TJ was full of questions tonight. Questions she didn’t know how to answer.
“TJ,” Sarah said, “have you said your prayers?”
He caught his breath. “Not yet! Will you stay and hear them? You too, Mom.”
Saved by Sarah. “Sure.”
A few minutes later both women kissed him on his forehead, and Leigh turned out the light before they left TJ’s room.
“Mom!”
Leigh stuck her head back inside the room. “Yes?”
“Can I have a drink of water?”
“I’ll get it,” Sarah said. “You go on and put your feet up.”
“Don’t be silly . . . there’s a paper cup in the bathroom. I can get it.”
“I insist.” Sarah paused. “Did you hear about the fire at the jail?”
“I did. I wonder how bad it was?”
“Just before I came up, Marisa said the firemen had it under control. Not much damage.”
“Good.” Leigh hadn’t heard Ben’s truck return, but she could’ve missed it while she was in the shower. She moved to get TJ’s water, and Sarah stopped her.
“I said I’d get it. You look beat.”
So much had happened today, and she was beyond tired. “Just this once,” she said with a sigh. “After you tell him good night again, could you join me in my room?”
Leigh padded down the hall to her bedroom and sank into one of the two glider rockers in the room. She put her feet on the bed and massaged the muscles in her neck and shoulders. She might ask around at the hospital tomorrow to see if there was a good masseuse in town.
Thoughts of Ben returned. Would he have kissed her if his phone hadn’t rung? Stop it. There was no future with Ben Logan.
She put her feet down when Sarah came in and plopped in the other rocker. “Get him settled?”
“Maybe. I think ball practice then his little friend getting bitten has him wound pretty tight. Or he could have picked up on the tenseness radiating from you. You’re wound tighter than he is. What’s going on?”
Leigh didn’t know it was that obvious. She pressed her hands to the side of her face and massaged the sore muscles in her jaw. She’d been clenching her teeth again. Finally, she leaned back and sighed. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“You could start with the young man who came to pick you up,” Sarah said.
“Ian Maxwell—you met him at the funeral. He’s offered us a house in town. White picket fence, gated community, guard . . . Ben should approve it, but who knows. He seems to want us to stay right here under his thumb.”
“What do you want to do?”
She ran her hand over the rough fabric covering the arm of the rocker. “Go back ten years and make some different choices.”
“You don’t have to do that. You can tell them now. The Logans would understand.”
A tremor shivered through Leigh’s body, flipping her stomach. Marisa might and Emily, but not Ben. “I can’t do it.” Her voice quivered in her throat from her too-fast heartbeat.
“Leigh—”
“No. Can you imagine how TJ would feel if he discovered his mother has kept the truth from him for the past nine years . . . I just can’t do it. We’re moving to Baltimore, anyway.”
“What?”
“I received a call from my mentor, and there’s an opening at their free clinic—”
“But you’ve promised Emily to work in Dr. Hazelit’s place.”
“I don’t go until the middle of September. Emily’s clinic is just for a month, and this is Johns Hopkins. It’s been my dream to practice there since I decided to become a doctor.”
“Is this your dream, or someone else’s?”
She splayed her hand across her chest. “Mine.”
“Are you sure?”
“You don’t understand. If I can practice at Johns Hopkins, it’s proof I’m good enough. I’ll make a difference there.”
“You don’t have to prove anything, Leigh. And you’re already making a difference here. Marisa told me how lucky Logan Point is to have you. What if you hadn’t been there for that little friend of TJ’s tonight?”
“There would have been another doctor on duty.”
“You belong here, in Logan Point.” Sarah’s lips pressed into a thin line. “No need in wasting any more of my breath, ’cause I might need it someday. Would you at least pray about it?”
It was too late to pray. She’d already taken the job. But Leigh nodded. “It’s a really good opportunity.”
After Sarah left, Leigh sat quietly gliding back and forth. She had to leave Logan Point. And she wanted to. She really did.
Ben wiped sweat from his face. Even though the temperature had dropped into what felt like the low eighties, the walk back had been as arduous as the trek in. It was almost 4:00 a.m. when they finally reached Wade’s truck. “What time do you think the dogfight will break up?”
Wade slapped at a mosquito on his neck. “Hard to tell. Probably go until just before daylight.”
“Sure would like to get some of those license plate numbers. You know the lay of the land. Is there anywhere we can set up?”
“Some may go out on the Tennessee side—nothing we can do about those cars, and on the Mississippi side, the field road is too exposed. I think I know a place where we can park and catch what we can.”
Half an hour later, by the time Ben had positioned himself behind a gum tree near where the road exited from the woods, faint wisps of fog curled through the trees. Within twenty minutes, a dense August fog covered the area. There’d be no seeing any license plates today. He cocked his head as a vehicle rumbled his way, then signaled Wade with a whistle, and his chief deputy signaled back.
Maybe he could at least see the driver. The truck crept by, a shadowy ghost in the heavy mist with its lights barely cutting a swath down the lane. As more vehicles passed, Ben could barely tell a truck from an SUV.
He counted ten vehicles in all. Wade was right. This wasn’t a big-time fight. “How many did you count?” he asked when he rejoined Wade.
“Ten. Some of them probably took the Tennessee road. Couldn’t make out any of the plates.”
“That’s what I counted too. Let’s talk about a plan on the way back to town.” Once in the pickup, they crept along the two-lane highway.
“Okay,” Wade said, his eyes glued to the road. “I say I try to get in with those boys I know.”
Ben shook his head. “Too dangerous. These people play for keeps. If they discovered—”
“Not going to find out.” He slowed for a curve. “Well, what do we have here?”
Ben peered through the fog. The bulky form of a truck materialized on the side of the road.
“Duck down, in case it’s somebody from the dogfight. Might be an opportunity here.” Wade pulled behind the vehicle and cracked the windows. He slipped his gun from its holster as he stepped out of the truck. “Having problems?” he called.
Ben drew his gun as he slumped in the front seat and kept his ear tuned to what was said.
“Jest a flat,” came the reply. “That you, Wade?”
“Yeah. What’re you doing out this time of the morning, Lester?”
Lester Cummings, from the dogfight.
“Oh, my coon dog got to chasing something and didn’t come back, been looking for her. What’re you doing out here?”
“Doing my job, patrolling the county.”
“Ain’t never knowed you to be that conscientious.”
“Let me help you get that tire changed,” Wade said.
Ben listened as Wade worked and the conversation turned to dogs.
“You know about dogs, don’t you, Lester?”
“Some dogs.”
“How about pit bulls. Been thinking about gettin’ myself one. Maybe training it a little.”
Ben tightened the grip on his gun. Wade was pushing it.
“‘Training’ it for what?” Suspicion crept into the man’s voice.
“Be a guard dog.
Saw a video once of one attacking a man. Got ahold of his arm and wouldn’t let go. It’d be nice to have a dog like that to protect my house.”
“You got something in that trailer of yours worth stealing?”
“You never know, Lester. Just be thinking about it.” Wade grunted then asked, “You got the other lug nut?”
A few minutes later, Ben heard what sounded like Wade throwing the tire in the bed of the truck.
“Thanks, deputy. I always thought they should’ve appointed you sheriff until the election.”
Ben cringed. Lester probably wasn’t the only one who thought that.
“Yeah, well, Lester, them’s the breaks.”
“You run, and I’ll vote for you.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll just stand here until you pull out. Hope you find your dog.”
Cummings’s motor revved to life, and Ben raised his head as gravel crunched and the truck pulled out onto the highway. Seconds later, Wade hopped into the truck. “Put the bait out,” he said with a grin.
Ben hoped Wade didn’t end up being caught in the trap.
As the truck pulled out onto the road, Wade glanced at Ben. “You mind if we stop at Rest Haven?”
Ben gave him a sidelong glance. “It’s just 5:45. Can you get in this early?”
“Sure, the nurses all know me, and Ma will be awake. She gets up every morning at five. You can come in with me if you want.”
He didn’t have the heart to say no. He hadn’t seen Wade’s mother in years. From past conversations with his own mother, he knew Mrs. Hatcher had floated in and out of Wade’s life, wrecking whatever stability he found in the foster homes he’d been placed in, until finally she’d been committed to the state mental institution in Whitfield.
Somehow, a few years ago, Wade had brought her back to Logan Point and to Rest Haven, but Ben knew it took more money than he made as a chief deputy to keep her there. Had to be eating up whatever retirement he had. “Yeah, I’ll go in with you. But first let me call someone to escort Leigh to work.”
A mile or two down the road they left the bottomland, and the fog lifted. Too bad they hadn’t set up on the hill. When they turned into the parking lot of the nursing home, a comment that Lester made popped into Ben’s mind. “Why does Cummings think you’re not conscientious?”
Wade parked the truck and killed the engine before he answered. “It’s that good-ole-boy image I cultivate. You’d be surprised at the stuff I learn.”
“I bet.” Ben nodded toward the building. “Nice place.”
“Yeah.” His deputy tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and stared at the nursing home. “Costs a fortune, though.”
“I heard the state facility has improved a lot,” Ben said.
“Too far away, and Ma would get lost in the shuffle, like the last time.” He opened his door and stepped out, not waiting to see if Ben was coming. He strode toward the door and pressed the buzzer. After a brief wait, an orderly appeared and let them in.
“She’s in the solarium,” the orderly said.
Wade hesitated inside the door. “Look, Ben, you don’t have to come.”
“No, I’d like to see your mom. I always liked her.”
“Yeah, when she wasn’t off her meds.”
At the solarium door, Ben waited while Wade approached his mother as she sat facing east. Dorsey Hatcher didn’t look at all like Ben imagined she would. Thin, she sat ramrod straight, her ash-blonde hair framing her face. Wade spoke to her for a few minutes, and then she looked toward him, smiling while Wade motioned him in.
“Mrs. Hatcher, Ben Logan.” He walked closer.
“I know who you are, Ben.” Her smile was soft, gentle. “Wade talks about you often. Now what are you two boys doing out this time of the morning?”
This woman didn’t sound at all unbalanced. He masked his confusion and smiled back at her. “Just doing our job.”
“Well, you two sit here beside me and watch that window. The sun will be peeking through in about five minutes. I love to start my day off with the sunrise.”
“That gives me time to get you a cup of coffee,” Wade said. “French vanilla creamer, like always?”
“You’re a good boy, Wade. Yes, but hurry so you can see the sunrise.”
“Ma, I’ve seen plenty of sunrises.”
“Wade . . .”
“I’ll hurry.”
While Wade went for coffee, Ben studied Mrs. Hatcher. She seemed perfectly able to function in the real world. Almost as though she read his mind, she chuckled.
“I’m here at Rest Haven because I forget to take my medicine, and the doctors and Wade want me to stay.”
“Ah, I didn’t—”
“Questions are written all over your face. Don’t play cards with my son. He will beat you.”
Ben could keep a poker face when necessary. He just hadn’t thought he needed to. Wade returned with coffee for them all. “Yours is black and unflavored.” He handed his mother the one swirling with cream. “And I think this is the way you like it.”
Ben sipped his coffee, enjoying the rush of caffeine as the sun peaked over the horizon through the pink and blue clouds streaking the sky. He wished he had a camera, or that he could paint something as grand as what he beheld. God’s handiwork, his mom would say. Mrs. Hatcher had the right idea about starting the day off with the sunrise.
Wade was quiet as they walked back to his truck. As they fastened their seat belts, he cleared his throat. “Thanks. It meant a lot to my mom that you came in with me. Not many people go see her. They all remember the way she was.”
Ben was certain his mom didn’t know about Mrs. Hatcher. He’d have to tell her. “Does she have to stay at Rest Haven?”
“The last time she lived on her own, she didn’t take her medicine right and ended up back in the hospital. I don’t want to take that chance again, not as long as I can afford for her to stay here.”
“I don’t think you should pursue the dog thing with Lester.”
“What? I have to. That fight last night was peanuts. I’ve heard rumors there’s an all-star fight coming up. If I can find out when and where, we can raid it and maybe get the organizer.”
“Where are you getting your information?”
“I have sources.”
Dogs attacking one another while men cheered and cursed replayed in his mind, sickening him. “Then use those sources to find out when the next fight is. I’ll contact the U.S. Marshal Service, FBI, and Mississippi Highway Patrol. But you . . .” Ben pointed at Wade. “Don’t go through with this scheme to infiltrate the ring.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
His gut told him Wade wouldn’t listen. Ben rode silently in the passenger seat. Wade was a complex man. If anything happened to him . . . “Think about your mother and what would happen to her if you were hurt or killed.”
In the driver’s seat, Wade grunted.
The sun had risen over the tree line by the time they reached the jail. Andre and another deputy had pulled water-soaked furniture into the parking lot. Ben walked through the lobby and down the hall to his office. Everything seemed intact. Andre stuck his head in the door.
“Electrician will be here by eight. Then we can get the power turned back on.”
Ben turned around. “How’s Martin?”
“Going to be okay.” Andre stepped inside the office. “You think the snakes happened naturally? Or did someone set them loose?”
Ben ran his hand through his hair. “I think they were set loose to send a message. Just like this fire.”
“But who would do something like that? Don’t they know those snakes could’ve killed one of the boys?”
“Whoever turned them loose doesn’t care.” He chewed his bottom lip. “Is Taylor Martin still in town?”
“I saw her yesterday with her mama at the grocery.”
Good. Taylor was one of the top victim profilers in the country. If someone was committing these crimes to show him that he couldn�
�t protect his county, she could figure out who it was.
The smell of frying bacon woke Leigh, and she threw back the covers and rubbed her eyes. Six o’clock. She had to be at the hospital at six-forty-five. Her last day for a month. Monday she started working at the clinic. Decent hours, patients she could get to know without it being an emergency situation. She threw on a pair of scrubs and ran a brush through her straight hair before hurrying down the stairs for coffee.
The sight of TJ and Tom Logan in the living room stopped her in midstride. What was TJ doing up at this hour? And with her iPad. Except Tom wasn’t concentrating on the iPad. He’d used his good hand to push TJ’s hair back and was staring at his face. Leigh’s heart almost failed her.
“Try once more, Pops. Point to the glass of water.”
“TJ, don’t bother the sheriff this early in the morning.” She hadn’t meant her voice to sound so sharp, and she tried to soften it even as she avoided Tom’s eyes. “Why are you up so early?”
“But, Mom, I’m not bothering him. He’s getting better, he really is. We’ve been doing this every morning.”
That did it. They were moving. She would call Ian as soon as it was a decent hour, and they would be in the house on Webster tonight. She didn’t care whether Ben Logan approved or not. Still avoiding the former sheriff’s gaze, Leigh pushed her lips into a halfway decent smile. “He’s probably tired now. Have you eaten?”
“Cereal.”
Standard fare for him. “I’ll be home by four, and I have a surprise for you.”
His eyes brightened. “What is—”
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now would it.” Maybe Sarah would consider staying a few days longer while Leigh adjusted to working at the clinic and could get TJ set up with Jenny again. She felt Tom Logan’s eyes boring into her and finally glanced his way. His gaze shifted from her to TJ.
“Tee . . . juh . . .” he half-growled.
“Mom! He almost said my name!” TJ’s eyes danced. He knelt beside the older man. “You can do it.”
“TJ!” Panic tightened her vocal cords. “Come away and let him rest. He’s upset.”
“Mom, I can help, I know I can.” Her son’s eyes pleaded with her.
In the quietness that followed TJ’s plea, Tom spoke again. “W . . . why . . .”
A Promise to Protect (Logan Point Book #2): A Novel Page 17