Lexy’s only response was a frown, then she pulled the ever-present headphones over her ears and reached inside her backpack to turn on the music.
Hallie didn’t mind. She turned on the stereo and switched the setting from Brady’s preferred country music to rock, then hummed along with the familiar tunes.
When they reached the outskirts of Buffalo Plains, Lexy removed her headphones. “Can we stop by the house? I gotta pee.”
“Such a refined and gracious request,” Hallie teased as she turned onto the side street that was the quickest route to the Marshall house.
When she pulled into the driveway behind her Mercedes, Lexy unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door. “You can wait here if you want. I’m just gonna—” sarcasm glinted in her eyes when she glanced at Hallie “—make use of the facilities, then change clothes.”
Good, Hallie thought silently as she nodded. After her relatively…er, ordinary clothes the past weekend, today Lexy had chosen black leggings that ended midcalf, a black tank top and, over it all, a sheer black dress printed with purple flowers. In keeping with the theme, every single earring she wore was a skull or dagger, and her lipstick was a purple so deep it appeared black in a certain light. It had been all Hallie could do to contain her shudder when she’d first seen her.
Black was hell—uh, hard on a person when the temperature was over a hundred, Lexy thought as she closed the pickup’s door and started across the yard. When she’d gotten up this morning, it had seemed appropriate, considering that she had officially been gone a week and still there’d been no calls from Sandra.
How dense could her mother be? How could she possibly not know that the first place Lexy would go was to her father? Probably she did know, and just didn’t care. And that was okay, ’cause Lexy didn’t care, either. She could never see Sandra again, and it wouldn’t matter to her at all. She was a lousy mother. Hell—heck—Lexy could take care of herself better than Sandra. She’d been doing it practically all her life. And she liked it here with Brady and Hallie. She kinda liked Buffalo Plains and Mrs. Tucker and the kids she’d met Saturday night, and that deputy Mitch who’d come to the house yesterday had been awfully cute. She’d liked him a whole lot.
But she’d still thought Sandra would have called by now.
Scowling because it hurt even though she didn’t care, Lexy climbed the steps, then propped the screen door open with one foot. Brady had let her keep the key she’d snitched after she pointed out that not having it meant she and Hallie had to stay at his house all day or they couldn’t come back once they’d left. Now she opened the door, took a step inside and froze.
Holy— Heck, darn, drat— Hell!
The living room was a mess. The pillows and cushions from the couch and chair were thrown all over the place, and the armchair lay on its side. The end tables were turned over, the lamps they’d held broken, their drawers emptied. All the books and videos from the shelves against the wall were on the floor, the fireplace mantel had been swept clean, and the few green plants had been dumped from their pots, stomped and broken.
And it didn’t end there. She could see her own clothing scattered in the hallway, and in the dining room broken dishes and stuff from the cabinet drawers were everywhere.
Aw, hell, Brady was going to blame her for this, even though he would say he didn’t. How could he not? His life had been perfectly normal until she’d come along. And now this….
And what if the people who did it were still around?
She backed out of the house and let the screen door bang, then backed to the edge of the porch. Instead of bothering with the steps, she jumped to the ground and reached Hallie’s window in seconds. “Someone broke into the house, Hallie! It’s all torn up! You gotta call Brady!”
Sandra would have questioned her and doubted her and gone to see for herself to make sure she wasn’t lying, but not Hallie. She dug in her purse for her cell phone and started dialing without question. Lexy liked that.
Hugging her arms to her chest, Lexy leaned against the bed of the pickup and waited. If weird stuff didn’t quit happening, Brady was going to send her away for sure, and he’d probably never let her come back. He was expecting her to leave soon anyway, though he hadn’t asked her about it lately. But she didn’t want him to decide before then that she was more trouble than she was worth.
Within seconds of Hallie getting off the phone, they heard a siren coming their way from the east side of town. It seemed like just seconds after that, though it must have been at least a couple minutes, when Brady turned onto the street from the highway to the west. Deputy Mitch arrived right after Brady, and they went in the house together, leaving Lexy and Hallie in the driveway.
“He’s awfully good-looking, isn’t he?” Hallie asked.
“Who?”
“Mitch.”
Lexy copied one of her father’s favorite looks—that long, steady, measuring gaze. “A little young for you, isn’t he?”
Hallie’s grin was wicked. “I like ’em young.”
When Lexy didn’t respond, Hallie poked her with her elbow. “Come on, lighten up. Everything’s okay.”
“Easy for you to say. Some idiot out there isn’t stalking you.”
“You’re safe, Lexy. Your dad and I would never let anything happen to you.” She slid her arm around Lexy’s shoulders and hugged her close. Even though it was miserably hot and they were both sticky, it felt really good and—and motherly, Lexy thought. Not that she had much experience with motherly stuff. That wasn’t one of the things Sandra was good at.
After a while, Brady came back out, looking real serious. “They kicked in the back door. It looks like they broke everything they could get their hands on, but as far as I can tell, nothing’s missing.”
“I have to deliver this stuff to Neely’s tile guy,” Hallie said, “but when I’m done, we’ll come back and start cleaning up.”
“No. I don’t want you guys here alone. I’ll do it this evening.” He looked from her to Lexy. “Why did you come back here?”
“I have to use the bathroom. Can I go now?” Lexy asked.
“Yeah, sure. Be careful of the broken glass.”
Hallie watched until Lexy was inside the house, then turned her attention to Brady. She’d seen plenty of men in uniform, but there was something quite amazing about him in his uniform. It fitted as if tailor-made, and the colors—green and khaki, with a tan cowboy hat to match—flattered him. Of course, she hadn’t yet seen him in anything that didn’t fit perfectly, and she doubted the color existed that wouldn’t flatter his dark skin and hair.
Ah, the advantages of being to-die-for gorgeous.
“You look tired,” she remarked.
“Not tired. Just puzzled. Why in hell would someone break in and not take anything? I mean, obviously they were searching for something, but what? All Lexy brought with her was a duffel bag of clothes, and God knows, nobody wants to steal them. What else could a fourteen-year-old girl have?”
“You’re assuming this is connected to what happened Saturday night and yesterday morning,” Hallie said quietly.
“I’ve lived here more than six years, and I’ve never had any trouble. Then Lexy comes to town and—” He gestured toward the house, then shook his head.
“But she’s a kid. She’s not even from around here.”
“I know. And maybe it’s time to send her back where she belongs.”
Hallie stared at him, but he refused to meet her gaze. He looked so serious, so grim and cold. “You can’t do that.”
“Hey, we all knew from the day she got here that she had to go back sometime,” he snapped. “Now seems like a good time.”
“And what if this continues and you’re not there to protect her?”
The muscle in his jaw started twitching. “Her mother will be there.”
“Sandra? You’re kidding, right?”
Wearing a chagrined look, as if he couldn’t believe he’d suggested Sandra as a protector, he s
hrugged. “Her stepfather will be around.”
“The man with all the creepy guys working for him? Oh, yeah, that makes me feel so much better. By all means, put her on the next bus that rolls through town and send her home to the parents who obviously love and protect her as if she were their most precious possession—the parents who thought it perfectly reasonable to put her on the damned bus in the first place!”
Finally he did look at her, his expression belligerent. But his eyes…his eyes were filled with shadows and worry. “So what do you suggest? I let her stay here, and hope we can catch these guys before they get her or you?”
“They’re not interested in me.”
“You’re with her virtually all the time. If you get in their way….”
Hallie focused on breathing deeply, easing the tension and anger—and, yes, fear—knotted inside her. It was another hot day, and the sky was clear from horizon to horizon, a soft pale lazy blue that invited stretching out underneath it and relaxing. It was too bright a day to let darkness take control.
Calmer, she laid her hand on Brady’s arm, bringing his attention to her. “Have you considered the possibility that this is just a run-of-the-mill, garden-variety break-in? Even a perfect little town like Buffalo Plains must have them from time to time.”
“We get our share. But nothing was stolen.”
“Maybe they didn’t have time. Maybe they were looking for cash, jewelry—something small and easy to hide. Maybe—” She broke off as he solemnly shook his head. “She’ll think you’re looking for an excuse to get rid of her.”
“She’ll have to understand—”
“She’s a kid, Brady, who’s spending time with her father for the first time in her life. She’s not going to understand.”
“Then she’ll just have to live with it.”
When he started to turn away, Hallie tightened her grip on his arm. He turned back to look at her, and she quietly asked, “Are you looking for an excuse to get rid of her?”
He hadn’t been cold a few minutes earlier, she realized. Now he was cold—hard, icy, unemotional except for the contempt that darkened his eyes. His movements tautly controlled, he loosened her fingers, then removed her hand from his arm and backed a few steps away. “Make your delivery, bring my truck back, then go to hell.”
“Brady—”
As he crossed the yard to the steps, he gave no indication of hearing her. When he ran into Lexy at the door, he slid his arm around her shoulders, turned her and took her inside with him.
Then he closed the door.
Hallie stood there, stunned by his reaction. Under the circumstances, it had been a fair question. After all, it was one thing to pretend to be Lexy’s father for a few weeks when life was normal. It was another when the girl apparently had enemies who made the situation dangerous. Almost every parent would risk his life to protect his own child. But how many would do the same for someone else’s child?
Brady would.
Hallie wanted to go inside and apologize, to tell him she was worried—not just about Lexy, but about him and Lexy. But when she moved, she didn’t start toward the house. Instead, she climbed into the driver’s seat, started the engine and backed out of the driveway. Neely’s tile guy lived a mile or two west of town and had a workshop out back. As she drove, she located the directions in her purse, then concentrated on following them.
When she’d agreed to help out Neely by spending these few weeks in Oklahoma, she’d thought it would be exactly what she needed—quiet, a slower pace, no familiar faces, a little bit of a job to make her feel useful and plenty of time for planning her future. She’d imagined that September first would roll around, and she would be healed, renewed and ready to face the world. She would know what she wanted to do and where she wanted to be, and life would be worth living again.
Ha!
Wait a minute. Silent wasn’t emphatic enough. “Ha!” she said aloud, and was satisfied with the scorn and disdain she packed into the one word.
She’d been living in Fantasyland.
But where else would the flighty sister live?
Chapter 9
His house was a mess, and his life wasn’t much better.
Brady stood in the middle of the living room, hands on his hips, and looked around. He’d cleaned up all the broken glass, put right the furniture and returned the books and videotapes to their shelves. Two trash bags held everything the punks had broken, and that was just from this room. Lexy had straightened her room and was working in the dining room now, and she was more than a little sullen about it.
He knew she hadn’t overheard his conversation with Hallie that afternoon, because he’d found out later she’d been in the kitchen, talking to Mitch while he dusted around the door for fingerprints. Still, she’d been full of questions when she’d realized that Hallie had left without her, and when Hallie brought back the truck and picked up her car, then left again without a word to them, she’d gotten downright petulant.
“Lex? Let’s take a break.”
She came in from the dining room and stood at the end of the couch. With the table lamps broken and no overhead lights in the room, his only option for lighting had been to pull out the two oil lamps he kept for occasional power outages during the heavy spring and summer thunderstorms. They cast flickering shadows and gave the room a cozy, if dim, atmosphere.
Too bad he didn’t have anyone to get cozy with.
“Why don’t you find something good on TV, and I’ll stick a frozen pizza in the oven,” he suggested.
With a shrug, she dropped down on the couch and turned on the television. He went into the kitchen, stepping over pots and pans, canned goods and empty canisters, the contents of which had been dumped in the sink. He supposed he should be grateful for that, since they could have just as easily dumped the flour, sugar and coffee all over the floor.
But at the moment, about the only thing he could find it in him to be grateful for was the fact that Lexy and Hallie hadn’t returned while the intruders were still there.
He put a large pizza in the oven and set the timer, then began picking up everything on the floor that didn’t belong there. He’d just gathered an armload of pans when Lexy spoke from the doorway.
“Hallie volunteered to help with all this, so where is she?”
His gaze shifted automatically to the window, where no lights showed on the other side of the pasture. That was a good question. The only two rooms in her house whose lights he couldn’t see from his own house were the bathroom and the dining room. It was doubtful she was sitting over there in the dark and unlikely she’d gone to bed this early. Though she’d met a lot of people, he couldn’t think of any she knew well enough to go out with, and there was no place open for shopping at this time of night.
Of course, there was always the bar where he’d met her.
He immediately dismissed that idea. She didn’t make a habit of picking up men in bars.
Even though she’d picked him up in one.
But that had been significantly out of character for her.
And where was it written that she was restricted to only one out-of-character act?
She wasn’t the type.
But that hadn’t stopped her with him.
“I imagine she’s home or…doing something.”
“But she’s not here. Why? What did you say to her to make her not come over?”
Not much, he thought bitterly. Just Go to hell.
Of course he hadn’t meant it. He’d been angry— No. The least he could do was be honest with himself, if no one else. He’d been hurt that she, of all people, could ask that question of him. Are you looking for an excuse to get rid of her?
She knew him better than anyone, and yet she doubted him. She believed he would pretend concern for Lexy’s safety when his real agenda was to remove her from his life.
Which meant she didn’t know him at all.
“What makes you think I said something?” he asked, avoiding looki
ng at her as he ran water into the sink.
“Because she never would have left like that if you hadn’t. Because she would have said goodbye, and she would have come back, like she said she would, unless you did something to keep her away.”
It must be nice to know that someone had such faith in you, Brady thought as he began washing the pots and pans. But it wasn’t fair that Lexy had that faith in Hallie and not him. He was her father, for God’s sake, while Hallie was only…
His words echoed in his head. He was no closer today to knowing whether he was her father than he’d been the day she showed up in town. How had he forgotten that? Was he getting too comfortable with the role he was playing?
He couldn’t afford that.
He just wasn’t sure he could stop it.
“Well?”
He looked at her over his shoulder. Before they’d started cleaning, she’d changed into a pair of faded cutoffs and a Marshall High School T-shirt that was about three sizes too big for her. It was such a normal outfit that he hardly even noticed the purple hair or all the piercings. He hadn’t suspected that she even owned such clothes.
Turning back to the sink, he asked, “Why don’t you go watch TV?”
“Why don’t you answer my question?”
“I don’t know where Hallie is.”
“That wasn’t the question. It was what did you say to make her leave the way she did and not come back?”
“What we talked about is between her and me.”
“When it means I don’t get to see her, it involves me, too.”
Impatience surged through him and made his voice sharper than he’d intended. “Just let it drop, Lexy. It’s none of your business.”
She gave him a go-to-hell look, then spun around and stomped into the living room. A moment later she switched the TV to her favorite music channel—if that discordant, arrhythmic din could be called music—and raised the volume to ear-splitting. His nearest neighbors were an elderly couple who were both hard of hearing, but he wouldn’t be surprised if even they could hear it. But instead of yelling at Lexy to turn it down—no doubt the response she was hoping for—he gritted his teeth and worked at ignoring it.
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