The Glow in the Woods, page 27
“Together,” I said, and her face fell in disappointment. I didn’t bother to explain that she had no competition from me.
She cleared Lonnie’s empty plate and left without smiling.
“I want to talk to Sloane and Tristan,” I said as I took out my wallet. “If she agreed not to call the cops, then she must have a good reason. I want to hear her side of this before I make a decision.”
“Hell, yeah, she’s got a good reason. What was she going to say? I’m trespassing on private property in the middle of the night to try and talk to a ghost? That’ll go over well. Not even the golden boy could save his Hollywood girl from that. They’d lock her up in a looney bin before morning.”
He flashed a smile at his dejected admirer as she slid the receipt on the table in front of him.
“Y’all need more coffee?”
“We’re fine, thanks.” I reached across the table and grabbed the receipt and then counted out the correct amount plus a hefty tip.
She walked away a bit happier.
“I don’t even know what to do,” I said, resting my forehead in my hand as I propped my elbow on the table. “This is insane. What the hell is going on?”
“I have no idea,” Lonnie said, “but I’m thinking you should avoid home for the next couple of days until we see what shakes out.”
“I can’t stay away for days! I have animals. I have responsibilities! That’s my home. My clothes are there. My things are there. We have to involve the police. They’ll investigate. They’ll patrol the area. They’ll make sure I’m safe.”
“If there’s anything I learned inside those prison walls, it’s that no one can make sure you’re safe. Not even the people who are paid to do so. Sometimes, they’re the ones you need to keep an eye on most.”
“This is ridiculous. We can’t solve this on our own, Lonnie. This is serious. I’m gonna talk to Sloane and see what she told Tristan, and what he says we should do. And then that’s what we’re gonna do.”
I put my purse over my shoulder and scooted to the edge of the bench seat.
“Since when are you a fan of Tristan Rogers?”
“I’m not a fan or foe. I don’t care either way. But his girlfriend’s involved, which means he’s involved, and he’s a deputy. So, that’s where I’m gonna start. What are you gonna do? Where are you gonna go?”
“Back to the farm. Somebody needs to be there to make sure nothing else goes down.”
“Are you sure that’s safe?”
“No, but you want your animals and your house sitting out there unprotected? God only knows what’s happened since I left to come tell you not to come home.”
I let the purse strap fall from my shoulder and leaned across the table to take his hand.
“You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to go back out there and put yourself in harm’s way. I appreciate you wanting to protect me, and I’m glad you were there to save Sloane. But this isn’t your issue. It isn’t your property. You can walk away if you want to.”
His eyes narrowed again, and he raised his chin to look down at me as he pulled his hand away. “Do you think I could just walk away after all Vincent did for me?”
I pulled my hand back and stood to go.
“You don’t have to feel responsible for me, Lonnie. I appreciate your efforts, but you have the right to protect yourself. You don’t have to go back out there. I can figure something out.”
He stood and stared into my eyes. “I know how important you were to Vincent. You meant more to him than anyone on the planet, me and Deb included. As long as I’m able to, I’ll protect us both.”
He walked past me and held the door open for me to walk through it, and then we got in our vehicles and drove our separate ways.
36
Morning Coffee
Sloane
The nurse woke me when she came around again, and she was none too happy to see me in Tristan’s bed. I settled into the recliner and was able to get back to sleep when she left, but soon the shift changed, and a new crew came by to introduce themselves.
They’d only been gone about fifteen minutes when the door opened again, and I opened my eyes in a sleepy stupor, wondering why they were back so soon.
It was Rachel, and I immediately closed the recliner and went to her.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as we hugged.
“Lonnie told me what happened, and I had to see for myself that you were okay. Are you okay?” she whispered as she grabbed my arms. “Is he okay?” She looked at Tristan, who was sound asleep.
“Yeah, I am, and he will be. Let’s step out in the hallway so we don’t wake him. We haven’t gotten much sleep. I’m sure you understand.”
When we opened the door, I saw the officer seated next to it and realized we needed a more private place to talk.
“Let’s take a walk and get some coffee.” I turned to the officer. “Can you let his nurse know I went to the waiting room if he needs me?”
He nodded, and she and I made our way down the hall.
“How’d you get in?” I asked.
“Oh, I have an employee badge. I pick up some shifts in the ER here, so I came in the back. The cop probably thought I was one of Tristan’s nurses since I’m wearing scrubs. How did he get shot?”
“Something went wrong on a bust. I don’t know exactly. I’m just grateful he was wearing a vest.”
The waiting room was nearly empty. There were two women staring blank-faced at the news on the television, one man in a chair against the wall with his head back and mouth open in slumber, and one lady pacing by the window as she talked quietly on her phone.
Rachel and I each poured a cup of coffee and went to a table in the corner.
“So, what happened?” she asked in a low voice. “Why were you out there? Lonnie said you went to talk to Vincent?”
I sighed and tried to gather my thoughts to explain.
“Chelsea and I were talking—”
Her eyebrows rose. “Chelsea, your special friend?”
“Yeah, her. I thought she might be able to communicate with Vincent if we went out to where they found him. The first time I heard her voice, it was at the scene of the accident on a full-moon night, so I hoped it might work again.”
“And did it?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t get the chance to find out. I ended up unconscious in a trunk instead.”
She closed her eyes for a brief second and shuddered. “I still can’t believe this is happening. Who are these people? Why were they on my property? Any idea?”
“Holden thinks it might have something to do with the lake access. Is your lake connected to the chain?”
“Yeah, but I told you that road is inaccessible. No way could anyone easily get to the lake that way. Lonnie said he saw the glow. Did you see it?”
“I did, but only after we got back to your house. I could see it from the kitchen window.”
“Wait, you were inside my kitchen? How?”
I’d wondered if Lonnie would tell her. Her stunned look told me he hadn’t.
“Lonnie found a key in a brick column underneath the porch.”
She sat back. “You’re kidding. He found a key to my house under the back porch?”
“He knew where it was. He went right to it. I asked him how he knew, and he said he grew up there.”
She crossed her arms and stared out the window.
“Rachel, do you think he’s been going in your house without your knowledge?”
It was obvious she was considering it, but then she shook her head.
“No. I don’t think he would do that. He’s been very respectful of my space. Of my boundaries. I don’t think he’d go in uninvited. I mean, obviously, he did, but there were extenuating circumstances, right?”
“Yeah. We were running for our lives, or so we thought at the time.”
She continued to stare out the window, her brow furrowed as she mulled over the revelation.
“I’ve never noticed anything out of place. There’s never been anything missing.”
“Well, maybe he never went in. Maybe he knew where the key was, but like you said, he respected that it was your house and didn’t enter.”
I took a sip of the coffee to give her a minute longer to process that information before I revealed more. I felt she had a right to know what Lonnie knew.
“He also uncovered a rifle that was hidden in the front coat closet.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. “I knew that was there, but I haven’t thought about it in years. Vin told me his dad hid weapons all over the house in case they were ever attacked. By whom or what, I don’t know. Vin cleared out most of them after his dad passed, but his mom asked that he leave the rifle. I’d forgotten all about it.”
She took a long drink from the coffee and then held the cup between her hands with her elbows braced on the table.
“I never trusted Lonnie when Vincent was alive. He was always in trouble. Always making stupid decisions and hanging out with the wrong people. But he seems different since he got out. I think Vin’s death really affected him. Prison, too, of course. They say it changes you, and I can’t imagine in how many ways. I guess I had started to trust him. To try and give him the benefit of the doubt and see him in a different light. Now, I’m not sure that was a wise decision.”
I stretched my hand across the table toward her.
“Rachel, I’m not telling you not to trust Lonnie. He put his life on the line to save me from a bad situation that could have turned out much differently. I’m forever grateful to him for what he did. I had hoped he would tell you about us going in the house. I felt like you should know. But don’t jump to any conclusions without talking to him, okay? It was a crazy night. Definitely not normal.”
She set the cup down and looked out the window again.
“I’m just questioning everything right now. Why are there people on my property? What are they trying to do, and why would they hurt you? What else don’t I know?”
“Hard to say.”
“He said you guys didn’t call the cops. I think we should, but I wanted to talk to you first.”
“We definitely should, and we will. Soon. But we have to get our stories straight. Neither you nor I want to explain to the cops that this all started because we’re seeing ghosts.”
“Definitely not,” she said.
“So, you tell me. Why was I trespassing on your property in the middle of the night?”
She tapped her finger against her cheek, forehead scrunched in deep concentration.
“Maybe I’d noticed something unusual while walking in the woods. I hired you to investigate, and I asked you to take a ride out there while I was working to see if you noticed anything suspicious. Or maybe I called you from work and told you I’d left the gate open. I asked if you would go check on it since you live nearby.”
I nodded, happy to hear a suggestion that might just work.
“Okay, but why wouldn’t you have called Lonnie instead? He’s right there at the farm.”
“It’s not public knowledge that he’s staying there. At least, I hope it’s not. But even so, maybe he didn’t answer his phone. Or you and I were on the phone discussing my case when I remembered I didn’t close the gate.”
“Did you close the gate?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s been bothering me that the gate was open when I got there. How did they get it open? And they locked it when they left with the Cadillac, but when Holden arrived, it was open again. They have a key to your lock. How else would they do that?”
“God, I don’t know.” She pulled the elastic band from her hair and ran her fingers through its length as she shook it out. “I need sleep. I can’t even think.”
“I don’t think you should go back to the house until we have the sheriff involved. Is there somewhere else you can go?”
“Lonnie said I shouldn’t go back either. He said he’d take care of the animals. But I don’t even have a toothbrush with me. No clothes. Nothing. Do you really think someone’s gonna be hiding out in the trees waiting for me to pull in the driveway first thing in the morning? Is it that bad?”
“I don’t know. Tristan seems to think they were worried about what I saw. Even though I saw nothing. But they don’t know that, so who knows what they’ll do?”
“Well, I ran into my friend Doreen downstairs. I think I’m gonna ask if I can crash at her place for a couple of hours. Get some sleep and maybe clear my head. When are you guys talking to the sheriff?”
“Tristan said first thing this morning, which is now, I suppose. Speaking of him, I probably should get back in there. I don’t want him to wake up and wonder where I went.”
I stood and stretched my arms and my back, cursing the recliner for the pains I felt.
“He’s gonna be okay, right?” Rachel asked as she pushed her chair back under the table. “How long will he be in the hospital?”
“The doctor said seven to ten days, minimum. Hey, call and let me know where you’re landing, okay? If you go to this friend’s or to your brother’s or wherever.”
“I am not about to tell Levi any of this until the law is involved. He will freak the hell out and not let me set foot on that property. He’s a tad bit overprotective.”
“All right, well, just let me know where you are. Let’s keep in touch and keep our stories straight. Don’t go back to the house unless you’re sure Lonnie’s there, okay?”
She nodded, and we hugged our goodbyes.
37
Breaking News
Sloane
When I returned to Tristan’s room, he was sitting up with a breakfast tray in front of him.
“Hey,” I said, walking over to give him a kiss. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you. Did you get any sleep?”
“You mean in between nurses coming in and machines beeping and my head churning to figure out what’s going on? Not much. At least it seemed like you got some sleep, huh?”
“I think she cranked up the meds on me. One minute I was feeling pretty alert, and the next minute I couldn’t hold my eyes open.”
“That’s good. Your body needed sleep. How’s breakfast?”
“About as good as you’d imagine. Did you and Rachel get something to eat? The nurse said you guys had gone for coffee.”
“We didn’t venture as far as the cafeteria. Only the waiting room. She’s shaken up, as you can imagine. She wants to go back to the farm, but she’s gonna catch a nap at a friend’s here locally first.”
“We need to get moving on this and get somebody out there to the property to check it out.”
I explained the story Rachel and I came up with, and though he saw some holes in it, it was the best option we had. We couldn’t put off involving his fellow deputies any longer.
“Hand me my phone, and I’ll call Holden to let him know what we’re doing.”
I wondered if there was a cell store nearby where I could get my phone replaced. I hated feeling out of contact with the world.
Tristan’s voice changed in the middle of his conversation with Holden, and I turned to look at him. He’d grown quiet, and I could see the vein working in his forehead, a sure sign something had upset him. I hoped it wasn’t Ray being a jerk. I couldn’t believe his dad hadn’t come to the hospital to check on him.
He told Holden goodbye and tossed the phone on the rolling stand that held his breakfast tray. Then he cursed and ran his hand through his hair.
“What happened? What’s wrong, Tristan?”
“Holden just found a note from Mom that my parents already left. They’re on their way up here.”
“That’s a good thing, right? It’s good that your dad’s coming?”
“It just means Mom told him he had to. I don’t need to deal with him right now. I’ve got to call Seth and get this ball rolling. I’ve got to follow up with what happened after I got driven away in the ambulance last night. I’m stuck in this damned hospital bed relying on everyone to do my job for me. I can’t even follow up on my leads. The last thing I need is Ray sulking in the corner wishing the bullet had found its mark.”
I pushed the rolling stand out of the way and sat on the edge of his bed.
“Don’t say that. Your dad would never wish that. I don’t pretend to understand why he treats you the way he does, but there’s no way he would rather you be harmed. I don’t believe that.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t know him like I do. Let me call Seth before they get here, so I can talk freely.”
He caught Seth up on the events of the previous night, skipping the supernatural elements and relaying that I’d gone to check on the gate for Rachel instead. They agreed it would be best if Seth came to the hospital to take my official statement. That way Tristan could be present and the two of them could maintain control over the situation.
I was flipping through channels on the TV, not really listening to the remainder of his conversation since it was more about the stake-out case, which didn’t concern me.
When I reached the entertainment news channel, my mouth dropped open, and I sank onto the couch as my hand trembled on the remote.
Tristan’s face filled the screen, and at first, I thought somehow it had gone national that a deputy had been shot in the line of duty. But then they flashed a picture of Becky beside his, and I knew Tank had been busy over the weekend.
I turned up the volume to hear the cheerful news anchors explain that Sloane Reid’s lover had a secret buried in his past. They went on to say that he’d served his country honorably, but in the process, he’d left his pregnant wife home alone to lose their child and grieve without her husband.
“Seth, I’m gonna have to call you back.” Tristan said as he laid the phone down. “What the hell is this?”
“Sources close to the couple say the deputy sheriff and the former Spectral Slayer star lead a low-key life in the small town of Cedar Creek. Locals often see Ms. Reid shopping for groceries or driving the deputy’s Cadillac, which we’re told belonged to his late grandmother. He appears to have come from a tight-knit family, unlike Ms. Reid, who is rarely photographed with her mother, international model Jennifer Reid. Her father has never been identified. A source who wished to remain anonymous said that the deputy has a troubled relationship with his own father, so perhaps that’s something that the couple bonded over. We wish Ms. Reid great success in her new film venture and in her blossoming romance.”
