Fugitive Father

by Carla Cassidy

  She’d finally gotten out of bed at dawn and had stood at the window, staring out over the farmland she loved. She’d been surprised when she saw Reese’s patrol car pull out of the grove of trees at the far end of the driveway and head toward town. Had he spent the night watching the house, protecting them against evil in the dark? The fact that he’d found that necessary filled her with renewed anxiety. The fact that he’d done it suffused her with a reassuring warmth.

  “Mama, is Mr. Sheriff gonna find the bad person who came into my bedroom last night?” Jackie’s voice interrupted Sarah’s thoughts.

  Sarah turned away from the stove and looked at Jackie. The little girl rubbed her neck, a worried expression on her face. Sarah sat down at the table and took Jackie’s hands in hers, recognizing the fear that still lingered in her daughter’s gray eyes. “I don’t know if Reese will be able to catch the person or not. But I can tell you this, he’ll do everything in his power to make certain that the bad person doesn’t hurt you again.”

  Jackie touched her neck once more. “But maybe it was a monster that came to get me.”

  “Reese isn’t afraid of monsters,” Sarah replied.

  “But monsters are big and strong.” Jackie obviously needed lots of reassurance.

  Sarah smiled. “Reese is big and strong. Remember, he pulled me out of the well, and that took somebody really, really strong.”

  Jackie’s wrinkled forehead relaxed and a smile curved her lips. “I like Mr. Sheriff.”

  Sarah nodded and stood up, her heart wrapping itself in knots at Jackie’s words. As she cut up an apple, she wondered if it was possible that somehow, in some nebulous way, Jackie felt a bond with Reese.

  Jackie had never been a child who took easily to men. The only males in her life were Sarah’s boss at the restaurant and a neighbor in the apartment complex where they lived. Jackie kept herself curiously aloof from both despite their friendly efforts with her.

  Sarah had just set the bowl of oatmeal in front of Jackie when the phone rang. It was Reese. “Did you get any sleep at all?” he asked.

  “Not much,” she admitted. “What about you?”

  He hesitated a moment. “It was a long night,” he finally said, although he didn’t mention the fact that he’d spent the night in his car hidden in a grove of trees. “Are you going to be around there all day?”

  “I guess. We don’t have any definite plans.”

  “Good. I’d prefer you all stick around there so I know where you are. I’m going to do a little investigative work today. I want to call around and see if I can discover exactly where Raymond Boswell and Ben were around midnight last night.”

  “Then you’ll call me and let me know what you find out?” Sarah asked, her anxiety back. She had to know if Ben was a part of this, and despite the fact her heart cried out in denial, she had to know if Lindy was responsible.

  “I’ll let you know the minute I know anything,” he promised. “How’s Lindy this morning?” he asked, as if able to read her mind.

  “I don’t know. She hasn’t been down from her room yet,” Sarah said in a low voice. “Reese, I just can’t believe—”

  “I know,” he interrupted. “You never want to believe betrayal is possible with somebody you love.”

  The words hung in the air between them for a long moment, words that held a volume of emotion, words that filled Sarah with an unexpected pang of guilt. Was that what he thought she’d done? Did he see her leaving so long ago as a form of betrayal?

  “I’ll call you later,” he said before she could reply. Then he was gone, leaving the dial tone buzzing in her ear. She slowly hung up the phone. Had the statement been a jibe at her or had she taken it too personally? Had he merely been commenting on her own pain in suspecting Lindy, or had it been a pointed reminder of their past relationship?

  She was too tired to pick through the muck of the past, too tired to defend or justify her decision to leave Clay Creek. Besides, it was too late to change anything, too late to make things different.

  She and Jackie had been in town for a week, and although Reese had been kind to Jackie, he certainly hadn’t attempted to form a lasting relationship with her. He hadn’t tried to be a father, and this, more than anything, told her there was no way she and Reese could ever share a future together.

  “Good morning,” Lindy said as she stumbled sleepily into the kitchen. She was still clad in her pajamas and looked as if she’d just rolled out of bed and straight down the stairs.

  “You want some oatmeal?” Sarah offered.

  “It’s got cinnamon and sugar and apples in it,” Jackie added.

  “No thanks, I’m not hungry,” Lindy replied, sinking down into a chair at the table. “I guess I could drink a cup of coffee,” she said, starting to get up.

  “Sit still. I’ll get it,” Sarah said, pouring herself and her sister a cup, then joining Lindy and Jackie at the table. “So what are you going to do today?” she asked her sister. “Are you going to work on finishing up the paper in here?”

  Lindy frowned and looked around. “I don’t think so. I really don’t feel very well this morning.”

  “It was a disruptive night,” Sarah said softly, wishing she could crawl into her sister’s mind, see what was going on in there, confirm that Lindy harbored no threat to Jackie or herself.

  “Can I go watch cartoons?” Jackie asked when her cereal was gone.

  Sarah nodded. “Put your bowl in the sink.” After Jackie had done as she was told and left the room, Sarah turned back to her sister. “Lindy? Is Ben happy here... on the farm?”

  “I...I don’t know. I guess. Why?” A flicker of curiosity darkened her eyes.

  “Has he ever mentioned to you that he wants to sell out to Raymond Boswell, perhaps take the money and make a new start someplace else?”

  Lindy’s eyes widened. “Did Ben say something to make you think he wants to do that?” Her fingers worried the coffee mug she held. “He’s going to leave me, I just know it.”

  “No, Lindy, he didn’t say anything like that to me,” Sarah hurriedly assured her. “I was just wondering if Ben had mentioned that, if he could, he’d be interested in selling the farm to Boswell.”

  Lindy ran a hand over her face in confusion. “He’s never said anything about it. We both knew that Raymond had made offers to buy the farm from Mama, but Ben never told Mama what he thought she should do.” A ghost of a smile curved Lindy’s lips upward. “Of course, Ben knew Mama would never listen to him anyway.”

  “How did Mama and Ben get along?” Sarah asked, needing answers, wishing she’d been here to see all the family dynamics at work.

  Lindy shrugged. “All right, I guess.” She tilted her head and frowned. “I don’t think Mama really trusted Ben. It didn’t have to do with anything Ben said or did. Mama didn’t trust him because of me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Lindy’s frown deepened. “Mama didn’t think Ben was in our marriage for the long haul—because of my illness. Sometimes I’m really hard to live with, Sarah.” She sighed in frustration. “I know when I’m acting crazy but I can’t stop. I can’t control what I do all the time. I think Mama was afraid that Ben would get tired of living with me and eventually leave. She was probably right.” She got up from the table. “I’ve got to feed my dogs,” she said, letting Sarah know that, as far as she was concerned, the conversation was finished.

  Sarah watched as her sister got out the large pot that she used to take food to the dogs in the pen. With the expertise of habit, Lindy opened several cans and emptied them into the pot, then she got into the refrigerator and pulled out several covered dishes. “Are you going to eat any more of this casserole?” she asked Sarah.

  Sarah shook her head. “No, you might as well give the rest of it to the dogs.”

  As Lindy emptied several dishes of leftovers into the pot with the dog food, Sarah got herself another cup of coffee, once again feeling the deep exhaustion weighing heavily on her body a
nd spirit.

  “I’ll be right back,” Lindy said as she headed out the back door. Sarah nodded and sank back down at the kitchen table.

  She felt as if she needed to sleep for twenty-four hours straight to make up for all the sleepless nights she’d suffered in the past week. Since she’d come back home, her nights had been interrupted by Lindy’s outbursts, disturbing thoughts of Reese, intruders in the dark. And even when she did manage to sleep, she experienced haunting dreams of Reese and his passion, and vivid nightmares in which she was running for her life.

  She took a sip of her coffee, then rubbed her eyes tiredly. She felt as if she’d been plunged into a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake up. And the nightmare was one where all her loved ones wore masks, making it impossible to discern who she could trust and who she couldn’t.

  She thought again of what Reese had said the night before, about her not being very good at trusting him. His words had spoken of the bitterness he still felt toward her and her decision to cut him out of her life.

  Didn’t he realize she’d made her decision based on the man she thought he was, the values and beliefs he’d professed at the time? He’d done and said everything in his power to let her know he wasn’t a family kind of man and now, years later, was blaming her for making the only choice she could have made.

  A scream interrupted Sarah’s thoughts, a scream of such magnitude that the hairs on the back of her neck rose in fear. Lindy. It had been Lindy who’d screamed. Sarah jumped out of the chair, sending it crashing to the floor, and exploded out the back door.

  Lindy stood by the dog pen, her body vibrating as another scream of horror emanated from her. As Sarah got closer to the pen, she realized what was causing Lindy’s screams. The German shepherd was writhing on the floor of the pen, convulsing as he foamed at the mouth. The other two dogs were cowering in the corners of the pen, whining their displeasure at the German shepherd’s unusual actions.

  “Lindy, go call the vet,” Sarah commanded. ”Jackie, stay in the house,” she yelled to the little girl, who’d started out the back door.

  “Mama, what’s happening?” Jackie asked worriedly.

  “One of the dogs is sick,” Sarah answered her daughter, then turned back to Lindy. Grabbing Lindy’s trembling shoulders, Sarah shook her. “Lindy, you have to go call the vet.”

  “Yes...yes...the vet...” She stumbled off toward the house and Sarah turned back to the pen. The dog appeared to be in bad shape. His breathing was labored and his eyes had rolled back in his head. She knelt down by the animal.

  “It’s okay,” she murmured softly, stroking his furry, heaving side. She looked up as Lindy came running back out.

  “Dr. Sutherland is on his way,” she said, then shoved a fist into her mouth to stifle a sob. “Oh, Sarah, what’s wrong with him? He was fine when I first came outside.”

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” Sarah stood up and Lindy took her place next to the dog, tears streaming down her face. “Tell me exactly what happened,” Sarah said softly.

  “They all seemed fine when I came out. I put the food in the dish and Peanuts here gobbled some of it down. He always eats first, the others wait until he’s done.” Lindy’s face blanched and another sob caught in her throat. Sarah kicked the food dish out of the pen, staring at it in horror.

  “Something I fed him did this to him. Oh God, it’s all my fault,” Lindy wailed.

  Sarah stared at the food left in the bowl, able to see the remains of the casserole Lindy had added to the canned dog food. They’d eaten the hamburger dish the night before and there was no way it could have gone bad so quickly. Besides, bad meat wouldn’t cause such a violent reaction.

  Within fifteen minutes Dr. Sutherland arrived. He did a cursory examination of the dog and quickly placed it in his van. “It looks like this animal might have been poisoned,” he explained. “If he’s going to make it I need to get him back to my office where I can treat him.” He picked up the pan of food containing what the dog had eaten. “I’ll check this out and see if we can identify exactly what we’re dealing with.” He frowned, staring for a moment at the pen. “Are you sure this dog couldn’t have gotten into some rat poison or something stored in the barn or one of the other outbuildings?”

  Lindy shook her head. “They haven’t been out of the pen all week.”

  “Dr. Sutherland, would you please let me know as soon as you identify whatever made the dog so ill?” Sarah asked.

  “I’ll have to send a sample to my toxicologist and we should have some answers by this afternoon.” With a curt nod, he got back into his van and took off.

  It was early afternoon when he called to tell them the lab had sent him the results of the tests. He told Sarah lethal levels of rat poison had been found in the casserole fed to the dogs.

  “I had the lab test for rat poison and some of the other more accessible poisons. Bingo on the rat killer.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Dr. Sutherland,” Sarah replied. “How would rat poison get into that casserole?”

  “Sarah, I can only tell you what’s in it, not how it got there.” He went on to tell her that the German shepherd hadn’t made it. The amount of poison in his body had simply been too much. Sarah hung up, knowing the worst task was yet to come. She had to tell Lindy.

  Jackie was asleep on the sofa, obviously exhausted from the disruptive night. Sarah found Lindy sitting in their mother’s bedroom. “Lindy, the vet called.”

  “Peanuts died, didn’t he?” Her voice was flat and curiously devoid of emotion.

  “Yes.” Sarah sat down next to her sister and placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. Tears began to fall down Lindy’s face.

  “The lab discovered rat poisoning in the casserole.” For the first time Sarah realized the full implication of what Dr. Sutherland had told her, and she shivered in disbelief.

  Lindy’s shoulders began to shake with suppressed sobs. “Why? Why would somebody want to poison my dogs?”

  “I don’t think the poison was intended for the dogs,” Sarah said softly. “It was in the casserole. Someone intended for us to eat it.”

  Lindy looked at Sarah, her eyes wide. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “Why? Sarah, what’s going on around here?”

  “I don’t know,” Sarah answered. But she knew now that Lindy wasn’t responsible for any of this. There was no way Lindy would have poisoned the casserole, then fed it to her dogs. She loved those dogs as if they were her children.

  “Whoever was in the house last night must have put the poison in the food,” Sarah said, thinking aloud. Her chest constricted, squeezing her heart as she thought of making breakfast that morning for Jackie.

  What if Jackie had decided she’d wanted some of the casserole for breakfast? What if they’d decided to warm it up for lunch? What else might be poisoned in the refrigerator? In the cabinets? “We can’t stay here. It isn’t safe here any longer.”

  “What do you mean? Where can we go?” Lindy asked fearfully.

  “Reese said we could stay with him, and I think that’s a good idea. We’ll be safe at his house.” Although Sarah was reluctant to spend any time at all with Reese, Jackie’s safety far outweighed any reservations she had.

  “Sarah, I don’t want to stay with Reese. I don’t know him that well and I’d feel better staying with Anna. I’ll call her. I’ve stayed with her lots of times. I’d much rather go to her place.”

  Sarah stood up, suddenly unable to wait another minute to be out of this place. “Pack a bag and we’ll talk about it as we drive into town.”

  It took Sarah only a few minutes to throw some clothes for herself and Jackie into a suitcase. Thank goodness she’d overpacked for this trip and she and Jackie had plenty of clothes with them. She was also glad that Jackie hadn’t started school yet so their extended stay here didn’t disrupt any classes.

  Jackie. She had to get her baby someplace safe. As she packed, her mind whirled with horrifying visions of Jack
ie lying on the floor. Who could possibly be responsible for such a vicious attack? Who was devious enough to sneak into the house and poison food to make people die?

  She didn’t begin to relax again until they were all in the car and driving toward town. Only then did her breathing return to a more normal pace and her heart stop its frantic, fearful pounding.

  “I called Anna. She said I was welcome to stay with her for a while,” Lindy said. “So you can just drop me off at the café.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with us at Reese’s?” Sarah asked, reluctant for the three of them to separate. Who knew to what extent Lindy’s own life was in danger? It was possible that for some reason somebody might be after all the Calhouns.

  “I’ll be much more comfortable with Anna,” Lindy replied. “And I’ll be safe there, too.”

  Sarah nodded, only wanting Lindy someplace where she’d feel safe and secure.

  It was nearly four o’clock when Sarah finally parked in front of Reese’s house. She’d dropped Lindy at the café, where she and Jackie had grabbed a late lunch, then learned from the secretary at the police station that Reese had already gone home for the day.

  Sarah had driven directly to Reese’s house. Now, sitting out in the driveway, she felt a curious dread mingling with the anticipation of safety. It was going to be difficult to share living space with Reese and not feel anything for the man himself. But she was more than willing to sacrifice her own peace of mind for Jackie’s well-being. And of one thing she was certain. Even though Reese didn’t want to be a real father to Jackie, he would never, ever allow anyone to harm her.

  “Does Mr. Sheriff know we’re going to stay here?” Jackie asked as they got out of the car.

  “He’ll know in a minute,” Sarah observed, getting their suitcase from the trunk. Together mother and daughter walked up to the front door.

  Reese answered on the first knock, his eyes lighting from within then darkening with questions as he looked first at Sarah, then at the suitcase she clutched tightly in her hand. “I hope you were serious last night about our staying here,” Sarah said lightly.