She wanted to watch the Guns’ softball practice. She could tell herself that it would be fun, that it was smart to let Lucy become familiar with the stadium and the people before the game Saturday where her job as team mascot meant she’d have to be on her best behavior. But Zoey knew she was fooling herself. Watching your guy at practice was probably another box to be checked.
Back in high school, she’d gone to plenty of baseball games solely for the pleasure of watching Levi in motion. It didn’t escape her notice that once again she was contemplating spending an evening hanging out with a bunch of cops.
She could blame Levi for that too. He was a good man. Her experiences with cops in the past had been horrible, and Paul was still an issue for her, but it did not seem right to put Levi anywhere in the same universe as that man. Levi, Brad, Logan, Jack, all of them were proof that not all cops, not even most cops, were power-tripping predators.
Lucy trotted up the steps to the porch.
Zoey squinted to try to identify the lump on her doormat in front of the door. She hadn’t ordered anything and wasn’t expecting a delivery. The dog bounded up and began sniffing the lump. “Lucy, no.”
Zoey ran up the steps. Lucy looked at her with her “this looks yummy and I’m waiting for the magic word” look. Zoey snapped on the leash and pulled her dog down the steps and away from what looked like a pile of raw ground beef.
She tied Lucy securely to the rail and crossed the porch once again. She didn’t know why she was moving so cautiously. It wasn’t like the disgusting pile of raw meat could jump at her. She bent over to inspect it. It appeared the meat had been there for a while. It had turned a grayish color, and flies had found it, which meant there were likely already fly eggs deposited in it. She thought there were unusual dark specks in the meat, but she wasn’t touching it to find out. She pulled her phone from her daypack and dialed Levi’s number. He picked up immediately.
“Zoey.”
“There’s raw meat on my front doormat.”
“Raw meat?”
“Yeah. Like hamburger. It’s on a Styrofoam tray like you’d see in the grocery store meat section but without the plastic wrap.”
“Did Lucy get into it?”
“No. She wanted to, but she was waiting for me to give her the okay signal.” Dread settled like a lead weight on her chest. “Levi, it could be poisoned. Someone could have been trying to poison Lucy. Was Paul released on bail?”
“Yeah, about noon today, but I don’t see how he could have pulled that off. We’ve been keeping an eye on him, and he went straight home and has stayed put. Regardless, we’ll check this out. I’m on the other side of the lake, wrapping up a call. I’ll get over there as soon as I can, but I’ll have dispatch send over a unit to pick up the meat. We’ll have it tested.” He paused, his voice changing in tone. “If you think someone is still around, or if Lucy is giving any indication of that, get in your car and get out of there. In fact, you should leave now to be safe.”
“I’m fine. If there was anyone here, Lucy would let me know.”
A sigh carried through the phone. “Don’t touch the meat, or anything else.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” His reassuring tone relieved some of the worry that was making her head ache.
With Lucy on the leash beside her, Zoey walked around her cottage, then around Levi’s cabin for good measure, but didn’t find anything else unusual. Only the pile of disgusting raw meat with a puddle that looked like blood forming around it.
An SUV with the Hangman’s Loss PD insignia on the door and a light bar across the roof pulled into her driveway to park next to her Prius. She walked over as Jack Morgan stepped out. He was so tall, she barely came up to his shoulder. He always made her feel like a little kid standing next to him. He gave Lucy a good rub, then straightened to look at Zoey with his keen dark eyes. “Hey. Levi says you’ve got something to show me.”
“There’s raw meat in front of my door. Go on up and look. I don’t want to take Lucy close enough that she could give in to temptation and grab a bite, so we’re staying down here.”
Jack went up the steps onto the porch. She watched him squat to examine the meat, waving a hand to shoo the flies. After a minute he rose to his feet to pull gloves and a large plastic bag from a cargo pocket. He bagged the meat, then placed it in his vehicle, returning to retrieve her doormat.
“You’re taking my doormat, too?”
“Sorry, but yeah. The blood from the meat soaked into it, so I don’t know if you’d want to keep it anyway. Right now it’s evidence.”
Another police SUV turned into the driveway to park next to Jack’s. Levi stepped out and Lucy started prancing at the end of her leash when she spotted her favorite guy. Levi crossed to where they stood, and like Jack, leaned down to pet Lucy. His bold blue gaze locked on Zoey. “You okay?” The shiner high on Levi’s cheekbone looked worse today than it had the evening before.
“I’m fine. I’m just glad Lucy didn’t eat any of that meat.”
“Jack, look away.”
Without waiting to see if his instruction was followed, Levi lightly grasped the braid that held Zoey’s hair back and bent his head. He kissed her, and they both seemed to need the connection because she could feel her tension ease at the same time Levi drew in a ragged breath. Lucy headbutted Levi’s knee, then pushed herself between them, forcing him to let go.
Jack let out a short laugh. “That dog’s like having kids, there’s always someone else around when you want it to be only the two of you.”
Levi stepped back, his gaze not leaving Zoey’s face. She wasn’t sure how or why things had changed between them, but the intensity level had certainly ratcheted up.
He pulled himself away to follow Jack, who opened the rear door of his cruiser. Levi took the evidence bag of meat, holding it up to examine the contents. He held out the bag and pointed. “See those?”
Zoey stepped closer to see what he was pointing at. “What?”
“Those things that look like green pellets? My bet is rat poison.”
“Rat poison?” Zoey swallowed down the sudden roll of nausea. “Would that kill a big dog?”
“I don’t know if it would kill her and it would depend on how much she ate, but it would make her sick. Lab test will tell us for sure what it is.”
Jack pulled out his keys. “I’m going to get this to the station so we can log it and get it out to the lab before the end of the day.” He cocked a brow at Levi. “You coming to practice tonight?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
Jack nodded, then got in his SUV.
They watched Jack leave, then Levi turned toward her. “You want to come? I could impress you with my amazing skills with a ball.”
She cast an uneasy look at her house. “I’ll come for a bit. I think introducing Lucy to the team and letting her see what goes on there will make her more comfortable on Saturday.”
“Hey, you okay?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never felt nervous about living here by myself, even though we’re a little isolated. I’m not going to be able to let Lucy out off-leash any longer. There’s no telling what this nutjob is planning next.”
Chapter Sixteen
Zoey walked to the edge of the practice field, her dog plodding beside her on the leash. She recognized several of the players. Jack swung at balls spewing from a pitching machine, while Levi, Monica Valdez, and a couple of others fielded them. Logan practiced pitching to a player in catcher’s gear on the far side of the field. Brad crossed from the dugout to greet them.
“Hey there.” He rubbed Lucy’s head, then held up a t-shirt he’d carried over. “Do you think our girl here could wear this?” It was one of the team’s HLPD sleeveless practice t-shirts.
Zoey eyed the dimensions. “I’ll have to modify it, but I can make it work.” She rubbed the back of her neck, scanning the few people in the bleachers. Something was making her feel jittery.
/> Brad pulled a large navy bandana from his pocket. “How about this?”
“That’s too small to fit around her neck, but if you have two, I can tie them together.”
“I’ll get you another one.”
Levi loped over, his glove on one hand, a ball in the other. “Hey there. This Lucy’s gear?”
Brad held up the t-shirt. “She’ll rock this. Since the Hoses are bringing their dog out onto the field on a fire truck, I thought we could have Lucy riding in on a cruiser. We’ll have the window down so she can hang her head out.”
“She’ll love that,” Zoey said, even though she figured she’d have to ride in the cruiser too. The irony wasn’t lost on her. She’d avoided the police for years, and she’d be riding in a police car to support them. Her social life was being taken over by all things law enforcement.
Levi tossed the ball and caught it and Lucy went on alert. She sat, her ears perked as she followed the movement of the ball.
“You want this, girl?” He tossed the ball and Lucy caught it neatly, looking at him with the ball in her mouth and her tail wagging.
“Lucy, drop.”
At the order, Lucy set the ball neatly on Levi’s foot, staring at it intently as if waiting for it to move.
“Did you teach her to fetch?” Brad asked.
“I didn’t have to teach her a thing, she was a natural with it. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was part lab. Her favorite thing is the Frisbee, and it’s even better if I throw it into the lake. It doesn’t matter how cold it is, she’ll run into the water to retrieve a Frisbee all day if I let her.”
Levi picked up the ball. “Will she run off if you unleash her?” Zoey shook her head and unhooked the leash. Levi made sure Lucy was following his movements and winged the ball across the field. Lucy was off like a rocket, chasing down the ball, at the same time Jack hit one into left field. When Lucy saw that ball arcing toward her, she outran Monica and managed to get it in her mouth along with the first ball.
Levi let out a whoop. “Way to go, girl. Bring them back, baby.”
“The balls are going to be all slobbery,” Zoey told Brad.
“No worries, this is great. During a break in the game, we can have her fielding balls. Maybe get the FD’s Dalmatian out there, too,” Brad mused. “I’ll have to work out the details, but the crowd will love it.”
After getting Lucy to drop the balls, Zoey attached her leash and led her to the bleachers so the guys could get on with their practice. They had to go behind the home dugout to the opening in the chain link fence. As she passed through, she recognized the thin woman with the bleached hair from the post office walking hurriedly away from her toward the parking lot.
After practice, Zoey joined the team for dinner at a Mexican food place that had recently opened on Main Street. Waiting in line to order, she overheard Brad on his phone, saying something about Levi and Zoey like they were a unit. Was that how people were viewing them, like they were a couple? The itchiness turned into a spike of panic.
She started chewing on her lip as they moved up in the line. Several of the players, including Brad, opted to order their meal as takeout. Zoey sat next to Levi under an awning in the outdoor seating area while they waited for their order. Brad carried out two large bags and stopped at their table.
Levi raised a brow at the bags. “Your kids eat tacos?”
“Tacos are Owen’s favorite food. He’d eat them for breakfast if we let him. Amaya is in a quesadilla phase.”
“Good choices. Guess you’re not joining us for a beer before heading home.”
“Not tonight. Latest news update is that Amaya got a hold of a tube of her mother’s lipstick and now both the cat and her brother are pink and everyone needs baths.”
Levi tipped his head back in a full laugh. “Have fun, brother. Glad it’s you and not me going home to that.”
“Never a dull moment.”
That evening as she readied herself for bed, Zoey found her mind refusing to settle. She brushed her teeth, used her facial cleanser, applied moisturizer, performing her nightly ritual, but found that the process didn’t calm her like it usually did. She couldn’t stop thinking about Levi. Levi telling Jack to look away so he could kiss her. Levi’s delight in Lucy’s ball-catching prowess. The strong column of his throat that had looked exceedingly bitable when he had laughed at his brother’s parenting challenges.
Maybe they needed distance. It was all too tempting to slip into a life that included check-in calls, impromptu dinners, and mind-blowing sex in the evenings. Not that there’d been more than that one night of mind-blowing sex, but still. They were acting like a couple, people were viewing them as a couple, and she didn’t know if she was ready for that. If she’d ever be ready for that.
She pulled down the covers and plumped her pillows against the headboard so she could lean back with the sheet over her knees. Once she was comfy, she picked up her phone and opened her favorites list. Seconds later the phone on the other end of the line was ringing.
“Hey, my girl.”
“Hi, Mom. How’s it going?”
As her mom talked, telling her about a student in her caseload, then about meeting Charlie’s girlfriend, Zoey felt some of her disquiet ease.
She smiled at the description of Charlie’s girlfriend. “A very nice girl,” according to Dawn Hardesty, who also had a brother with autism.
“She seems to get Charlie,” Dawn said. “Nothing fazes her. I met them for lunch and you know how he can be sometimes when there’s a crowd, and she rolled with it. If I could create the perfect person for him, she’d be it. And he’s over the moon about her.”
“That makes me so happy. All your hard work with him has paid off.”
“All our hard work. We three were a team. You worked as hard as I did to help Charlie become an adult who could cope with the world.” Dawn paused. “You know, sometimes I think you had it the hardest.”
“Me? You’re kidding. Charlie had it the hardest. Or you, a teenage mom, then mom to a special needs child. If Charlie and I are productive, somewhat well-adjusted adults, that’s due to you.”
“Thanks, my girl. But I worried about you too. You worked so hard to help me, to help your brother, that sometimes I wished you could’ve been just a kid. I allowed that bastard Paul Clauson in our house. I will never forgive myself for that.”
“He fooled everyone. He was working as a police officer and they didn’t have a clue he was a pervert. Or maybe they did but ignored it. He was skilled in presenting the image people wanted to see. He’s the one who did something wrong, Mom, not you.”
“I’ll always blame myself for poor judgment where he’s concerned.”
Zoey hesitated. Her mom wasn’t going to like what she had to say. “Mom, Paul is back in Hangman’s Loss.” Dawn already knew about the hit-and-run, so Zoey filled her in on the rest of what had happened.
“That evil man. You come home, right now. Call your work and tell them you’re taking a leave of absence, and you come home with Lucy until the police have this business figured out.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can. Or I’ll go up there and finish up what you started when you stabbed that sorry excuse for a man. I’ll do what that one woman did to another guy and cut off his dick, maybe his balls, too, and see how he likes life then.”
Zoey laughed, she couldn’t help it. It seemed like mama bear instincts didn’t go away when your kids grew up. “I don’t want to have to visit you in jail, Mom. But seriously, the police are on it. Do you remember the Gallagher family?”
“Of course I do. You had a crush on the youngest son.”
“You knew that?”
“Moms know more than their kids give them credit for.”
“Good to know. Brad Gallagher, who also is my landlord, is now chief of police, and he’s taking my case seriously. In addition to the police investigation, he’s having an alarm system installed here tomorrow.” She plucked at the
sheet on her lap. “You know the other house that’s on this property, a little cabin? Levi is living there.”
“Levi is the boy you liked?”
“He’s definitely not a boy anymore. Um, he’s a cop for the Hangman’s Loss PD, too.”
“Good. He lives close and he’s a cop. He can help keep an eye out for you.” Zoey was quiet, and moments later, Dawn asked, “Is he still as good-looking as he was back in high school?”
“Better. We’re, um, kind of going out together. Nothing serious,” she hurried to explain, “but, you know, hanging out sometimes.”
“Do you want it to be serious?”
“I told you, he’s a cop.”
“So?”
“Geez, Mom. It’s not like cops have been good to the Hardesty family.”
“We’ve run into a few bad ones, for sure. But there are many more who risk their lives to protect people. You have to judge the person, not the uniform. If Levi Gallagher’s a good person, he’ll be a good cop.”
It seemed so simple when her mom said it. Zoey lay in bed staring at the ceiling after saying good-bye. She didn’t know why it surprised her that her mother didn’t have the same issues with law enforcement Zoey did. She’d always felt her attitude about cops was reasonable and justified, but finding out that, despite what had happened in their past, her mom didn’t hold those same views challenged her own presumptions.
***
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny. The Guns and Hoses charity softball game was scheduled to begin at ten. At nine, Levi was knocking on the cottage door.
Zoey answered and gestured to her attire. “This is all your fault.”
Levi took in her appearance, a grin spreading across his face. “You look cute. But what’s my fault?”
“That I’m wearing police-issued gear. It feels wrong.”
She hadn’t been able to say no when Brad had presented her with the official game-day baseball jersey. It was white with blue sleeves, with HLPD GUNS written on the back, and a police badge on the front in the pocket area. In a nod to the temperatures forecast to be in the high eighties, Zoey had opted for denim cutoff shorts, which, if judging from Levi’s extended perusal of her legs, might be a tad short.
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