Brenda Novak

by Home to Whiskey Creek

  “You’ve got the wrong man,” she said again. “I think...I think you should let him go, Chief.”

  A bead of sweat ran from Stacy’s hair. It wasn’t hot in the room, but he was overweight and in a rage.

  “Fine,” he snapped. “Go. For now. But this isn’t over. I plan to talk to Shania immediately, and she sure as hell better tell me the truth.”

  “You know where she lives.” Aaron tossed them all a taunting grin and swaggered out.

  Dylan remained a few seconds longer, shaking his head at the police chief. “Really?” he said. “This has to get personal?”

  Stacy hooked his thumbs in his belt. “That boy’s a bad seed.”

  A muscle flexed in Dylan’s cheek. “He’ll get his life figured out.”

  The police chief toyed with Aaron’s knife, which Aaron hadn’t even tried to take. He probably knew he couldn’t. It was tagged as evidence. “If not, someday he’ll wish he had.”

  “I’ll tell him that. Your approval means a lot—to all of us.”

  If Addy had been in a laughing mood, she might’ve chuckled at Dylan’s sarcasm.

  Stacy said something under his breath, but Dylan ignored him and looked at her. “I’m sorry about what happened to you.”

  She’d never known the oldest Amos. He was four years her senior, had been out of high school by the time she was a freshman. She only knew what she’d heard. Not much of it had been good, but she liked him in spite of that. “I’m going to be okay.”

  He gave her an approving nod. “Way to fight,” he said and, with that, he joined Aaron, who was waiting in the anteroom.

  Once they left, Stacy shoved a chair into the wall. “You’ll be sorry if you just caused me to release the guilty party,” he railed.

  Addy stood. “He isn’t the guilty party.”

  “Even if Shania claims they were together, I’m not sure I can rely on that, not if she cares about him.”

  “It wasn’t just his alibi that convinced me. I knew it wasn’t him from the beginning, remember?”

  He scowled at her. “How?”

  She had to look away. She was afraid he’d guess that she wasn’t entirely supportive of his efforts. “Not only did he sound wrong, he smelled wrong, too.”

  “Smell. We’re going by smell?”

  “The kidnapper’s cologne. It was distinctive.”

  “In what way?”

  “I can’t explain it. But I’ll know if I ever smell it again.”

  “Maybe he wasn’t wearing it tonight.”

  “It would still linger....”

  He hesitated, then cursed under his breath. “Okay, for now we’ll see how your instincts and memories work out. But one way or another, I’ll catch the bastard who kidnapped you. And if it’s one of the Amos boys, then all the better.”

  Addy left after that. She didn’t want to be around Chief Stacy anymore. He was too zealous, too determined. And he obviously had an agenda of his own.

  She’d been worried that he’d charge the right person. But what if he charged the wrong person? For her, the effect would be the same, wouldn’t it? If he tried to build a case against Aaron Amos she’d have to come forward. She couldn’t sit idly by and let him destroy an innocent man’s life.

  10

  It wasn’t easy to see her from where he stood, deep in the shadow of the snack bar, but he couldn’t walk out into the open because he didn’t want to be noticed. The fact that Adelaide Davies was already out of the house, jogging around the high school track as if nothing had happened, troubled him. He’d hoped to make more of an impression on her.

  Had he not scared her sufficiently?

  He wasn’t even sure how much damage he’d done. Although he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to get a good glimpse of her face—not since that night. He’d heard she was pretty beat-up. He hadn’t intended to hurt her, but when she’d nearly torn off her blindfold, he’d panicked. Then she’d made things worse by grabbing the steering wheel and causing him to hit that retaining wall. His truck was at a body shop right now, getting fixed. He’d had to take it all the way to Sacramento. They were backed up, but the sooner they finished it, the better. The wall he’d hit was very close to Milly Davies’s house. If he’d left some paint on that retaining wall, and someone decided to check it against his vehicle, he could be in trouble. But he had no idea how to get the paint off, not from such a porous substance, and he didn’t dare try for fear someone would see him doing it.

  With a sigh, he took a sip of the coffee he’d purchased just before noticing Adelaide’s 4-Runner at the intersection. It’d been fifteen years. Why’d she have to come back?

  What had happened at that graduation party might not have been pleasant, but she’d obviously recovered. She was beautiful, maybe even stunning, bruises or no. And look at her run.

  She was fine—no worse for wear.

  Cody, on the other hand...

  “Hey, what’s up? What are you doing here?”

  Startled, he glanced over to see Joyce Weatherby, one of the teachers at Eureka High, out with her dog.

  “Just enjoying the weather,” he said, and walked back to his car before he could bump into anyone else.

  * * *

  “So what’s Addy like these days?”

  This question came from Ted Dixon, one of the ten or so friends Noah met at Black Gold Coffee on Friday mornings. Most of them had known one another since grade school. But the dynamic was slowly changing as people got married and had kids. Today’s was a small gathering. Only five, including himself. Gail, Simon and their two children were on location in northern Alberta, where Simon was working on his latest movie. Callie and her new husband had just left for their slightly belated honeymoon. Sophia DeBussi rarely came out since Ted had offended her during the summer. Even Cheyenne and Dylan, who’d married last February, weren’t here today.

  That left Riley, a single father; Eve, whose family owned Little Mary’s “haunted” B and B, where she and Cheyenne both worked; Kyle, the only divorced member; and Baxter, the only gay member.

  If he was gay... Noah wasn’t going to ask. Why would he? That would just make him feel weird about all the times they’d gone skinny-dipping together, crashed in his bedroom after a party or showered at the gym.

  “She’s...filled out,” he admitted with a wry grin.

  The others laughed as Eve elbowed him. “Leave it to you to notice that.”

  “It’s obvious!”

  “So she’s pretty?” Kyle asked.

  Noah wasn’t thrilled by that question. He didn’t want to incite the interest of his single friends. Although he couldn’t figure out why, he was already at a deficit when it came to Addy. “Maybe.” He added a noncommittal tone to his voice. “Hard to tell with all the swelling and bruising.”

  “I can’t remember her,” Ted said. “What does she look like?”

  “Tall and thin,” Noah told him. “Has blond, wavy hair. Comes just below her shoulder blades.” She had a nice ass, too, but he didn’t say that. While he hadn’t thought much about seeing her bare bottom while extracting those slivers, he was beginning to feel differently about it now.

  “She should’ve become a model,” Eve said. “What is she? Five eleven? Six feet?”

  “She’s at least six feet,” Noah replied. “And she’s a chef.”

  The barista called Baxter’s name and he went to get his chai tea.

  “How long is she planning to stay?” Riley asked.

  Noah shrugged. “She told me she’s here to help her grandmother. I guess she’ll stay until she feels she’s...done enough.”

  Baxter returned with his tea and fell back into the conversation as if he’d never been gone. “Will she take over the restaurant?”

  “She didn’t act like she was going to fire Darlene, if that’s what you mean.” He dared not say more in case Addy hadn’t made her wishes clear to Milly yet.

  Ted sipped his cappuccino, ruining the perfect heart the barista had created in t
he foam. “She’s not married?”

  Noah wasn’t sure Addy wanted everyone to know about her divorce. Regardless, he didn’t want news of it to come from him, so he opted for a simple no.

  Eve stuck a straw in her orange juice. “Some guys are intimidated by tall women, won’t even ask them out.”

  Noah wasn’t intimidated. He loved tall women, especially if they were confident in their height. But he’d always been tall himself, so maybe that was why. “How well do you remember her from high school?” he asked Eve.

  “We had calculus together.” She took a bite of her bran muffin. “She’s smart. I can tell you that. She often tutored kids who were struggling. The teacher recommended her to me and happened to mention that she’d been invited to move two years ahead when she was in eighth grade.”

  “She would’ve graduated with us!” Riley said.

  “Why didn’t she do it?” Ted asked.

  Eve brushed the crumbs from her muffin into a small pile. “There were too many other things going on in her life.”

  “Like...” Noah was more curious than he wanted to be.

  “Her mother was...flighty and self-indulgent. Addy was embarrassed by her behavior. She also hated feeling she wasn’t as important as all the other things her mother pursued. She just wanted to live a conventional life and go through school the way most people did.”

  Riley rested his elbows on the table. “What kind of ‘things’ did her mother pursue?”

  “Men, mostly.” Eve lowered her voice so the other patrons couldn’t overhear. “She kept leaving Adelaide with Milly for longer and longer periods of time. It got to the point that she’d only come back to town when she was going through another split or was down on her luck.”

  “Hi, everyone!”

  They glanced up as Olivia and Brandon approached the table, then shifted to make room for them. Olivia and Brandon hadn’t been part of the original group, but they’d recently started coming on Fridays. Noah doubted their presence was particularly enjoyable for Kyle. Although he’d screwed up his relationship with Olivia and deserved to lose her, he’d been in love with her since Noah could remember, and now she was with his stepbrother.

  In spite of that, Kyle didn’t seem to hate Brandon as much as he had when they were growing up. Noah was pretty sure Kyle was the one who’d initially invited them to this weekly ritual.

  “How’s Adelaide, Noah?” Olivia took a seat while Brandon went to place their order. “I’ve tried calling Milly’s twice, and got a busy signal both times.”

  Noah slid his coffee to the left to give her more space for whatever she was having. “We were just talking about her. I think she’ll be okay.”

  “I was telling them about her mother,” Eve volunteered.

  Olivia made a face. “Mrs. Simpson—I think that was her name two or three marriages ago—wasn’t much to be proud of. Addy always preferred Milly.”

  Brandon returned with a receipt and sat on the edge of his chair, since he’d have to get up again when their order was ready. “We’re talking about Adelaide?”

  “Isn’t everyone, after what happened?” Eve said.

  “What’s up with her?” he asked.

  “That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Riley replied.

  “If she loved being with Milly so much, why’d she stay away so long?” Baxter asked. “I don’t think she’s been back even once in all the years since she left.”

  “If she has, I haven’t seen her,” Eve said.

  Noah stretched out his legs. “You two didn’t stay in touch?”

  “Us? Not really. We didn’t know each other all that well.” She tossed the paper from her straw at him. “I spent most of my time with you guys.”

  Olivia used a napkin to wipe a few drops of cream from the table. “Addy and I were probably better friends, since we were in the same class. At one point we were pretty close but then she sort of...changed.”

  Bringing his feet in, Noah sat up. “In what way?”

  “She became quiet, reflective, hard to reach. I don’t know, she just...closed up. Then we both graduated and left for college, and I hardly ever heard from her after that.”

  “Do you know where she was working before coming here?”

  Olivia blinked at him. “Are you about to tell me?”

  “No, I’d like to find out.”

  “I have no clue,” she said. “Why do you care?”

  Noah wanted to learn why she’d been attacked, and why she was so determined to downplay it. And since she was new in town, he thought those answers might lie in where she’d been before. “Just curious.”

  “I guess you’ll have to ask her,” Eve said. “It doesn’t sound like she kept in touch with anyone.”

  Noah nodded as if that was a possibility, and the conversation moved on to Riley. Riley had received another letter from his son, Jacob’s, mother. Phoenix had spent Jacob’s entire life in prison. She’d even delivered him as a convict, at which point Riley and his family took custody.

  “I wish she’d leave me alone,” he said with a grimace.

  Ted raised an eyebrow at him. “Have you asked her to?”

  “I have. She claims she’s only staying in touch because of Jacob. She swears she’s a changed person, that she’ll be a good mom, that she just wants to know her son.”

  Noah was sort of glad Dylan wasn’t here today. He fell silent whenever the subject of Phoenix came up because he could identify with the dread Riley was feeling. Dylan’s father had been in prison even longer than Phoenix and, if J. T. Amos made parole, he’d be out next summer, too.

  “You don’t believe her?” Baxter asked.

  Riley took a second to answer. “To a point I do. I mean...I’d feel the same if I were her.”

  “You can’t judge the situation according to how you’d feel,” Ted said. “She could be using Jacob as an excuse to get close to you again.”

  “No.” Riley shook his head. “What we had was way back in high school and it was brief even then. I’m sure she’s over it, especially after all this time. How long were we together? A few weeks?”

  Ted threw aside an empty sugar packet. “Long enough for her to become so infatuated and obsessed that she ran down the next girl you dated.”

  Riley raked a hand through his hair. “She wasn’t thinking straight. She was pregnant, and she hadn’t told me or anyone else.”

  “That’s no excuse,” Ted pointed out. “She was different back then, and she might still be different. You have to remember that prison isn’t a cure-all for someone who’s not right in the head.”

  “True,” Brandon said. “Most people get more screwed up when they go inside.”

  “I realize that,” Riley conceded. “But...she regrets what she did. She’s apologized a million times. In every letter.”

  They called Brandon’s name and he headed to the counter.

  “How does that change anything?” Ted asked Riley.

  Riley jammed his plastic spoon into his yogurt. “I’m not sure it does. That’s the problem. I don’t want to be hard-hearted or unfair, but...I wish she’d go somewhere else when she gets out. I can’t believe it’ll be good for Jacob to have someone with her history suddenly enter his life, even if she is his mother. Especially if she is his mother.”

  Olivia seemed the most compassionate, but she hadn’t been as close to Riley when this was happening as the rest of them, so she wasn’t as firmly on his side. “Does Jacob want to get to know her? Has he been writing to her?”

  “Maybe he would if I gave him her letters. But...I’m afraid to pass them along.” He rocked back on his chair, balancing against the back wall. “I mean...Ted’s right. What if she’s as unbalanced as she was fifteen years ago?”

  “What if she’s worse?” Kyle said.

  Kyle knew a little about unbalanced females. He’d been married to Noelle, after all. But no one was going to say that in front of her sister. Maybe Olivia didn’t get along with Noelle, but they wer
e family.

  Brandon slid a bagel over to his wife, and she gave him a dazzling smile, one that said she was as much in love as the day they got married.

  Kyle flinched, but then he looked away, cleared his throat and asked Riley what his parents had to say about the situation.

  “They don’t want us to have anything to do with her.” Riley dropped his chair back on all fours. “And I feel they have the right to weigh in, since they cared for Jacob during his first year. I was too young, didn’t know what to do with a baby. I couldn’t have gotten by without them.”

  Olivia slipped an arm around her husband. “And Phoenix is going to be released this summer?”

  “If she doesn’t get into another fight and have to serve more time.”

  Brandon had just taken a bite of his wife’s bagel but he spoke around it. “She fights?”

  “She claims she was jumped the last time, but...who knows?” Riley grumbled.

  “I guess the moral is...be careful who you sleep with,” Ted said dryly.

  Riley didn’t appreciate his remark. “Thanks for your advice, fifteen years after the fact, Ted. But I was seventeen when I made that mistake. That’s only three years older than Jacob is now. Anyway, I honestly can’t regret bringing him into my life.”

  Eve smiled at him. “Of course not. We all love Jacob.”

  “Jacob was about the only good thing to come out of that year,” Baxter said.

  They’d lost Cody not long after Phoenix hit and killed Lori Mansfield with her mother’s car. Noah knew Baxter was referring to his brother’s death, but he didn’t like the reminder. Neither did he like the way everyone turned to him, wearing sympathetic expressions. He was tempted to pretend he hadn’t even heard Baxter, but they were all expecting him to make some comment.

  “Hard to believe it’s been fifteen years,” he mumbled. “Seems like yesterday.”

  “I know. Jacob grew up almost overnight,” Riley said. “Or maybe it just feels that way because I’m still not married,” he added with a weak laugh.

  Eve twirled a lock of her silky dark hair. “I’ve been feeling my biological clock ticking away, too. As a group, we’re pretty late to the marriage party.”