Chapter Eight
Kaylee
She checked on Rick and Paulette, who were still in the chief’s office, leaning over a phone while Chief Walter Desante sat behind his desk, listening to whoever was speaking on the other end of the line.
There was a lot of nodding and frowning, and every once in a while, they would look out the glass barrier and stare right at her.
Shit. Was Rick making his case?
There was no way she could take the chance. When they glanced away again, Kaylee stood and casually headed for the door, stopping by the front desk on her way out.
“If anyone comes looking for me, can you tell them I stepped out to get some air?”
Xavier Hernandez, the town dispatcher, absently rubbed his freshly shaved head, barely looking up from his e-reader. “Sure, Kaylee.”
“Thanks.” She walked through the small lobby, acknowledging a hello from Jed Galanis, who co-owned Butcher and Baker Meats and Treat Shop.
He and his wife combined their family businesses after they got married, and the menu worked out well, especially some of their crazier concoctions, like the honey bun ham sammie.
Her chest tightened, realizing she’d never walk into their shop again. Never taste the sweet-and-salty goodness. When she got to a safe place, maybe she’d look up some recipes and try to duplicate her favorite items on the menu.
As Kaylee turned left and headed back to where her car was parked, she realized that she’d almost forgotten Pumpkin in her panic. Maybe she could ask Josie to take in the guinea pig …
No. She picked up the pace. They’d taken everything from Kaylee. Her life. Her best friend. They were not going to take her pet.
Maybe they wouldn’t check the house, assuming she’d be crazy to go home. She’d grab Pumpkin and vamoose before they realized she’d done the unexpected.
“Kaylee dear!” A voice called out, and she groaned, spotting Jolene Newbury shuffling down the sidewalk on her cane.
She was actually quite spry for a woman in her late seventies, but she once told Kaylee the cane gave her an edge and people were less likely to ignore her.
Silver hair perfectly curled all over her head, Jolene met her halfway down the sidewalk, and although she couldn’t afford to stop, it wasn’t in her to ignore the older woman.
When she had first arrived in Holiday, Jolene treated her as if she belonged there.
Even though Kaylee was a virtual stranger, Jolene cared when no one else did.
“Are you all right, dear? You look a bit frazzled.”
“I realized I didn’t feed my guinea pig this morning and was just hurrying home to do that.”
“Oh, well, I won’t keep you, but I did want to say, there was a man asking about you. Wilma said he stopped by the inn, but I don’t think she gave him much. But she did tell him where you worked.”
Thanks a lot, Wilma Perkins.
Kaylee realized Jolene was studying her with a shrewd expression, and she fixed her face, hoping the older woman wouldn’t ask too many questions. “Oh, yeah, he found me. He’s an acquaintance from college. Not sure why he was looking for me, but we had a chance to catch up a bit.”
“That’s nice. I never went to college, but my high school reunion was fun. It’s interesting to see your old flames and think ‘I really dodged a bullet.’” She cackled at this and patted Kaylee’s arm. “It’s too bad there wasn’t more to the story. He is a handsome fellow.”
Kaylee’s face burned because she’d thought so, too, even sitting on the edge of a motel bed years ago, traumatized and petrified. “Well, I’d better get going. Starving guinea pig.”
“Have a good day, dear,” she called after her, and Kaylee knew she was being rude, that she should call back at least for her to do the same, but she’d already wasted too much time.
As Kaylee rushed down the side street toward her house, she again remembered sitting on the edge of the bed in that dank motel room, the older agent who’d brought her there standing outside the open door, smoking.
The scent wafted back to her, turning her already churning stomach.
She stared at the dark carpet, wondering how many nasty things would show up under a black light, when a pair of black dress shoes came into her view.
She dragged her gaze all the way up his body, finally settling on his face.
He’d appeared concerned and sincere, and she’d wanted so desperately to trust him.
But the text message on the burner phone she’d been given by the cops sent her into a tailspin, and her flight mode kicked in with a vengeance.
Where are you, pretty Kaylee? I miss you.
How had the Pit Vipers gotten the number? It really didn’t matter because if they could get that, they could find out where she was.
She’d had the laxative powder in her bag because Kaylee would back up since she was a kid and always kept a canister on hand.
When she’d poured some of it into Rick’s soda while he was in the bathroom, she hadn’t expected him to get so sick.
She also hadn’t wasted any time sticking around to check on him and took off in his unmarked sedan and dumped it in a lake two states away.
From there, Kaylee bounced around, stopping in one-horse towns and doing her best to fly under the radar until she’d passed through Lava Hot Springs and found Holiday.
She’d slowed down, staring in awe, and then she’d started reading the street signs.
Independence Day Lane. Hanukkah Street. Valentine Circle.
Every street referenced a different holiday, and she found herself stopping at the inn for the night.
Ever since, Kaylee fell harder and deeper not just for the town and its traditions, but also for the people who, for the most part, were compassionate and caring.
Her throat seized as she acknowledged staying in Holiday would put them in danger, because if Rick had found her, how long before Ansel and his bikers tore into town? She couldn’t live with herself if they destroyed this place and the people in it.
Kaylee’s rental house was only a few blocks behind the police station, and the minute she closed her front door behind her, the familiar sound of Pumpkin’s yipping echoed in the quiet house.
“Hang on, Pumpkinippers,” she called, rushing past where his enclosure was set up in the living room and into her bedroom. She grabbed her prepacked duffel and Pumpkin’s carrier from the closet, adrenaline pumping through her veins like a drumbeat.
Her e-reader, laptop, and chargers all went in as well, until she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to zip it.
She headed back to the living room and lifted the cage lid, reaching in for the fluffy animal.
Patches of black and orange fur that stood on end like a cowlick covered his tiny, compact body, and she held him up to her face, giving his head a kiss.
“I know you hate the carrier, but I promise to get you some timothy hay at our first stop.”
The word hay had him letting out a few high-pitched yips before she placed him in the pink plaid carrier. She zipped it up, glancing around at the bare minimum home she’d created, the first place she’d felt safe since the night Elasia was killed.
Silently saying goodbye, she opened the front door and stepped out, only to hear Paulette’s loud, aggressive voice shout, “Don’t move, Kaylee. The two of us have a few things to sort out.”