Cole looked at his feet and shook his head.
Analise said, “I think I’ll wait until he looks like himself.”
Dave patted Ana’s back and let his hand remain protectively on her waist.
Luke wanted to rip his arm off.
A short while later, as Luke drove back to Magnolia Mile, Olivia was understandably quiet. Which was fine with him; it left him alone with the thoughts that were quickly gelling into a conviction.
Looking occasionally in the rearview mirror at Dave’s headlights, he decided that, once back at the house, he and Dave were going to have a serious discussion.
Olivia decided they should all have some herbal tea to calm them when they got home. She put on the kettle while Ana, Dave and Luke sat down at the kitchen table.
Cole said, “I’m going upstairs.”
Olivia cast him a sympathetic look. “Not feeling any better?”
He gave Luke a stony look. “No.” Then he left the room.
Luke saw that Dave didn’t miss Cole’s anger. A little light seemed to dawn in the deputy’s eye.
The four of them sat around the table and sipped their tea in silence. Olivia and Analise both looked hollow-eyed and moved with the lead-limbed slowness of the exhausted. Luke had plenty he wanted to say, just not in front of the women. Dave spent his time giving Luke a gaze that said he was sizing him up—as if they were two gladiators about to go into the ring.
Just as the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall was beginning to get on Luke’s nerves, Olivia set down her cup and said, “I think I’ll head up to bed. I’ll want to go see Rufus tomorrow before I open the shop.”
Dave stood when Olivia got up from the table. To Luke, it didn’t look like fine southern manners, it looked like sucking up.
Before Dave sat back down, Luke stood, too. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
Dave’s gaze narrowed. “I think it might be best if I slept here on the couch tonight. After all, somebody drugged that dog for a reason. I’m worried he’s going to come back.”
Luke shifted his weight and cast an uncomfortable glance at Analise. “Then maybe you and I should take a walk around the property, just to check things out.”
Dave gave a shake of his head that said Luke just didn’t understand law enforcement. “And leave the ladies and Cole here in the house alone? I don’t think so.” He nodded toward the back door. “Since you’re so highly trained at sneaking around in the dark and all, why don’t you go scout the area and I’ll stay here just to make sure no one takes advantage of the situation.”
Luke gave him a hard stare that didn’t seem to faze him. “I think I will.” It was either that or he was going to give in to the urge to knock that smug look off of Deputy Dave’s face right here in front of Analise.
He grabbed his jacket and went out the door, closing it much harder than necessary behind him.
As soon as Luke was out the door, Analise wanted to follow him. She’d been fighting the urge all evening to lean on him for emotional support. But she knew she had to stand on her own; someday soon Luke was going to be leaving and taking those broad shoulders with him. Besides, there could be no more little lapses in front of Cole.
So, instead of running after Luke, she asked Dave, “More tea?”
“Please. Then sit down. I’ve been thinking and have something I want to say to you while he’s outside.”
The enigmatic tone in Dave’s voice set her on edge. She got the tea and sat.
His face said he was the bearer of bad news. He licked his lips, then said quietly, “I’m concerned about you three staying out here with that man.”
“What? That’s ridiculous—”
He reached out and put a hand over hers. “Ana, you know I think of you and Liv and Cole as family. There are . . . warning signs that we just can no longer ignore.” He shifted, as if uncomfortable talking about this. “Some men choose to go into the army because they need to be heroes—sometimes when their ability to do that is taken from them, they . . . manufacture situations. Like remember a couple of years back, that firefighter up north that set fires just so he could go in and rescue people?”
Analise furrowed her brow and shook her head. “You’re talking crazy here.”
“Exactly. Crazy.”
“That’s not what I—”
He leaned closer. “Listen, Ana, I want to get this out before he comes back. We have to send him away without his knowing we figured it out—who knows what a man like him is capable of doing.”
“Figured what out?”
“Let’s ask ourselves why a man like Luke would just abandon his own life to plant bushes here in our little town. Why did he come here in the first place?”
“He came to offer his sympathy as Calvin’s friend.”
“A card or a phone call could have accomplished that—” He cut himself off when the back door rattled and Luke came back in.
Dave leaned back in his chair and threw his arm over the back, suddenly the very picture of tranquillity. “Perimeter secure?” he asked Luke in a very belittling tone.
Something very peculiar was going on here. First, Dave’s bizarre accusations, and now Luke looked like he was ready to explode. His jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed to slits.
He pointed a finger at Dave. His voice was threatening, yet cool, when he said, “I don’t want to discuss this in front of Analise. So why don’t you and I step outside?”
Dave dipped his chin slightly at Analise, as if to say, See, I was just telling you he’s crazy.
Analise said, “What in the hell is going on here? You both are acting nuts.”
A look of resignation came over Luke’s face. “Fine”—he gave Dave a pointed look—“you want to stay here? Here it is. When I talked to Roy this morning, the man was scared witless; he was leaving. And he didn’t know anything about the paint on your car—he’s not smart enough to be that convincing of a liar. I don’t think he came back here and drugged Rufus.”
Dave started to say something, but Luke pointed a finger at him and said, “You’ll get your turn.
“I just can’t see Roy taking the trouble to go to the drugstore to buy Benadryl—which he’s probably never heard of, by the way—to take down a dog, when there are plenty of chemicals around this place that he’s quite familiar with that could have done the job. Besides, Roy would have stuffed it in hot dogs, not prime beef.”
Dave got slowly to his feet. “You know, those were the same things I was just about to bring to Ana’s attention myself. Doesn’t seem like Roy at all.” He paused. “I’m thinking maybe you’re the one who wants to keep Analise frightened, make her want you here for protection.” He pointed at Luke. “You fired Roy, setting this all up. The rock through the window gave you the excuse to move in. Now you just have to keep the threat of danger high enough to have a reason to stick around.”
Suddenly Luke looked wary. “You slick bastard! You saw it coming and now you’re turning the tables on me.”
Dave stepped around the table to stand directly in front of Luke. “What I’ve seen coming is a hotshot Ranger out of work who needs to feed his ego—a guy who wants this family beholden to him.”
Moving slightly closer to Dave, Luke said, “You’re much more clever than I gave you credit for. I thought you just wanted them to need you—but you were setting me up.”
Dave poked Luke in the chest. “I should haul your ass to jail!”
“For what—”
Analise stepped up and put a hand on each man’s chest and shoved them apart. “Enough! This is absolutely ridiculous. I think you’re both crazy.” She turned to Dave, her anger bubbling over. “I want you to go home and go to bed.”
He started to say something and she cut him off by raising her palm in his face. “No! Don’t say anything else. Don’t make this worse. Rufus is sick because someone deliberately drugged him. If I thought for a single minute that it was either one of you, I’d poison you myself. Just go home and we can for
get this conversation ever happened.”
“You’re not safe,” Dave said.
“From the sound of things”—she shot Luke a sharp look—“I’m not safe with either of you around. Go home, Dave.”
After giving Luke a long, threatening look, he left.
Analise stood with her hands on her hips, breathing heavily, her eyes on the door. She didn’t want to look at Luke. If she let loose all of her frustration right now, nothing good would come of it. When she heard Dave’s car start and pull out of the drive, she turned and started to leave the kitchen.
“Analise . . .”
She didn’t pause or turn. “I don’t want to hear it.” She went up to her room and closed the door.
For the first few minutes, she stood, staring out the window, rubbing the back of her neck, fighting the thoughts that whirled wildly in her mind. So far Cole had held his tongue, if not his attitude. But he was angry, and an angry teenager was at best unpredictable. He was sure to say something that would tip Olivia off about her relationship with Luke.
And worry over Rufus gnawed at her. The vet said he’d make it, but what if something still went wrong? She knew she should have gone in to see him before they left Dr. Flynn’s. But the image of the dog limp in Luke’s arms had burned itself indelibly on her mind, which was horrible enough; she didn’t want to risk having her last memory of Rufus one in which he was stretched out on an examination table with tubes stuck in him.
Worst of all, that peculiar exchange in the kitchen had her reeling. She could hardly believe Dave and Luke had stood there pointing fingers at one another. What was she supposed to think?
She had stopped them when she should have stood her ground and demanded the truth be dragged out and into the light. Instead, she’d run from the room, like a child with her hands over her ears to keep from hearing something she didn’t want to.
She’d like to believe she knew Luke, what kind of man he was. But the fact was, she had only known him a matter of days. She’d thought she’d known Calvin, too. Were there things deep inside Luke that were dark and manipulative?
She wanted with all of her heart to believe that Roy was at the bottom of all of this. If not . . . well, it was just too horrible to consider.
Cole had locked his bedroom door when he came in, just in case Ana or Luke got it in one of their heads to come in and “explain” things to him. There was nothing either of them had to say that he wanted to hear.
He was too pissed to sleep. He couldn’t get on the Internet, because his mom had taken away his connection as part of his punishment. She said it wasn’t for the drinking, or for taking the car out when he wasn’t supposed to. It was because he’d lied to her—broken her trust.
Wonder what she’d do to Ana if she knew the big fat lie she was living? How much more of a breach in trust could there be?
He’d been tempted to tell his mom right away. But thank goodness he’d waited. If he had, who knows what kind of scene would have erupted? Just maybe it would have forced Analise to leave—to take off with Luke. Luke had said he didn’t want to take Analise with him, but Cole wasn’t so sure—he’d seen the way they were looking at each other in the metal studio.
Mom had taken the telephone out of his room, too. Luckily, things had been in such an uproar over Rufus tonight, he’d been able to snag the cordless from the living room without anyone noticing.
Someone knocked at the door. “Cole,” his mother said softly, “you asleep?”
He held perfectly still, barely breathing, until she walked on and he heard her bedroom door close.
Then he tiptoed into his closet with the handset for the phone. He’d looked up Becca’s telephone number in the student directory when he’d first come upstairs. He’d been debating whether or not to call her for the past hour. So much had happened since she’d dropped him off. And for some reason he felt compelled to talk to her about it.
Sitting in his closet in the dark, he felt particularly isolated from his family as he called Becca.
“Hello?” Damn, it was her mom.
He battled the impulse to hang up. He asked for Becca in a voice that was unsteady—what was wrong with him?
When Becca picked up the phone, Cole said, “Hey, what’s up?” Lame. Lame. Lame.
“I was just doing my history for tomorrow.”
“Arrrgh. I’d forgotten about that.” That’s all he needed, was another incomplete assignment.
“It’s not too bad. I started it about twenty minutes ago, and I’m almost done.”
“Yeah, well, you’re a brain.”
“Come on, Cole, it’s history, not nuclear physics—it won’t be a big deal for you either. But if you have trouble, just call me back and I’ll help you.”
How embarrassing would that be? She’d just said it was easy—if he called he’d really look stupid. “Um, I just called to make sure your foot is okay—after stepping through the floor and all.”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Thanks again for sharing that place with me.”
She called it “sharing”—funny, that’s how it felt.
He said, “No problem. It was fun—even the rain.” He paused. “After I got home, we had to take our dog to the vet. Somebody drugged him.”
“Oh, how awful! Is he all right?”
“He’s still at Dr. Flynn’s, but he should be fine.”
“I just can’t believe someone would do something like that.” She sounded really mad.
Well, he decided he’d give her a little more fuel for that fire. He dropped his voice and said, “Something else happened, too.”
“What?” There was concern in her voice now.
He hesitated.
“Cole, you can tell me. You know I’m not going to tell anyone else.”
Suddenly he did know just that. He knew that whatever he said to Becca would stay with her, not like so many of the other girls who just couldn’t keep their mouths shut. “You remember that guy who’s staying with us?”
“Yeah, Mr. Boudreau. I met him at Rib Fest.”
“After you dropped me off, Mom said he and Ana were in the metal studio working on the fountain. Well, I went up there—and”—he swallowed hard—“they weren’t working on the fountain, if you know what I mean.” There, it was out. He waited for her to explode with indignation.
After a pause, she said, “He seemed like a nice enough guy.”
“Becca! He was kissing my brother’s wife!”
“Oh, it was just a kiss?” She sounded surprised; apparently she’d thought it had gone much further, which made Cole flash hot with anger. Then she added, in a light and teasing tone, “I told you, you shouldn’t make too big a deal over a kiss.”
“Forget it! I thought if anybody . . . I thought you’d understand.”
“Wait, Cole! I’m sorry.”
He didn’t hang up.
She said, “I didn’t mean to discount your feelings—it’s just . . .”
“Just what?” He couldn’t keep the angry edge from his voice.
“Ana’s young. Calvin’s been gone awhile. Sooner or later it was going to happen. At least it’s someone y’all like.”
“He’s been gone for five months! Five stinkin’ months!” He realized he was shouting and lowered his voice before he woke his mother. “And you think it’s okay she hooks up with his best buddy from the army?”
“I don’t know that it’s okay, that’s not for me to say. I said it’s understandable.”
“I see,” he said harshly.
“Hey, don’t jump all over me! I didn’t kiss him.”
“No, you kissed me. And now I see just how little that means to you.” He disconnected the phone.
He sat in the dark for a while. In the back of his mind, he was hoping she’d call him back. She didn’t.
He’d thought Becca was different—just like he’d thought Ana was different. Now he knew, all girls were alike—shallow and selfish.
He went to bed without doing his history assi
gnment.
Analise dodged the Roy-Dave-Luke subject all day. It wasn’t that it didn’t dominate her thoughts, it was just that she didn’t want to discuss it with Luke. She realized that was the coward’s way, but it was how she had to deal with it, at least for today. The whole situation had made it impossible for her to sleep last night, and her nerves were raw as a result. It was all she could do to cope with the work at hand. Luke had tried to bring it up once, but she made it perfectly clear she was not going to discuss it.
At least the man had the sense to realize how prickly she was today and didn’t push it. When they arrived home, Olivia’s car was gone. As the shop had closed a half an hour before, Analise assumed she’d gone to see Rufus. Ana preceded Luke through the back door into the kitchen. The mail was on the kitchen table; she gave it a cursory glance as she walked by.
Then she stopped dead in her tracks. Lying opened on the table was a nine-by-twelve envelope from the U.S. Army addressed to Cole Lejeune. Her mouth went dry as she picked it up. It was empty.
“I wonder why he got this,” she said.
Luke looked at what was in her hand as he passed. “Oh, I requested some information for him.”
She spun around, her mouth hanging open. “You did what?” The edge in her voice could not be mistaken for joy.
Luke stopped in the doorway to the hall. “He was talking about enlisting, so I offered to get him some information on different career opportunities. It’s no big deal.”
She took two steps closer to him and waved the empty envelope in the air like an indictment. “You have no business encouraging him to join the army! He’s just a boy—and things have been difficult lately. This is no time for him to be making such a decision.”
“He brought the subject up. He said he was thinking about Ranger—”
“Rangers! He’s only sixteen.”
Luke’s face hardened. “Sooner or later you’re going to have to face the fact that he’s growing up. One day, in the not-too-distant future, he’s going to leave here—whether it’s to the army, or college, or to climb mountains. He has to find his own life.”
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