to be brought back. So Beth’s hosting. Bring something to eat, but we won’t shame you if you bring chips and dip. Accept that Tate will always make something way better than whatever you bring or you’ll get a complex. Maggie is also a great cook. I call dibs on dessert.”

  “Oh you sneaky bitch!”

  Anne paused and then laughed, bumping her shoulder against Caroline’s. “You just called me a bad name in an affectionate way. I’m sorry to tell you that we’ve become friends.”

  “I know. You’re not too bad once someone gets to know you a little.”

  Justin choked and Anne winked.

  Caroline drizzled berry syrup over her pancakes. “I’ll talk to Melissa. I think she’ll be up for it. I’ll also let her know about the food thing.”

  Considering how insane her life had gotten this lunch was so remarkably normal and nice. She’d missed that.

  After a nice carb immersion they all headed out, Anne going one way with Caroline and Justin going the other.

  The rest of her day was awesomely absent any kind of drama, and when she got home it was to find Royal in the kitchen, making dinner.

  He smiled at the sight of her. “Thanks for calling to let me know when you were leaving.” He put a spoon down and moved to pull her into a hug. “I like it. You being here with me, I mean. Knowing you’re on your way to me. When I heard you come in, it made my day.”

  “You’re being very sweet. Did you accidentally leave the door open and Spike got his claws on my boots?”

  “A guy makes a mistake once!”

  She gave him a raised brow and he snorted. “Whatever. My cat has not ingested any of your items of clothing. It just occurred to me that I was happy and I wanted to tell you.”

  And then he showed her right after dinner. Twice.

  On Friday she’d driven in because she’d needed to attend a deposition held in Riverton. She’d parked a block away from Main so she could come and go quietly. There were spaces out front but the firm liked to leave them for clients. She ran to grab some lunch for later that day before heading in.

  Lunch she’d been eating two hours later at her desk when Holly came in. The look on her face brought Caroline to full attention.

  “Sit down. What’s wrong?”

  “Your car was vandalized. I saw it as I was coming back in from lunch. I’ve called the police too.”

  Alarm. Fear and dread. Anger. All married in her gut. “Okay. Jesus. What all happened?”

  “Paint splashed everywhere. Tires looked trashed. I didn’t look a whole lot closer. I called the cops and got back here.”

  Caroline put her pickle down and wiped her hands. Unflappable Holly was most definitely flapped.

  Caroline sat there and knew someone was out there who wanted to scare her, and she was not a fan of that at all. But it had to be dealt with so she got herself together and took a deep breath.

  “Of course. You did the right thing. Thank you for calling the police.”

  She was going to have to tell Edward, Peter and Justin. Was going to have to call the insurance company about her car. Call Royal. Yeah, that was going to suck. He was already pissy that she’d come in on her own. He’d said he’d take her to Riverton and then take her back to Petal. She’d refused but he was going to be extra worked up over it.

  First things first.

  It was Shane who showed up not even two minutes later. He caught sight of her and shook his head. “I thought you were supposed to stay out of trouble.”

  “I was eating a turkey sandwich at my desk!”

  “Let’s go on over to look.”

  They headed out and then down around the corner where she’d parked thinking it might be better to keep it low key and come and go quietly. Ha! More like perfect to vandalize during the day.

  Her car had had buckets of paint poured over it and the tires were slashed. Nothing that made much noise and so no one had noticed it right away.

  She sighed. “Good Lord.”

  Shane had taken some photographs, helped her get her belongings from it and lugged the stuff she’d had in her car back to the office. On the way she’d even contacted her insurance who then arranged to have the car towed to Joe Harris’s shop to be repaired.

  She gave a statement, which was easy since she didn’t know much other than when she’d arrived.

  “I need to run now. I have a hearing.”

  Shane slid his notebook back into his pocket. “I’ll take you over to the courthouse. I have to go that way anyway.”

  Five minutes later she stood outside the courthouse. She pulled her phone out and got Royal’s voicemail. If he was on a tractor or working near machinery, he wouldn’t hear it anyway. She let him know that her car had been vandalized and she was having it towed to Joe’s shop. She then asked him for a ride and said if he couldn’t, she could probably grab one from Justin, and she had her keys to his place so to just call and leave a message because she was getting ready to go into court and that either way she’d see him later.

  And she kept her head in her job and went about doing it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Royal had come back to the house after being out in the fields all day when he noticed he had a voicemail from Caroline.

  He called her back and got her voicemail. “I’ll be there,” was all he said.

  And then he’d changed and was in his truck heading into town, and when she’d walked out of the front doors of the courthouse he waited there.

  After a stop by Shane’s office. Shane-the-cop didn’t say a whole lot but Shane-the-friend told him Caroline had looked a little shell-shocked but left him to go off to court and she’d had her focus on work.

  She did seem thrive on her job. And if it could help keep her mind off as much of this damnable mess as possible, that was a positive.

  She wore a suit that day. With trousers and, he knew without a doubt, some sky-high heels. He had no idea how she stood it, especially with all the walking she did, but she seemed immune. Or maybe she was just a good actor.

  The charcoal gray of the suit was pretty on her. She didn’t have on an overcoat, but the edge of her suit jacket flipped a little in the breeze, and he caught a glimpse of the red silk blouse she wore underneath.

  She was put together and really pretty, and then she turned, her attention shifting from her colleague to Royal.

  She lit up when she caught sight of him, smiling and saying goodbye to her colleague. He knew he grinned right back at her. Just making another person react the way she had—because of him—meant so much.

  In four more steps her hand slid into his as he brought it to his mouth to kiss her fingertips.

  “Afternoon, Mizz Mendoza.” He tipped his hat and she blushed.

  “Hi. Wow you’re handsome. I could have met you at the office. I’m sorry you came down here.”

  “Look at you with your sneaky compliments. Thank you, darlin’. As for the rest? Whatever. You’re down here, which is more than enough reason to come this way. Plus I can be with you instead of you haring all over town with a fucking psycho out there who needs a punch to the face with my bumper. Are you all right?”

  They started walking back to where he’d parked. “I’m fine. It sucks, don’t get me wrong. I just got a new paint job before I came back to Petal. That metallic black was hard to find, damn it. My tires were slit. It needs new tires, to be sanded and primered and repainted. My doors have been keyed and the slot for the key on the door has been bent and there’s metal stuck off down inside. The fob for keyless entry works though so at least there’s that. Thank God I was paranoid and locked up or he might have gotten inside.”

  They ran up to her office and grabbed a box of things before loading them into his truck. “I need to work a little this weekend, but I have a thing at Beth’s tonight. Melissa is picking me up at six forty-five.”

  He put her in the cab and dug way, way deep before he got back in on the driver’s side. He headed out of town.

  “Don’t,” she
finally said, breaking the silence.

  “Don’t what?” His voice was so ruthlessly careful it just underlined how much he knew exactly what she’d been saying.

  “Really?”

  He groaned. “Okay, okay. But no, I have to. Don’t go tonight. Stay home with me. Where I know you’re safe. This whole thing is fucked, and I normally wouldn’t ask you to not do something. I respect your independence and that you have friends you hang out with and heaven knows I’m pleased the thing with Anne has worked out.”

  “But?”

  “Look, Caroline this isn’t okay. Someone is trying to scare you. Someone is scaring you. This is a murderer who sees you as a threat, and I’m sorry you have to change your daily schedule, but it’s insane to go out right now. Do you think I could go play pool while you were off with our friends? Exposed. No. Don’t ask me to do it.”

  She sighed, leaning back against the seat. “You’re right. Let me call everyone.”

  But Beth wasn’t having it. “No way. We aren’t giving in to this guy. If anything happens, he’ll be stirring a big hornet’s nest.”

  “No, Royal’s right. Some of you have children. Lily is pregnant. I don’t want to call any attention to you guys. It’s not worth the risk.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I really am. I’m a little wobbly right now. It’s sort of been a few weeks, you know? You guys have a good night and a good time. I’m going to call Melissa and tell her she’s still invited though if she feels up to it.”

  “Yes, please do. And I’ll call her too to follow up. Hon, take a long hot bath and sleep in and just try to forget this mess for tonight. We’ll see you soon.”

  “Thanks, Beth.”

  Caroline hung up, called Melissa and reassured her she was all right. It wasn’t like Royal was going to let her out of his sight anyway. She hung up after promising to call the next day to check in.