The Gray-Haired Knitting Detective Series: (Books 1 - 3)

by D. E. Haggerty

Tommy’s eyes bug out. I shrug. He probably forgot he told me that. Just another man who thinks I’m stupid. I drop my hand and start walking to the jeans displayed in cubby holes on the other side of the store. They look fine, but I’d rather re-fold perfectly folded jeans than talk to a liar. When I come out from behind the check-out counter, Tommy reaches forward and grabs my wrist. I gasp before pulling my wrist out of his grasp and run back behind the counter.

  “I think you should leave,” I manage to say while picking up the phone to call Jack. My hands are shaking making it impossible to dial the phone. Tommy reaches forward and grabs the phone from my hand and places it gently on the receiver. He then backs up and holds up his hands in surrender.

  “I didn’t think,” he says. “I’m sorry.”

  I raise my eyebrows at him in confusion. “You’re sorry you’re a liar?” I ask, deliberately misunderstanding him, not wanting to raise attention to my irrational fear anytime someone of the male persuasion tries to touch me.

  He drops his head to his chin and takes a deep breath before raising his head and looking at me again. “I’m sorry I forgot about your past.”

  I gasp. “What do you know about my past?” Seriously, can anything happen in this town without everyone knowing about it the next morning? Maybe coming here was a bad idea. Maybe I should find somewhere else to hide, er, live.

  He sighs. “I know about your husband and how he treated you.”

  I glare at him. No one knows how he treated me! Grandma knows he knocked me around a few times, but she doesn’t have a clue how cruel Brock can truly be. I shake my head. “You don’t know anything.”

  Tommy takes a cautious step forward. “Then tell me.” He almost sounds like he’s pleading.

  “I don’t need your pity.” Pity is the nastiest four-letter word in the dictionary.

  “What about sympathy?”

  I shake my head. This man is so pushy. Ugh! The last thing I need right now is a man, let alone a pushy one. “Look, you don’t want to get involved with a granddaughter of one of the ladies. That’s fine. Don’t get involved.” I try to make my escape and again walk toward the jeans display.

  I hear something that sounds remarkably like a growl. I turn to Tommy, who’s standing with his hands on his hips staring at the ceiling. “Did you just growl at me?” He turns his attention to me and shrugs.

  “I’m an idiot, okay?” he yells at me and I startle. I shake myself to clear the fog of fear that automatically overcomes me whenever I hear someone raise their voice at me. He takes my silence as an invitation to speak. “I should have never said that I didn’t want to date any of their family, but they were driving me crazy.” He spears a hand through his hair. “All they talked about was setting me up with someone. What about her? What about this one?” He growls again. “So I lied and ended up on a date with Jack.”

  I just stand there staring at him. I know the grandmas can be frustrating. Boy, do I know that! But that’s no reason to lie to them. That’s disrespectful. “They scare me, okay?”

  I laugh. “The grandmas scare you? They’re a bunch of old ladies that go to church and knit together. What’s scary about that?”

  He shakes his head. “You have no idea what they’re capable of.” I shrug. Is he serious? “They put Ex-Lax in the brownies at church!”

  I nod. This I know. “Pretty sure it was deserved.” The so-called victim had tried to get Rose removed as the accountant for the church by calling her a cheat. The group of knitters may be troublemakers, but they’re not liars or cheaters. I sigh. “Look, why are we still talking about this? You don’t want to date me, I don’t want to date period. End of discussion.” I turn towards the jeans again.

  “But I do want to date you,” Tommy whispers.

  I shake my head and don’t bother to turn around. “Not on the market,” is my only reply.

  Tommy tries a different tactic. “You need someone to protect you.”

  “Oh no, you didn’t,” I yell and turn around. “I’m not dating someone because he pities me and wants to protect me.”

  Tommy tries to back paddle. “I don’t pity you.”

  I raise my eyebrows at him and shake my head. Everyone says that, even when the pity is shining from their eyes. “But you do think I need protecting?”

  “I protect what’s mine.” His voice sounds eerily like a growl again.

  “Um, no. You need a better reason to date me than that you want to protect me.” I’m pretty sure there is no real reason. “In case you forgot, you practically ran the other way when we first met.”

  His face turns bright red. “That was stupid of me. I’ve had some crazy jealous ex-girlfriends and when I heard you were Rosemary’s granddaughter, I got scared.”

  “For someone who wants to protect me, you sure get scared a lot.” I take a moment to gather my thoughts before speaking again. “Look, it’s sweet that you came here to clear things up. I appreciate that, but I’m serious. I’m not ready to date.”

  Tommy nods. “I understand you think that, but this isn’t over.” He turns and walks out of the store before I can remind him that this is indeed over. Not like it really started or anything, but it’s over anyway.

  Chapter 6

  “…[a] woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself...” Susan B. Anthony

  I still haven’t recovered from Tommy’s visit when the store is invaded by my grandma and her crew. I immediately go into defense mode. “I haven’t even had lunch yet,” I tell Grandma with an exasperated voice that would probably cause a bruise in my previous life. That’s right. Bruises are from my previous life. Just have to keep reminding myself of that.

  Grandma beams at me. “We’re going to take you to lunch. Our treat.”

  She’s hopping on the balls of her feet in unconcealed excitement to have lunch with me and I can’t rain on my only living relative’s parade. “Okay,” I give in. “Let me get my stuff.”

  Five minutes later, I’m sandwiched between Grandma and Ally in the backseat of Betty’s car. “I have my own car you know.” I protest for like the millionth time. If I was capable of being embarrassed, I would be dying right now from being seen in Betty’s boat-mobile inserted between two old ladies with another three in the front seat.

  Grandma pats my hand. “But isn’t this fun?”

  I cover my mouth with my hand to stop myself from laughing at her. Grandma grabs my wrist in a surprisingly strong grasp and pulls my hand away from my mouth. “No more hiding your reactions,” she says and then turns away as if what she just did wasn’t a big deal. More like it’s a huge deal.

  Betty drives us to a bar that also serves lunch just across the street from the courthouse. I stare at the courthouse as I climb out of the car. I must be crazy. Getting a protection order against Brock is like painting a big bullseye on my back. I’m going to need to run for sure. My eyes dart around the area making sure Brock isn’t already here and ready to go on the attack.

  An arm lands gently around my waist and starts to pull me toward the restaurant. I startle but immediately relax when I hear Noel’s voice whispering in my ear. “It’s going to be alright.” He drops his arm and puts a hand on my lower back to gently push me forward. I let him because somehow I know that if I started to protest his touch, he’d immediately back off and that’s enough to settle me.

  I see Jack, Damien, and Izzy already sitting at a large table in the corner. I’m starting to wonder if Grandma and her posse go anywhere without them. The grandmas slowly make their way to the table. Progress is slow as they stop and chat with nearly everyone on their way. I want to turn around and flee. Do other women have entire entourages when they go to file a restraining order? I gasp when I realize that I’m truly being a bitch. I’m lucky that I have a group of people willing to set aside their time and obligations to come with me – even if they are all one gray hair short of a ticket to the looney bin.

  I try to find that backbone of mine tha
t I’ve buried for the past years and take a deep breath before walking to join the group. Everyone quickly settles at the table. No one needs menus as this is one of the few restaurants in town and the menu probably hasn’t changed since before Betty was born.

  Once the food is ordered, the drinks arrive and I settle back in my chair. “He looks like a good choice,” Martha whisper-shouts and nudges me. Looks like I got comfortable too quickly.

  “A good one what?” I pretend innocence even though you’d have to be half-dead to not know what’s she up to. It doesn’t hurt to buy time so I maintain the picture of innocence. I’ve had lots of acting practice and Martha buys it: hook, line, and sinker.

  “A man, my dear,” she says while shaking her head at me. “You need a man.”

  Suddenly, a picture of Tommy flashes in my head. Boy, now that man is the definition of hot. I always did have a thing for blond-haired, blue-eyed gods. Someone clears their throat, and I realize that I’m off in la-la land while the ladies are staring at me with twinkles in their eyes. Oh no.

  “I think she’s already got a man in mind,” Jack says and then winks outrageously at me. I can feel my cheeks heating up, but I’m not admitting anything to anyone. I stare at my hands and play with my hair so that it covers my face.

  Grandma’s not letting me get away with that. She brushes my hair behind my ear and lifts my chin gently with her hand. “No reason to be shy, baby-girl,” she whispers. “Tommy’s a lovely man.”

  How did she know I was thinking about Tommy? I squint my eyes at her just in time to see her shrug. I collapse against my chair and huff. “It’s not like he’s interested in me or anything. I mean, look at me. Why would he be interested in this?” I wave to my body. “I look like a brown-eyed Swede, who escaped from a fat camp.”

  Sputters of ‘what’ round the table. Jack shushes everyone with a waggle of his hand. “Now listen to me,” he starts. “You are beautiful. Any man would be lucky to have you.” I raise my eyes at him because seriously? A gay man? He shakes his head at me. “You don’t know me yet but know this – I don’t lie. If I didn’t think you were beautiful, I’d be talking about your clothes. Which are atrocious by the way. You do know we have an employee discount, right?”

  I laugh because what else can I do. Is he for real? Judging by the grey-haired nods that greet his news, at least the ladies think he’s serious. I shake my head at them until Noel clears his throat. “It’s true, Dee. You’re gorgeous. Seriously, those eyes can make a man walk through fire.” Those very eyes grow in response to his words. Izzy bobs her head in agreement as does Damien. Huh. I think they’re blinded by their love of Grandma, but I’m done talking about this.

  ♥♥♥

  It turns out having a parade of grandmas and a cop with you when filling out paperwork for a protective order is a good thing. The clerk looks terrified of the grandmas when she’s not drooling over Noel, Jack, or Damien. Note to self: bring man candy whenever dealing with bureaucracy. Oh, who am I kidding? I should just bring the man candy with me wherever I go. Can you imagine the service I would get? Say goodbye to waiting in line! I’d probably have to carry around an extra pair of panties in my purse, but it would be totally worth it.

  The clerk rushes our paperwork through only it turns out there’s a snag. Or at least something that Noel neglected to tell me. Neglected my lily-white bottom. “What?” I still can’t believe what I’m hearing. Is he for real?

  Grandma grabs my hand and squeezes. “It’ll be alright Delilah. We’ll go with you.”

  I glare at Noel. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” You see, Noel didn’t bother to tell me that I’d need to see a judge to explain my situation before the order would be issued. I can wait until the court hearing to get an order, but that’s not for at least two weeks and in the meantime I’d be a sitting duck since Brock will be notified of the hearing.

  My eyes plead with Noel. I can’t go in there and tell the judge everything Brock has done to me with my grandma present. I’ll never be able to look her in the eyes again. Somehow Noel picks up on what I’m telepathically sending him. He is a detective after all. He walks over to me and gently grabs my elbow to pull me away from Grandma. “Actually,” he clears his throat before he stares down the knitting buddies. “I think this will go a lot quicker without you ladies there. I’ll go with her and make sure she’s taken care of.”

  The grandmas don’t have time to argue as just then my name is called and I’m ushered into the judge’s chambers with Noel hot on my heels. The judge is a kind-hearted looking man with graying ginger hair and huge glasses. He immediately recognizes Noel. “Detective Blackburn,” he says as he reaches out to shake Noel’s hand. Noel comes forward and shakes his hand.

  “Please sit.” The judge motions to a set of chairs around a small table in the corner. I sit down and Noel stands behind me. He puts his hand on my shoulder for support and squeezes gently. Somehow I’ve gone from fearing Noel’s touch to finding it reassuring. Definitely something to think about. Later.

  The judge grabs a set of papers from his desk before joining me at the small table. “Now, Mrs. Clark, let’s get to it. Shall we?”

  I try to smile and nod at the man. He takes his glasses off and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Can you tell me a bit about your husband and why you need a protective order?” His words are gentle, but I still stiffen at the idea of telling anyone my sordid tale.

  Noel speaks up from behind me. “Maybe you could start with Brock coming to Rosemary’s house last week.”

  I nod. This I can do. “Rosemary’s my grandma,” I start and then I go on to tell him the story. I include parts I may have neglected to tell the grandmas such as him pushing me to the floor and grabbing my chin so hard I got a bruise.

  The judge smiles gently as I finish my story. “Well, I’ve heard enough for now. I’m granting the emergency ex parte protection order.” He looks me in the eye before he continues. “There will be a hearing in two weeks. At that time, you’ll need to tell the entire story. I highly recommend you get a lawyer. This Brock guy sounds like he’ll come at you with guns blazing.”

  I nearly laugh at the judge’s terminology. He shrugs. “I love a good Western,” he mumbles as he turns his attention to the paperwork. He makes a few notes and then hands me a document and a copy to Noel. Noel nods at him.

  I stand and reach out to shake his hand. “Thank you.”

  The judge shakes my hand and pats my elbow. “Good luck, young lady.”

  And then it’s over. I have a protective order against Brock. I don’t know if I should be relieved or peeing my pants in fear. There’s no way to hide from my husband now.

  Chapter 7

  “The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing.” James Brown

  I kick my shoes off as I enter my apartment. I’ve finally managed to get rid of Grandma and her knitting buddies. They’re beyond sweet and supportive, but sometimes a girl just needs to be alone. I plan on spending my evening with a bottle of wine and a good book. Book boyfriends are really the only way to go. But first a shower.

  After my shower, I throw my uncombed hair in a bun, put on a pair of super comfy flannel pajamas, and grab my wine and a book. Then, I settle into an oversized armchair, which envelops me in its coziness even if it has seen better days. Sigh. This is the life. I hear a loud knock on my door. Looks like my reprieve is over. I take a not-very-ladylike gulp of wine before setting my book down to go answer the door.

  Jack and Damien greet me as I open the door. Jack’s eyes widen as he takes in my attire. He shakes his head and forces himself into my apartment. Damien follows but whispers ‘sorry’ to me as he passes. “That will not do,” Jack says as he points up and down at my pajamas.

  “Hey!” I’m offended. “These pajamas are super comfy!”

  “And totally inappropriate for a girls’ night out,” he says as he moves toward the closet behind my bed platform.

  “What are you doing?” I
chase after him. He rolls his eyes at me. “Obviously, I’m finding an outfit for you.”

  I’m distracted from Jack when my apartment door opens again. “I’m here!” Izzy shouts to no one in particular. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “What is going on?” I nearly scream my question. That got everyone’s attention. They’re all staring at me as if I’ve lost my mind. Hello! They’re the ones who just barged into my apartment.

  Izzy’s attention zeros in on my armchair and she makes a beeline for it. “We’re taking you out,” she says as she falls into the chair. “Get your mind off stuff.” She waves her hand at Jack. “Just let him do his thing. It’s not like you can stop him anyway.” She picks up my discarded wine glass and takes a sniff before setting it back down again with a pout on her face.

  I stand still in the middle of my apartment while Jack rummages around in my closet. Damien takes a seat across from Izzy and they quietly start talking. I seriously just entered the Twilight Zone. I startle when Jack’s voice booms across the room. “This is just depressing, Deedee.” I can hear his sigh from the other side of the room. I turn to look at him. He’s holding a black skirt and a sheer shirt. “This will have to do. But, seriously, you do know we have an employee discount, right?”

  I open my mouth to speak but again Izzy beats me to it. “Just go with it, Dee. It’ll be less painful. Trust me.”

  “Fine,” I say between gritted teeth. I stomp to Jack and grab the clothes before moving to the bathroom to change.

  “And we need to do your hair and makeup too,” Jack shouts at my back. I accidentally slam the door in response. I can hear Jack chuckle through the closed door. Grrrr.

  Thirty minutes later my ‘look’ is finally approved by Jack and we all pile into Izzy’s car. “Where are we going anyway?” I ask as the engine of the classic car ignites and the car vibrates. This is way cooler than Brock’s boring European cars. The thought of my asshat husband causes a full-body shiver and I have to concentrate to hear Jack’s response from the back seat.