Chapter 20 - Separated
Chapter 20
Separated
Andi strolled slowly behind the big building toward the bookshop’s back door. Three steps away from the door she heard the lock click open. She knew Danny had called Noah.
She watched the river for a minute while reviewing the plan.
Digger was with the chubby dispatcher, driving toward the four-store shopping mall. Andi guessed the sheriff wanted the seniors away from danger. They were in Danny’s pickup. If Digger detected anyone following them, or rather following Danny’s old pickup, he’d let the dispatcher off near the food court and head toward Someday Valley thirty miles away. Then he’d drive the rough roads until he lost his tail. Next, he’d head back to the cabin Andi had been staying in. In ten minutes, there would not be a sign that Andi was ever there.
If Digger was lucky, he would keep one outlaw busy for a while. Before the gang could call in backup, Andi would probably be a hundred miles away.
The way Andi saw it, there was one hole in the plan. Digger and the dispatcher looked nothing like Andi and Dan, but in raincoats with umbrellas no one could clearly see them. Everyone hoped the outsiders that tailed the pickup stayed busy for a while.
Her deputy said he would make sure the sheriff was sitting outside in front of the bookshop before he climbed into Pecos’s car to pick up Bear. If the man wasn’t in his repair shop or the café on the square, no one had any knowledge where he’d be. Everyone knew he never answered his phone except during business hours and sometimes not even then.
Andi had heard Danny tell Pecos, “I’ve got a hint of exactly where Bear Buchanan is. I’ll be back in fifteen. Make sure no one goes in that bookshop except Noah until I get back. I told him to text both of us if anyone even tries to look in the window.” Danny lowered his tone, “With Noah inside and you on the bench outside, Andi will be safe while I go get Bear.”
The sheriff had nodded. “I’ll have a deputy parked behind the building and one parked out front of the station until all the others are there.”
When the sheriff’s phone rang, Dan vanished without answering any questions. Andi didn’t understand why Pecos picked the bookshop to meet, but she knew Dan needed to find Bear.
Another question bothered Andi: How could she disappear from Honey Creek and find a secret way out of the valley without anyone noticing anything or getting hurt?
As she slipped into the back of the bookshop, shadows seemed to huddle around her. The rainy day turned a calm space into something like the opening of a horror film.
Silently she watched Noah almost dancing as he hurried up a few stairs and offered his hand to someone coming down. The woman behind him was laughing as she appeared from above. Just as they stepped into the foggy light, each turned, one left to the street and the other to the door to the right, the bookstore.
The couple stopped, kissed, then went their separate ways. Both were smiling.
Andi stood in the stacks as she watched the bookshop owner make coffee, then dust. Finally, he checked the lock on the front door.
Noah showed no surprise when he turned and saw Andi near the back of the store.
“Morning,” he said. “Want a cup of coffee? It’s fresh.”
Andi studied him. “Who are you?” The quiet owner of a little bookstore who dances down his stairs and kisses a lover goodbye. He hadn’t hesitated to open the back door so he could shelter trouble. He handled love and danger like a young James Bond.
Noah grinned. “I’m a friend, if you need one.”
For the first time in her life, it occurred to her that she might need help. There was no airport to fly out of, no car that worked for a fast getaway, no Pop she could talk to, fewer cops than bad guys, and two brothers she didn’t know, who were in danger.
Andi laughed out loud as she thought, And a huge deputy who is sweet on me.
She should have stayed in Dallas. There are places to hide out in a big city. She should have waited until she testified, then come to meet her half-brothers.
She looked into Noah’s intelligent eyes. “You mean that? It could turn dangerous. I can’t tell you any facts.”
“I’ll do all I can. Danny told me that you are his girl and you are in trouble. That is all I have to know. He told me to hide you.” He made sure the doors were locked, flipped a sign that said BE BACK IN 5 and held out his hand to her.
Andi took it like a lifeline. In less than twenty-four hours she’d been shot at, run for her life, hidden in a barn with animals, and been kissed by a deputy.
Why not let a bookstore owner tell her where to hide?