A Promise to Protect (Logan Point Book #2): A Novel

by Patricia Bradley

  Sarah preferred to sit in the sanctuary during Sunday school, but when Leigh ran into Cathy from the hospital, she ended up in her class. Leigh mostly kept quiet while the other women engaged in lively discussion.

  She enjoyed being around the women who were her age and promised to return. She liked the young pastor and found herself agreeing that parents should not neglect teaching biblical principles to their children. It was time for her to step up to the plate and not rely on someone else—and that reminded her of Tony. Would there ever be a time she could think about him and tears not be ready to spring from her eyes?

  After the benediction, she stood and motioned for TJ to leave the twins and join her. There had been no gracious way out of sitting anywhere other than with the Logan clan.

  “Mom! Granna wants us to come eat dinner with them. Can we?”

  Church, then Sunday dinner. A Logan ritual, and she should have been expecting the invitation. “I thought we’d pick up a bucket of chicken and eat in the gazebo in the backyard. You and Miss Sarah and me, and then we’ll go down to the pool at the rec center and swim. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

  “Mom, please.” His eyes pleaded with her.

  “You’re more than welcome,” Marisa said. Emily nodded her agreement.

  “Thank you, but I think the three of us need a little family time.”

  Marisa patted her arm. “I understand. Maybe next week.”

  “Yes, that sounds nice.” Leigh would think of an excuse before Sunday. She glanced around, wondering who would escort them home.

  Emily spoke up. “If you’re looking for Ben, he went back to his office after Sunday school but said to tell you he’d be in the parking lot when church let out.”

  So the sheriff didn’t stay for church.

  Outside, true to his word, Ben’s truck sat blocking her Avenger. “Can I start the car, Mom? And see if Ben wants to have a picnic with us?”

  She handed over her keys. “I imagine Ben will want to eat with his family.” At least that’s what she hoped.

  Two hours later, Leigh shooed Sarah in out of the heat while she cleaned up the remains of their picnic. As soon as TJ gobbled down his food, he’d left them to sulk about not having the twins to play with. So much for family time. But at least Ben had declined, saying he had paperwork at his office to finish. He’d probably realized what a bad idea the gazebo was with the heat and humidity wrapping around them like a sauna. She fanned herself with one of the disposable plates. Time to have a heart-to-heart talk with TJ. Tell him they were moving to Baltimore.

  Leigh climbed the stairs to her son’s room, rehearsing her words. At his door, she hesitated, then knocked and entered. TJ lay on the bed, his eyes glued to her iPad. Ignoring the fact he’d taken it without permission, she took it from him and sat on the side of the bed. “I realize you wanted to go to the Logans’ after church—”

  “The twins were going to be there, and I wanted to show Pops a new game I found that will help him talk.”

  “You need to quit bothering him.” Next week she’d see about sending TJ to his babysitter again.

  “But—”

  “No, listen to me. He has trained therapists helping him. Let them do their job. I have something else I want to discuss.”

  He crossed his arms across his chest. “When you talk like that, it’s always bad.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You sound just like you did when you told me we were moving to Logan Point.”

  She felt a headache coming on. “Has this been so bad?”

  He cocked his head and pursed his lips. “It was at first. I didn’t have any friends.”

  “But now you do. You’re friends with the boys on your baseball team, and you have the twins, and the ones in your Sunday school class. Making new friends wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

  He shook his head.

  So far, so good. She took a quick breath. “I’ve been offered a new job.”

  TJ’s eyes widened. “You mean at Ms. Emily’s clinic? I know about that.”

  “No, this is a really important job in Baltimore, and—”

  “No! I don’t want to move again.” He flopped back against the headboard.

  If he poked his lip out any farther, he’d trip over it. “You’ll like Baltimore. There’s lots of interesting things to do. We can go to the ocean, and there are lots of museums.”

  “I don’t want to go to no old museum. I want to stay here with my friends.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not an option. I’ve accepted the job.”

  “You didn’t even ask me what I wanted to do! It’s always about your job. What’s wrong with staying here?”

  “Timothy Jackson Somerall, I am not discussing this with you if you take that tone.” While she understood his feelings, she would not allow him to talk with disrespect. His lip quivered, and she softened her tone. “I have to do what I think is best for us. I promise, you’ll make new friends, just like you did here.”

  “But I don’t want new friends. I want the ones I have.”

  His wail pierced her heart. She should not have brought the move up today when he was already upset, but she wanted to prepare him. From the sound of it, she was going to need every day between now and September fifteenth.

  Leigh sighed and walked to the door. “We’ll discuss this again later.” Before she left his room, she looked back. “TJ, it’s going to be all right. You’ll make new friends.”

  He turned his head and stared out the window.

  Leigh closed the door and leaned her head against it. Maybe things would look better after a nap.

  Her cell phone rang, waking Leigh from a dead sleep. She grabbed it from her nightstand and glanced at the number. Private. Frowning, she answered. “Dr. Somerall.”

  An organ played what sounded like funeral music. She hovered her thumb over the disconnect button.

  “You have something that belongs to me.”

  The deep, slow words sent chills racing over her body. Leigh lifted her hand to her throat. “Who is this?”

  “I want—” The crescendo of the organ drowned out the eerie voice.

  “I can’t hear you! What are you talking about?”

  “Mind your own business, or your son will pay.”

  Then, dead silence filled the airspace.

  Ben picked up the Rubik’s Cube on his desk and made a couple of turns. Logarithms. No wonder the thing made absolutely no sense. He set it back down and wandered out into the commons area. The weekend dispatcher waved. “I see you skipped church again.”

  “Yep. Had some paperwork to catch up on.” Not that it couldn’t have waited. But seeing Leigh walk out her front door, her chestnut hair silky in the morning sun, the smattering of freckles that makeup couldn’t hide . . . the memory of Friday night’s kiss had come roaring back. No way could he sit in the same room with her and concentrate on a sermon.

  She refused to meet his eye, anyway. He hated that she’d taken his apology as rejection. But until he caught whoever was after her, he couldn’t afford to let his heart get involved. Protecting her was hard enough.

  Wade stuck his head out of his office. “Ben, can I see you a minute? Outside.”

  He followed his chief deputy to the parking lot. “What’s up?”

  Wade rubbed his hands together. “I heard from Lester. He’s going to take me to see a dog Wednesday—he knows that’s my day off.”

  “How does he know that?”

  “Maybe because I told him last night when I helped Andre at the ballpark. Lester’s grandson was on the other team. By the way, we sure could’ve used your help. Might’ve kept us from losing five to one.”

  Ben shifted his gaze down the street. Being on the field with the boys had been good the other night. Until the snakes appeared. “What if Lester is setting you up?”

  “He doesn’t have any reason to suspect me.”

  “You’re a deputy, Wade. That should be enough.”

  “But
I know how to play Lester. He doesn’t see me as a deputy. He sees me as this good-ole-boy he coon hunts with. Do you know how hard it was for me to be nice to him at the ball game, after seeing him at that dogfight? But you know me, I can sell milk to a dairy farm, and by the time we left the ball field, he believed I was his best friend. Besides, I don’t see any other way to infiltrate this ring.”

  “I’d watch my back all the same. Be sure you have that pen in your shirt pocket, and let me know when you’re meeting with him to go see this dog.”

  Wade saluted with two fingers. “Aye, aye, Cap’n.”

  “I’m serious, Wade.”

  “I’ll be careful, and I’ll call before we meet.”

  “You better.” Ben cocked his head. “How is that pup we found?”

  A satisfied grin crossed Wade’s face. “Rocky is healing, and he’s not nearly as cowered down. He’s going to be okay.”

  “Rocky, huh?”

  “Yeah. He’s not a quitter.”

  “Good name.” Ben took his truck keys out. “Think I’ll do a little patrolling.”

  “Tell Leigh I said hello.”

  “Just doing a little patrolling, Wade. Not stopping anywhere.”

  Ben pulled out of the justice center parking lot and headed toward the Oaks. He hadn’t driven far when he spied a familiar figure walking down the sidewalk. What was TJ doing three blocks from the jail? He pulled over and rolled down his window. “Where’re you headed?”

  Sweat dribbled down the boy’s face. “Granna’s house.”

  “Want a ride?”

  “You’re not going to take me back home, are you?”

  They both knew Ben would. He leaned over and opened the door. “Not until you cool off. Hop in.”

  TJ fastened his seat belt and then leaned forward, trying to catch the air from the vent as Ben cranked the air conditioner to high. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothin’.”

  “You running away from home?”

  TJ concentrated on the vent.

  “If you are, you forgot your clothes.” Ben turned the truck toward the park.

  “I just needed to take a walk,” TJ said and leaned back against the seat. His fingers inched toward the siren button.

  “Don’t touch it,” Ben said. “Unless you want to go straight home.”

  TJ slid his hand under his leg. “Did you know my mom is moving us again?”

  Uh-oh. Leigh must have told him about the job in Baltimore. It didn’t appear TJ was too happy about it, either. He didn’t blame the kid. “Is that what this is about?”

  A bare hint of a nod. “I thought Granna could talk to Mom. Make her change her mind.”

  TJ grew quiet, and Ben glanced at him. The boy was studying him with an odd look on his face. Ben shook his head. “Uh, no. I’m not talking to her. Wouldn’t do any good, anyway. I’m kind of in the doghouse with your mom.”

  TJ’s shoulders drooped. “Will you take me to Granna’s house?”

  “I’m afraid I have to take you home.”

  “Why?”

  “It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t.”

  “You don’t always do what’s right. Sometimes you let the twins get away with stuff.”

  The kid was observant. “How about your mom? Don’t you think she’ll be worried if she discovers you’re gone? In fact, don’t you think you should call her now, so she won’t worry?” How Ben had hated it as a kid when adults put a guilt trip on him. But TJ needed to be the one to call Leigh.

  “I guess. I just don’t see why she can’t stay here and work at the hospital in Logan Point or for Ms. Emily. Can’t you marry her so she’ll stay here? She likes you. I know she does.”

  Ben almost swallowed his tongue. “Uh, I think we better give your mom a call.”

  “You talk to her.”

  He dialed Leigh’s cell, and she answered almost immediately, panic sounding in her voice.

  “Ben, I received this awful call threatening TJ, and now I can’t find him. I’ve looked everywhere in the house, and he’s just not here.”

  “It’s okay. He’s with me. I found him a couple of blocks from the jail. What call are you talking about?”

  “What was he doing near the jail?”

  “Said he was on his way to my mom’s house.”

  “I see.” She sighed. “He’s kind of upset with me right now.”

  “I’ll bring him home, but tell me about this call.” Even talking to Leigh over the phone made his heart ratchet up.

  “Let’s wait until you get here.”

  “Okay.” He hung up and turned to TJ. “Are you ready?”

  “You sure you can’t take me to your mom’s?”

  “Afraid not. Tell you what . . . I’ll get Mom to call your mom. Maybe all of you can go over and have supper with my folks tonight. How would you like that?”

  “She won’t do it.”

  The boy was probably right.

  Leigh stood waiting on the front porch when Ben pulled into her drive. Actually seeing her was harder on his heart than talking to her. For a second he thought about what it’d be like if he quit his job and went to work with the U.S. Marshal Service. He could be based anywhere, even Baltimore.

  No. When he qualified for the sheriff’s race, he made a commitment to his town, something Leigh didn’t seem to be capable of doing. Otherwise, she’d stay in Logan Point.

  Beside him, TJ fumbled with his seat belt. The boy wasn’t anxious to get out, and a wave of emotion swelled in Ben’s heart. TJ was a good kid who had somehow burrowed under the stone wall he’d erected.

  Suddenly his heart knocked against his ribs while his face grew cold in spite of the sweat that beaded it. A band squeezed his lungs just like the day Tommy Ray had dragged him to the bottom of the lake. If he didn’t do something, his chest would explode.

  The panic attack blindsided him. Relax. Ben focused on taking slow, complete breaths as he imagined the thoughts about Tommy Ray colliding with a huge stop sign. In his peripheral vision, he saw Leigh walking toward him. In the seat, TJ tried to wiggle out of the seat belt. He shook his head to clear it and reached toward the seat belt. “Let me get that for you,” he said.

  His fingers shook as he unsnapped the metal. Without looking at his mom, TJ scrambled out of the truck and darted into the house. Ben took another breath then lowered the window.

  “Are you okay?” Leigh wrinkled her forehead. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Do you want to come in the house?”

  He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand then licked his lip, tasting the salt. “I’m fine, but I’ll come in so we can talk about this call you received.”

  “How about if we stay on the porch? I don’t want TJ to overhear us.”

  He nodded and fumbled for a notepad from his dashboard before following her to the house, trying not to remember the last time he had been here. Leigh settled in the swing, and he took the rocking chair. Avoiding her emerald eyes, he stared at the delicate lines of her neck. This was not working. Focus. Ben cleared his throat. “This caller, was it a man or woman?”

  “I don’t know. The number was blocked . . . then there was this awful music, and then a voice like out of a horror movie—”

  “Did it sound like he used a synthesizer? Remember the one we used in that play in high school?”

  Her eyes widened. “Yes, exactly like that.”

  “What did this person say?”

  “The only thing I really understood was when he said to mind my own business or TJ would be hurt. Then when I couldn’t find TJ . . .”

  Ben tapped the notepad. “Was anything specific mentioned? Like the flash drive?”

  Her jaw dropped. “You think this is because someone’s still looking for that stupid drive?”

  “Leigh, I don’t know. I’m just trying to make sense of everything that’s happened since Tony’s death.”

  “Maybe it’s that father that I turned in for suspected child abuse. That would fit with what the cal
ler said about minding my own business . . . except for . . .”

  “What?”

  “He—I’m assuming it’s a he—said I had something that belonged to him.” She looked at him with troubled eyes. “How did he get my cell number?”

  “How many people have your number?”

  One corner of her mouth turned up. “Half the hospital staff. Getting my number probably wouldn’t be that hard.”

  “Well, just keep TJ close, and I’ll beef up patrols around here.”

  “Keeping him close won’t be hard. After what he did today, he’s grounded for life.”

  “Don’t . . .” He swallowed a grin. “Don’t be too hard on the boy. He’s had a lot going on lately.”

  “Maybe so, but that’s no excuse for running off today. Thanks for bringing him home.” Leigh hesitated. “And I want to apologize for getting upset Friday night.”

  The words ran together as they rushed out of her mouth, and he took a second to decipher them. He tried to ignore the heat creeping up his neck. “I should never—”

  “If you’re going to apologize for kissing me again, then I’ll take back my apology.” She’d fisted her hands on her hips.

  “It’s not that I didn’t want to kiss you . . . but after the report from the fire marshal, and now this . . .” He swallowed. “Until this person is caught, I can’t afford to have feelings for you.”

  He shouldn’t have said that, either. He couldn’t afford to have feelings for her. Period.

  Her shoulders softened. “Oh. Then that makes me feel even worse.”

  The scent of her perfume drifted from the swing. Like a camera lens, his mind captured the image of her sitting so close, her green eyes the color of jade, the few freckles across her nose, her chestnut hair curving delicately toward her cheek. He almost reached and brushed it back.

  Ben had to get out of there before he said or did something stupid. He stood and edged toward the steps. “I’ll call you if I learn anything more from the fire marshal.”

  At his truck, he stopped, almost tempted to go back. To try and erase the hurt from her eyes.

  15

  Armero went over the shipping list for Maxwell’s Fine China. The shipment of raw materials was still on the schedule for a delivery to Mexico next Wednesday. He checked and made sure Gordon Roberts was still scheduled to make the run. Next, he clicked on the manifest and added the Blue Dog Company for an offload of kaolin. No one had ever questioned a delivery to the dummy corporation.