Chapter 4
Alittle bit of the tension wrapped around Katherine’s neck loosened as she stepped into Safe Haven’s Women Shelter.
After a restless night, she’d woken before Ollie and cooked him a breakfast fit for a little prince—French toast, eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit—then convinced him to head to the shelter.
Not like he needed much convincing.
She’d called ahead and found out Elsie would be at the makeshift store inside the shelter today, her sidekick Jimmy with her as usual. Since the two boys were around the same age, Ollie had perked up at the suggestion of spending time with his buddy.
Which was great since the hike she’d considered was now out of the question. Without knowing the reason behind her attack the night before, she wasn’t comfortable being alone with her son in the woods.
After hanging their jackets on the hook by the front door, she followed the sound of voices past the kitchen and to the store Elsie ran for the women who found themselves at the shelter—all the merchandise free for women in need.
Elsie sat on a stool behind the glass counter at the back of the space while Mrs. Collins bustled around the room, looking at clothes and straightening trinkets on display.
A woman Katherine had never seen stuck close to Mrs. Collins, a little girl propped on her hip. The purple bruise around her eye told Katherine she was one of the new guests Jenna had mentioned.
Jimmy sat in the corner with a book. He glanced up when they stepped foot over the threshold as if sensing their presence. “Ollie!” He jumped to his feet and darted across the room.
The woman with Mrs. Collins winced and the baby whimpered.
Anger flared to life inside Katherine. She’d witnessed that reaction countless times inside these walls and it never got easier to stomach.
Mrs. Collins rested a reassuring hand on the woman’s arm. “Beth, this is Katherine and her son Ollie. She’s a nurse and comes to help out when we need another set of hands, or just because she loves to give back. Isn’t that right, Katherine?”
She offered a kind smile. “Yep. My son Ollie and I love to hang with our friends. We’re like one big happy family.”
Ollie scrunched his nose and stared up at her with wide, brown eyes. “Jimmy’s my brother?”
Jimmy threw his head back and laughed. “No, silly. But we’re like brothers, right Aunt Elsie?”
“That’s right. You even fight like siblings sometimes.”
Jimmy rolled his eyes. “No, we don’t. Come on, Ollie. I want to show you my book.”
Katherine was eternally grateful to see a glimmer of excitement lighten his steps as he scampered to the corner Jimmy had set up as a reading nook. Two blue beanbags were propped against the wall with a little table on one side. Two cups and a bowl of chips rested on the stand.
Beth offered a small wave then quieted the baby before returning her focus to Mrs. Collins.
“He’s been very excited for you guys to get here,” Elsie said. “How are you this morning?”
The low timber of her voice told Katherine the gossip mill had been on full blast this morning. She groaned, wishing that for once, her small town wouldn’t use everyone’s trauma as breakfast conversation.
“How did you know?” she asked.
“I watched Amelia for Tommy and Sadie. He wasn’t supposed to go in until this morning, but once he heard what happened, he called and asked if he could drop Amelia at my place.
Sadie was already working a night shift.
He gave me a quick rundown, mostly because he was so flustered and upset. He didn’t mean to gossip.”
Sighing, Katherine settled on the backless stool at the side of the counter. “That was nice of you to watch Amelia,” she said, wanting a few minutes to figure out a response to her original question.
Elsie shrugged. “It’s what we do.”
The simplicity of her statement touched Katherine, because she’d found out the hard way this year how true those words were. Time and time again the men and women she’d met through the shelter had stepped up for her and Ollie. Determined to help in any way they could.
Something she hoped Beth and her daughter discovered during their stay, no matter how long that was.
“So you’re okay?” Elsie asked. “You don’t have to talk about it. You’ve just been through a lot lately, and it sucks this happened. I’m here if you need me, and if you want to talk. Or not. Maybe it’d be better to just drink.” She hoisted her glass of water in the air and wiggled her eyebrows.
Katherine laughed, something a few short hours ago she wasn’t sure was possible. “As long as it’s water, I’ll drink with you. Anything stronger might knock me on my ass. A place I can’t afford to be.”
Elsie grinned. “I understand that.”
Katherine glanced at Ollie to make sure he wasn’t listening.
Since Theo’s death, he tended to tune into her conversations more than he had before.
As if he wanted constant reassurance that nothing else would happen to wreck his world.
She hadn’t told him about the attack last night, and she didn’t plan to.
Once she was confident his focus was strictly on Jimmy and the book in his lap, she considered the best way to express the myriad of emotions ping-ponging inside of her.
“I’m rattled. I laid in bed all night and replayed the moment that man’s arm went around my neck over and over.
I was raised to be aware of my surroundings, yet I was completely caught off guard.
That scares the crap out of me. In an instant, Ollie could have been an orphan.
” The last word wedged in her throat and made it hard to breathe.
Unshed tears hovered above her lashes, and she blinked to keep them from falling.
Elsie reached for her hand and squeezed.
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. I can’t say I know exactly how you feel, but I understand being scared and at the mercy of someone else’s twisted games.
Hopefully whoever this guy is will be caught soon and you won’t have to worry that he’ll come back to hurt you. ”
A shudder ripped down her spine, shaking her shoulders. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop worrying.”
Elsie gave her hand another squeeze. “You’re a mom. Moms aren’t allowed to stop worrying.”
Katherine let out a humorless laugh and cast another glance toward Ollie. “Isn’t that the truth.”
Elsie removed her palm and found a microfiber rag beneath the counter to wipe down the glass top. “Thank God for Cody. Who’d think he would be your knight in shining armor?”
Warmth clashed against Katherine’s cheeks.
She and Elsie had grown up in Water’s Edge, both aware of the Hogan family and the trouble that often followed them.
She’d steered clear of Cody, even though he’d never stepped out of line as far as she knew, but the idea he was the man who’d saved her sent a thrill to her heart that confused the heck out of her.
“Yeah, who’d have thought?” she asked, eager to change the subject to anything else.
Because the thought of any man besides Theo as her knight in shining armor terrified her.
Especially if that man was Cody Hogan.
Grains of sand clawed at Cody’s eyes as he stared at the computer screen.
He’d managed to get a couple hours of shut eye, more than enough to push him through the rest of the day.
He wasn’t due back to the sheriff’s station until later, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get some work done while home.
Besides, he much preferred the comfortable leather chair in his office than the hard one at his desk at the station.
Not to mention the coffee was better and he could enjoy the spring breeze floating in through the open window.
Bailey, his oversized Bernedoodle, rested her head on his lap and whined.
“What is it, girl?”
He’d inherited the fluffy dufus dog when his dear old dad was sent to prison again—this time hopefully for good.
As far as he was concerned, Bailey was the best thing he’d ever gotten from his father.
Even if the mutt was too mouthy for her own good, always interrupting with a bark or a whine to get what she wanted.
Bailey ran in a tight circle then made a beeline for the door.
Needing a break anyway, he stood and followed her into the attached living room. A pair of French doors in the kitchen led outside.
Bailey jumped up and down in front of the door, her vertical leap enough to impress an NBA player.
“Okay, outside it is.” He slipped into his slides and led the way outside. He leaned against the railing of his deck and took in the view he’d never tire of.
Bailey raced down the steps to the fenced-in back yard. She sniffed the perimeter of the yard, squatting to do her business before a squirrel caught her attention and she took off after the brown, furry creature.
Growing up, he couldn’t imagine finding a way to escape the trailer park just outside of town where he’d been raised.
The dingy, faded walls had caged him in, threatening to crush him.
He’d never wanted the life he’d been born into.
The empty beer cans stacked on the counter and the constant yelling.
Things had been tolerable until his mother died.
Then the real nightmare began.
He hadn’t understood how much his mother had protected him. How she’d shielded him from the cruelty of his father and older brother. Without her, he’d struggled to stay under the radar and off the tragic path that led to trouble and jail.
A choice his family didn’t understand and often found insulting.
But he’d escaped that world and carved out a small place with the mountains as his neighbors and silence his company.
Well, that was until he got Bailey.
The blast of the doorbell forced his attention back inside. Knowing Bailey couldn’t be torn from her hunt, he left her in the yard and headed inside where he found Tommy on his front porch.
“Hey, man. What’s up?” He got along with his co-worker, but the two didn’t exactly socialize outside of work.
Tommy shoved a hand through his already messy hair.
Dark circles hung under his bloodshot eyes.
“Sorry to barge in on you like this. I just…I don’t know, dude.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around what happened to Katherine.
I didn’t get a chance to talk to you about it, and I know it’s not cool showing up at your house. I guess I just hoped we could talk.”
“Uh, sure. Come on in.” He stood back to let Tommy in then shut the door behind them. Frantic barking clued him in that Bailey had spied their visitor. “You okay with dogs?”
“Yeah, sure.” Tommy sank onto the recliner in the corner of the living room.
Cody crossed over to the kitchen and let in Bailey, who sprinted across the room to Tommy.
Unaware that her giant size wasn’t meant for lap-sitting, she hopped onto the chair, her tail wagging like crazy.
Laughing, Tommy shooed the dog to the ground and ran his hand over her fluffy head. “Have yourself a real killer, huh?”
“You have no idea. Bailey, get down.” He waited for the dog to settle on the floor, gaze intent on Tommy and tail thumping against the hard wood, before lowering onto the couch. “So what’s up?”
“I need to clear my head,” Tommy said. “And to be honest, I’m not sure how to do that.
Serving as a deputy, I’ve seen my fair share of scary shit.
Hell, even ran into some trouble that could have cost me Sadie.
But Sadie’s a trained officer and knows how to handle herself.
Katherine…that’s different. She doesn’t deserve any more crap tossed at her feet. ”
Although he agreed with Tommy, he wasn’t sure what that had to do with him. “I get that. She’s had a tough year. With any luck, this was a one-time thing.”
Concern wrinkled Tommy’s brow. “Do you really believe that?”
Sighing, Cody scratched the side of his jaw.
He was a straight-shooter, not great at cushioning his words, but he had a feeling Tommy needed more than the hard truth right now.
“I want to, but it’s difficult to tell right now.
There’s no real reason to assume Katherine’s attacker will come after her again.
His anger seemed more targeted toward me and my job than Katherine specifically.
Even though we need to get him off the street to make sure he doesn’t do something like this—or worse—again, I don’ t know why he'd choose to keep going after Katherine.”
Tommy bobbed his head up and down as if in agreement. “Yeah. That makes sense. When I left the station, Dad and Owen were looking at recent crimes that could stick out. Something where the wrong person was arrested or notes were made about hostile family members.”
Cody couldn’t help but laugh.
“Why’s that funny?” Tommy asked, frowning.
“Great minds think alike. I was doing the same thing here before you arrived. Looking up old news articles to see if anything sent up a red flag.”
“Find anything?”
“A couple stories I found interesting. I saved them and planned to talk to your brother about them when I went in.” He glanced at his watch.
“My shift’s not for another three hours, but I might as well head in early.
If we’re researching the same shit, it’d be better to bounce things off each other. ”
Tommy stood, his hand automatically reaching for the top of Bailey’s head.
“I should tell you not to bother, but I know we’d all appreciate the extra support.
Not to mention Owen and I will need to take a break at some point.
Sadie’s with Amelia, but I can’t expect her to stay home while I work twenty-four hours a day.
It’s just hard not to keep going—keep searching for this asshole. ”
“Understandable,” Cody said. “But there’s an entire sheriff’s department behind you—behind Katherine.”
Tommy sniffed back emotion and nodded. “Thanks, man. For everything. I’ll see you back at the office.”
Cody walked Tommy to the door and watched him lope down the porch steps and to his cruiser. He hoped he hadn’t lied to the man. As much as he wanted to believe Katherine was out of the fire, he couldn’t help the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him the pot had just begun to boil.