Chapter Two #2
“My clerk won’t broadcast anything and how dare you just burst into the ladies’ room without even a knock or…”
“Manners are going to be in short supply if you continue to not listen to what I say. This is serious business and now we’re going to have to move it out of here. Let’s go,” he said, holding the door open for her to exit.
“I want my phone back,” she began, as she passed him. “I promise I—”
“There is no more phone for you. I trusted you with it at the courthouse, but you proved me wrong on that trust.” To underscore the words, he walked over and dropped the cell phone into a drawer in the desk, but not before taking out the SIM card and the battery.
The empty shell went inside the drawer and the rest of it was tossed to the man watching in amusement.
“Keep this safe for the judge until I give an all clear.”
“Will do. You be careful of that front moving down from the north. It’s picking up speed.”
“That is an important phone and…”
“And Marshal Evans here will take good care of it,” Rance responded. He opened the door and waited for her exit. “We don’t have any more time to waste.”
Erin was about to make a few more choice remarks to the insufferable man, but she stopped just inside the door as he passed her and kept walking into the cavernous room.
Rance paused and looked back at her. “Now what?”
“We’re going in that?” Her head nodded at the apparition in front of her.
He smiled. “That’s right. You aren’t afraid of flying, are you?”
Thankful that she had slid her sunglasses onto her face as she stepped from the office to follow him, she simply made no response. Let him think what he would of that. But she was not about to share such information with the arrogant man who would only delight in that admission. Bluff.
Erin managed to redirect…a skill that she had experience in performing. She stepped around the tall man and kept her focus aimed ahead of her on the black monster of a machine. She tossed a nonchalant barb over her shoulder.
“Thought we were in a hurry, Marshal.”
It took a major dose of pep-talking to herself to remain calm as she waited for him to open the door of the waiting craft.
She did not pull away when his hand went under her elbow to assist her into the front passenger seat.
Erin would have much preferred to be in the back seat, with her eyes squeezed shut and perhaps a large plastic bag at the ready when they would lift off, but that would give away too much of what little self-respect she had left to the ego-rich lawman beside her.
Her less than graceful landing on the leather of the seat did not help her resolve much. “Thanks for the assistance.”
“Always open a door for a lady is what I was taught,” he replied with a wink and then closed the door with a decided push and stepped away. He quickly took his seat behind the controls.
“You need help with your seat belt?” he asked as he automatically buckled himself in.
She shook her head. As he did his, she had paid attention and managed to get hers buckled. A sudden hand on her left shoulder caught her off guard and she flinched. Erin met his grin.
“A little jumpy there, Judge,” he said, “just adjusting that shoulder harness. Can’t lose you if I make a quick turn.”
“A quick turn? Why would you need to do that?”
There was a quick knitting of his brows at her reaction. “You sure you’re okay with flying?”
Was he kidding with her? She failed to find humor in any of the last couple of hours. “No, I am not okay with flying as I was not okay with being kidnapped from my courtroom and my life. Is this necessary?”
His lack of answer was not comforting. The engine started and minutes later, the blades of the helicopter began to rotate.
Erin was done with talking. Even as she fitted the headset over her head, she was finding a point in the distance to focus her gaze upon.
The craft lifted slowly, and she kept her hands folded in her lap.
The far-off ridgeline of hills was where she kept her gaze.
Refocusing was a good technique her therapist had taught her.
The first few minutes of their flight weren’t that bad, as her companion kept his concentration on the job of flying and was silent. Silence was good. But she should have known it would not last.
“I’m surprised you aren’t asking where we’re headed.”
“You seem to like the secrecy of this being some sort of a clandestine mission from some B-grade movie, so I thought it best to remain silent and let it be a surprise.”
“B-grade movie? No way,” he countered, “it would be something like an action blockbuster. As for clandestine, I don’t think that’s the best description.
But attempting to keep things below the radar is closer to the goal, although that is easier said than done given your non-participatory attitude.
Nothing personal, Your Honor.” He seemed to tack that last bit on with a measure of insincerity.
Erin left her point of focus and traded it to look directly at the man.
“Make no mistake, Marshal. This is very personal for me. Do you know how backlogged the courts are already? And with the judges being away for however long because of some maniac, this will quadruple the time it will take to get the cases into a courtroom.”
He nodded. “I understand that this is something you have no control over and you’re a dedicated jurist. And believe me, I would love to be able to take you back to Austin and your life.
But you also can understand duty. And right now, it is my duty to keep you under wraps and safe until the all clear is given. And cooperation is always appreciated.”
Erin opened her mouth to make a retort, but then she stopped.
She had to admit that he was right. He had a job to do.
Duty was a term she had been weaned on and it had been served to her daily by her father and then her ex.
This lawman was doing his duty and that happened to be her. Cut him some slack…for a little while.
“Where are we going? Am I allowed to know that? You took my phone so I can’t shout the location to the world.”
There was an amused lifting of the corner of his mouth. She caught sight of it. For a moment she wondered if he would have dimples when he gave a full-blown smile. She snapped her brain back to its usual serious state. Whether he had dimples or not was none of her concern.
“We’re headed to a little fishing cabin that not too many people would associate with me…
apart from my closest family members. It’s very secluded and next to a large ranch that has good security, and a person would have to cross it to get to the cabin.
We’re flying straight to the cabin, so all is good. ”
Her mind was formulating what a fishing cabin would look like. It wasn’t something she had much experience with, but something told her not to expect a five-star accommodation. Surely, they wouldn’t be there for long.
“And don’t worry,” he added, “there is indoor plumbing. Just in case you’re wondering.”
How did he read her mind? Was she that much of an open book?
He probably had her pegged as some straight-arrow, by-the-book legal snob whose family’s old-world money had joined the new-world rich of her ex-husband to land her far above the rest of them.
After all, wasn’t that what most people inhabiting the halls of the courthouse said about her…
behind her back? So maybe they were close to the mark.
But what did they know? Let them think about whatever they wanted.
She was very good at her job and that was all that mattered.
That much did belong to her and her alone.
“Just ahead you should be able to see the lake and the taller trees that follow the river into the distance from below it.” His voice brought her attention to the matter before them.
There were hills, and lots of trees. The water shone like colored glass through the thick tree cover where the late afternoon sunlight caught its slow-moving surface.
“I see it. What lake is that?”
“It’s all called Destiny’s River. The springs are located at the head and that water travels down into the lake, which is really a series of pools, that continue to turn into some fairly nice rapids.
Then it settles down to course into the valley and through the town of Destiny’s River several miles beyond that second set of hills to the right that you see.
It’s a beautiful place. A lot of good people. ”
She could hear a quality in his voice when he spoke about the place and its people that stirred a feeling deep inside her.
It was one she had experienced a few times in her life.
It often came when something would remind her of home and family and all those things often taken for granted by those who had them.
But it was a reminder to her of things she had limited knowledge of herself.
And then she would push it aside and pretend not to notice and move on.
After all, she was okay. She had a career and a house, and her life was her own.
And she intended to return to it sooner rather than later.
And there was nothing the lawman beside her could do about it.