by Jessica Beck
“That’s good for him,” Momma said. “He needs all of the rest that he can get right now.”
I ignored her for the moment and turned to my friend, the mayor. “George, not that I’m not happy to see you, but what exactly are you doing here with a shotgun?”
He frowned at my mother. “You didn’t tell her, Dorothea?”
“There hasn’t been time,” Momma said. “While my daughter and I talk, why don’t you take a walk around the park?”
“With this in my hands?” the mayor asked as he held out his gun. “I might scare a few constituents if they see that I’m armed.”
“Lean it over there against the house, then,” she said, and George started to do just that, but then he must have thought better of it. “Maybe I’ll just keep it with me after all.”
“That might be for the best,” Momma said.
As George left, I turned to my mother and asked, “What exactly is going on here?”
Momma just shrugged. “You wouldn’t leave the cottage. What other choice did we have?”
“Just because we wouldn’t relocate, you enlisted the mayor to stand guard?”
“Oh, it’s not just the mayor,” Momma said. “He just has the first shift. Phillip is taking over in four hours, and then young Officer Grant will be here.”
This was too much. “Momma, I know that the chief loves you, but he can’t make a police officer stand guard over us. Can he?”
“As a matter of fact, Stephen volunteered for the duty, as did George and Phillip. Suzanne, you’ll have someone out here around the clock until the need is no longer there.”
“They can’t work long shifts standing guard here,” I protested. “It’s not fair to them. After all, these men have lives of their own.”
“The three I mentioned are just doing it in the evenings and early morning hours. Tomorrow morning, a very nice police inspector named Terry Hanlan has volunteered to watch over you from nine AM to seven PM. I believe the two of you have already met.”
“We have,” I said. “Are the state police taking the threat that credibly?”
Momma frowned. “Evidently not. Terry is taking some personal time to ensure your safety. He’ll be here during the day for the next five days before his vacation time is gone. Since he can’t watch over you both twenty-four hours a day, a handful of other men in this community have volunteered their services.”
“I hate the idea of anyone losing sleep because of me.”
Momma patted my hand. “Suzanne, as much as they all care for you, you aren’t the only reason they’re all willing to lose out on some sleep. Jake has made quite a few friends in April Springs during his time with you.”
“I realize that, but it’s all just a little too much,” I said.
“Then move somewhere else until things settle down,” Momma said. “Problem solved.”
“Sorry, but you know that I just can’t do that.”
“I understand completely,” she said, “but this is the next best solution.”
“I’m still not sure that’s true. I need to talk to Jake about this,” I said as I started back inside.
“Suzanne, let the poor man sleep. He’s been through a lot lately, and he doesn’t need to worry about this until he wakes up.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Okay. Thanks for arranging this.”
She looked surprised by the compliment. “My dear darling daughter, I had nothing to do with it. This was George and Phillip’s idea, and when Stephen found out what they were doing, he insisted on taking a shift himself.”
“That’s very kind of them all,” I said, more than a little touched by the very real gestures of my friends.
“What can I say? You are loveable enough in your own right, and this town has grown to accept Jake as one of their own. After all, he put his life on the line and was wounded for it. We will not stand by and watch either one of you put in danger now. You can sleep peacefully tonight knowing that good men are watching over you.”
“I’m not so sure how good I’ll sleep, but I do appreciate what they’re doing.”
“No way were we going to just stand idly by,” George said as he approached us coming from the park. “The perimeter is all clear.”
“Sometimes I forget that you were once a cop,” I said with a smile.
“Once a cop, always a cop,” George said. “The fact that I’m no longer on active police duty doesn’t mean a thing. I might be the mayor around here, but I won’t always be. Somehow it’s not in my blood the way police work is.”
“I think being mayor is more a part of you than you realize,” Momma said.
“If it is, I only have you to blame for it,” George said with a smile. He was right, too. Momma had orchestrated a write-in vote for his candidacy, mostly because she didn’t want the job she was running for herself, but she couldn’t stand the thought of her other opponent taking over, either. Her decision might have been self-serving, but it had been a good one for April Springs nonetheless.
“Well, I have things to tend to,” Momma said. “Suzanne, you are in good hands.”
“I know that,” I said as I hugged her. “Thanks.”
“For what? I told you that I wasn’t involved in this.”
“I’m not so sure that I believe you, but that’s okay,” I said with a grin.
Momma wanted to smile back, but I saw her stifle it at the last instant. “You know, you always were a stubborn child.”
“Like mother, like daughter, I suppose,” I said as I laughed.
After she was gone, George pulled a porch chair over by the door and sat down. “You know, there aren’t many folks who would talk to your mother like that and get away with it, Suzanne.”
“I like to think of it as a daughter’s prerogative,” I replied. I glanced in through the window and saw that Jake was still sound asleep, so I pulled up another chair and joined George at his post.
“It’s okay if you want to go back inside. You know that you don’t have to stand watch with me,” he said.
“I don’t have to, but I’d like a little company, if you don’t mind.”
“In that case, you’re more than welcome to join me,” he said. The shotgun was across his lap, and though we were chatting warmly, I noticed that his gaze never stopped surveying the land around us.
“George, are you really expecting whoever broke in here to come back? It was probably just a random robbery attempt.”
“It very well might have been, but it’s still prudent for us to keep our vigil. There are some very bad people out there, Suzanne.”
“Are you talking about Heather or this man Rusk?” I asked him softly.
“Yes to both of them,” George answered with the hint of a grin. “Maybe even a third person, if neither one of them broke into your place this morning.”
“I can’t imagine Heather coming after me if she finally managed to escape,” I said. “After all, I wasn’t the one who arrested her. Maybe Chief Martin should be the one who’s afraid.”
“Come on, Suzanne. We both know that you were instrumental in catching her. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit that she might fixate on you, and from what I understand, prison time is slow time. She’s had a lot of time to think about you while she was locked up.”
The thought that a killer would obsess about me behind bars gave me the chills, and frankly, it was something I’d never really thought about before. Once Grace and I caught our suspects, I tended to forget about them. Something else occurred to me just then. “George, you were helping me work on the investigation when I caught Heather. What makes you think that you’re not a target, too?”
He smiled as he said, “Honestly, I’m not worried about it, because if I am on her hit list, then I’m a target that knows how to shoot back.” He patted his shotgun affectionately as he said it.
“Do you think Grace is in danger as well?”
“I don’t think so,” George said, “but we’re keeping a bit of an eye on her as well.�
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That definitely made me feel better. “Does she have a guard around the clock, too?”
“Nothing that intense,” George said, “but then again, she wasn’t the focus of Heather’s ire, either, and don’t forget, she doesn’t have anything to do with Rusk.”
“To tell you the truth, he’s the one who really scares me,” I said.
“That’s probably a healthy attitude to have about him,” George admitted. “I spoke with Terry Hanlan over the phone before I came over here, and he told me a few chilling things that I don’t care to repeat.”
Wow. If something the state policeman had said chilled George, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know about it, either. “Jake doesn’t think Rusk will come after him.”
George just shrugged. “Even if that’s so, what we’re doing here is important. We want to show you and Jake our appreciation, and if it means a few lost hours of sleep, we can all live happily enough with that.” He paused, and then grinned a little. “Besides, the older I get, the less sleep I seem to need.”
I wasn’t sure that I liked being protected like some kind of princess, but I did appreciate knowing that these men cared about Jake and me. “How about some coffee while you’re standing guard?”
“I wouldn’t say no to a cup,” George said with a smile.
I’d noticed a few pies in the fridge Momma had made. “And maybe a slice of pie, too?”
“Suzanne, if you take that good care of us, none of us may ever leave.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”
I made the coffee and cut the mayor a healthy slice of pie while it was brewing. As I carried them both to the door, Jake surprised me by sitting up. “You can eat that right here as long as you get some for me,” he said as he sat up. “I’m awake.”
“As a matter of fact, this isn’t for me,” I said.
“How did you know that I’d want some?” he asked with a grin as he held his hands out to me.
“Sorry, but it’s not for you, either.”
Jake looked puzzled. “If it’s not for me and it’s not for you, then may I ask who gets it?”
“The mayor is out front with his shotgun,” I explained. “He’s on guard duty.”
I expected Jake to protest, but he just nodded instead. “That’s good. I was hoping that someone would step up.”
“You’re not upset?” I asked him.
“No. As a matter of fact, I’m kind of surprised that my boss didn’t assign us some men himself. I think he’s still a little miffed at me for getting shot.”
“How can he be mad about that?” I asked incredulously.
Jake tried to shrug, but the sling wouldn’t let him do it very easily. “He’s lost a valuable asset for the next four weeks. Why wouldn’t he be unhappy about it?”
“But that happened in the line of duty,” I protested. I was getting to like his boss less and less, and I’d only met the man once.
“Either way, it’s good to have someone watching over us while I heal. I hope George isn’t going to stay out there all night by himself.”
“He’s not,” I said. “Chief Martin is taking a shift, and then Officer Grant is going to come by until Terry Hanlan checks in.”
Jake looked surprised to hear his old friend’s name. “Has Terry been assigned to us? I knew that he said that he’d stop by to check on me later, but I didn’t think it was going to be like this.”
“No, evidently he’s taking some leave time to be here during the day. Jake, I know that he said you were friends, but it’s awfully generous of him to give up his vacation for us.”
My boyfriend looked a little uncomfortable when I said that, and I knew that there was more to the story than I knew. “Why would he do that?” I asked. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”
“It’s probably because he’s under the mistaken impression that I saved his life once,” Jake finally admitted.
“Did you?” I asked.
“Shouldn’t you be delivering that coffee to George before it gets cold?” Jake asked.
“Sure, I’ll do it in a second. First, I want to hear what happened.”
Jake rubbed his face with his good hand, and then he stared at me. “You’re not going to let up until I tell you, are you?”
I grinned at him. “You know me too well.”
“Fine. We were on a stakeout together, and he went to check on our suspect, against my advice. When he didn’t come back right away, I decided to see what was going on. I snuck around and saw that our guy had a gun to Terry’s head. I managed to distract him a little, and Terry got out of it okay after all.”
“How exactly did you distract him, Jake?”
He mumbled something, but I couldn’t make it out.
“We both know that I didn’t quite catch that. I’m not sure that I was meant to.”
“I shot the bad guy in the rear end, okay?” Jake asked. “He dropped the gun, and Terry grabbed him.”
“Weren’t you risking shooting your partner instead?” I asked him.
“Well, I decided that it was worth a shot, you know?” He smiled a little at that. “No pun intended.”
“Was your suspect really a bad guy?”
“Oh, yes. We found drugs and guns out in plain sight. This man needed to be off the streets, and we took care of him. I keep telling Terry that it was nothing, but he still won’t let me forget it.”
“Jake, he’s right. You kind of did save his life.”
“I guess if you look at it one way you could say that,” he said. “Now will you take that to George?”
“I will, and then I’ll be back with yours,” I said.
Jake pretended to frown at me. “So you’re saying that I’m the one who got shot, and I get served last? That doesn’t quite seem fair, does it?”
“Life’s not fair, or haven’t you heard? Learn to live with it, hero,” I said with a smile.
That made him laugh. “Suzanne, I wasn’t sure about this arrangement when you first suggested it, but I’ve got to say, it’s good to have you around.”
“Right back at you,” I said. “I’ll just be a second.”
I delivered the pie and coffee, which George took gladly as he leaned his shotgun against the house beside him. I noticed that it was still close enough to reach in case he needed it in a hurry.
“Sorry for the delay,” I said.
“No worries. How’s he feeling?”
“He’s pretending to be grumpy, but I know better,” I said.
“That’s a good sign, then.”
“How’s that, George?”
“If Jake’s overly polite, that’s when you need to start worrying. He’s going to be fine. I just know it.”
“I think so, too,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll be out here himself soon to thank you for watching out for us.”
“Do me a favor and make him stay on the couch. None of us are doing this for a pat on the back. Tell him I said that, and if he tries to come out here anyway, remind him that I’m the one with the gun.” George grinned.
“He’s armed, too, you know,” I said. It had unsettled me a little when I’d seen Jake’s gun on the couch beside him, but it wasn’t like a weapon for him. That gun was an extension of who he was, and I was certain that it helped him sleep so comfortably. It was part of who he was, so I was going to have to learn to get over having it around.
“Just tell him not to shoot the messenger, then,” George said. “Was he upset when you told him that we were going to be out here all night?”
“I thought he might be, but to be honest with you, he seemed kind of pleased more than anything.” I leaned forward and kissed the mayor’s cheek, which got a smile from him.
“What was that for?”
“For caring enough to give up what little sleep you get these days,” I said.
“Like I said, we’re all happy to do it.”
When I got back inside the cottage, Jake had shifted around on the couch, sitting up now and resting his slinged arm on a pillow. “Are you comfortable?” I asked him.
“I suppose so.” He looked at the arrangement, and then he added a little wistfully, “This is probably as good as it’s going to get for awhile.”
I glanced at the clock. “Would you like a pill for the pain? You can have one now, if you’d like.”
“Let’s see how it goes and save it for later,” he said. “I might need a little help getting to sleep tonight. Do you know what I’d really like?”
I didn’t wait for an answer; I just leaned in and kissed his cheek, too. After all, if it was good enough for George, it was certainly good enough for Jake.
“Sure, that’s wonderful and all, but what I was really hoping for was some of your mother’s homemade pot roast.”
I started to throw a pillow at him, but I quickly changed my mind. If I hit his bandaged arm, I was certain that it could hurt him. Instead, I shifted at the last second, and still holding onto the pillow, I gave him a gentle thump upside his head.
He laughed, surprised that I’d hit him, even so gently. “I probably deserved that, but I am fiercely hungry. Would you like to have some, too?”
“Actually, I’m starving myself, even though I had a snack while you were sleeping,” I admitted. “I’ll be back shortly.”
“Don’t be gone too long, and I’m not just saying that because I’m hungry.”