Chapter 13 – Liam
Gravel crunched in the distance as I stood in front of the old Shirley house.
Glenda and Robert Shirley had lived here their entire lives before moving into a nursing home in their old age.
They bought the house back in the sixties as newlyweds and raised their three kids here.
After the kids had grown up and moved out, they spent countless hours here with their grandkids too.
I checked on the place from time to time, because occasionally rowdy teenagers liked to jump the iron gate at the end of the driveway and come out to the abandoned house to cause havoc.
It had been for sale for years, but nobody around here wanted to buy it and put in the time it would take to restore the old house back to its glory days.
The crunch of gravel got louder as I looked the place over.
Someone was coming up the driveway. As I rounded the corner of the house, Colt’s truck came into view through the tree line.
He parked in front of the house and hopped out.
Hopefully, he wasn’t here to kill me and leave me for dead in the middle of nowhere.
He nodded when he saw me crossing the front yard.
“There you are,” he said.
“How did you know to find me out here?”
“Carmen said you’d be here,” he admitted.
Carmen was a dispatcher. She’d been working dispatch long before I ever became sheriff in Silver Creek.
“Did you come to kill me and leave me for dead?” I asked, only half-joking.
“No,” he said. “I came to see if Jace had.” He smirked. “After you left dinner last night, Cassie admitted to threatening your life too. Not sure which one you should be more scared of, honestly.”
“Cassie was an assassin in her past life.”
“I completely agree with you on that.” Colt laughed. “What are you doing out here anyway?” he asked, looking around at the overgrown yard and weathered house.
“Actually, I own the place now.”
“You what?”
“Well, I will officially once Katy gets the paperwork finalized, but yeah. I called her this morning to see if she was still selling the old place. She said the Shirley kids were willing to give me a good deal, since they’ve been trying to sell it for so long.
They just want it off their hands, I guess.
I had enough money from my time in the military to buy it for bottom dollar.
Drained my savings, but it’ll be worth it. ”
“What do you plan on doing with an old house and ten acres?”
“Give it to your sister.”
He laughed, a deep, belly laugh.
“I don’t know if you know this or not, but Molly is terrible at home projects. Have you seen that chicken coop she built? If I were a chicken, no way would I live in that death trap. There’s no way she can fix up this house like it needs to be,” he said, staring at me like I’d lost my mind.
“My plan is to remodel it first and then give it to her,” I clarified.
“Okay… but why?”
“I never want her to worry about where she and our son are coming home to at night. She can have ten gardens, a hundred chickens, and whatever other crazy things she wants out here. I just want her to always have a place to land—somewhere that always feels like home. Somewhere our son will always remember and love.”
“Shit, man,” Colt said, laughing while pretending to wipe an imaginary tear from under his eye. “You’re gonna make me cry, and I’m not even the one you knocked up.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t come out here to kick my ass.”
“I’ve known you long enough to know you’ll figure out a way to make things right. This seems like a pretty good start to me. Are you going to tell her right away or keep it a surprise?”
“I think I’ll keep it a surprise. That way she can’t talk me out of it.”
“Have you been inside yet?” he asked, taking in the overgrown yard and wilted siding.
“Not yet. Don’t get a key until I sign the papers, but I thought I’d come out and take a look around anyway.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Basically, gut it and start from scratch. New everything, top to bottom. Add a few things here and there to make Molly’s life easier.”
“When I remodeled the guesthouse on the ranch, I just redid the flooring and put a fresh coat of paint on everything. This seems like a much bigger project than what I did to keep my mind off Ellie leaving,” Colt said.
“Hopefully this helps with that too. The more I think about what I did to Molly, the more I feel like the biggest piece of shit on the planet. I saw your parents’ faces last night at dinner. They were disappointed in me, I could tell. It felt like a sucker punch to the gut.”
“They just want Molly to be happy, no matter what her circumstances are, and it was clear last night that she’s not right now. If you can fix things with her, they’ll forgive you too.”
“Jace said the same thing, that he can’t forgive me until Molly does.”
“Just remember, you’re not your dad—you’re you. Don’t become him, become Liam.”
Before I could respond, static crackled from the radio clipped to my belt.
“Dispatch to Unit One.”
I held the radio next to my face and pressed the button. “Go ahead, Carmen.”
“I’ve got a call about a break-in in progress at 311 Main Street in Silver Creek. Caller says a man is trying to force entry into the business. Caller says the man may be armed.”
Colt and I exchanged a quick, sharp look as we recognized the address.
Molly’s.
We sprinted to our vehicles, gravel spraying behind us as we tore down the winding driveway.
“10-4, Carmen. Let the caller know I’m on my way. ETA five minutes.”
Silver Creek hadn’t seen a break-in in years. Who the hell would be trying to break into Molly’s? Maybe she’d been mistaken. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding.
Colt followed close on my tail as I roared down the highway, sirens wailing, red and blue lights flashing.
“I’m coming, Molly. Just hold on,” I whispered.
My hands clutched the steering wheel with a death grip. I’d never had a call hit me with fear like this one did.
Colt and I barreled into downtown Silver Creek, our trucks screeching to a halt in front of Molly’s. I was out with my gun drawn, in seconds. The front window was busted, and there was blood on some of the shards of glass.
I tried to open the door, but it was still locked. I backed up, flinging my full weight forward as I kicked. It burst open on the first attempt, hanging only on one hinge.
Gun raised, I scanned the front of the bakery. All the lights were off, and there was no one in sight. I pressed on, checking behind the counter, but no one was there either.
I entered the large kitchen. Light reflected off the clean stainless-steel appliances Molly used to cook her desserts. There was no sign of a struggle in here either. No blood, nothing broken or out of place.
As I walked in farther, a pair of white tennis shoes under one of the tables caught my attention. Molly was huddled in the corner, clutching a large silver butcher knife. Her whole body was shaking. I put my gun down and made my way to her.
“Molly?”
She didn’t respond, just kept shaking. It was as if she were looking through me, not at me. She was terrified and in shock. I recognized the way her chest was rising and falling rapidly from the night I came to her house, walking up on her having a panic attack.
I got down on both knees, inching closer.
“Molly, it’s me, Liam. You’re safe now. No one is going to hurt you.”
No response. She clutched the knife, her body still shaking.
I slowly extended my arm, placing my hand on her knee.
“Molly?”
Nothing.
“Molls,” I said, getting in her line of view this time. As soon as I called out her nickname, she snapped out of her daze and let go of the knife. It fell with a loud clank against the tile floor.
She crawled out from under the table in a frenzy, throwing herself at me and wrapping her arms tightly around me.
“It’s okay, Molls. Everything is okay,” I said, rubbing her back to reassure her. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”
“I’m fine—we’re fine,” she said, clutching her chest as she tried to catch her breath.
“In through your nose, out through your mouth,” I said, coaching her. She did as I said, doing it a few more times as she sat down on the floor.
“That’s it, Molls. You’ve got it.”
Colt walked into the kitchen, followed by Jace, Cassie, and Maggie, the owner of the diner just down the road.
Cassie knelt down next to Molly and me.
“Molly, honey, what happened?” she asked, keeping her voice calm.
I could tell Molly was trying not to cry.
“I was just back here organizing inventory when I noticed this strange guy lingering by the front door. At first, I thought maybe he was lost or something. He didn’t really look like he was from around here.
But after a few minutes, he tried turning the knob.
When he realized it was locked, he tried even harder to open it.
Then he found a rock and threw it through the window, but he backed up when the glass cut his hand pretty bad. That’s when I called 911.”
I frowned. “Why do you think he wasn’t from around here?”
“He was in a suit. Nothing super fancy, but just enough to be out of place in Silver Creek.”
“Dispatch said you thought he was armed?” Colt added, stepping closer.
“When he reached back to throw the rock, I was almost sure I saw a gun on his hip. But I couldn’t be positive.”
“What kind of idiot breaks into a business in broad daylight?” Maggie asked.
“I’m not sure. This kind of thing hasn’t happened in Silver Creek in years,” I said.
“I’m going to get some blood samples from the busted glass.
If he has a history of breaking and entering, maybe he’ll be in the system.
But it could be weeks before forensics comes back on that.
We have to send that kind of stuff off to Great Falls. ”
Molly looked around at everyone standing in the room. “How did you guys get here so fast, anyway?”
“Colt called and let us know what was happening. And Cassie called Maggie while we were driving, because she thought she might be at the diner this morning—and she was,” Jace explained.
“I missed their call, but as soon as I saw Cassie’s text, I ran over here. Colt and Liam beat me here though,” Maggie said, motioning toward both of us.
“How did you hear what dispatch said?” Molly asked Colt.
“I was with Liam.”
She looked confused. “Why?”
“I just happened to run into him,” Colt said quickly, not revealing the surprise I had planned for Molly or the real reason we’d been together.
“Oh.”
“Molls,” I said gently, “I’m in no position to tell you what to do, but I don’t think you should open back up until we can get the door and the glass fixed.
And maybe get better locks than those old, rickety ones.
I kicked that front door in on the first try.
You need something stronger. I want you and the baby to be safe at all times. ”
She nodded slowly. “As much as it pains me to admit it, I think you’re right. Maybe it was just a fluke, but I don’t want to take any chances. I’ll close for the rest of the week until I can figure something out.”
“Do you think you should go to the doctor? Maybe check on the baby?” I asked, trying not to sound too pushy.
“I’m fine, Liam. Just shook up, that’s all, I promise,” she said, holding onto my arm, trying to reassure me the same way I tried to reassure her that nothing bad would happen again.
But how could I make sure without being by her side every second of every day?