try to jump out. The apparent shock that had helped her keep herself composed after that one brief crying jag earlier was starting to wear off. He could tell by her slumped shoulders and the pinched expression on her face.
Thank You, Lord, for getting us through this. Nate couldn’t always pray in the midst of trouble, but he always prayed eventually. For help. For healing. For guidance or to give thanks. He couldn’t do his job without it.
Before turning left out of the parking lot and heading toward Copper Mesa, Nate glanced right toward the intersecting highway that led to Painted Rock. His apartment was in Painted Rock. He’d been exiled to the substation up there several months ago. By the time he left for his assignment in Phoenix, he’d managed to make a few friends and develop a fondness for the little town. But he still wasn’t anxious to return to his empty apartment there.
“So, you’re a cop now,” Lily said after they’d pulled out onto the highway and driven a few miles in silence. “From what I remember in high school, I would have expected you to end up on the other side of the law.”
“Yeah, there was a time when I would have expected that, too.”
The highway they followed passed through a stretch of scrubby flatland. In the wash of headlights, it looked like the bottom of an empty sea.
Nate’s life had felt empty from the time he was a kid. He’d had one picture of his dad, a United States marine who was killed protecting an embassy in South America. Nate’s mother, Brenda, had turned to alcohol to deal with her grief. Oftentimes she went on benders and Nate wouldn’t see her for days at a time.
In his midteens he finally moved in with his Uncle Bud and Aunt Ellen at their ranch, the Blue Spruce. Bud and Nate’s mom were brother and sister. Bud offered multiple times to help Brenda sober up and get her life together, but she wasn’t interested. She didn’t want him involved in her son’s life, either. Eventually, against Brenda’s will but with the insistence of the state of Arizona, Bud got custody of his nephew.
At first it was hard living by Bud and Ellen’s rules. Nate was a kid back then, and nearly everybody acts like a jerk when they’re a teenager, but it was still embarrassing to think about how he’d behaved.
Nate cleared his throat. “It took a while, but I finally got my head on straight. I enlisted in the army and served as a military policeman. When my enlistment ended, I knew I wanted to come home and work as a cop.” It was the only way he knew to pay back the people who’d helped him over the years.
The highway rose in elevation and pine trees began to appear on the sides of the road. They rounded a bend and the town of Copper Mesa came into view. Streetlights gave it the appearance of a blazing crown in the darkness.
“All right, which way?” Nate asked as they got closer to town. He glanced in his mirrors. There’d been a couple of vehicles behind them for a while. Not much he could do but keep an eye on them. It could be nothing. If they followed his turns once he got into town, he’d know they meant trouble.
“Head toward Cottonwood High,” Lily said. “I’m living in the old neighborhood. I had to move back into my mom’s house.”
“Do you want to borrow my phone and call her?” Nate asked. He’d offered her the use of his phone earlier, but she’d turned him down.
“I don’t want to wake her up if she’s asleep,” Lily said. “She’s been battling bronchitis for a few days. She has asthma, so it’s kind of a big deal.”
Nate kept his eyes on the road, but he picked up his phone from where it was sitting on the bench seat and held it out to her. If the bad guys really were connected to the place where she worked, they might have access to her home address. He didn’t want to mention that possibility because he didn’t want to send her into a panic without reason. “I think you should call your mom.”
She hesitated, then took the phone and punched in a few digits. Soon she was talking to her mom and giving Nate hand gestures showing him where to turn. Hearing her mom’s voice seemed to relax her a little. It sounded as if everything was okay. She didn’t mention what had happened at the Starlight Mart, but he didn’t blame her. Some things were better shared in person.
Nate kept checking his mirrors. One car stayed on his tail, which worried him. But then Lily directed him to make a turn and the car behind them kept going straight.
“We’re almost home,” Lily said into the phone while pointing Nate toward a house at the end of the road. “I mean I’m almost home,” she quickly said into the phone. “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.” She disconnected.
Nate pulled into the driveway of the house. The porch light was on and a couple of lights burned upstairs. It was in the older part of Copper Mesa, a little run-down-looking, and it backed up to the ravine that meandered through town.
Nate cut the engine and opened his door.
“What are you doing?” Lily asked, getting out.
“I’m walking you to your door.” He got out and came around to meet her.
“Thank you, but I’d rather you didn’t.” She bit her bottom lip for a few seconds. “It’s just that I’ve already put my mom through a lot lately. Seeing you might make her heart stop. Not in a good way,” she added with a slight smile.
Nate looked down at his leather jacket and torn jeans. He ran his hand over his beard. When he’d gotten the green light to leave Phoenix and go home, he’d just jammed. No cleaning up his appearance first, no haircut or shave. “I’ll tell her I’m a deputy sheriff,” he said. “Show her my ID.”
“I realize you think that would be comforting, but it won’t make her feel better. She’ll realize something bad happened if I need a cop to drive me home.”
“Okay.” Nate glanced up and down the street. “Sheriff Wolfsinger will have deputies driving by throughout the night while they’re on patrol. I’ll hang out here until the first one shows up so I can fill him or her in on the details. Let them know one of the guys they’re looking for should have soda can–sized bruises on the side of his face.”
Lily managed a small laugh despite her apparent exhaustion. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Good night.” He watched her turn, walk up the garden path to the front door and step inside the house.
He got back into his truck, pulled out of the driveway, drove around the block and then parked midway down the street, where he had a good view of the house. The chilly, late-autumn wind started to pick up again, shaking leaves and branches around her house near the windows and the front door.
Something caught his eye. Movement by a corner window. He stared at it, trying to determine if it was something to be concerned about, or if it was just a shifting shadow.
Lily’s muscles felt stiff and sore as she walked through the front door of her mom’s house. She’d experienced nearly every emotion possible over the last few hours, as well as the physical reactions that went with each one. No wonder she felt like she’d just gone a couple of rounds with a three-hundred-pound prizefighter.
The chilly fall wind loosened wisps of
