25. Chapter 24
“Thanks for the update, Sheriff. Oh, before I forget, I’ve got some friends coming to stay with me for a few days. If you see any strange vehicles heading to my place, that’s why,” Hope said.
“Oh, that’s nice you’ve got friends coming. You need support right now. Wish I had better news for you, but I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Yeah right,” she muttered to Bradford only after she’d hung up the phone.
The sheriff had called to tell her what Chelsea already had—Patrick Killeen was basically getting a slap on the wrist. Which wasn’t a huge surprise, but it still annoyed her since she knew he and his dad wanted her, you know, dead .
They were back at her place, along with Adalyn and Berlin, who were currently working on something in the living room.
“Between the sheriff and Chelsea, word should spread that you’ve got friends staying over,” he murmured, that simmering heat still there in his eyes.
And she wasn’t sure what to do with it.
Or him.
Or herself .
She knew what she wanted to do right now—but that wasn’t happening with the others in the house. “Stop looking at me like that,” she whispered.
“Not looking at you like anything.” His voice was just as low, his eyes heated.
“When you whisper, we can’t eavesdrop!” Berlin called out from the other room.
Bradford shook his head, but grinned.
“You’ve got a nosy group of friends,” Hope said in a normal voice.
“Heard that one,” Berlin called.
Bradford’s grin grew for a moment, but then he straightened as he glanced down at his phone. “You ready to get out of here?”
“Yeah, we need to get going. What about that guy who followed me?” Alden Phillips.
“His tracker hasn’t moved,” Berlin called out again.
Thankfully Adalyn had managed to put one on his car. After following her here, he’d parked down the road about a mile off the two-lane highway. He’d see her if she headed back into town, but not if she headed west.
“We’ll take one of the other vehicles just in case,” Bradford said, grabbing a set of keys from the countertop.
It didn’t take long to get on the road, and even though she felt a little bad ambushing Kim like this, she needed answers. Because she couldn’t live like this, wondering when Edward Killeen would send someone after her again.
“We ever going to talk about last night?” Bradford asked as he made his way toward Kim’s home.
Thankfully Kim was out in the country too instead of in a neighborhood, so it was easier to approach her home without being seen. “What should we talk about? The orgasms we gave each other? Because they were nice.” And she wanted a repeat .
“First, they were great.”
She let out a startled laugh as he pulled down a little side road, kicking up dust as the car rumbled along. “Fine…agreed. They were great. Fantastic . And I don’t know what else to say.”
“What do you want from me, Hope?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer that, because she wasn’t sure what the hell she was doing with her own life. “I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Try and verbalize it.” His voice was soft.
“I…I like you, Bradford. I always have.” More than she should. Though it was more than like. She’d fallen hard for him, even if she couldn’t get the big L word out past her tight throat. Because love messed everything up. Made everything worse. Made you stupid.
“I like you too, Hope.” His voice was rough and gritty now.
She had no idea what to say, but it seemed he didn’t either, because he was silent until he pulled off the side of the road two miles later, tucking the car out of sight from any random passersby into a small break in the woods.
Though she doubted anyone who didn’t live down this little road would wander by. There were only three people who lived off this unpaved road and two were retired. According to Berlin’s sleuthing (and Hope’s own knowledge of the locals), they didn’t venture out after six.
“We can head in on foot from here,” Bradford said, pointing at the woods.
“Or we can just…walk there from here.” She nodded in the direction of the dead-end road where the Crosses’ mailbox was visible. Their house was over a little hill but she knew it was there, had been there multiple times over the years when growing up.
“I don’t know enough about her neighbors. They might have cameras.”
“I kind of doubt it, but okay.” So she followed him into the woods, and what should have been a seven-minute walk from the car to Kim’s place took half an hour until they were at her back door.
Hope knocked lightly and waved at the small camera positioned above the frame. So maybe she’d been wrong about people out here not having cameras.
The door swung open moments later. Kim was wearing a long robe, her hair was up in a turban and she had some kind of mud mask on her face. “What on earth are y’all doing here?” she asked as she stepped back to let both her and Bradford enter her kitchen.
She’d made changes in the last decade-plus so it was more modern. Soft gray cabinets, cream-colored walls, new-looking appliances, and the place smelled like fresh apple pie.
“We knew Andrew was at work and wanted to talk to you without anyone seeing.” Hope shoved her hands in her jeans pockets. “Sorry, I probably should have called but you were kind of weird about talking at the diner.”
Kim nodded and motioned for them to sit at her kitchen table. There were six quilted dark blue and white placemats in front of each seat. “I didn’t want to talk about anything at work. There are always people around and…” She sat across from them with a sigh. “Y’all hungry? I’ve got pie.”
Hope was going to say no, but Bradford grinned and leaned back. “I wouldn’t say no to pie.”
The woman winked at him and stood again. “I knew I liked you. And you two will just have to deal with my green face because this is my night off and I’m pampering myself.”
“We interrupted you,” Hope murmured. “And we parked out of the way down the road so your neighbors wouldn’t see.”
Kim nodded as she opened her fridge. “Neither Mrs. Burleigh or Ms. Wise would have heard or seen you. They’re both in for the night.”
“I kind of can’t believe Ms. Wise is still kicking,” Hope admitted. “And do you need any help?”
“Nope, you two sit. And you’re not kidding. But she’s still getting around and volunteering at the pet shelter two days a week. Andrew and I check on her most nights.”
They were quiet as she busied herself getting out what looked like blackberry pie, three plates, and ice cream. Hope’s mouth was watering as Kim started plating everything.
Once everything was served and Kim had started a pot of fresh coffee, Hope said, “You want to tell us about the coordinates?”
Bradford was quiet as he dug into his pie, clearly fine with letting her take the lead.
“Not really, but I’ll tell you what I know.
Your father thought Edward Killeen was up to something—he gave me those coordinates.
Said it proved that Killeen was running drugs.
Or hiding them, I should say. But he was also convinced that Edward was growing them too.
Said he had a big heroin operation going right under everyone’s noses. ”
“Heroin?” Bradford murmured.
Kim shrugged. “It sounds farfetched to me. But some days…I don’t know if he was right. Hank had been motivated in a way I hadn’t seen him the last couple years.”
“Motivated?” Hope asked.
“Maybe that’s the wrong word, but he was excited about something.
Don’t get me wrong, he’d been doing a hell of a lot better since getting sober, especially since he was mentoring people.
He had a purpose. But the last couple times I saw him at the diner, he seemed almost, well, excited.
He told me that he’d found something, but wasn’t sure who to trust.”
“You think it had to do with Edward Killeen? ”
“Yeah. Or I assume it did. Once when I was closing up the diner, Hank confided in me that he’d been watching Edward and his son, gathering proof.”
Oooh, she liked the sound of that. “What kind of proof?”
“He wouldn’t tell me exactly what, just that the man was growing and storing drugs. He gave me the coordinates and told me only to tell someone about them if something happened to him.”
“Did you tell anyone but me?”
“Nope.” She sighed, having barely touched her pie.
“And I debated telling you at all, especially since you’d just lost your dad.
I didn’t know what the coordinates went to, but a quick search told me it was on Killeen land.
From there I could figure out that it was something worth looking into.
I’m too old to be playing detective and…
the town has been doing well the last decade.
And that’s in large part to the Killeen family.
He or his wife own half the stores downtown and a couple of the restaurants.
Not to mention the two biggest beverage manufacturing factories.
People love their family—well, they tolerate his son—because of how much he’s helped the town grow.
“You think the sheriff knows about Killeen? Assuming he is running drugs?” Bradford asked.
“I have no idea. It’s hard to believe that Crow would look the other way, but some of his deputies might.”
“Any other people we shouldn’t trust?” Hope asked.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t trust anyone. Except maybe Hank’s AA buddies. They’re all close and would do anything for each other.”
“Do you know why Killeen would want Hope dead?” Bradford asked, dropping the heavy question like a grenade.
Kim blinked, but didn’t look surprised by the question.
“Your land, maybe. He tried hard to get your dad to sell a few times.” She pushed her half-eaten pie away and leaned back.
“Is that why Patrick broke into your place? Everyone’s been talking about him getting community service.
” Her mouth kicked up in amusement. “Glad he finally got some sort of punishment for all his bullshit.”
“We’re not sure why he broke in,” Bradford said before she could. “Just trying to figure it out since the cops were useless. You know anything about the Tanner brothers? They stopped by Hope’s house before Patrick did.”
“Useless bastards,” she said with a shake of her head.
“I know they’ve done some handyman-type of work for people, but they’re thieves.
They never take much, just petty stuff. Still.
” She shrugged. They did a decent amount of work for Edward at one time, I do know that.
Helped him build a couple barns and some stuff to do with his palmetto farm. At least that’s what I heard.”
Hope didn’t look at Bradford, but made a note of it. She wasn’t sure what else to ask Kim.
It wasn’t as if she was going to tell Kim about the break-in and the four dead guys they were hiding in a freezer somewhere.
“While I don’t think the sheriff is necessarily corrupt,” Kim continued without any segue, “Crow definitely looks the other way where Patrick Killeen is concerned. But I think that has more to do with the fact that Edward donates so much to the local force. I honestly don’t know if he’s involved in… whatever the Killeen family is into.”
Hope nodded again, knowing they were coming to the end of their conversation. Kim didn’t know as much as she’d hoped, but it wasn’t nothing.
“Who was my dad close to? Someone he would have confided in.” Hope had wanted to ask Chelsea, but wasn’t sure she could trust her with this.
She didn’t know her well enough. But she’d known Kim forever, had found refuge over at her place more than once over the years when it had gotten to be too much at her house.
She’d always been welcomed with a big hug, warm pie, and a quiet place.
She rattled off a list of names. “Those were the people he came into the diner with after AA meetings. The ones I know for sure he was close with.”
Hope recognized the names, two farmers, and one had owned a local grocery store that had closed a few years ago.
She filed them away and made a note to reach out to all of them even as she tried to figure out what she should say.
She’d seen two of them at the memorial so might use that as her opening.
She wasn’t sure about Mr. Rivera’s whereabouts though. He hadn’t been at the memorial and she vaguely remembered her dad saying something about him moving. He’d been kind to her family back in the day though.
After they wrapped up, she gave Kim a quick hug, and she and Bradford headed out. Instead of trekking through the woods, they simply walked down the dirt road instead.
“You think she’s holding anything back?” Hope asked once they were in the car, the door shut.
“No.” Bradford’s answer was immediate. “I think she knows that Killeen is running drugs and just doesn’t want to say it, but no, I don’t think she was holding anything back. She seemed…”
“Frustrated?”
“Yeah.”
“Join the club,” Hope muttered as she started the car and pulled out. “I feel like we’re spinning our wheels trying to figure this shit out.”
“Well we know a little more. If he’s growing poppy fields, and actually has an operation…local law enforcement has to be involved. Doesn’t have to be the whole force, but Killeen would have to have someone in his pocket. ”
“Yeah, I was thinking that too.”
“So that’s something. We know we can’t trust the cops.”
Sighing, she nodded, but was silent as they headed back to her home.