glanced over her shoulder, peeking down the hall to make sure no one was close enough to hear them. She still whispered for good measure. “I can’t be sure, since the notes never mention her by name. But I just don’t see how it could be anyone else.”
“Tell me more about the woman who brought her here.” His attention moved from the screwdriver in his hand to land heavily on her face.
“Miranda. She lives on the other side of town and works in human resources at the tire plant.”
“The same one that’s been having layoffs?”
“Yes. Some of the women who work there have come to her when their husbands lose control. She always directs the women to me, and, if they want it, I do whatever I can to get them the help they need.” A ball thumped against the opposite side of the wall that she leaned against, and she gave it three sharp raps.
“Sorry, Miss Ashley.”
“Take it to the back patio, Julio. But put on a coat before you go outside.”
After several seconds, the screen door slammed, and she continued, “Last week Miranda brought this girl—Joy—to the back door, which was strange.”
“How so?”
“Miranda will tell anyone who wants to know about this place, but she’s never brought women by in person. She always said it would put her in a sticky situation between the employees she was supposed to serve and their spouses. Some of the women work at the plant alongside their husbands. Miranda didn’t want to get mixed up in domestic disputes that would spill into the workplace, but she couldn’t just sit back and watch when one of the guys took his temper out on his wife. My guess is that Jimmy is pretty—”
“Jimmy?”
“Swift. You met him at the police station yesterday.”
Matt nodded slowly, not like it took him more than an instant to remember the guy. More like he was trying to wipe away an unpleasant memory.
“Anyway, I think Jimmy pretty much sides with the guys in a dispute. As far as I’m aware, he’s never spoken to Miranda about her work with us. But I got the feeling from Miranda that he knows about it and doesn’t exactly approve, even though he’s never tried to stop it.”
“So if Miranda brought her in personally, then that means that Joy wasn’t a wife or girlfriend or daughter to one of Swift’s workers?”
Ashley chewed on her lower lip, rubbing a hand down the leg of her jeans. How much of her memories of that night were accurate? How much was conjecture? It had been so late when Miranda knocked on the door.
But it was their only lead and the only place for them to start.
“I don’t think so. Miranda introduced the girl as Joy. And, like I said, she wouldn’t say much more than her name.”
“So you just took Miranda’s word for it that...what? Joy was in trouble?”
“I didn’t have to take anyone’s word for it—her injuries spoke for themselves. She had bruises on each arm from her wrists to her elbows...and those were just the injuries I could see when she was fully dressed.”
Joy really hadn’t communicated beyond a few short statements. But the hope in her eyes when Ashley had asked if she needed a safe place to stay had spoken volumes.
Ashley had stayed calm and collected at the time, but thinking back now on that first encounter with Joy, she felt a shiver run along her spine. In all likelihood, the man who had caused those bruises was the man threatening her now. If he’d been that rough with Joy before she’d gotten away from him, Ashley shuddered to think what he might do to the girl if she was ever in his power again. No matter what, Ashley had to make sure that didn’t happen.
She jumped, pulled from her thoughts as Matt strolled past her, into the hallway and toward Lil’s room—the next room with a broken lock. Next to the laundry room, this was the smallest in the home. The single bed covered with a blue quilt looked even smaller than usual as Matt filled the space.
“As I was saying,” Ashley continued, “Miranda said she didn’t know much about Joy’s situation except that she needed a place to go. Somewhere out of town. I have contacts at shelters in counties around the state, so I was able to get Joy set up at one of them.”
“What did Joy say?”
“Aside from her name and age? Not much. Well, she nodded when I said I could set her up at a place out of town. Normally, if someone feels they need to leave town, I prefer to send them to stay with someone they already know. But she wouldn’t give me the name of her parents or a relative, so I had nowhere else to send her.” Ashley wrung her hands, reliving that night in her mind, second-guessing every decision she’d made to protect the girl. “Miranda seemed certain that she wasn’t safe here in town. That whoever was abusing her would find her if she didn’t get out of the county. I wasn’t going to leave her unprotected. She’s in a safe place now.”
Matt finished installing the lock and turned to face her. She took a deep breath as his frown deepened and the grooves at the corners of his mouth grew. His eyes bore all the way through her as he crossed his arms over his chest. In response, her back straightened and she tilted her chin up. Maybe her choices with Joy hadn’t been by the book—since she suspected the girl was underage, protocol said she should have contacted the police—but she stood by her decision.
He could fight her all day if he wanted. She wasn’t going to back down, no matter what questions he asked. She’d done what she had to in order to protect the girl.
If he didn’t like her answers? Well, he didn’t have to stick around.
She could protect the women and children living at Lil’s on her own.
An image of the shadowy figure lurking on her lawn the night before sent her stomach to the floor. What if she had another visitor and Matt wasn’t there to scare him off?
It didn’t do anyone any good to go over worst-case scenarios. She could do this. Paul had taught her that, after all. She was stronger than he’d ever given her credit for. She was stronger than Matt seemed to think, too.
“So Joy arrived right before you were almost run over and got that first note?”
Fists clenched at her sides, she started to defend herself. “I did the right...” His words sank in. “You’re not upset that I didn’t get more information about her before finding another place for her?”
He crossed the room in three steps, his stride swallowing the distance and invading her space in an instant. The intensity of his gaze left her struggling for air. He rested a hand on her shoulder and leaned in even closer.
Her breath released in a rush as she stumbled over the leg of Lil’s bedside table, but his grip on her arm caught her before she fell.
The force of his gaze didn’t lift, but at the last minute the corners of his eyes crinkled with a hint of a smile that never found its way to his mouth. “I’m so proud of you. Tristan talks about you all the time. He says you’re amazing and that you’re doing incredible things for the women here. He wasn’t kidding.”
Despite the blaze in her cheeks, she rolled her eyes
