In the Arms of the Enemy

by Carol Ericson

  “About two weeks.”

  “And while the cat’s away the mouse will play.” Irene tapped a fingernail against Linda’s wineglass. Then leaned close to Caroline. “Louise doesn’t like it when Linda has more than a glass of wine.”

  “Oh, stop it. Louise isn’t my keeper.” Linda waved her hand. “Stop causing trouble. I’ll see you next week.”

  Irene winked at Caroline and left the restaurant.

  “I can drive, Linda. Finish your wine and don’t worry about it.”

  “If you think you can.”

  Caroline held up her water glass. “I just had the one glass, but you can do me a favor.”

  “Anything for my little cousin.” Linda hiccupped and pressed her fingers against her lips.

  The blonde had finished speaking to the man at the bar and had started making her way to the front door, stopping here and there along the way.

  “Who’s that attractive blonde in the skirt and heels?” Caroline tipped her head toward the woman.

  “Where?” Linda twisted her head from side to side.

  Nudging Linda’s toe beneath the table, Caroline hissed, “Shh.” She held up her hand and jabbed her palm with her index finger. “Right there, talking to that couple two tables over.”

  Linda hunched forward, slurring her speech. “That’s Rebecca Geist. She’s a Realtor, but she probably won’t be here much longer. She’s engaged to a very rich man. Besides...” Linda glanced both ways. “She was beaten up pretty badly a few months ago.”

  Caroline recoiled from the tinny odor of Linda’s alcohol-infused breath. “Here in Timberline?”

  “She was helping some woman, a TV reporter, who was doing a story on the Timberline Trio case. You know that show Cold Case Chronicles?”

  Caroline nodded as if she did, although she’d never heard of it.

  “Well, the host of that show only pretended to be doing a story on the Timberline Trio.” Linda’s voice was a harsh whisper, but the couple at the next table glanced over. “But she really thought she was one of kidnapped kids. She wasn’t, but her snooping around got her into other trouble, and since Rebecca had been helping her, it got Rebecca in trouble, too.”

  A sharp pain lanced Caroline’s left temple, and she massaged her head. “It seems as if that case never ended for this town.”

  “That’s for sure, and I don’t think it ever will, since the children were never found. That kind of thing haunts a town.” With a shaky hand, Linda tipped more wine from the carafe into her glass. “We’re cursed.”

  Caroline tapped the edge of Linda’s plate with her fork. “Finish your pork chop. Do you want some of my fries from my fish and chips?”

  “I think I have enough food here. I’ll finish.” She took another sip of wine.

  Caroline toyed with the fries on her plate as she watched the Realtor leave the restaurant. The man with the shaved head was probably here to buy property or something. Maybe he was making the move to Timberline for a job at Evergreen. He’d told her he was here on business.

  Caroline finished her dinner and five minutes later followed the progress of the man from the bar as he skirted the dining area on his way out of the restaurant. When he reached the hostess stand, he looked over his shoulder, meeting Caroline’s gaze, a slight smile playing about his lips.

  He turned and left before she could break eye contact. What did it mean? What interest could he possibly have in her? Unless—she gripped her fork so tightly her knuckles turned white—he was the one she was supposed to meet in Timberline.

  That scrap of paper in her pocket with Timberline written on it in her own handwriting had to have been there for a reason.

  Maybe she should approach him. Maybe he had the answers she’d been seeking. He didn’t seem menacing. She hadn’t gotten that kind of vibe from him—except when he’d been watching her in the rain.

  She dug a pen from her purse and scribbled down Rebecca Geist’s name on a napkin. Perhaps she’d look into some Timberline real estate.

  “Can we leave, Caroline? I’m so tired.”

  She looked across the table at Linda’s drooping eyelids and mottled cheeks. “Of course, and don’t even think about driving. You’re downright tipsy.”

  “Am I?” Linda giggled.

  Caroline couldn’t get her out of there fast enough. Was Linda a blabbermouth drunk? Would she spill all her secrets?

  A tall man came through the front door of the restaurant and the stakes just got higher.

  “Look, there’s Cole.” Linda waved and called his name.

  Caroline touched Chloe’s arm as she passed their table. “We’d like the check, Chloe. Right away.”

  The waitress nodded absently. “I’ll be right with you.”

  Cole made his way to their table and pulled out a chair. He lifted the carafe and swirled the sip of wine left in the bottom. “Looks like I missed the party.”

  “Party of one.” Caroline rolled her eyes.

  “I hope you don’t plan to drive home, Linda.”

  “Caroline has offered, although I’m fine. I ate a lot.”

  Cole raised his brows at her half-eaten pork chop and pile of potatoes. “Yeah, I think you’d better give Caroline the keys.”

  Linda murmured, “My sweet cousin.”

  Caroline’s stomach bunched into knots. “Excuse us if we don’t hang around, Cole.”

  “That’s okay. I’m just here for a pickup.”

  Since Chloe didn’t seem to be returning anytime soon, Caroline pulled some cash from her wallet and dropped three twenties on the table as she scooted back her chair.

  “You’re not going to wait for the check?” Cole stood up when she did, and placed a hand on Linda’s shoulder.

  Snatching her jacket from the back of the empty chair, Caroline said, “That should cover it. Are you ready, Linda?”

  “I think so.” Linda had dropped her chin to her chest and closed her eyes.

  Cole mouthed the words, Do you need help?

  She shook her head. She didn’t want to embarrass Linda and cause a scene.

  She gripped Linda’s upper arm. “Ready? One, two, three.”

  Linda rose to her feet unsteadily and bumped her shoulder against Caroline’s.

  “I’m just going to hang on to your arm through the restaurant. You’ll feel better when you get some fresh air.”

  “Oh, do stop nagging me, Louise.”

  Caroline shrugged her shoulders at Cole. She had to get Linda out of here fast.

  With just a few shuffled steps and a little bit of a stagger from Linda, Caroline managed to get her safely out of the restaurant without setting off too many wagging tongues.

  If Chloe knew about Linda’s fondness for chardonnay, chances were the rest of Timberline did, as well.

  Caroline took Linda’s keys from her purse and poured Linda into the passenger seat, snapping her seat belt in place. Then she did the same for herself.

  As she pulled away from the curb, a motorcycle roared out of the alley and fishtailed on the wet asphalt before zooming off. Looked like Chloe’s hotheaded boyfriend. Caroline tightened her hands on the steering wheel. She couldn’t account for other drivers, but she always took care to drive safely, since she had no driver’s license. At least she had only a mile to go and crazy Jason on the bike was long gone.

  As her passenger snored softly beside her, Caroline pulled the car into Linda’s side of the driveway. She nudged her shoulder. “Linda? We’re home.”

  She parked and helped her from the car. The older woman leaned heavily against her and Caroline staggered up the two steps to the front door. She led Linda to her bedroom, where she kicked off both shoes after about five tries and then crawled under the covers fully clothed.

  Caroline tucked the cove
rs around her shoulders, then tiptoed to the bathroom, found a bottle of aspirin and shook a couple into her palm. After filling a glass with water from the tap in the kitchen, she put it and the two aspirin on Linda’s nightstand.

  If the woman woke up in the middle of the night, she might be able to stave off an even worse hangover by taking the aspirin.

  Caroline grabbed her purse and hitched it over her shoulder. She studied Linda’s key chain in the palm of her hand. Maybe she should keep the house key so she could lock the dead bolt from the outside.

  She penned a note to Linda and then placed her set of keys on the piece of paper on a table by the front door.

  Caroline pulled the door closed behind her, locked the dead bolt and pocketed Linda’s house key. It was the least she could do for the woman who’d taken her in and lied for her.

  A soft patter of rain caressed her cheek when she stepped off the porch. For a moment she lifted her face to the drops. The rain wasn’t so bad, after all.

  She began to cross the driveway to her own side of the duplex when a gruff voice behind her stopped her cold.

  “Where’s the money, bitch?”

  Chapter Eight

  Cole cracked open his car door as Caroline walked across the driveway to her own place. Looked like he’d come too late to help her with Linda. Caroline must be stronger than she looked or Linda had recovered some of her mobility.

  He put his boot down on the gravel and heard voices. Had Linda followed Caroline outside? Then a man’s voice carried into the street. “I said, where’s the money, bitch?”

  A surge of adrenaline rushed through Cole’s body and he yelled, “Hey!”

  As he rounded the front of his car, rushing toward the driveway, Caroline screamed. Cole slipped on some wet leaves and recovered his balance in time to see Caroline lurch forward onto her hands and knees in the middle of the driveway—alone.

  He rushed to her side, his fingers curled around the butt of his gun in his pocket. “Are you injured? Did he hurt you?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Where is he? Where’d he go?”

  With glassy eyes she pointed into the copse of trees, shrouded in darkness, on the other side of Linda’s duplex.

  “Get inside and lock the door. Call 911.” He pulled her to her feet. Once the local cops got here, he’d have to reveal his true identity, but it would be worth it to nail the man who’d attacked Caroline.

  She grabbed handfuls of his jacket. “H-he has a knife.”

  “I have a gun.” He patted his pocket and then grabbed her hands and kissed them. “Go.”

  He watched her until she disappeared inside, then took off at a jog toward the blackest spot in his vision. He might have a gun but he didn’t have a flashlight.

  He pulled out his cell phone and swiped on the flashlight, holding the phone in front of him to light a small, pathetic path into the dense woods.

  When he got to the edge of the tree line, he stopped, head to one side, and listened for any movement. Either the guy was hiding, concealed and silent, or he was long gone. Cole thrashed through the bushes and branches, stopping periodically to listen, but only a few birds twittered an answer.

  He’d never find anyone out here and he risked getting knifed before he would ever be able to see the threat coming at him.

  With his phone in one hand and his gun in the other, he made his way out of the forest and back to Caroline’s front door. No sirens yet.

  Could the man threatening her be connected to her husband? Maybe she had good reason to be paranoid, but why would he be asking her for money, unless she’d taken money from her husband when she escaped from him? So many things didn’t add up about her—the woman of mystery.

  He pocketed his gun and knocked on her door. “Caroline? It’s me, Cole.”

  A chain scraped across its metal track and a dead bolt clicked before she inched the door open. Her face had yet to regain its color.

  “Are you okay? Can I come in?”

  The door widened and she stepped back. “I’m okay. Shaken, but okay. Did you find anything out there?”

  “Too damned dark and I don’t have a flashlight other than the one on my phone.” He crossed the threshold. “What happened? I heard him ask for money. Was he trying to rob you?”

  “I guess so.” She shut the door and put both locks into place again. “I had just come out of Linda’s house after putting her to bed and locking her door.”

  “He accosted you in the driveway? Because I saw you through the passenger window first, and I didn’t see anyone else on the driveway.”

  “He came up behind me. Maybe he’d been hiding in the woods.”

  “Did you see him?”

  “He told me not to turn around—and I didn’t. He said he had a knife and then put it to my throat.” She placed one hand around the column of her throat as if to protect it.

  “What else did he say? When I got out of my car, I heard voices and then he shouted.”

  “The shout? That’s pretty much what he said to me. He said ‘Give me the money, bitch.’ I started to turn, instinct I guess, and that’s when he said he had a knife and he didn’t want me to move. He put the blade to my flesh and then shouted again, and that’s what you heard.” She twisted her fingers in front of her. “When you yelled, he pushed me and I turned around, but only saw him plunging into the trees.”

  “How did he expect you to give him any money when he didn’t want you to move?”

  “I don’t know.” She hunched her shoulders. “Maybe he was going to grab my purse or something.”

  Cole rubbed both her arms from her shoulders to her elbows and back up again. “Your body is trembling. Sit down. Do you want some water? Tea?”

  She moved like a zombie to the sofa against the wall and sank down on the end, clasping her hands between her knees. “Water maybe, thanks.”

  He strode into the kitchen and opened a few mostly empty cupboards before finding one with a single row of drinking glasses lined up. He lifted one from the shelf and filled it with water from the tap.

  When he returned to the living room, he handed her the glass and then paced away from her. “Do you think this had anything to do with Larry?”

  “Wh-why would it?”

  He studied her face. Every other thing that had happened to her she’d put at the feet of Larry. Why back off from that stance now?

  “You can tell me the truth, Caroline. Did you take some money from him? Is that why you’ve been so worried that he’d come after you?” Cole spread his hands. “I wouldn’t blame you. The guy sounds like he had it coming.”

  Her doe eyes darted from the door to his face and back again, like she was an animal caught in a snare.

  He took two steps toward the couch and sat on the cushion next to her. His weight on the soft sofa had her tilting toward him, her shoulder bouncing against his.

  “It’s okay.” He put his arm around her, taking care not to draw her nearer—even though he wanted to. “You can tell me anything. I won’t judge you. I told you, my mom got out of an abusive relationship, and if she’d stolen money from the SOB, my stepfather, our lives would’ve gone much more smoothly. Hell, it was probably just as much your money as his, so you didn’t really steal it.”

  Her body stiffened. “I—I did take money out of our accounts, but it was mine, too. I guess he tracked me here to Timberline. He must’ve been paying closer attention to my chatter about relatives than I thought he was. He remembered the Gundersons from Timberline and sent someone out here to find me. It probably wasn’t hard. Everyone here knows I’m Linda’s second cousin. Everyone knows I’m Caroline Johnson. Larry’s cohort probably got Linda’s address, and waited for us to come home. He got me alone and jumped on the opportunity. I’m going to have to leave Timberline.
”

  Cole dropped his arm from her shoulders and rubbed his jaw. That rapid-fire response was the most he’d gotten out of Caroline since the day he’d met her.

  “That was my first thought—that this had something to do with your husband. But why would this guy, this friend of Larry’s, approach you this way? Why wouldn’t he just knock on your door and tell you that Larry expected his money back or he’d see you in court? Technically, when you initiate divorce proceedings, neither party is supposed to touch any of the common funds. Believe me, I speak from experience. Of course, each state is different, but what are the rules in...? Where are you from, exactly?”

  “Now you think this is some random attack? Just some thug holding me up for cash?”

  Cole pressed his thumbs against either side of his head. “I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense that Larry would send someone else out here to get his money. If he knew where you were, wouldn’t Larry come to Timberline himself to confront you?”

  “That’s not Larry. He’d send someone else to do his dirty work.”

  “Is that why you didn’t call the police?” With his shoulder still pressed against hers, he felt her body jerk. “You didn’t call, right? They would’ve been here by now. Most people I know rush to call 911 when something like this happens.”

  Closing her eyes, she leaned against the back of the sofa. A pulse beat wildly in her throat. “Please don’t call them. I’ll call Larry myself and tell him I’ll return the money. I don’t want the police involved. I don’t want to cause any trouble in Timberline.”

  Cole scanned her face, the parted lips, lashes fluttering against the smooth skin of her cheeks. A tear slid from the corner of one of her eyes, traveled to her hairline and meandered toward her ear.

  Was that tear even real? Did anything she’d told him since the day he’d met her at the library have one kernel of truth in it?

  She sniffled and rubbed her eyes as she sat forward. “Please. I’d rather handle this my own way.”

  “Which is what? Leave Timberline for parts unknown?” His voice sounded harsh to his own ears and Caroline flinched at the tone.