Chapter Forty
Adam
I was awake the second Conor’s soft whimpers came over the monitor in the middle of the night, and I threw back the covers to tiptoe to his playpen.
Unfortunately, when I got there, Lainey was already out of bed and leaning down to pick him up.
“Please let me feed him,” I said softly. “It’s kind of like our thing, ya know? And I don’t know how much longer we’re going to have that.”
She continued to pick him up, and I felt my shoulders sag. I wasn’t in a position to insist.
But instead of taking him back to her bed, she handed him to me.
“There’s a bottle in the fridge, and his diapers and wipes are in his diaper bag by the dresser.” She winked with a smirk. “Try to keep it down. I’m sure Brian needs his beauty sleep.”
“Brian isn’t even home yet.”
That made her pause.
“He’s not? Is everything okay?”
“Last time he texted, they’d finished processing the bakery for evidence with South Carolina DPS and had boarded up the window. But then there was a fight at some bar on the outskirts of town… Hooligan’s?”
“Hannigan’s,” she supplied. “Although, Hooligan’s might be a better name. That place is notorious for getting rowdy.”
“Anyway, he went with a few of his officers to book some people into jail. Except the jail wouldn’t take them because they were drunk, so they had to go to the hospital and have them monitored by hospital staff until they weren’t legally drunk anymore and can go to jail.
But he’s letting his least senior guy babysit and getting a ride home with his other officer. He should be home soon.”
Her smirk was back.
“See all the exciting things you have to look forward to?”
“I wonder if it’s too late to negotiate with Angus about counting my military experience in terms of seniority…”
“Like my dad always says, it never hurts to ask. What’s the worst he can say? No? Big deal.”
“You’ve got a point.”
Conor’s cries grew more insistent.
“Anyway.” She pointed toward the stairs. “Bottle in the fridge, get going. Some of us are trying to sleep.” Then climbed back in bed.
I loved that she didn’t argue with me after all, and that she was so damn feisty.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to live in the same town as her and not be at her doorstep every chance I got.
~~~~
I was on the couch, giving Conor a bottle when Brian came in through the front door. I could tell by the gentle way he pulled his keys from the lock and softly shut the door that he was trying to be quiet.
“Hey,” I said softly, hoping not to scare him. I’d thought the light of the lamp on the end table would also clue him in I was there.
He threw the lock and replied, “Oh hey. I didn’t realize you were still up.”
“Just giving Conor his bottle. Lainey and I had worked out a schedule while I was at the apartment, and I got the three a.m. feeding.”
“Drew the short straw, huh?”
“No,” I looked down at the baby contently sucking on his bottle. “I actually like it and wanted it. It’s me and him time.”
“So, when you told the O’Briens that Lainey wouldn’t sleep a wink if she were away from him, you were really talking about yourself.”
I thought about it for a second, then shrugged.
“Yeah, I think that’s a fair assessment.”
Brian’s mouth turned up in a grin. “Thought so.”
“Fill me in with what went on at the bakery so I can hit the ground running tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah, Angus said I was driving you to work tomorrow—well, later this morning, I guess.”
“Lucky you. Any cameras?”
“There was nothing close by, but a couple of businesses at the other end of Main have them, so we’ll look at their footage tomorrow and see if anyone drove by around then.”
“The bakery needs cameras in the front, too.”
“Yep. I should have thought of that when I ordered the one for her backstairs.”
“Well, now we know.”
“I placed the order last night; it’s supposed to be here by five p.m.”
“Did you get any prints off the paper wrapped around the rock?”
“No. But it looks like it came from a legal pad—same as the last letter. The DPS lab is going to analyze both and see if they can lift anything that may have been written on the pages before them, and therefore indented onto the pages underneath. Maybe that’ll provide some clues.”
“That’s some Dateline shit right there.”
“Right?”
“I can’t believe DPS is willing to do that over a rock through a window.”
“I think normally they wouldn’t, but Angus called in a favor. But even if he hadn’t, they would have come anyway. The note was pretty disturbing. Like, more than the one slipped under her door. The person is obviously unhinged.”
“Really? What’d it say?”
“I took a picture. I’ll send it to you. Angus doesn’t think we should tell Lainey about it.”
Oh, hell no. I may be dumb, but I do learn my lesson.
“We have to. She chewed my ass out earlier today for making decisions about her life without consulting her.”
“Well, read it first, and then see what you think.”
“Give me the Reader’s Digest version.”
Brian sighed and he lifted his gaze toward the ceiling, like he was trying to activate his memory.
“Let me see… she’s a slut. They’re going to kidnap her bastard child and sell him on the black market. Poison her ingredients so her food kills people in town. Burn the bakery down…. Uh, what else–”
“Jesus, there’s more?”
“It was very rambling. Like every thought that popped in this person’s mind, they wrote it down as an option. Oh! This was my favorite, they’re going to release roaches in her kitchen, call the health department, and run her out of business.”
“So, it ran the gambit of selling her baby on the black market to calling the health department on her.”
“Yeah, like I said, it was unhinged.”
“We still have to show it to her.”
“Actually,” her voice came from the landing on the stairs, “no, you don’t. I got the gist. I don’t need to see it in writing. But thank you, Adam, for letting me be the one to make that decision.”
Brian replied, “Lainey, I’m sorry. I was just—”
“You were just looking out for me; I know. And I love you for it, but you have to stop handling me like I’m made of glass and will break. I’m tougher than you think, Brian O’Shaughnessy.”
“I know you are. And you’re right, I need to stop treating you with kid gloves. I feel like I owe it to Shawn to—”
Her tone was stern this time when she interrupted him. “I’m tired of hearing how everybody thinks they owe Shawn something. Shawn was a good man, and I guarantee he would not want anyone feeling obligated to live their life a certain way because of him.”
This feels a little personal.
Brian nodded. “You’re right. So, what I’m about to say has absolutely nothing to do with Shawn. You’re staying here until this person is caught.”
“Oh, no doubt. I know you’ll keep us safe.”
Ouch.
“Plus, being able to sleep through the night will be extra motivation for you to solve this. And, speaking of sleeping through the night… I’m going back to bed. Goodnight.”
And as quietly as she’d come down the stairs, she went back up them.