Nine
When the call came that a deputy was needed at the school, Mac was already there—not working, waiting for Lou and his kids. Lou was helping a couple of teachers chaperone the students decorating in the gym, and his two younger kids refused to go home until they saw what Eve and her friends were doing. So there he was, standing around in the gym, talking to a couple of the parents, when he caught the call on his phone.
The deputy on duty was needed to respond to an assault in the men’s locker room.
In the locker room? Assault?
By the time Mac handed the kids over to Lou and walked across the gym floor to the locker room, the EMTs were headed through the locker room’s back door from the parking lot with their bags. Steve Pritkus—the deputy on duty—was right behind them. He met them right outside the showers.
It didn’t take the medical techs long to ensure Landon was stable and get him on a gurney. Even though he’d already moved his spine, they insisted on a backboard, which they promised would go away as soon as X-rays were taken and a doctor had a look. While they trussed him up and covered him, the deputies had a chat with Coach Rayborough and Crawford Downy. Their stories matched up. By the time Landon was ready to transport, Mac and Deputy Pritkus had a chance to ask him a few questions. Then the EMTs took him out through the locker room’s back door, which led to the parking lot. It was through that door that the team ran to the field.
Just as the ambulance was ready to get under way, Sarah Dupre showed up. After the EMTs reassured her that her brother would be all right, she followed the ambulance to the hospital in Bandon. There were no lights or sirens, just a nice, safe transport.
But Mac had a picture of the kid’s swollen, bleeding face on his cell phone. And Landon Dupre’s assurance that he’d be pressing charges.
“I think we start in the gym where a lot of the kids are,” Mac said. “Morrison’s car is still in the lot. Everyone in town knows that white BMW.”
“You got it, boss,” Pritkus said. They’d already asked the coach and Downy not to discuss the situation with parents or students. They went back into the gym through the school. A small crowd had gathered around the door to the locker room, surrounding Downy and the coach. Jag Morrison kept his distance, and appeared to be putting the moves on a girl. She was sitting on the bleachers while he stood in front of her, one long leg lifted up, foot on the bleacher next to her. He had a hand in a pocket while another one was gesturing as he talked, smiled, laughed, apparently not interested in the hubbub around the locker room.
It twisted in Mac’s gut. He’d never warmed to this kid but it always surprised him when he ran into a suspect so confident, so nonchalant. Could he have really just smashed in a guy’s face, left him lying naked on the shower-room floor, and gone about the business of trying to get himself a date?
“Dad? Dad?” Eve said, tugging at his sleeve. “Is Landon okay? Did he get hurt in the game? Did he fall in the shower? Dad?”
He looked down at her, his brow wrinkled. “He’s going to be fine, honey. I have things to do right now.”
“What happened? Where is he? I want to go see him.”
“They took him to Bandon, but he’s fine. His sister went with him. They don’t need a lot of kids swarming the hospital. I’m sure he’ll be checked over and released.”
“Dad, Landon’s my date for the dance. I want to see him! If Aunt Lou takes me, can I go? Please?”
“Tell Lou I’m passing the baton to her. And tell her I need her to keep an eye on Ryan and Dee Dee a bit longer, too. I have some work to do now.”
Her eyes shot down the bleachers to Jag, then up to her father’s face. She gasped. “Oh, God, Jag hurt him, didn’t he. Landon said Jag was always on him, shoving him, slamming him up against the lockers!”
Mac held her attention with his gaze. “Eve, I want you to go back to Lou and the kids. I’m going to take Mr. Morrison for a ride. And I don’t want you to talk about this with anyone yet. There’s a legal process that has to happen.”
She bit her lip, then nodded gravely. “Can I go see Landon?”
“You tell Lou it’s all up to her. I’m going to be tied up for a while.”
* * *
“Jag Morrison,” Mac said. “I’d like you to come with Deputy Pritkus and me, please.”
“What?” he said, pulling his foot off the bleachers and straightening.
“We’re going to walk outside to the patrol car,” Mac said.
He laughed. “I don’t think so,” he said, shaking his head. “What do you want?”
“We’re going to walk outside, where Deputy Pritkus is going to read you your rights and charge you with a crime. You can come along or we can put on the cuffs and escort you that way. If I were you, I’d vote for nice and polite.”
“Crime? What the fuck? Crime?”
“Assault,” Pritkus said. He pulled his cuffs off the back of his belt.
“Whoa, whoa,” Morrison said. “Hold on—I wouldn’t assault anyone! You’re crazy! I’m not going anywhere!”
“That’s good, because I kind of like the idea of you in handcuffs,” Mac said. “There’s a young man on his way to the hospital in an ambulance, thanks to you. He lost consciousness for a while, but not his memory.”
“No way,” he said, holding up his palms, backing away. “This is someone just trying to get me into trouble. Are there witnesses?”
“Cuffs it is,” Mac said.
With one deputy on each side, they wrestled his arms behind his back and into the cuffs. By the time it was accomplished, he was on his knees. The focus of the students had shifted away from the locker-room door to Jag’s arrest. Mac and Pritkus hoisted him up, dragged him outside. Right before putting him into the back of the deputy’s cruiser, he was read his rights.
“I want my parents! I want my mother!” Morrison yelled as they shoved him in the backseat.
They let him sit there, yelling and rocking the car, while Mac used his cell to call another deputy. He didn’t want to leave the town uncovered while Pritkus drove Morrison over to the jail in Coquille. And Mac wanted to make sure he was processed.
“We could probably get away with taking him to the Thunder Point office,” Mac said. “He’s going to be released to his parents’ custody anyway. But I just watched a kid get put in an ambulance. I want Morrison to at least see the inside of a jail. With any luck, there are some scary sons of bitches in the jail tonight.”
“I vote for Coquille,” Pritkus said. “Try Charlie Adams. He’s probably looking for a little call-out overtime. He never says no.”
“You read my mind, Pritkus. Meanwhile, I’m going to go visit the Morrisons.”
* * *
When Coach Rayborough called Sarah Dupre, she jumped in her car, racing to the high school to find EMTs pulling a gurney toward an ambulance that was parked behind the school. For a search-and-rescue pilot who’d seen more than her fair share of injuries, sometimes the worst kind, her cool was long gone, even before she laid eyes on Landon. This was her little brother, her only family!
She rushed to him, asking the EMTs if he was going to be all right. They said they thought so, but the verdict rested with the doctor. He had briefly lost consciousness. But he was now alert and his pupils were equal.
“Landon, who did this to you?”
“The deputy’s on it, Sarah. I told him. Some punk ball player who’s probably just jealous.”
“Should I ride in the ambulance with you?” She directed her gaze at one of the EMTs.
“If you follow us to Bandon, you’ll have your car to take him home after he’s treated and released,” the young man said.
She drove behind the ambulance, taking small comfort in the fact that they weren’t running lights and siren. Then, once they cleared town, the ambulance lit up. They didn’t drive real fast, but they rolled code. Sarah knew what was happening—they were lit up so other motorists would be aware that they were loaded. She knew Landon hadn’t had a heart attack or brain seizure. All the same, her chest constricted and she gripped her steering wheel with all her might. She followed closer than was allowed by law and she didn’t care. She was just plain scared to death.
Feelings of helplessness weren’t alien to Sarah. Her parents died when she was twenty-three and in helicopter flight school; Landon had been five. Aunt Frances had taken him in and Sarah visited him on the weekends she was able to get away from training. But it was torture; Frances pronounced him bad and undisciplined, while the tales of cruelty Landon reported chilled her to the bone. Then he started running away. He didn’t get far, but still...
She had to ask for a leave from training, hire a lawyer, get custody of her brother, even though she had no idea how she’d take care of him and serve in the Coast Guard. Her commander worked with her, put her in the next training class after she’d had time to figure out how to be a single mother. It could have been compassionate; it could have been the USCG worried about some discrimination complaint. She preferred to go with compassionate.
But damn! Life was crazy in those days. She was trying to get through helicopter training, which was so much harder than fixed wing, grieve her parents, try to get her little brother through his grief and fear—all at the same time. She grew thin and tired. So tired.
But she made it through that obstacle. Then on to Kodiak, Alaska, flying rescues out of the Bering Sea—which turned her into a damn fine pilot, because the challenge was steep. Luckily, her fellow pilots were dedicated to helping her learn and grow professionally. Then Michigan, then Florida—where she fell in love with Derek Stiles.
Suddenly, she thought she had a family again. Derek was so loving and so devoted to Landon. There was someone to share responsibility for a change. For the first time since becoming Landon’s guardian, she dreamed of a softer, better life for them both...even though a little voice inside her warned her to be cautious. They married a year later. Then on to North Bend, Oregon—first Sarah and then Derek.
That’s where the marriage ended. A marriage that should never have begun. He’d been unfaithful from the beginning. And at a place deep inside her, she’d known it.
I’m sorry, Sarah, I really love you. I guess I’m not cut out to be monogamous.
But my friend?
I’m sorry. I had a thing with Susan. It didn’t make sense, but it was there.
She’d known. There had been red flags everywhere, but she’d forced them from her mind because she loved him, depended on him. Landon had become like a stepson to Derek. She relied on Derek to look after him, to go to his games when she couldn’t. And Landon relied on Derek to be the man in his life. But she had to end it, because Derek was never going to belong to her, to them. Just like any mother, she had to try to deal with the fact that Derek had let Landon down, as well. But ironically, it was Landon who said, “You don’t have to stay with him, Sarah. Not for me, that’s for sure.”
Her career and her brother were all she had, and for their sake Sarah pulled herself together. She and Derek decided they could be civilized. They’d try to work separate schedules in North Bend when possible, but if they were thrown together, they’d be grown-ups about it. Sarah refused to let it show on the job that her heart had been ripped out.
But she was helpless and alone again and the pain of it was horrible. So she looked into finding the best community, the friendliest, with the most proactive football coach for Landon, and they moved to Thunder Point.
She thought she’d brought them both to a kinder, safer, more manageable place. But now she felt that helplessness again. Here he was, in the ambulance ahead of her. If she understood the coach, he’d been jumped in the shower, left naked and unconscious on the cold, tile floor.
She was intercepted in the E.R. by an admissions nurse. “A physician’s assistant is examining your son—”
“Brother,” she corrected. “But I have custody. Our parents are deceased.” She dug around in her purse. “Here are my insurance cards.”
“I’m going to have you get to work on admission paperwork,” the nurse said. “Since he came in on a backboard, I think he’ll be lined up for X-rays right away so spinal injury can be ruled out. That takes a while. Then you can see him.”
“Sure,” she said. Her hand shook as she accepted the clipboard and pen. She sat down, rather than standing there at the counter, so the nurse wouldn’t see her tremble.
They kept Landon in X-ray a long time. She longed to step outside and call someone, but there was no one. In moving to Thunder Point in early August, she’d isolated herself. Oh, there was Gina, but they were just casual friends and she didn’t have her number. There were football and PTA parents, but none of them were people she’d call with tears in her voice. For that matter, she wasn’t sure who Landon’s friends were. She saw his teammates high-five and fist bump him, but there hadn’t been any friends at the house and he didn’t go out much.
Finally she was allowed in the E.R. exam room. There she found Landon sitting up, free of the backboard, talking on the phone while holding the ice pack to the other side of his face. “Yeah, I told the deputy and I said I’d press charges, so that’s done.” Then he laughed and said, “Oh, I don’t know if that’s good or not. It might’ve just bought me more trouble. Hey, my sister’s here to take me home, so I gotta go. Just wanted you to know...it’s all good. I’m fine.”
He clicked off and looked at Sarah.
“Who was that?” she asked. Who do you check in with after you’ve been beat up?
“That guy I told you about—Cooper. The one who has Ben’s place now.”
“Oh? And how old is this Cooper person?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Old.” Then he grinned and winced. “A little older than you, I think. He’s friends with the deputy. He took me out for a hamburger after the Carver game.”
“You didn’t tell me that,” she said. She had gone to that game. She’d been available if he’d wanted a hamburger. “Just where did you meet this Cooper?”
“On the beach, Sarah. I was running Ham and he was at the bait shop. I stopped to ask him what was going on there.”
“And now you’re calling him?”
“He’s friends with the deputy!” Landon stressed. “I didn’t want him to hear about this and go looking for me to see if I’m all right! Jesus.”
“It just sounds very suspicious,” she said.
“Yeah? Well, Cooper didn’t jump me in the shower and bash my face in.” He pulled the ice pack away from his purple cheek and black eye and she closed her eyes and just shuddered. “A senior by the name of Jag Morrison did this. And he’s been threatening me since school started. He was the star quarterback—you should use the term loosely. He can’t throw a pass to save his life, but he was the best they had. He does not like having a junior from out of town slip into his position.”
“How long has this been going on?” she asked, scowling. “I’ve met the Morrisons. I sat with them at a game once.”
“Since about the third or fourth practice. I’ve been holding him off.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Aw, jeez, Sarah, twenty reasons. How about we start with I don’t want my sister talking to the principal or the guy’s parents. I don’t want to hide behind your skirt. And...you’ve been going through your own shit lately. Since we got rid of Derek, you haven’t been exactly...strong. You haven’t been strong—there, it’s been said. I didn’t want to put one more thing on you—especially if I could handle it.”
She pulled the ice pack away from his face. “How about next time you tell me and save your face,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, right. It’s too late to save my face now. And I even have a date for the dance. I guess she won’t want to go now.”
“A date? Who?”
“Eve McCain. The deputy’s daughter. She asked me.” Then he grinned and said, “Ow.” He pressed the ice back against the right side of his face.
She shook her head and tried not to laugh. “We have communication issues,” she pointed out.
“You have communication issues,” he said. “You’re going through the divorce blues and, hey, I get that. I’m kind of going through them, too. Not only did I have to change schools, but that prick didn’t even ask for joint custody or visitation! How do you think that makes me feel?”
A soft smile came across her face. “I let you swear too much,” she said, secretly admitting it gave her enormous pleasure to hear him call Derek a prick. Most of the time she felt just inches from losing it. Landon’s anger sat very well with her. Maybe they should take one evening a week to sit around cursing him, saying every mean and evil thing they could think of. The bastard—breaking their hearts like that.
“Don’t look now, Sarah, but I think it’s too late. At least I know when not to say those things.”
“We have to talk more, Landon,” she said.
“Sarah, you’re the one who hasn’t been talking. When you get more over Derek, we’ll talk more. Look, it’s okay. You’ll get over him. Only a real mean fucker would start dating before the marriage even gets started, so cut yourself some slack.”
Her eyes welled with tears she wouldn’t let fall. She had been forced to be strong on so many levels—her family history, her job, taking custody of a young boy. And all with so few tools at her disposal. When something hit her—like Derek’s cheating—she withdrew into herself. Not good. Not good at all.
“Well,” the doctor said, pulling aside the drape and coming into the exam area. “We’re not seeing any reason to admit you, but I want you and your sister to be on the lookout for symptoms of concussion. The nurse will give you a list of instructions. I know the P.A. asked, but I’d like to hear the answer. Did you get hit in the game?”
He shook his head. “I’m too fast for ’em. I guess I need to get a little faster in the shower.” Then he tried his handsome grin again, and again he said, “Ow.”
The doctor chuckled.
“I can sit up with him tonight, if that’s necessary.”
“I don’t know if that’s required, Mrs....ah,” he looked down. “Dupre.”
“Meet Lt. Commander Sarah Dupre, my big sister,” Landon said. “My keeper. My ball and chain. Coast Guard Search and Rescue. And she’s single.”
He laughed again. “Pleasure,” he said, sticking out his hand toward her. “I’m married, but it’s still a pleasure. And we thank you for all the help you give us here, on the coast and wherever you’re needed.”
“That’s a shame, you being married,” Landon said. “My sister hasn’t been out in a while and you can’t imagine how that impacts my social life.”
* * *
The emotional strain of having Landon hurt left Sarah exhausted. She was afraid she might sleep too soundly to check on him during the night and considered setting the alarm on her cell phone, just to be sure she woke up at least every hour. That turned out to be completely unnecessary—she spent the night on the couch, where she barely dozed.
It brought to mind those days right after she had rescued him from Aunt Frances. He didn’t talk about his experience, but he was so shaken she slept with him every night, holding him close and safe. He never complained, but sometimes he cried in his sleep, his little body trembling in her arms.
Now he was almost a man and she was running out of ways to keep him safe.
She crept into his room at regular intervals, nearly tripping over Ham, although she couldn’t imagine what good it did. How do you hold off a concussion? But his face, beautiful even with bruises and swelling from having taken a beating, fed her soul. He was so childlike in sleep, a little boy in a man’s body, at peace and trusting.
Her. Trusting her.
He had been her priority for ten years. She’d always found a way to put him first and had been fortunate enough to get support from other Coast Guard families and her commanders. But lately? It wasn’t so much the divorce as it was Derek who had kept her completely off-balance. She had failed Landon. He’d been thrown into a new school, put on a new team, bullied and picked on without her being even slightly aware, struck up a friendship with some middle-aged man she knew nothing about...
She was going to have to talk to him about that. But first, she had to get some sleep.
* * *
Morning came with the crunching sounds of Ham and Landon having breakfast. She pried open one eye. Landon sat at the kitchen table, shoveling cornflakes into his mouth while Ham was nose into the big bowl by the back door devouring dog food. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and looked at her brother.
“I’ll make you a couple of eggs,” she said.
Landon let the spoon rest in the bowl. “Sarah, you slept on the couch in your clothes. You don’t have to make me an egg. If I’d wanted an egg, I would’ve made one. I have a black eye, not a broken arm. I did make you some coffee, however.”
She moved to the table. “Thank God. I’m exhausted.”
“Me, too. I woke up about once an hour. Someone was prowling around my bedroom.”
She leaned on her hand. “You could’ve said something....”
“And ruin your fun?” He got up and poured her a cup of coffee. “I’m going back to bed, though. And I’m locking my door.”
She accepted the cup, blowing on it and taking a sip. “The purple is coming out,” she said, gesturing with her cup to his face. “I mean coming out even more. I think you got a bruise on your bruise.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Landon. This is my fault. I wasn’t paying attention. I had no idea you were fighting this problem. I was so caught up in my own....”
Again the spoon rested in the bowl. “Sarah, I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want anyone to know. I wanted to be able to take care of it myself. It wasn’t until I heard Crawford Downy telling the coach that Morrison has been kicking kids around since fourth grade that I decided the best way to take care of it was to out him. I don’t know if you’ll get this, but there’s a big difference between tattling to the coach or the teacher and just taking him on, publicly. It’s the difference between a billboard and a whisper. Morrison snuck up on me in the shower. He was handcuffed and taken away. I can’t see how he’s going to get out of this one.” He shook his head. “Up until he did that, he was nothing but sneaky shoves and bragging and badgering.”
“But you talked to that guy, that Cooper...”
“Not exactly,” Landon said. “I was out on the beach with Ham, throwing the ball for him, and Morrison and some of his leeches were there, paddleboarding and stuff. They were giving me a little trouble. Not letting me pass. Ham the fearless was hiding behind me. Cooper was out on the deck at Ben’s. He gave a whistle. That’s all. Just to say he was watching. And of course that chickenshit Morrison pulled off the posse. I walked down the beach, ended up at the dock. I just talked to him for a while, that’s all. It was like he knew what was going on before I had to explain anything. He said he’d moved around a lot—he’d been the new guy a lot.”
“Oh,” she said.
“He’s all right, Sarah. Stop worrying about Cooper.”
How would Landon know that? Cooper could be a very manipulative con artist or pedophile. But she knew better than to pretend to be the all-wise big sister. That was usually the kiss of death. So she said, “Sure. Right.”
When Landon went back to bed, she pulled on her rubber boots and red jacket. Ham started wiggling around and snuffling. “Shh,” she said. “Just get your ball!” She hurried to get him out of the house before he woke Landon.
It was a cold, sunny morning but Sarah’s mood was stormy. She wasn’t really processing all the events of the past few months—the divorce, the tension she’d felt working with Derek, the move, the attack on Landon. Crisis was somehow easier to manage than that old impotence of not being in control, not being able to resolve things.
She jogged across the beach, throwing the ball for Hamlet. She didn’t really have a plan until she’d run all the way up the beach stairs to the bait shop, Ham on her heels, and went around the building to the trailer. She knew she might be acting a little irrationally, but she banged on the door. Then she banged on the door again, harder. She could hear him inside, walking. Finally he jerked the door open, wearing only a towel, with shaving cream on half his face, an impressive tattoo covering his right shoulder and running down his biceps. She demanded, “What the hell is going on with you and my brother?”
He frowned at her. “And this must be Sarah,” he said calmly. “Would you like to come inside?”
She stepped back. “Why don’t you just come outside?” she asked, knowing it was a ridiculous request.
“I’m much better at conversation with my pants on,” he said. “Stand by.” He let the door drift closed and was back a moment later with a small towel. “Wipe Ham’s mouth and feet and come inside. I’ll put on some clothes, we’ll talk about whatever has you upset and then maybe I’ll get back to my shower. That work for you?”
Inexplicably, she hated him for being calm. She felt more out of control than ever, yet more determined to be the stronger one. She snatched the towel out of his hand and said, “Get your pants.”
* * *
Cooper gave Sarah Dupre a brief salute. He walked past his galley kitchen and up three steps to his bathroom and bedroom. He closed the door. He leaned on the bathroom counter, looked in the mirror at his half-shaved face and whispered, “Holy crap.” Hot damn! He checked—his tongue was not hanging out but his eyes were a little hot. She was a freaking knockout.
Her hair was short, thick and dark and framed her face in a sexy, provocative way. Her eyes were so big, so chocolate, surrounded by thick, black lashes. Her lips—oh, my God, those lips. Ruby, full, heart-shaped lips that just begged to be... Stop, he told himself. She hid her small body under that thigh-length red jacket with a hood and a loose white shirt beneath that, but he could see a shapely form inside. He blinked his eyes closed hard, then checked to see if he was drooling.
Landon hadn’t told him how stunning she was. But then again, how many teenage boys brag about how pretty their sisters are?
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she had her wind up about his friendship with Landon. Now, this was a first. He’d faced off with protective fathers over daughters and even had a very uncomfortable run-in with an ex-husband. There had been an occasion or two when a woman couldn’t decide between Cooper and another guy... But this? A beautiful woman who almost brought him to his knees, angry and upset over his friendship with her little brother? Whoa. He had an urge to call his older sister, Rochelle, and ask her what was happening here. She was no expert, but she was never short on advice.
He pulled on jeans and a white undershirt. He found her sitting in the same chair Landon had last occupied. She sprang to her feet. “Sit down,” he said gently. Then he went to the kitchen, filled the saucepan for Ham, grabbed another towel to put under it because the dog was a sloppy and ferocious drinker, and set him up. “We have our routine,” he said casually.
“How many times have you had this routine?” she wanted to know.
“Once.”
While Ham was lapping, Cooper took the couch. “Now, what has you so angry?” he asked.
“I’m not angry. I just want to know what this relationship with my brother is about. I have questions.”
“All right,” he said, leaning forward on the couch, elbows on his knees, hands clasped together. “I saw Landon get into a little altercation on the beach. Nothing big or scary. Some kid was giving him crap and shoved him. I talked to him after that, found out he was getting bullied. Ostracized by some of his teammates. You know why, right?”
She just shook her head.
“He’s a better ball player than the senior, the team captain. I went to a game a week or so ago, just by accident—I was looking for food but the whole town was at the high school, at the game, so I went. I ran into a few people I knew—the McCains and their friends. It was amazing. Landon’s damn good. When I was leaving, I overheard a scuffle and found that same kid from the beach and some of his friends ganging up on Landon. He didn’t get hurt or anything, but I did have a talk with him and suggested he tell you or the coach or the deputy. That bully thing, that’s just all wrong. You never know where that’s going to stop.”
“In the locker-room shower?” she asked, lifting one brow.
He ran a hand over his head. “Yeah, I should’ve done something. It’s a hard call. Sixteen-year-old boys, they have their pride. It’s not like Landon’s getting knocked around because he’s the little guy or the nerdy guy. He said he could handle it and I thought he probably could. He’s a big guy, Landon. Tough. But I apologize. I should’ve gone over his head.”
She looked around the trailer. “But why are you here?” she asked. “What are you doing here, interceding for my brother? Do you work? What do you do?”
He gave her a second to catch her breath. What did she think? That he was some perv trolling for young men out of a trailer? “I’m between jobs.”
“Is that so?” she asked with an accusatory tone.
“It is so,” he said. “Ben and I were friends. We were going to meet in the mountains, go hunting. He died suddenly. Instead of looking for work, I came up here to find out what happened to him.”
“He fell down the stairs, mysterious circumstances,” she informed him. “And the idea of Landon hanging around here after that? I don’t love that idea.”
“I guess I don’t blame you. If it’s any comfort, Deputy McCain and I have a pretty tight watch on the place. But nothing more mysterious than my friend tripping has materialized. I think, Sarah, it was probably just a sad accident.”
“Yet you’re still here. Living in a trailer.”
He laughed at her suddenly. She was ferocious, and amazingly beautiful as she played the lioness. “Listen, Sarah, wanna lighten up? I live in the trailer because I can’t live in Ben’s place. It’s a disaster. I’m trying to clean it up.”
“And then?”
“Leave,” he said. “But you’re a little insulting. I lived in this trailer for two years in Corpus Christi.”
“Doing what?”
He leaned toward her. “Flying helicopter transport to offshore oil rigs in the Gulf for an oil company. Not rescue, transport. I’ve been flying helicopters since the Army. Fifteen years. I’ll probably fly again, but not offshore. Something else.” He loved the shocked look on her face. “After Ben’s death, plans changed. Right now, what I have to do is put this place right and settle Ben’s business. He had no family left. It’s going to take a few months. So I have a legitimate reason for being here. I’m not parked here to sell teenagers drugs or do any other disreputable or unlawful business. I asked Landon for his cell phone number and gave him mine in case...I don’t know, in case he needed someone’s help. He told me you were sitting alert for the Coast Guard and sometimes he was on his own.” He looked at her. “I was just being a good neighbor. Your brother, he’s a decent kid. And he’s proud of you. He cares about you. He said you’ve been through a lot lately.”
She stood. “Hmm. Yes. Well, that’s none of your concern.”
Cooper also stood. “I’m not concerned, Sarah. I’m what used to be called supportive. And you’re a really tough broad.”
“Don’t call me a broad.”
“Give me a reason.”
“Look, Mr....”
“Cooper. Hank Cooper, but hardly anyone calls me Hank. Just Cooper.”
But she was apparently bent on some formality, probably as a way to keep a distance between them. “Mr. Cooper, I’m responsible for Landon. Just me. It can be a challenge, given my job. But I just want to protect him.”
Cooper shook his head. “You’re going to have a problem with that.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“Because I think he wants to protect you.”
“He’s sixteen!”
Cooper gave a nod. “A very smart, strong and brave sixteen with some real high standards. He must have had a good role model.”
“He’s had no role model. Our father died when Landon was five, and my ex-husband is a jackass who abandoned him!”
Cooper put his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and rocked on his heels. He gave her a small smile. “It didn’t have to be a male role model, Sarah.”
Her mouth actually dropped open slightly. It appeared to take her a moment to absorb this. He could almost see the wheels turning. A compliment from the bad man in the trailer?
She closed her mouth. She stood a little taller. “Listen, Mr. Cooper, I’m going to be watching you and if you do anything to hurt my brother, you’re going to pay.”
“Understood,” he said, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
“Ham!” she ordered, going for the door. But the dog was way ahead of her and she almost fell over him. She jumped out of the trailer, stumbled over the dog and headed for the beach.
Cooper watched her go. He whistled. “Whew. Tough broad.”