Chapter 5
Chapter Five
D ad strode into Connor’s office and took a seat across the desk from him. Connor looked up from his laptop and gave him his full attention, since he hadn’t come to the lodge in over a week.
“Dad, you doing okay?”
“No. I’m not. I heard from Ferd that Lacy is gone.” His brows dove down in the center, clearly angry at being the last to know.
His dad had always been a big guy. Connor had come by his broad shoulders and large build honestly, both through biology and hard work. Now, his father looked stooped. His limp from polio more pronounced.
“It was her choice. I didn’t do anything to make her go. You can’t blame me for this.” He held up his hands in surrender. He’d never figured out why his father had sided with Lacy in the divorce. After the fact, he’d been glad his father had, but at the time it had been infuriating.
“She didn’t say a word to me,” he grumbled.
“It was a quick thing. A friend in New Mexico needed help. Lacy wanted to be the one to do it. That’s all there is to the story.” Even though he knew there was more. Lacy had said as much but couldn’t tell him what was really happening.
“Why didn’t she take you along?” He raised his chin and narrowed his eyes.
“Maybe because she also told me she needed some time away from the ranch.”
“And you?” he questioned.
Connor sighed. He couldn’t lie to his dad. “Yeah. And that part I don’t understand. Since I got shot almost a year ago now, I thought we were getting closer, but every time I mentioned the second chance missions, she would shut me down. She has never wanted to get back together.”
“But you want that?” Dad sounded surprised.
“Yeah. I realized it almost right away, but she told me flat-out to forget it.” He looked for the right words and decided honesty was better than delicacy. “Something changed with her when she was kidnapped. She came back different. Distant. If I’m honest though, it was even before that. She’s never kept anything from me, and she kept Nadine’s plan from me.”
“That is strange. Did you do anything to bring that on? That distrust.”
Connor had thought about that long and hard and had come up blank. “Besides divorcing her? No. And why would something we did ten years ago suddenly matter now?”
“Because every single man here is working on their pasts? Maybe?” Dad chuckled. “I won’t claim to know what women think. Goodness knows I’ve messed up when I try. But if I had to guess, I’d say that she was having second thoughts about the relationship you had, but she’s scared of history repeating itself. You were the one who wanted the separation. Not her.”
Lacy hadn’t seen the divorce coming. Dad hadn’t either. But why tell him that under no circumstances was he to try for his own second chance mission when she was feeling the opposite?
“If that’s true, why keep pushing me away?” Dad wasn’t one he’d ever gone to for relationship advice, but he’d been the one to keep Lacy there, so maybe talking to him was better than mulling it over himself.
“Because whatever caused the divorce is still there. She can’t forgive what you won’t tell her was wrong. That’s asking for trouble.”
Admit what had happened? Admit that how his mother treated him had given him issues? That made him weak. “I can’t do that. And it doesn’t matter, the reason isn’t valid anymore.” Mostly. Lacy had always come back, but this sudden need to be away got to him much worse than he’d thought it would.
“Is it?” Dad questioned.
“Sure. Why?”
“She’s been gone for two nights, I hear, and you didn’t tell me. You just stewed about it. Meaning you’re looking for meaning instead of just living like she will come back soon. That tells me whatever is wrong, is still wrong.”
Blast him and his ability to read Connor like the back of a cereal box. “She said she was coming back so I didn’t think it was that important to call you right up and tell you. Even though she’s your favorite child.”
Dad laughed, breaking the tension in the room. “She’s my favorite daughter-in-law, that’s for sure. Then again, I’ve never met the others.”
There, an opportunity to change the subject. “I spoke to Paul yesterday.”
Dad tilted his head in confusion. “You did? Why?”
“Paul, Kevin, and Hunter haven’t met Ferd. I figured they should, and she should get to meet them. I knew it was more likely the others would come if I could get Paul to agree. He said he’d talk to them. The plan is for them to come Christmas Day.”
“Oh, I suppose I should go shopping.” He stood slowly and leaned on the arm of the chair. “They’ll need gifts.”
“They won’t. This is just a reintroduction. A chance to clear the air and meet Ferd. Let’s keep it light. It will be awkward anyway with Gloria since they knew about Gloria this whole time.”
Dad sucked in a deep breath. “I wouldn’t have expected that. I guess that explains why we didn’t hear from them all this time. I’m sorry, Connor.”
The hurt of his brothers had dulled a long time ago. “They made their choice. So did I.” Or his mother had. She’d chosen to leave him behind and never tell him the truth. He still wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve that.
“It will be good to see them, but I won’t dare hope that this will lead to anything more.”
“I think that’s a good idea. If they want to keep meeting or talking, we can. It’s been so long though.” His cellphone vibrated on his desk.
“That’s Lacy. I’ll let you talk with her. Let me know if there’s anything else I need to do.” He waved as he slowly made his way out of the room and closed his door.
Connor pressed the phone button and immediately put her on speaker so he could hear her better. “Lacy.”
“Hey.” Her voice was quiet, like she was whispering. “I know it’s really early, but this was the only time I could talk to you without disturbing Melinda.”
“You know I’m an early riser. Tell me what’s going on.”
“Melinda’s husband is a real piece of work. He’s trying to convince the cops that she’s abusing him, but I’ll give you one guess who was actually doing it. She thinks his plan was to murder her and make it look like self-defense because he has these documented domestic dispute visits. The police barely believed her when I told her to file a report. That’s not the worst though.”
“There’s more?” Domestic violence was terrifying because often the people who fell victim to it believed they somehow deserved to stay. They clung to the hope that things would improve.
“Yeah. We were going to go to her Aunt Joy’s house to stay with her until Melinda could get on her feet. When we got there, Aunt Joy was dead. Murdered. I saw him drive down the street before we went in.”
Connor held in a groan. This was exactly what he didn’t want her getting into. Especially without him there. “Lacy, do not get in the middle of a domestic. Seriously. If you have to, get her out of there. Come here to wait it out.”
“I can’t. The police have decided she’s a suspect since we had to break into her aunt’s house to get away from her husband Tod. If we leave now, she looks like she’s skipping town. Just pray for me. I think we’ll be okay as long as we stay here at this hotel. Oh, I wanted to tell you. I had to use my credit card on the room. Do you think Viceroy’s men could put a trace on my credit cards? Should I be worried?”
He raked his hands through his hair. He would not sit by and let her possibly put herself in double danger if he could do something about it. “Send me the hotel information. I’ll pay for the room with our business account. It has a higher level of security.”
“Okay, I’ll do that. Thanks, Connor.”
“You’re welcome and, Lacy?”
He heard her slight intake of breath as she grinned. “Yeah?”
“I care about you. If you find yourself in need, call me. I’ll be there as fast as I can.” And he meant it. He’d book a flight or drive as fast as he could, but he’d get there.
“Thank you. I know. You’ve never let me down.”
She hung up the phone and he was left wondering why, if that was true, she needed time away from him?
Lacy stared at her phone, letting a feeling of peace wash over her. Connor missed her but asking him to come and be at her side would ruin what she was trying to accomplish. How would he ever see her as the woman who would always return to him, no matter what, if she asked him to come after her?
She could handle this. Melinda was safely away from her husband in a hotel. No one except the police knew where she was. If Tod filed a missing person’s report, they wouldn’t start looking for at least twenty-four hours because Melinda was an adult, which gave Lacy some time to figure things out.
She braced herself before taking a sip of the coffee she’d gotten from the lobby of the hotel when she’d forced herself to wake by 4 A.M. so she could talk to Connor without Melinda hearing. Melinda already had a heightened sense of guilt and Lacy wanted to avoid making her feel any more than she already did.
A man in dark pants and polo shirt approached where she sat on a sofa in a small alcove at the end of the hallway. A vending machine filled with snacks and another with beverages glowed a few feet away. He glanced at the offerings, then sat on the opposite end of the sofa.
Even though there was nothing outwardly scary about the man other than that he seemed really young to her, Lacy felt her heart beat faster and her palms tingled in apprehension.
“Pretty early, huh?” he said glancing at her then quickly looking away.
“Yeah, didn’t expect anyone else to be out here.” There was nothing odd about him. He was clean, not overly muscled, and other than his shifty eyes gave off no warning signs. Yet her chest was tight. Mentally, she was convinced he could have singled her out because she was alone.
Lacy stood and looked down the hall. Because of the hour, everything seemed dim and there wasn’t anyone else around. If she went into her room to get away from this guy, he’d know which room she was in.
“Have you been to the sauna? It’s really nice here,” he said to her back.
She tensed. Who would ask about a sauna with someone they don’t know? “I haven’t used it. Um, see you around.” She didn’t want to be rude in case her weirdo-meter was off-plumb, but she wanted nothing more than to get away.
“I’m sure you will,” he said as he stood and headed for the vending machine again.
Lacy strode to the lobby, her long legs eating the distance between her and the creepy guy. She found the front desk empty. Why wasn’t anyone around? From the corner of her eye, she saw the man heading toward her. She clenched her fists, ready to react if he did anything to her.
“Do you need something?” he asked her.
He wasn’t wearing the logo shirt that the hotel staff wore, so why did he keep following her? “I just need a toothbrush.” Yes, it was a lie, but she couldn’t exactly tell this guy he was giving her the creeps. Having literally anyone else around was better than being alone.
“Oh, that’s easy.” He went behind the desk and riffled through a few baskets of items. After a few seconds, he pulled up two toothbrushes in clear plastic like her dentist used to offer.
“Blue or Green?” He laughed.
“Blue,” she said hesitantly.
He handed it to her. “They are complimentary.”
“Do you work here?” She crossed her arms, tucking the unnecessary brush under her arm.
“Yeah. I always work this shift because I can usually sit here and read without much happening. I heard you talking at the end of the hall and thought I’d be nice. Sorry I scared you.” He shrugged. “I didn’t mean to.”
Lacy took a deep breath and tried to settle her racing heart. “I’m sorry. Yesterday was a very long day and my radar was up. I was on the lookout for trouble.” She handed him the toothbrush. “I was just worried about being alone with a guy I didn’t know.”
“Understandable.” He took the brush back and tossed it into the basket. “I can be . . . odd, or so I’m told, but I promise I’m harmless.”
The interaction was making her feel worse the longer she stood there. Having intuition wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t always right. “I’m sorry.” She wasn’t sure what else to say so she waved and headed back to her room.
Inside, Melinda slept in the bed furthest from the door with the blankets wrapped tightly around her and her hands tucked under her chin. She’d cocooned herself deep under the covers even though the room was barely cool.
Making sure she made as little noise as possible, Lacy dug her laptop out of her bag and headed for the desk in the corner. She sat it on the edge so she could angle her computer away from Melinda and give her more time to sleep without the glaring light in her eyes. Looking at her yesterday, with dark circles deep under her eyes, Lacy was pretty sure a long time had passed since Melinda had a good sleep.
She pulled up a search engine and typed in Tod McFarland. He had no social media to speak of, which wasn’t surprising. Lots of people flaunted their evil deeds like they were something to be proud of, but many still kept their secrets firmly hidden.
If Melinda was right and her husband was attempting to kill her and make it look like self-defense, he had to leave no doubt or evidence for the police to find. Social media could easily be used against someone.
She looked up the address where Melinda lived and found out the home was a rental and owned by a firm. That, too, was not surprising, though she wondered if they’d bothered to check the state of the home recently. It had the look of being inhabited by the same people for a long time, and that those people didn’t care very much about it.
Melinda shifted in her sleep, then awoke, sitting straight up. “Where am I?” Her voice was less than a whisper, more like a squeak.
“You’re in a hotel room with me and you’re safe.” At least for now she was. There was no telling what the day would bring.
“Lacy.” Melinda closed her eyes. “I just had the worst dream. I was being chased in the streets by Tod and no one would help me. They all looked away. Then I realized that’s my life.”
“I’ll help you as much as I can. We started that yesterday by putting a dent in his armor of defense. If he is the aggressor, and we know he is, then what he does can’t be self-defense.”
“And you think that one little report will help? He has made many claims with them over the last few months that make him look innocent.” She brushed through her tangled hair with her fingers. “I don’t want to go to prison, but part of me wonders if it would be better than what I’ve been living with.”
“That’s ‘no way out’ thinking. We need to find you some hope, my friend.” Lacy opened her email and typed up a quick note to Connor, letting him know exactly where she was and how he could reach her, just in case anything happened to her phone.
“What are we going to do today? I mean, after I shower.” She laughed as she whipped the covers off.
“I’d like to talk to that cop again. We could take him out for a cup of coffee and tell him what you suspect. Even if he can’t do anything, it will be on record that you’re afraid of Tod and what he could be planning.”
“Or it will look like I’m creating my own alibi.” Melinda took a labored breath and let it out. “Sorry, Tod told me this was how it would play out. He’s so paranoid that he won’t even get a phone because he’s sure they would be listening to him and proving him wrong. I wonder if we’ll ever beat him at this game.”
“I don’t want to beat him. I want him arrested for what he’s done to you.” Lacy turned to look fully at Melinda. “How many days a week have you had to cover up bruises so you could go outside?”
Melinda looked away and that was answer enough.
“That’s not right, Melinda. That’s not what life is supposed to be like. I know this kind of thing happens slowly until you’re convinced you can’t leave, but you can. It’s not God’s will that you stay in a place where you could die.”
“How do you know? I thought I loved him. I thought he was a good guy.” She took two steps toward the bathroom, then stopped. “He told me time and again that I’d never do better.”
“And right now, would you choose anyone else?”
Melinda snorted. “Never. I don’t want to be married ever again.”
“Exactly. He wanted you to feel worthless. Even knowing you’d never want to impress anyone else, he still used that against you.”
“I don’t want to feel dumb for this.”
Lacy stood and gently laid a hand on Melinda’s shoulder. “I can say with certainty that you’re not dumb. You were mentally abused and that led to physical abuse. Now, we just need to get you out of it and far, far away from Tod McFarland.”