Chapter 4
Chapter Four
H ad it only been one day? Connor scrubbed his face with both hands, feeling the weight of missing Lacy’s presence for his evening routine. To be real, his whole day had been upended from his first drink of coffee to heading up the stairs for the evening. The house wasn’t right without her.
He looked at his phone. She hadn’t called since that morning, letting him know she’d arrived in New Mexico. Would she miss their evening chats or was she so consumed by what she was doing that she wouldn’t miss him at all?
She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. That wasn’t the question. But he wished she’d asked him to come with her. Having more than one set of eyes on a problem was often the way to fix it.
He punched in a quick text, wishing her a good night and hoping she had a good day. He wasn’t usually so aware of every word he said to her. They’d lived in the same house, though in separate rooms, for so long he felt like he knew her inside and out. Yet this had thrown him for a loop. She’d needed time away from him. Did his text sound too clingy? Would she roll her eyes at him?
He closed his phone before sending the text and set it aside. His couch was empty, except for the blanket Lacy used to cover her feet while they talked at night. She wasn’t one to watch television, since the only thing that interested her were crime documentaries and she got enough of that in real life to satisfy her.
Everywhere he looked in his suite reminded him of her, except, oddly, his bed. That had been empty for ten years. Empty since he’d returned from the military, so changed he couldn’t accept love from a woman too good for him. Even before they were divorced, he’d had her move to her own room.
She hadn’t cried in front of him, but he’d heard it through the wall. Muffled sobs confirmed the fact that he’d hurt her even when he’d tried to save her. What kind of man did that? What kind of monster hurt the woman he loved?
A text came through on his phone and he pounced on it like teenager, then stopped himself. This was not okay. He couldn’t make Lacy an addiction. That wasn’t any better than pushing her away.
Hey, Connor. It’s been a really long day. Things are crazy here. I’ll be here longer than I thought.
He stared at the phone and his jaw hardened so tight his teeth throbbed. What wasn’t she saying? Something was going on behind the scenes because that text practically screamed something had happened that she didn’t want to tell him about.
He deleted the text from before and typed out a new one.
Are you okay?
He waited, holding the phone, needing to see an answer. After a minute, he swiped out of the text ap and pressed the phone icon just as a text came through. He raked his hands through his hair. When she was here, life was easy. He didn’t have to think about her safety or where she was, who she was with, if something was happening.
I don’t want you to worry about me. I’m handling it.
“Ach!” He pressed her number to call her. She had to know that her vague texts were making this worse.
The phone rang four times before going to voicemail. He listened to her message as he paced the floor.
“Lacy Kincade, I need you to call me back. I don’t know if you intended to make me worry or if you’re so tired that you didn’t think about how those texts would come across. Sometimes texts are the worst.” He sighed, looking for the right words. How did he tell her that he needed to know everything was alright so he didn’t stay up all night worrying about her?
“Look, just call me so I can hear in your voice that everything is fine. I’ve always been able to tell what’s going on with you just by hearing you. Okay? That’s all I’m asking for. I know you need time, space, whatever, I’m trying to give that to you, but . . .” The phone beeped. He’d run out of message space.
Had he sounded possessive? Frantic? Well, if he did, she’d get the hint that he cared. What was so wrong with caring? He collapsed onto the sofa and let his head fall back against the cushion. The trouble with that was she’d clearly said no, and he would always take no for an answer.
“Lord, I blew it. I know I did. When I asked her for a divorce, I thought I was saving her. Protecting her. I’ve never wanted to hurt her. I’ve only wanted the very best for that woman. She is my heart. I don’t have one outside of her.”
He closed his eyes, hoping the phone would ring. What was wrong? Why wasn’t she calling him back?
A text came through on his phone and he lifted it.
Connor, big trouble. Meet me in your office.
A note from Brendon was the last thing he wanted to see tonight. He shoved his phone in his pocket and headed downstairs. Brendon waited for him at the foot of the stairs.
“I just got a call. There was an attempted jail break tonight. Viceroy didn’t escape, but his people are clearly on the move.”
“Now?” Why now? Why not when he wasn’t already worried about Lacy. At least she was all the way down south in New Mexico, far away from the jail that was housing Viceroy before his trial.
“They don’t have much time left. He’s scheduled for his first court appearance January fifteenth. Three weeks.”
Connor tugged his phone from his pocket and scrolled until he found Nadine’s number. She wouldn’t be asleep yet, but she was in charge of security and would want to know this development.
“Hey,” he said as soon as she answered. “We need to raise our alert status. Someone tried to break Viceroy out of jail.”
Nadine was silent for a moment, but he heard her typing.
“Are you still at work?” He glanced at his watch.
“No, sir. I’m at home, but I bring my laptop for occasions like this.” The phone was muffled for a moment, and he heard her talking to Edwyn, “It’s fine.”
She clicked some more then took a deep breath. “I just did a rapid scan of the cameras and there is nothing moving. We’re lucky it’s winter and the snow makes checking easy.”
“I trust you. Thanks for looking.” He hung up the phone.
“You’re not going to sleep tonight, are you?” Brendon frowned at him.
“Probably not, but not for the reasons you think.” Why was everyone else getting ahold of him and not Lacy?
“This isn’t enough to keep you up?” He rolled his wheelchair closer. “What’s going on?”
The last thing he needed was Brendon thinking he was having some kind of episode. Of all the guys, he’d kept his issues to himself as much as possible. Brendon was there for the others. Connor had to keep up the appearance of being the strongest. He couldn’t do that if his men didn’t believe he was capable in every way.
“Nothing.”
“If you can’t sleep, take that allergy stuff. It will help you.”
“I don’t want to be helped, but thanks.” In fact, he wanted to stay up in case Lacy called. What if she needed him? Then again, what could he do from hours and hours away?
Brendon held up his hands. “Okay, but I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me. I’ve been able to figure out a few things just by living here for a decade, but my boss should be the first one who makes sure he doesn’t need my services before anyone else.”
Connor snorted. “That’s how I know you’re trying to get one over on me. You know as well as I do that we’re equals here.” He’d done that on purpose. While he was the owner and signed all the checks, Brendon managed at the same level as Connor.
“Speaking of that.” Brendon glanced down the hall and then around the banister to the living room. “Now that Ferd is here and she owns as much as you do, my position should probably be evaluated. I doubt she knows about my interest, and I don’t want to come between family. This doesn’t have to get discussed tonight, but soon.”
Leave it to Brendon to be more on top of issues that could cause stress than he was. “Sure. We’ll talk at some point in the near future. Thanks for letting me know about the threat.” He headed up a few steps toward his room. “Night.”
Brendon waved even as his brows dipped together in thought. “Night.”
Yellow police tape boxed Lacy in the house. She watched Melinda clutch her middle as an officer talked to her. She knew, without a doubt, the detective would see her as guilty when what Melinda was doing was masking her grief. She hadn’t been allowed to feel anything for so long that masking was a defense mechanism.
Finally, the officer finished but asked her not to leave yet. Melinda came over and though Lacy wasn’t typically a hugger, she took Melinda in her arms to let her know she wasn’t leaving. After the fear of running from Tod, then finding her aunt, Melinda looked exhausted.
“They think I did it. Relatives are always at the top of the list. Discovering us here in the house makes us look guilty. He said we were breaking and entering.” Melinda looked at her feet and swiped her hair behind her ear, her voice was calm, but her quivering fingers gave her away. She was barely hanging on to her emotions.
“I told them your husband was right outside. The one who had threatened me earlier by jumping on my car. The one who hit you and we documented it. I told him we were afraid, and your aunt would want us to come inside.”
“I can’t believe she’s gone.” Melinda pressed her lips together and her jaw trembled.
“It’s okay to cry about this.” Lacy touched her arm.
Melinda shied away from the contact. “I don’t cry. It doesn’t do any good anyway.” She looked away. “They aren’t letting me leave and I just want to get out of here. All I can see is her lying on the floor in that awful position. I just want to leave.” Her voice rose higher and higher until it broke.
Lacy brought her over to the living room and sat her down on a sofa bedecked in a huge flower pattern. Though it had to be thirty years old, the fabric looked like it was rarely sat on.
“Wait here.” Lacy held up her pointer finger letting her know she wouldn’t take an argument. Lacy was taking over.
She headed for the kitchen and asked the evidence technician if she could get a glass of water. She’d expected dust to cover everything, but that was probably just for TV drama, and old ones at that. They hadn’t used any in the kitchen and she hoped that meant they were focusing on the bathroom.
“No, but I’ve got a coke out in the van. I’ll grab one for you.” He stopped at the door, took off his booties, and headed outside.
A moment later, he returned, put new booties on, and handed her a Diet Pepsi. She chuckled, since she’d been expecting an actual Coke, but this was a part of the country where ‘coke’ just meant carbonated. Since she never traveled, she hadn’t thought about it.
She took the can to Melinda, opened it for her, and handed it over. “I’ll talk with one of the officers and see if we can leave if I tell him where we’ll be. We could even have an officer follow us if that would make them trust us more.”
Melinda shrugged a shoulder as she took a drink from the can. “Whatever. I’ll be surprised if they don’t arrest me. It’s not the first time they’ve threatened to. Honestly, I’m just waiting for the day they follow through. At least then I won’t have to go home for a few days.”
Lacy hated the fact that her friend had the same lost, hopeless sound to her voice that some of the woman who came to Wayside had. It was all abuse in one form or another. She went over to the officer who had asked her questions and waited until he was finished talking. He turned and waited for her to ask what she wanted.
“I was wondering when it would be okay for me to take Melinda out of this situation? I can get a hotel room nearby, but being here is starting to really affect her.”
He glanced around her to where Melinda sat then met her eyes again. “I get the feeling there is a lot more to this story than we’re getting.”
“You’d be right. She’s a victim of abuse. Abuse that has been turned on its head to look like she was the perpetrator instead of the victim. Look how she is acting and instead of using the preconceived vision of someone who is guilty, see her as the victim and tell me her actions don’t line up.” Lacy crossed her arms in mild challenge. She didn’t want to make the man angry, but someone had to see the truth.
“Where will you be?” He wiped all emotion from his face.
If she went all the way back to her other hotel room, they would be in the next town over. That would put them closer to Melinda’s ex, but farther from Aunt Joy’s house. She gave him the name of her hotel. “Is that all right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll let everyone know they can find you there if we need anything. If you go to a different hotel, please let us know since Melinda has no phone or other way to reach her.”
Lacy nodded. “I also gave your investigator my number. I’ll be with her for a while.” When that would be over, she wasn’t sure. Unfortunately for both of them, it didn’t look like she’d be able to leave soon.
When both women were outside, Lacy took a deep breath. Odd that simple yellow tape could feel like a prison. “We’ll go back to my hotel. You can rest there.”
Melinda took a deep breath and slowly bowed her head. “I’m sorry for getting you wrapped up in all this. I can’t believe you’ve only been here one day, and you’ve been attacked and seen a murdered woman. This has to end. I just don’t think it will end well for me.”
Lacy stopped her before she could reach for the car door. “Hey. Don’t say that. I’m here.” She looked at her phone. They’d been inside that house for hours and at some point, Connor had called her. She hadn’t even heard it ring.
“First, before we go to the hotel, we need food. What’s open 24 hours?” Her stomach rumbled at the idea of eating. Had she even eaten that day? Everything was a blur and the hour was late.
“Denny’s is always open.” She shrugged. “I’m not really hungry.”
She couldn’t blame her friend. The only issue with Denny’s was they couldn’t do drive through. Instead of hunting up the nearest place on her phone, she headed toward the hotel, hoping to see a drive through that was still open. The sooner she could get Melinda somewhere safe and comfortable, the better.
A taco place loomed in the distance, lights clearly still on. She dashed through the drive through then headed for the hotel. As soon as they were safely inside with doors locked and a door alarm mounted under it, she finally took a deep breath.
It was almost 1A.M., but she wanted to call Connor and make sure nothing had happened to make him call her. After his dad, Teddy, was shot, there was no telling what could’ve made him reach out.
She sat at the table and unwrapped a taco, then waited for him to pick up.
“Hello.” His tired voice came over the phone like a balm to her weary soul.
“Hey. Sorry I missed your call.”
“Did you listen to my message?” he asked.
“No, I just wanted to call you back as soon as I could.”
“You don’t have to listen to it. I was worried about you. It sounds like there’s more going on than you wanted to talk about.”
She glanced up at Melinda, who sat across the table from her, poking at a taco of her own. She had yet to take a bite.
“Yup, that would be the case.” She focused back on her food so Melinda wouldn’t think she was talking about her.
“Can you go somewhere so we can talk? I can tell you’re holding back.”
She took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to tell Connor everything that had happened, he was hours away and there was nothing he could do besides worry and pray. “Just pray for me and Melinda. There’s kind of a mess here.”
“You’re not helping ease my mind, babe.”
She chuckled because he’d just told her without telling her that he still cared. He’d used endearments for her all the time before he’d left. They’d been her version of a dream married couple. Especially since her own childhood with divorced parents was a mess. “I’m good. The moment I’m not good, you’ll be the first to know. Sleep well.”
“I might be able to now. Just so you know, someone attempted to break Viceroy out of jail before his trial. They’ve increased his security, and we’ve increased ours. I know you planned to testify, so part of me is really glad no one knows where you are. Keep it that way.”
She bit her lip. Her only way of paying for the hotel was with her credit card which was traceable. She was probably safe this far south, but Connor wouldn’t have warned her if it wasn’t justified. “I’ll keep my eyes open. Thanks for letting me know.”
She stalled for a moment, wanting to say that she loved him. She would be home soon. She wanted him back. But it was too soon for that. “Miss you.” That was as close as she could come to the truth.
“Miss you, too.”