by Marie Force
“I’ll let you both know if I find anything.”
“Thanks.”
Back inside, he found Haley still sitting at the table with cooling coffee in front of her. Except now she looked frozen, her gaze almost hollow, haunted.
He was a man who liked to fix things, but this was something that didn’t appear to be easily fixable. Whatever was going on inside that woman was clearly above his pay grade. He sat again so that he’d be at her eye level, even though his whole body wanted action right now.
“Kelly and Bugle are following a scent. She’ll let us know if she finds anything.”
Haley gave a brief, jerky nod.
“Haley? Are you feeling ill? Do you want to go see a doctor?”
In an instant her eyes lost the hollow look and began to spark blue fire. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’m not sick. But some jerk woke me up last night and opened a box of memories I’d safely put away under lock and key for almost twenty-five years.”
He hesitated, waiting, giving her a chance to continue. Then, wondering if he was prying, he asked the question boldly. “Your kidnapping?”
“Yes.” She snapped the word.
He nodded and leaned back, half deciding to just shut his mouth. She doubtless didn’t want to be poked and pried at. Remembering was probably bad enough. But people didn’t really forget things, no matter how deeply they buried them. What if she needed an ear right now?
“I never heard much about it,” he said “I was too young, nobody said anything to me, and I just picked up that it had happened. But it was over quickly, right?”
Something in her posture eased. Her face and tone quieted a bit. “That didn’t make it much better.”
“I don’t imagine it would. I can’t conceive of anything more terrifying, no matter how long it lasted.”
“It wasn’t just the terror,” she said slowly. Then she seemed to shake herself. “It’s in the past,” she said as if reminding herself.
“Maybe not far enough in the past,” he remarked, keeping his tone pleasant. “You want more coffee? Are you ready to switch to Flora’s tea? Or how about a bottle of water?”
She smiled faintly. “Determined to take care of me, huh?”
“Not much I can do except play waiter and listen.” He shrugged. “You can also tell me to butt out. I’ve even been known to pay attention.”
Now her smile widened and he was relieved to see that she seemed to be shaking off whatever nightmare had haunted her. “No need to butt out. You’ve been kind, but you must want to get to work.”
Was that a dismissal? He decided not. “No rush. The nice thing about being my own boss is that if I need a few hours for something else, I can take them.”
Just then there was a knock on the door and Kelly entered with Bugle. “Dead end,” she said. “Bugle tracked him to Ash Street and then the scent vanished. Guess he drives to his little trysts. Anyway, if Bugle smells him again anywhere, he’ll let me know. Listen, Haley, I’m going to file a report. If we’ve got a peeper, you might not be the last victim. These guys seem to like to bother more than one person.”
“I hope he doesn’t bother me again. Thank you, Deputy.”
“Kelly. Just Kelly. Come on, Bugle.”
Then, in the subsequent silence, Roger took the bull by the horns. “So what did you mean when you said calling the police would make it real?”
Copyright © 2020 by Susan Civil Brown
ISBN-13: 9781488054259
Fatal Accusation
Copyright © 2019 by HTJB, Inc.
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