he’d dreamed it. Fallen back asleep after hearing his dad get up to use the john. Awakened again when the killer carried Sheila out. “He got up sometimes at night and went outside for a smoke.” Mom hadn’t let him smoke inside.
“You didn’t say anything.”
“He was my dad. I didn’t want to think...” He rolled his shoulders to release the tension. “But I did, anyway. And as an adult? A cop? Yeah, I think.”
“You’re wrong.” Bran reached for his wallet, pulled out two twenties, tossed them on the table and slid out of the booth. He looked down at Zach. “And I’ll prove it.” Then he walked away.
He’d blamed Mom. Told Zach he hated her. No wonder he’d never written back to her and refused to come to the phone when she’d called him.
Zach hadn’t had the guts to say no when Dad called him. Mostly he’d mumbled and made the conversations so useless and awkward, the calls had come further and further apart until they’d ceased altogether.
It was Bran he’d refused to talk to at all. Zach had called it pride, then. Now, stupidity was the word that came to mind. In his hurt, he’d severed the ties that meant the most to him. Whatever happened with their parents, he and Bran could have stayed in touch. Continued to be brothers. Now...who knew?
Zach pushed his plate away but reached for his glass and drained it, his thoughts reverting to the quarrel that had stood between them then and, apparently, still did. Bran held Mom responsible for the tragedy.
Me? I blamed Dad. He lied. No matter what, he was supposed to keep us safe. Sheila’s bedroom was right next to Mom and Dad’s. How could he not have heard somebody grabbing her, carrying her outside, raping her right there in the backyard? Unless...
A harsh sound escaped him. He had loved his brother more than anyone else in the world. As if he’d time traveled, the devastation he’d felt when Bran had decided to go with Dad was new again. As painful in its own way as the one glimpse he’d had of his sister’s body before he’d backed into the house and yelled for his parents.
He could still close his eyes and hear his mother’s screams.
Dad had gone terribly silent and so angry everyone in the house had tiptoed around him. There’d been raised voices behind Mom and Dad’s bedroom door. Mom might not have actually accused Dad, Zach didn’t know. But their eyes had told the story. They had held each other responsible.
When Bran had told him about the men their mother saw during the day when Dad was at work, Zach had refused to believe him. He remembered Mom’s screams—and Dad’s lie.
So nothing had changed, he thought wearily. Bran and he had made their choices back then and they weren’t about to unmake them. Bran, at least, had an agenda—to prove their father’s innocence. Zach just wanted answers.
Working together apparently wasn’t an option.
It would be interesting to see whether Bran admitted on the job to having a relationship with the pariah in the department.
* * *
TESS WAS FUMING when she finally let herself out and locked the back door of Fabulous Interiors on Wednesday afternoon. She didn’t care what Todd Berry’s excuse was this time. She was so done with him. This was the third time in just over a month he’d failed to show up to do a job without having so much as called. She had gone out herself in his place to install tile today, which she hadn’t dressed for. She had no doubt the splotch of mortar on her blouse was permanent. The things she’d intended to accomplish today had gone undone. And, of course, she had to go back out to the Lacombes’ house tomorrow to spread the grout.
And, blast it, she liked installing tile. When she didn’t have a long list of other things that needed to be done. This was why the store relied on contract installers.
Of which she now had one fewer to call on.
Keys in hand, she reached her car, parked in its usual spot beside the big green Dumpster. She cringed every week when she heard the garbage truck drop the container back into place. Please don’t let them miss. So far, so good.
Then she saw her front tire and whimpered. Oh, crap. All she needed was a flat. A slow leak? Maybe she’d driven over a nail...
Heart pounding, she walked around her car. All four tires were flat. Slashed.
She made another circle, looking for a note or another kind of message. But apparently the slashed tires were the message.
Tess called 911, then a local towing company. And, finally, she scrolled her contacts until she found Deputy Zach Carter’s number, which she’d added right after he’d left her house last Thursday despite her certainty she would never need to use it.
Please let him answer. She desperately wanted to hear his deep, calm voice.
He answered on the third ring with an urgent, “Tess?”
She sagged in relief. “You recognized my number?”
“I put it in my phone,” he told her without apology. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes. Um, Monday morning, someone taped a nasty note to the back door of my business.”
“I heard about that.”
“Just now, I locked up and was about to get in my car to go home. But, gee, what do I find? All four tires have been slashed.”
“Are you parked on the street?” His voice had changed indefinably. Became cop.
“No, the alley. All the downtown merchants do. The street parking is for customers.”
“Are you alone?”
Suddenly wary, she turned to look up and down the alley. “I don’t see anyone else.”
“Go back inside,” he ordered. “I’ll be there in five.”
“No, I’ve already called 911 and for a tow truck. One of them will show up anytime.”
“You’re vulnerable, Tess.” The tension in his voice got to her. “Don’t wait out there alone.”
“Okay, now you’re scaring me,” she told him, hurrying back across the alley. Thank God she still had her keys out.
Then she heard an engine and looked to see the tow truck lumbering toward her.
“Tess?” Zach said. “Are you there?”
She slumped against the shop door, willing her pulse to slow. “Yes. Yes, I’m okay. The tow truck is here. You don’t need to come.”
“I’m already on my way.” He was gone.
She dropped her phone back into her handbag and smiled wryly at the muscular young guy hopping out of the tow truck. “Am I glad to see you.”
“I get that a lot,” he said with a grin.
She told him they were waiting for the police and then discussed options. He could load her car and take it to the tire store
