by Sarah Hegger
She cleaned her condo before heading off to Grover’s for her weekly groceries. Despite the big shiny Walmart on the edge of town, most people still bought their groceries at Grover’s. As a small business owner herself, Kelly supported other small businesses.
Inside the door of Grover’s hung a selection of large information boards, the second reason for her trip to the store. When she had first come to town and opened her coffee shop, the long hours had been out of necessity. She couldn’t afford help. Now, with the coffee shop doing better than ever, she wanted someone to come in during her busy times, help out with the early mornings and give her the flexibility to extend hours.
On the Help Wanted section of the boards, she pinned her advertisement.
“Hey, Kelly.” Mia Grover hung over her shoulder and peered at her ad. “Are you looking for someone?”
“Yeah.” Mia would be perfect for her, but she already worked at her family’s store. “Do you know anyone?”
“I’ll ask around. A lot of us seniors are looking for something.” That Mia was a senior made Kelly feel old.
Mia was blossoming into a young woman, and a pretty one. Her big brown eyes dominated her delicate features. With her braces off, she had a big, beautiful smile that drew attention. Her little girl shape had filled into womanly curves, and Kelly wished Bart luck with keeping the boys at bay.
Not that there was much scope for trouble in Twin Elks. It was part of the reason so many younger people left town. Although lately, there seemed to be an influx of newcomers, like the lanky teen boy currently giving Mia the chin jerk.
“Hey, Parker.” Mia gave him an eyelash flutter.
Going red to his hairline, Parker tripped into Grover’s.
“Friend of yours?” Kelly couldn’t resist teasing Mia.
Mia shrugged. “He goes to my school. His family moved here about a month ago.”
“I think he likes you.”
“Parker?” Mia scoffed. “He’s too young for me. I’m into older men.”
So Kelly had heard. According to Claire Winters, Mia had a thumping crush on Claire’s man, Finn Williams. Mia was heading for disappointment that way. Not only was Finn way, way too old for her, he was also totally gone on Claire. “I wouldn’t rule out younger men too fast,” she said.
Chelsea Finster nee Greerly—Vince’s ex-wife, still Kelly’s longtime enemy—walked by pushing a shopping cart of bagged groceries.
Chelsea caught sight of her and stiffened. “Kelly.”
“Chelsea.”
Chelsea and Vince’s daughter and Mia greeted each other.
Kelly was locked in a stare down with Chelsea, like they’d done since high school, and both of them would be damned before either backed down.
Chelsea swept past her and into the parking lot. She and her daughter loaded groceries into a top of the line SUV, which Vince must have paid for because Chelsea didn’t work.
“God, I hate her,” Mia whispered.
Kelly kept her gaze locked on Chelsea’s recently red hair and hot pink, bedazzled skinny jeans. “Me too.”
The rest of Kelly’s day passed uneventfully. She tidied her condo, did her laundry, and like an upstanding citizen, went to bed at a decent hour, the sex siren from the night before safely tucked away deep inside her.
*
Kelly jerked awake to someone banging on her door. Being woken in the middle of the night never meant anything good, and for a moment, she wondered if it was her sins of the night before coming to get her.
Scrabbling for her phone, she knocked it off the bedside table, and then lunged after it. Goddammit! It was three a.m., and she had to be up in two hours.
“Shit!” She tumbled out of bed in an inelegant heap to the hardwood floor. Crawling in the direction of the noise, she yelled, “I’m coming.”
The banger didn’t give a crap and kept right on pounding. “Kelly!”
“India?” Heart in her throat, and hurrying, Kelly flung open the door. “What’s happened?”
India stood on her doorstep, a sleeping Jacob clutched in her arms, tears making mascara rivulets down her cheeks. “I need to come in.”
“Are you okay? Is it Piers? Are you sick?” Kelly had a million questions, and they all fought to come out of her mouth at the same time. “Oh my God, is it baby boy?”
“No.” India shook her head. Her cloud of silvery-blond hair looked disheveled. Even as a kid India had always had perfect hair. “Jacob’s fine.” India stroked her baby’s back. “Is there somewhere I can put him down?”
“Yeah. In my room.”
India knew the way and Kelly trailed her. Surrounding him with pillows, India laid Jacob on Kelly’s bed.
Bad feeling blossoming by the passing second, Kelly waited until they were back in her open-plan living space before she turned a light on in the kitchen.
India reeled and blinked. She tried to duck out of the light but not fast enough.
“India!” Kelly cupped India’s chin and turned her face to the light. A large purple bruise marred the delicate line of her cheekbone. Another one swelled India’s jaw. Four finger-shaped bruises stood out against the pale, slim line of her throat. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
Tears tracked down India’s cheeks. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
“India.” That her sister would even think that hit Kelly like a truck. “I’m not mad at you. How could I be mad at you?”
“For this.” Sobs made India’s words garbled. “For not telling you. For all of it.”
“Sweetheart.” Kelly put her arm around her sister’s shoulders and led her to the sofa. “What happened? Who did this?”
“It’s not as bad as it looks.” India winced as she sat.
Kelly wasn’t having any of it, but she kept her tone gentle. “Where else?”
“Kelly, you’re overreacting.”
Like hell she was. India had arrived in the dead of night, with nothing but her baby and proof that somebody had been using her as a punching bag. “Who did this?”
India shivered and cried harder. At that rate, she’d make herself ill.
Holding her and rocking her, Kelly fought to keep it under control. Unadulterated rage surged through her, fighting to escape in a primal bellow. Some dead man had hurt her India, and only one name came immediately to mind. “Is it—” She wanted so much to be wrong. “Did Piers do this?”
“Kelly.” India’s slight form shook with the strength of her emotion. “He’s changed. He’s not the same man I married. He gets so angry.”
Kelly breathed deep. She needed to be smart. Think things through. “I’m calling Ben.”
“No.” India reached for Kelly’s phone. “You can’t do that.”
“I’m doing it, India.” Kelly hit Poppy’s number. India needed her to stay calm. Proof. They needed proof that Piers had assaulted India, and while the marks were still all over her body.
As a mother of four, Poppy was used to being woken, and she answered promptly. “Kelly?”
“Hey, Poppy.” Her throat tightened. “I need Ben.”
“Now?” Concern colored Poppy’s tone. “Has something happened? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” She was far from fine. “But India needs him.”
“India?”
“Yup. My little sister.”
“Just a minute.” Muffled sounds came from Poppy’s phone, and then she was back on the line. “We’re on our way.”
“Poppy, you can’t—”
“Finn and Claire are here, and so is Horace. They can keep an eye on the children,” Poppy said in the same voice she used to stop her son Ryan dead in his tracks and turn around whatever mission he had going on in his six-year-old head. “You’re my friend, and I’m coming.”
India stood blinking at her, chewing on her bottom lip. “I wish yo
u hadn’t done that. I don’t want everyone in Twin Elks talking about this.”
“India.” Kelly found a gentle tone. Her sister was so vulnerable, and she needed to take care of her. “You can trust Ben and Poppy. And Ben is police chief, he’s going to need to know.”
India paled. “Why?”
“Sweetheart.” Kelly kept it calm and gentle, but the question shook her. “Nobody has the right to do this to you.”
“I know that.” India chewed her lip. “I do know that. It’s just—the police?”
“You could be in danger,” Kelly said. The raging part of her wanted Piers to arrive on her doorstep. She’d show him what happened to bastards who hurt her sister. “You and Jacob could be in danger.”
Nodding, India subsided into silence. She finally calmed enough to wipe her face and blow her nose. “You’re right. I need to do something about him.”
“Ben won’t be long.” At least Kelly hoped not.
To keep herself busy, Kelly put the kettle on. What the hell, a cup of tea couldn’t hurt. “Has this happened before?”
Please say no. Please say no.
India shivered and folded her arms around her torso. She’d always been slim, but she’d lost weight since Kelly had seen her last Christmas. Had it really been that long?
“Piers has always had a temper, but it’s never been this bad before. And he’s never gotten angry with Jacob before.”
Even as she’d prayed for a different answer, Kelly wasn’t naive enough to believe she would get one. “Did he hurt Jacob?”
India shook her head. She was shivering like a stray dog. “No. He got angry at him, but I…didn’t let him touch my baby.”
How could Kelly not have seen any of that before? Okay, Piers gave off a possessive vibe and could be controlling, but that…
Fetching a throw from the back of her couch, Kelly sifted through the months since last Christmas. She’d spoken to India on the phone but hadn’t seen her.
That meant Jacob was almost a year old now, because he’d been born last November. Kelly had shut her business for a couple of weeks over Christmas and driven up to see them in their beautiful home outside Denver.
Come to think of it, India had tried to delay her visit with excuses about how she didn’t have time to give to Kelly with the new baby and all. Had Piers been behind that? Given this new development, she had to believe he had been.
Isolation. The first step in an abusive relationship. Separate the victim from anyone who could or would help them.
Kelly wrapped the throw around her sister’s shivering shoulders and rubbed her back. “You’re safe now, Indy. I’m going to make sure of it.”
Somewhere in heaven, Gram was shaking her head. The one thing she’d asked of Kelly before she died was to look after India. Christ on a cracker, she’d done a super job of that.
A soft knock on the door ended her foray into self-flagellation. Good thing too, because that was not going to help India either.
Ben and Poppy stood in her doorway, both of them dressed in jeans and jerseys and looking like they’d not long since tumbled out of bed.
“Kelly.” Ben had his police chief voice on. The one that said he was there and he had this.
Poppy provided the much-needed quick hug. Poppy had arrived in Twin Elks this past summer and she was already Kelly’s closest friend. The pint-size pretty brunette was a hundred kinds of sweet and quirky and had won the entire town over.
Ben slipped past her into the condo. He approached India slowly and sat at one of the counter stools near her. “India.”
India tried to hide her face again, hunching her skinny shoulders up to her ears. “Hi, Ben. Sorry to wake you up.”
“That’s okay.” Ben gentled his tone and folded his hands on the counter. “I see Kelly put the kettle on. Maybe we can have some tea, or coffee, and chat.”
Taking the hint, Kelly got with making coffee. At her coffee shop, she had all the fancy machines, but at home she used a simple French press. Her business also meant she knew how everyone took their coffee.
Her hands shook as she added grounds to the press, scattering coffee over the countertop.
Poppy nudged her out of the way. “Go and sit. I’ll make the coffee.”
Kelly didn’t know if she could sit still, but now that Ben was there, she relaxed. Ben would know what to do, how to handle the situation.
“Piers do that?” Ben gave India’s face a pointed look.
Swallowing and hunching her shoulders again, India nodded.
India had always been timid and shy, but now she seemed terrified.
Ben simply nodded. “How did you get away?”
Damn, Kelly hadn’t even thought to ask that.
“He’s not there.” India cleared her throat. “He went on a business trip, after…” She gestured her face. “I waited until I knew his flight had taken off, and I got in my car with Jacob.”
“Well done.” Ben’s tone conveyed his approval. “That was an incredibly brave thing to do.”
India sobbed, caught the sob on a small choked noise and shook her head. “I’m not brave. I stayed there. I stayed there and let him do this to me. He almost hurt my baby because of me.”
“Sweetheart.” Ben loaded the endearment with so much empathy it made Kelly tear up. “That’s not how these things work. If it was as simple as walking out, this would never happen to anyone.”
Poppy’s big brown eyes held all the anger and grief that Kelly felt. She gave Kelly’s hand a squeeze and returned to making coffee.
Kelly said, “She said he got angry with Jacob. India’s baby.”
Ben glanced at her and then turned all his attention back to India. “Is that true? Is that what made you leave?”
India nodded. “I couldn’t let him hurt Jacob.”
“You did the right thing, India,” Ben said. “You saved your little boy.”
Silent tears streaked down India’s cheeks. “I thought it was only me. I was the only one who made him so angry all the time. I didn’t think he could be angry with Jacob. He loves Jacob.”
Kelly couldn’t stand it anymore. She gathered India in her arms and held her. Over India’s head she looked at Ben. “What do we do?”
“First, we need to document the abuse.” He indicated India. “I think she’d be more comfortable if you helped her with that.”
“What does that mean?” India stared at Ben in horror.
“Photographs.” Kelly tightened her hold. “I need to take photos of your bruises. All of them.”
Ben had his cell out. “I’m going to ring Doc to come and examine you,” he said. “Unless you want to go to a hospital?”
“No.” India shook her head. “I don’t want all those people to see me. Why does Doc have to come?”
“Proof,” Ben said. “And we also need to be sure he hasn’t done more lasting damage.”
The night was like a nightmare, and she wanted to go back to sleeping off her night with Gabe. She wanted to wake up and find it was all a bad dream.
Except India needed her. She’d failed to be there for her sister. Kelly couldn’t let her down again. “Let Ben call Doc. Then we can take it from there.”
For a long moment, India stood there, still shaking and looking like she might refuse. And then she said, “All right.”
Poppy handed out coffee to everyone.
Kelly helped India to her couch, rewrapped her in the throw and placed her coffee on the table in front of her.
Staring at it, India made no move to take the cup.
Kelly approached Ben and kept her voice low. “What happens now?”
“We document the abuse and get Doc to verify it,” Ben said. “We don’t want the son of a bitch coming back and saying it wasn’t him or the pictures aren’t real. It would be better if we could do t
his in a hospital setting, but I think she’s been through enough for one night.”
“Yeah.” Kelly nodded.
India looked like she might crumble at any moment.
Ben sipped his coffee and gave her a level stare. “If there’s one good thing about this, it’s that it happened in Colorado.”
“What do you mean?” Kelly didn’t see any good.
“Colorado has some of the most stringent laws against domestic assault. We’re a mandatory arrest state.” Ben glanced at India. “All I need is probable cause to arrest that prick, and I’ve got it.”
Savage satisfaction surged through Kelly. “India doesn’t need to press charges?”
“Nope.” Ben’s gaze met hers, and she saw the same raw emotion in his eyes. “When I see him, I arrest him.”
“Arrest him?” India paled even more. “You mean put him in jail? I’m not sure I want him arrested.”
“India, it’s the law.” Ben kept his tone gentle, but firm. “I have no choice now but to arrest him.” He crouched at her feet. “If you’re scared, I also need to let you know that as of right now, a mandatory restraining order is in place. He can’t come near you without risking a secondary charge.”
India pushed her hair back with a shaking hand. “What if I change my mind?”
It would be a cold day in hell before Kelly let that happen.
“It doesn’t matter.” Ben shook his head. “Piers is going to pay for what he’s done.”
Chapter Four
Gabe had barely gotten one sip of coffee in him when the door to Ma’s kitchen opened. That was Twin Elk for you, and Dot’s kitchen was like Twin Elks central. Thank God he was wearing pants.
When Kelly walked in, he brightened. “Hey.”
“Hi.” She looked stressed and…furious.
Gabe set his coffee aside. “What is it?”
Another woman walked in behind her, this one holding a young child. Ben brought up the rear. From the looks on all their faces, Gabe surmised a lot more coffee would be needed. He got another pot started. “What’s going on?”