Rebel in a Small Town

by Kristina Knight

  She wouldn’t have.

  Would she?

  “Let’s clear the readout,” he said, pressing the clear button. The words stopped scrolling across the readout. “What’s your password for the lock?”

  “Five, seven, four, four, zero, one,” she said.

  James input the numbers and the phrase began scrolling across the readout again. Crap. She’d done this. Something had to have happened between CarlaAnn and Mara. It was the only thing that made sense. This appeared to be a programming error. Mara was a programmer. Since her arrival back in town, CarlaAnn had been doing her damnedest to make Mara leave.

  “I’m not sure what you expect me to do here,” he said. He didn’t know an override code, and he didn’t think punching random numbers into the keypad would do any good.

  “I don’t want Mr. Mallard to know I messed up the new system.” CarlaAnn lowered her voice. “I was hoping you might, ah, help me get in touch with Mara? She installed the system, she should know how to get around it.”

  James blinked. The woman didn’t suspect that Mara was behind the lock not working. “I could call her,” he said. “If you’re sure that’s what you want.”

  CarlaAnn nodded and then began chewing on her thumbnail. “I need to get inside so I can get my drawer ready. The store is supposed to be open by seven. Customers will be here soon. Please?” she added, almost as an afterthought.

  James shrugged, holding back a grin as the two-word phrase scrolled across the lock. He dialed Mara’s number, and she picked up on the first ring.

  “I’m right around the corner,” she said before he could say anything, confirming his suspicions that she was behind CarlaAnn’s lockout. He didn’t want the clerk to have any more ammunition against Mara, though, so he explained what he needed anyway.

  A few minutes later, Mara’s SUV pulled into the parking lot and parked next to the sheriff’s department cruiser.

  “Hi, what seems to be the problem?” she asked, and he had to admire the clueless note she put into her voice.

  “CarlaAnn is locked out. She—” CarlaAnn stared hard at James, as if unwilling to admit it had been her idea to call Mara in the first place. James started over. “We thought you might be able to help.”

  Mara cocked her head to the side. “It isn’t working? I just finished the programming yesterday. This is odd.” She pushed a few random buttons on the console, but nothing happened.

  “Could you hurry, please? I need to get my drawer set up before the first customers arrive,” CarlaAnn requested, but her voice sounded snotty to James. As if she were somehow incapable of being nice to Mara. He shook his head.

  “Let me try one more thing,” Mara said, hitting a few more random number combinations on the keypad. It Figures kept scrolling across the readout. Mara blew out a breath, as if stymied by the lock. James had to admire that she appeared not to notice CarlaAnn’s increasing impatience. “I don’t get it, my override code isn’t working, either.”

  “It figures,” CarlaAnn mumbled.

  Both James and Mara watched her closely for a moment, but the clerk didn’t connect the words she had just said with the phrase still scrolling across the lock.

  “What was your code again?”

  “It doesn’t work,” CarlaAnn insisted.

  “Let’s just give it a try.”

  CarlaAnn rolled her eyes and sighed, but she repeated her code to Mara. However, Mara didn’t punch in the five, seven, four, four, zero, one code. Instead, she punched in six, four, eight, nine, four, eight, not even attempting to hide the fact that she had changed the code. A tinny ta-da sound emanated from the lock as it clicked over.

  CarlaAnn blinked. “It worked.”

  “Glitches,” Mara said with a shrug.

  CarlaAnn disappeared inside without even offering a thank-you over her shoulder.

  James turned to Mara, who shrugged again. “Are you mad?” she asked.

  “Why’d you do it?”

  Mara frowned and considered her words for a moment. “She keeps gossiping about the security check, which is fine,” she said, rushing the words before James could interrupt. “I can deal with her kind of people, but...” Mara watched him for a moment. “Yesterday afternoon, she brought Zeke into it. She was mean and whoever she was talking to was obviously not interested, and that seemed to make her even more mean.”

  “And you decided to get even.”

  “It was just a little prank.”

  “I’m not mad. Anyone who brings a kid into gossip deserves a little comeuppance.”

  “Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to get that the prank is on her,” Mara said, and there was a note of annoyance in her voice.

  James took her hand, leading her away from the Mallard’s employee entrance. “Ah, but you do get it. Every time she annoys you, you’ll know that she isn’t worth your time.”

  “I like the way you look at things,” she said, leaning her shoulder against his for a moment. “By the way, the code I used to unlock the system?”

  “Yeah?”

  “The keypad is like a telephone, each number is attached to a letter.”

  “And?”

  “Put all the numbers together and it spells out ‘nitwit.’”

  James barked out a laugh. “You are a crazy woman, Mara Tyler. Devious and clever all at once.”

  “Just don’t get on my bad side,” she said.

  James put her in the car and watched until the SUV disappeared out of sight. He got into the department SUV and turned it toward the station house. Devious and clever. How had he ever convinced himself that he didn’t love Mara Tyler?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “AND SO I’D like to be the officer who takes the Slippery Rock Sheriff’s Department into next year, and the next decade,” James said, standing at the podium on the newly built grandstand. It was Founder’s Weekend; the following week, the calendar would switch over to August. The special election for sheriff would happen on the first Tuesday in November. Mara had been in town for five weeks now, and her job at Mallard’s was completed. They’d slipped into a comfortable routine over the past few weeks.

  While they both worked, Gladys watched Zeke. The three of them went on picnics or swimming at the lake regularly. Mara and Zeke hadn’t moved into his house, but they spent more time there than at the orchard.

  It had been a few weeks since he and Mara had stopped hiding their relationship from Slippery Rock, and while only their families and closest friends knew about Zeke being James’s son, other people probably suspected. So far, no one had asked.

  He spotted her in the crowd, carrying Zeke on her shoulders as she walked toward the grandstand. The little guy held the purple dinosaur. They really needed to give that thing a name, he thought, as he went on with his speech.

  “What about cyber crime?” someone in the crowd yelled out.

  James looked for the speaker. It was a tall man with closely cropped hair. He wore a state patrol officer’s uniform, and James thought he looked vaguely familiar. Probably someone with whom he attended a law enforcement convention.

  “We are committed to fighting cyber as well as physical-world criminals,” James said.

  “But you have no experience,” the man said, before James could continue with his speech. Everyone in the crowd focused on the new speaker.

  “We haven’t been touched by cyber crime in Slippery Rock, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t experienced in how to deal with it.”

  “If the town hasn’t had problems, how did you gain your experience? As a hacker, maybe?”

  “In training sessions, the same as you.”

  Mara stopped making her way through the crowd and focused her attention on James and the newcomer.

  “But your girlfriend is a hacker?” The crowd
parted for the man, who made his way quickly to the podium.

  “No, she isn’t. She’s a computer programmer and security analyst.”

  The uniformed trooper held his hands out at his sides as if he didn’t understand James. “You say programmer. I say hacker.”

  Mara started toward the podium, but James shook his head, stalling her.

  “What’s your point?”

  “My point is that the people of Slippery Rock and Wall County deserve actual protection from their law enforcement staff. Since the county absorbed the town police, residents have only one place to go if there is a problem. I believe there have been problems.”

  “Not of the hacking variety,” James said drily. He shook his head, realizing with certainty where the conversation was going. Whoever this trooper was, he wanted the sheriff’s job, and he was using James’s announcement speech to get the attention of Slippery Rock. Smart move.

  He wanted to kick the man’s ass, but it wasn’t a smart move.

  “You have been called to the local grocery on an attempted theft call. No arrest was made—”

  “Because there was no theft. Mar, ah, the person in question was actually a security consultant who was running a sweep.”

  “The elusive hacker girlfriend, right?” The trooper had a mean grin on his face that James would have liked to slap off.

  “She isn’t elusive, and she isn’t a hacker. She’s right there. With our son,” James said, pointing at Mara and Zeke in the crowd. Every head turned to look at Mara. She froze for a moment, then turned on her heel and walked quickly away. James wanted off this podium. He hadn’t meant to tell the town about Zeke this way. Hell, he hadn’t intended to tell the town the truth about his biological connection to Zeke at all. It wasn’t their business. It was his.

  “So you’re explanation is that your—” the man made bunny signs with his fingers “—securities expert girlfriend was not, in fact, stealing a quart of milk and a package of cookies. It was all just a big misunderstanding.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  “And was her vandalism of the water tower a misunderstanding?”

  “That was ten years ago.”

  “And when she hacked the school district computers so that the motherboards were connected to the wrong monitors?”

  “It was three cables that were switched, not a hack. And again, it was ten years ago. None of that has any bearing on my run for the office of sheriff.” James turned to the people in the crowd, most of whom were now looking at him with curious expressions on their faces. “The polls open in a little over two months, and I’ll be around at several town functions to answer questions between now and then. Thank you.”

  “And so will I. Be at those functions,” the trooper said as he stepped up to the podium. “I’m Missouri State Trooper Brian Whitaker, and if you’re ready to have someone outside the crooked Calhoun family running your town, I would appreciate your vote on Election Day.”

  Trooper Whitaker waved to the crowd, then hopped off the stage.

  The crowd began to disperse, folding Whitaker into their ranks until James couldn’t see him. The crowd buzzed with questions and comments and probably a lot of speculation, but there was nothing James could do about that. These people knew him, they knew his father, and some had known his grandfather.

  He would make a good sheriff, and Mara’s past—hell, his past—had nothing to do with how well he could run the sheriff’s department.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Levi said, making his way through the crowd to where James stood near the grandstand.

  “Annoying and insulting were the words I would choose,” James said. They began to walk. A few people slapped James encouragingly on the shoulder. At least, he thought the slaps were encouraging.

  “I was surprised you brought Zeke into it, though.”

  “It wasn’t intentional. She was there and he was there and it just...came out.” James looked around, but he couldn’t see her. He twisted his mouth to the side. That was odd. “I wonder where she went.” Probably making sure Gladys was settled with the other ladies at the bridge tournament in the basement of the Methodist church, or checking on Amanda, who was staffing the orchard’s booth at the farmers’ market. This was the first day the market had been opened since the tornado.

  Nearly all of the renovation and rebuilding projects were completed; only a few interior walls and painting projects at the various businesses harmed by the twister remained.

  “Last I saw, she was headed toward the market.” The two of them started down Water Street in that direction. “So this thing is serious between the two of you?”

  James nodded. Serious enough that he’d taken the ring he had with him in Nashville out of the drawer of his great-grandfather’s oak credenza. They hadn’t made any long-term plans, and he didn’t want to rush her, but she’d told her bosses yesterday that she wanted to take a sabbatical. Mara choosing to stay in Slippery Rock indefinitely was a big step forward.

  “It’s the most serious I’ve ever been. About anything.”

  They reached the farmers’ market, and Levi clapped his big hand on James’s shoulder. “Good luck,” he said, and continued on toward the Walters Ranch stand on the other side of the building.

  At the orchard booth, Amanda said she hadn’t seen Mara since earlier that morning. James continued looking around, but she was nowhere. Not with the church ladies playing bridge, not wandering around the marina, one of Zeke’s favorite places. She wasn’t at the Slope or around the grandstand.

  A cold feeling swept into James’s chest. Just like in Nashville, she was gone.

  He unlocked his smartphone, hitting the button to call. Her phone went straight to voice mail. He tried texting, but after thirty seconds of watching his screen with no response, he decided she was definitely not talking to him.

  What the hell?

  A few people called out to him. He waved a hand in their direction but continued toward his Jeep as fast as he could walk. She was not going to run, not this time. This time he was going to find her, and he was going to make her talk.

  No more running.

  * * *

  MARA ROCKED ZEKE in their room at the orchard. He’d been fussy most of the day, and after James’s stunt at Founder’s Weekend, the little boy had gotten significantly more fussy. When James pointed them out, several crowd members reached for him, touching Zeke’s leg or his arm. A few got into his face or hers, offering congratulations.

  She wasn’t angry at the congratulations. She was annoyed that James made the two of them a sideshow. She hadn’t asked to be part of his campaign; it was better if she wasn’t associated with it at all. While most of the town seemed okay with the two of them seeing one another, there was a very vocal minority who continued to bring up her past.

  It was only a matter of time before someone brought up the bus tires and graduation night. She couldn’t lie about the incident. She’d worked too hard to become a respected security expert to lie about a vandalism charge. When townspeople brought up the vandalism, his whole career could go up in flames, because no one would care that both James and Mara had repaid the school anonymously for the damage done. They would care only that James’s part in the prank had caused significant monetary damage to the school.

  Zeke’s body was limp in her arms; he’d finally fallen asleep. She put him gently into the crib Collin had brought down from the attic. She had had to refinish it, but the heirloom crib was now one of her favorite things. She was going to miss the crib. Would miss this room with its soft lavender color and fuzzy rug.

  She would miss Slippery Rock in general, and her family in particular.

  She would miss James most of all.

  Staying was out of the question, and she knew it was cowardly, but she had to get out, and she ha
d to do it quickly. She couldn’t be the reason James lost his chance at the sheriff’s position. Mara took her suitcase from beneath the bed and began to pack shirts and shorts into it.

  Once the suitcase was packed, she started on Zeke’s things. Most of them fit into a small duffel. She went downstairs to pick up his stuffed animals. Mara sat heavily on the couch, running her hands over the soft fur of the lemur that Zeke liked to throw around. The Pack ’n Play was filled with Zeke’s books and a few smaller toys.

  He wouldn’t have a room like this when they found their next hotel. She would need to look into nanny services. Contact a lawyer to set up custody and visitation schedules. It was going to be so hard to drop Zeke off with James for a weekend or a week or... God, for a holiday. And she knew once they started talking about visitation, James would also want to talk about financial support. Mara sighed.

  This wasn’t supposed to be easy, but did it have to be so complicated?

  A car came into the yard—she didn’t have to look to know it was James. The familiar rumble of his Jeep was clear through the closed windows. The rest of her family was still at the market or enjoying the afternoon Founder’s Weekend events. There were a cake-baking competition and carnival games. This evening, the current high school football team would play against the Sailor Five—well, three since Aiden still wasn’t in town and Adam was medically ineligible to play.

  She met James on the porch, putting her index finger to her lips. “I just got Zeke to sleep.”

  “You took off without telling me,” James said, sitting beside her on the porch swing.

  Mara pushed her foot against the floorboard of the porch, setting the swing in motion. “I didn’t want him to be in the middle of whatever was going on with that uniformed guy.”

  “He’s running for sheriff. Against me.”

  “I figured.”

  “His entire platform seems to be based on your rebel reputation and my apparent inability to do anything other than what you tell me to do.”

  Mara nodded. That was exactly what she had been afraid of all this time—her past haunting his present. It wasn’t fair. To him.