As I stared down at the journal entry, a wet spot appeared on the page, slightly smearing the ink. I wiped my face, which is when I realized I’d started to cry. I set the book on a table next to the chair and lay back against the cushions, closing my eyes. Reassured that she is deeply loved and cherished. I had never really felt loved and cherished until meeting Joe. His love had helped me blossom into the woman I was today. Jonah insisted I had done it on my own, but I didn’t believe that was entirely true. Joe had given me the gift of fun and happiness and joy. He’d loved me unconditionally. But Joe’s love had been wrapped in secrets and each time a new one had unfolded, more distrust had seeped in. Part of me still loved Joe, but the bottom line was that I didn’t trust him and never could again. And without trust, we had nothing.
I stood and wiped my eyes. Enough wallowing. Joe was in my past, and it was time for me to move on, whether with Mason or not.
Movement caught my eye behind the house. I parted the curtains to see a figure in a tan sheriff’s uniform heading for the barn. I couldn’t see his face, but he had dark hair. Deputy Miller.
I picked up the journal and stuffed it back into the drawer. I was supposed to be looking for Mason’s phone and I hoped he hadn’t resorted to looking for it himself. Grabbing the now cold cup of coffee, I headed down to the kitchen to grab the coffee pot before heading to the office.
Mason was still bent over his desk. “I didn’t find your phone,” I said.
He looked up with a worried expression. “That’s so odd. I could swear I set it down right there—” he pointed to the corner of the desk “—when I came in here with Jeff. I don’t remember seeing it after that. I wonder if he picked it up accidently thinking it was his own.” His gaze shifted to the coffee pot in my hand and he grinned. “If you’re here to give me a refill, you really are an angel sent from heaven.”
The similarity to my mother’s journal entry caught me off guard and I hesitated before refilling his cup.
He noticed the change in my face. “Is everything okay? Did something else happen with that deputy?”
Frowning, I shook my head. “No. Nothing like that. I read some of that journal I found, which is why it took me so long to come back down. Dora called me her angel sent to save her.”
His face fell. “Rose…I’m sorry… I didn’t know….”
I offered him a smile. “Of course you didn’t.” I waved my hand. “I’m fine. She’s just beginning to feel more real to me, is all.”
“Well, I’m here if you need me, okay? Don’t worry about bothering me.”
“Thanks.”
I headed out the front door, Muffy trotting along. She ran down the steps and claimed a bush. I was going to offer fresh coffee to the deputies, but Deputy Miller wasn’t on the porch. He came running around the corner of the house and skidded to a halt when he saw me.
“Ms. Gardner, I hear you’re a landscaping expert and I saw a bush on the side of the house that I don’t recognize. I’d like to get one for my mother. Could you come look at it and tell me what it is?”
My back stiffened. “I don’t…”
Deputy Gyer sat up and gave the other man a look of disgust. “What are you thinking? She’s not supposed to be outside. Now get your ass up here.”
Deputy Miller slowly climbed the steps to the porch and sat in his chair. His whole body seemed to hum with agitation.
Giving me a smile, Deputy Gyer lifted his open travel mug. “If you’re offering refills, I’d be obliged.”
I stepped in front of Deputy Miller to top up the mug. I had already started to pour when my vision began to fade.
I was running through a field, out of breath. The sky overhead was dark and gray. Continuing to push my way through, I shouted, “I don’t see them!”
“Well, find them, dammit,” a familiar male voice snarled.
Just as suddenly, I was back on the front porch, coffee overflowing from the mug onto the floor. “You’re looking for someone.”
Deputy Gyer jerked his hand back, splashing more coffee on his coat. “What?”
Who had he been looking for? While all fields looked similar, I was certain it was the one on my farm. And suddenly something registered—I knew the other voice from the vision.
I needed to tell Mason immediately, but first I needed to cover my tracks. “Isn’t that what you’re doing? Looking for Daniel Crocker?”
He shot me another glare before turning away to look at the driveway.
My cell phone vibrated in my pocket.
“They’re trying to find him, Rose,” Deputy Miller said, offering me an apologetic look. “Hopefully, this will all be over soon.”
I looked away from his face and down to his chest. A necklace half-hung out of his shirt. My breath caught in my throat.
It was a St. Jude’s medallion.
Chapter Twenty
I nearly dropped the coffee pot. “Let’s go inside, Muffy,” I called out, worried that my voice was shaky.
“She can stay outside,” Deputy Miller said. “I’ll watch her.”
“No.” My voice broke and I told myself to get it together. “It’s getting colder and I want her to come in where it’s warm.” I’d be the first to admit it was a lame excuse, but it was the best I could come up with on the spot. I went down two steps toward the yard and shouted, “Muffy!”
My little dog jerked her head up, startled. I understood why. I never shouted at her.
“Come on, girl.” It was taking every ounce of control I had not to fall apart there in front of the deputies, but I needed her to come with me.
Thankfully, my short tone caught her attention and she ran up the steps.
As I turned to go back up, something on the ground caught my eye, partially hidden between the porch and the bushes. A cell phone with a cracked screen.
Mason’s phone.
“Is everything all right, Ms. Gardner?” Deputy Gyer asked, sitting up straighter.
Fear bubbled in my chest and I took a deep breath to get control of myself. I climbed the steps to the porch, tripping on the last one. “Yes, of course. I just forgot I left another batch of biscuits in the oven. I don’t want the house to burn down.”
Wrong choice of words. A strange expression flashed over Deputy Miller’s face.
I opened the front door, and I walked in after Muffy, shutting and locking the door behind us. I set the hot coffee pot on a placemat on the dining room table and ran into the office.
Mason took one look at my panicked face and jumped out of his seat. “What’s wrong?”
I started crying, trying to catch my breath.
“Rose! What happened?”
“Deputy Miller…he…” I knew I needed to get a hold of myself, but I couldn’t.
Anger flickered in Mason’s eyes. “Did he act inappropriately again?”
He started for the office door, but I snagged his hand and pulled him back. “No! I had a vision.”
Mason grabbed my arms, bending down so his face was level with mine. “Breathe, just breathe. It’s going to be okay. What did you see?”
“He was running through a field. I think it was here on the farm. He said ‘I don’t see them,’ and then a guy growled, ‘Well, find them dammit.’” I looked up into his face. “The other man was Daniel Crocker, I’m sure of it.”
Mason’s face remained expressionless, but a flicker of fear passed through his eyes before determination replaced it. “Was it day or night?”
“Uh…day.”
“Where was the sun?”
“I don’t know, Mason.” I shook my head in frustration. “I was looking at the field.”
“Did you see the house?”
“No.”
“So you were looking away from the house. You were probably facing north.”
I stared at him, bewildered.
“Did you see any shadows?”
“I don’t remember.”
He pulled me over to the chair in the corner of the office and sat
me down, kneeling in front of me. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath before trying to remember your vision.”
I did as he instructed. The field was in front of me, the grass trampled, but this time the shadows came in focus. “Yes, I can see them.”
“Which way are the shadows pointing? To your right or to your left?”
I squinted tighter. “Neither. They are kind of pointing in front of me, but not very much.” I opened my eyes.
“Rose, I know that not all of your visions come true. How sure are you that this one will?”
I shook my head, fighting tears. “I don’t know. I never know that part. We could change it, but I don’t know how.”
“How soon after you see a vision does it usually come true?”
“Sometimes soon, sometimes days later.”
“So this could happen today or two days from now?”
I nodded. “But there’s more. After I had my vision, I saw a necklace hanging out of Deputy Miller’s jacket. It was a St. Jude’s medallion.”
Panic filled his eyes. “Shit!” Mason growled, turning to search under his desk. “Where’s my goddamned cell phone? I swear to God it was right there.” His head popped up and he turned to look at me, his eyes steely.
I wanted to break down and cry but I needed to keep it together. “I think I saw it on the ground out front.”
Confusion washed over his face.
“It was between the porch and the bushes. The screen was smashed.”
His face reddened with anger. “Deputy Miller was in the kitchen with you when I came back into the house. He could have taken my phone.”
I sucked in deep breaths, trying not to panic.
“Where’s yours?”
I dug it out of my pocket, remembering I’d missed a phone call. I looked at the screen and saw Bruce Wayne’s name but there wasn’t a voice mail. Shoving the phone at Mason, I took several deep breaths, close to passing out.
“Bruce Wayne?” Mason looked up from the phone. “You missed the call?”
I nodded. “The last time he called me was right before Crocker’s men showed up.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the chair and into the kitchen, reaching for his gun bag on the table. He pulled out a shotgun and laid it on the table.
The implications of that gun scared me even more. This was really happening. “There’s something else,” I said. “Before I had my vision, Deputy Miller tried to get me to go around the house with him. Alone.”
Mason’s face paled. “He was trying to abduct you.” He stopped and punched a number into the phone, “Jeff, it’s Mason. We’ve been compromised. It’s Deputy Miller.” His voice was tight and official. “No. I can’t wait. He just tried to abduct Rose. I’m getting her out of here now.” He paused. “I’m going to take the old truck and go out the back gate. I’ll meet you at the Methodist church—” He looked down at the phone and tossed it onto the table. “Goddammit! He lost cell service.”
To my irritation, I started to cry again.
Mason moved in front of me. “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I nodded but I didn’t believe it. If there was one thing I’d learned, it was that bad things happened to people all the time. Mason would do everything in his power to protect me, but he couldn’t guarantee my safety. No one could.
I took a deep breath and held it. Strangely enough, it made me feel better. “What are we going to do?”
“You heard my plan. We’ll take the truck and meet Jeff at the Methodist church parking lot in Clearwater. Moore County. Jeff’s the only person in the sheriff’s department I know we can trust.”
“Only he didn’t hear that part.”
“He’ll call back.” Mason loaded a shotgun and laid it on the table. “I’ll tell the deputies that I’m going to check the fence again, but we’ll take off instead. It should buy us enough time to leave the county.”
“Where will we go if he doesn’t call back?”
“I don’t know.” He stood and put a hand behind his head. “I’ll need to think about it.” His voice hardened. “We should call the state police.”
I stood and grabbed his hand. “I know someone in the state police we can trust.”
He searched my eyes then nodded. “It won’t look strange if you’re the one to call him. He was your boyfriend and he’s with the state police. You’re scared. Spin it that way in case they’re listening to your calls. Make it believable.”
“You think someone is listening to our calls?”
“I have no idea, but I’m paranoid enough at this point to go there. Maybe that’s why my call to Jeff was dropped.”
I took a deep breath. “Are you sure you want me to call Joe?”
“Rose, I’m not the jealous type,” he said, his voice gruff. “Even if I was, what kind of ass would I be if I didn’t want you to ask for his help? The reason I didn’t think about it before was because I honestly thought we were safe here.” Pain covered his face. “Obviously I was wrong.”
“Okay.” I reached over the table for the phone and pulled up my speed dial numbers. Joe’s name was still on the list, but after several rings the call went to voice mail. “Joe, this is Rose. I need to talk to you as soon as possible.” I glanced up at Mason and he nodded. But I couldn’t say the next part while facing him, so I spun around. “Joe, I’m in trouble and I need your help. It’s about Daniel Crocker. I’m really scared.” My voice broke. What would this call do to him? Joe had been devastated when I left him at the nursery. Would he think I wanted him back? “Just call me. Please.” I hung up and put the phone down on the table, pushing it away as though it were tainted. I tried not to think of the similarity to the call Savannah had made to Joe before she was attacked.
“You did the right thing.” Mason grabbed my waist and turned me to face him, wrapping his arms around my back and pulling me into a hug.
“That call could kill him, Mason. He begged me to give him another chance. What if he thinks I want him back and then finds out I don’t? What will he think of me then?”
He buried his hand in my hair, holding me close. “No matter what happened between you two, he obviously still loves you and wants you to be safe. He’ll be glad you called.”
“He might not want to call me back.”
“If he gets the message, he will.”
I looked up at him, questioning. “What do you mean if he gets the message?”
“His fiancée might be screening his calls. I saw the way she was watching the back room while you were in there with Joe. She’s terrified that you’ll take him back.”
“Hilary would screen his calls?” But even as I said the words, I knew he was right. She’d already done it this past summer when she was working with Joe in Little Rock.
I grabbed fistfuls of Mason’s shirt. “I really am scared.” My fingers quivered, loosening my hold on his shirt.
“I know. I am too, but for an additional reason. Only five people know we’re here. What if Crocker gets to Jeff? I’d like for someone on the outside to know we’re in trouble. Otherwise it would be too easy for them to make us disappear and come up with a believable explanation.”
I shivered.
“God, Rose. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so blunt.”
“No, don’t hide things from me. I have a right to know.” The room was spinning and my vision was fading, but my irritation superseded my fear. I will not pass out. I sat down on the edge of the table so I wouldn’t fall over and tried to take a deep breath.
“Give me the phone. I’ll call the state police myself and hope I don’t get cut off.”
As I started to hand it to him my phone buzzed and I looked down to see a text message from Bruce Wayne.
Get out now. They’re on their way.
Mason read the message over my shoulder. “Dammit.” He reached for the phone, but the screen went blank as the phone died.
I cringed. “It only had ten percent power t
his morning.”
Mason’s body tensed as he tossed the phone on the table, his voice was gruff. “We have to go. Now.”
I stood, my body reacting in slow motion.
He glanced at my arms. “Get your coat.” He grabbed the shotgun off the table. “But don’t let the deputies see what you’re doing.”
I nodded and hurried into the living room to grab my jacket before returning into the kitchen.
Mason zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Did they see you?”
“No.” I glanced down at my dog, who had been unusually quiet since coming inside. “What about Muffy?” I asked, worried to hear his answer.
“We’ll take her with us, of course.”
Relief flowed through me.
He headed for the back door. “We need to leave now. But if we run out to the barn and the deputies see us, they’ll know we know something. We don’t want to make them suspicious, so we’ll walk… But walk quickly.”
“Okay.”
I followed him outside, and he reached for me, his fingers curling around the side of my hand. When we were halfway to the barn, he turned to look back the house. I couldn’t make myself do the same, terrified I’d see Deputy Miller pointing a gun at us. Instead, I glanced down at Muffy, who seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. She was sticking close to my side like she had been all morning.
When we reached the barn, Mason released my hand and gave one of the old wooden doors a hard shove. I gripped the other door and pushed too, leaning my shoulder into it when it wouldn’t budge.
Once we had the doors open, Mason placed his hand on the middle of my back and pushed me toward the passenger door of the truck. He tossed the bag into the back, but then he caught sight of something that made him curse.
“What?”
He gestured to the wall. “Stay here.”
I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but when I glanced down, I saw for myself. The tires were flat. Mason circled the truck before coming to a stop in front of me, anger in his eyes. “Someone’s slashed all the tires.”
Thirty-One and a Half Regrets (Rose Gardner Mystery #4) Page 22