Chapter 14
Fourteen
Noah called not long after leaving the house to let Kaely know that Erin would be interviewed later in the afternoon at the command center.
“You’re supposed to meet with the lead investigator at three o’clock,” Kaely said after she hung up the phone.
She could see that Erin was nervous about the appointment.
Kaely had hoped Erin would have at least a day to relax before going to the center, but maybe getting it over quickly was for the best.
“You sure it’s okay if Shannon joins us for lunch?” Kaely asked. “We can put it off if you want to. If it makes any difference, I think you two will hit it off. You’re a lot alike.”
“As long as she doesn’t pressure me to find her an agent or a publisher, it’s fine.
You have no idea how many times people have emailed me or sent me letters asking for help.
I can give her advice, but I can’t do more than that.
And I don’t endorse books. For anyone. If I do it for one person, I’d be overwhelmed with requests. ”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Kaely said, grinning. “I don’t think she would do anything that might make you uncomfortable. All Shannon wants is advice. She has no intention of asking you for a thing. Except for one favor.”
Erin sighed. “Big surprise. What’s the favor?”
“She wants you to sign her copy of your book.”
Erin shook her head. “Well, I walked right into that one.” She took a sip from her coffee cup and then set it down. “Sorry for being so crabby. I know you’d never put me in an awkward situation. I’m just sensitive about this kind of thing. The requests are overwhelming sometimes.”
“I can understand that.” Kaely leaned down to slide their plates into the dishwasher.
“Believe it or not, I’ve been asked to sign a few copies of your book.
I am mentioned in the acknowledgments, after all.
” She straightened up, patted her curly hair, and sniffed.
“It’s hard to stay modest when you’re famous. ”
“If it wouldn’t make a mess, I’d throw my coffee cup at you,” Erin said, laughing.
“I’d make you clean it up, so it’s a good thing you rethought that.”
Erin picked up her dishes and carried them over to the sink. She rinsed them and handed them to Kaely.
“Thanks,” she said, “but you don’t need to help with anything. I want you to rest while you’re here.”
“Because it takes so much effort for me to sit around my cabin and write? Have you ever heard of writer’s derriere?”
Kaely shook her head. “I think I can figure out where this is going, though.”
Erin handed her a glass. “Yeah, not hard to understand. That’s why I try to take Chester out for a walk every day. It helps both of us.”
Kaely put the glass in the dishwasher. “You mean that walk you take with Chester and Chief Nightengale?”
“Well, yes.” Erin shook her head. “I told you there’s nothing going on between us. I’m not interested in Adrian Nightengale.” She rinsed off a small plate and held it out.
“You can deny it all you want, but I saw the way you looked at him . . . and the way he looks at you.”
Erin sighed. “If I wasn’t certain you don’t drink, I’d accuse you of being inebriated.”
“Funny.”
Erin had just rinsed off another plate when her phone rang. She wiped off her wet hands and pulled her cell phone out of the pocket of her jeans.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said. “It’s Adrian. You don’t have this house wired, do you?”
“I’ll never tell.”
Erin smiled and shook her head. “Hello?” she said, into her phone. She walked into the living room.
Kaely went back to loading the dishwasher, trying to give Erin some privacy.
Adrian was a good man. She was praying that Erin could overcome the trauma she’d been through.
But until that happened, the possibility of a romantic relationship with anyone was improbable.
Besides, Adrian was a Christian. She doubted he would consider becoming serious with anyone who wasn’t.
However, she could see that Erin was beginning to open up to the possibility of allowing God into her life.
She needed Him. She needed Him desperately.
All Kaely could do was to keep praying and say whatever she could without making Erin feel like she was hounding her.
It was the Holy Spirit’s job to draw Erin to faith.
She’d made that mistake before—trying to do the Spirit’s job.
It usually didn’t go well. She had no intention of messing things up this time.
She finished loading the dishwasher while Erin talked to Adrian in the other room. She’d just started it when Erin came back, a puzzled look on her face.
“Something wrong?” Kaely asked.
“I don’t know. Adrian said my lights came on a little after nine last night. I programmed them to come on at six.”
“Maybe it’s just a glitch?” Kaely asked.
“It’s possible. Or I did something wrong. I mean, it’s my first time setting it up. Adrian checked things out. Everything looked fine inside. I guess if anyone had tried to enter my house, the alarm would have gone off and notified the alarm company.”
“I’m sure it’s okay,” Kaely said. “If someone was trying to rob you, Adrian would have probably seen evidence of it. And like you said, a thief would have triggered the alarm.”
“It’s not like I keep stacks of money in my house,” Erin said. “And almost all of the other stuff belonged to Steve. I’m pretty sure he didn’t leave anything in the cabin that was really valuable.”
Kaely nodded. “Okay, as long as you’re not concerned about it, how about we get out of the house for a while? We could take Chester for a walk. He can work off some energy, and we can work on that writer’s derriere.”
Erin laughed. “That sounds good. I’d like to see a little more of Fredericksburg.”
“There’s a small park not too far away. Why don’t we go there? There’s a coffee shop across the street that makes great cappuccino. We’ll grab some and then go to the park.”
“Sounds great,” Erin said. “Give me a couple of minutes to change my shoes.”
“Sure. I’ll feed Mr. Hoover and meet you back here.”
As Erin headed toward the guest room, Chester hot on her heels after hearing the word “walk,” Kaely went upstairs to her bedroom, put on a T-shirt, her holster, and then another shirt over that.
She took down a box from the top shelf in her closet and removed her Glock.
She slid it into the holster and then buttoned the top shirt to hide her gun.
She didn’t want to worry Erin, but until they knew exactly what they were dealing with, she was going to err on the side of caution.
Although she’d feel better keeping Erin inside, she knew it wasn’t fair to her friend.
She felt okay going to the park since it was close by, and they wouldn’t stay long at the coffee shop.
If Kaely saw anything that concerned her, she’d get Erin back to the house.
She’d suggested Shannon have lunch here because staying too long at a restaurant concerned her.
If they started talking, it could make Erin an easy target.
She and Noah had agreed to do whatever it took to keep Erin safe.
Maybe this was overkill, but Kaely didn’t plan on taking any chances with Erin’s life.