Lindy gathered Trix into her arms and held her tight. Trix’s shirt was torn, and her lip was bleeding. She trembled like the leaves on an aspen tree, and Lindy took a deep breath. She had to be strong. She couldn’t fall apart now—Trix needed her.
She knew Alan and Saul were fighting, but she couldn’t watch, and she couldn’t let Trix watch. She turned them both away from the fight and concentrated on saying soothing words. She had called 911, and now she had to focus on staying calm. There was nothing else she could really do.
When the police car pulled up, she exhaled, never so glad to see someone in her life. The sheriff must have been close by to show up so fast. He spoke with the men briefly, then crossed the parking lot to where she held Trix in both arms.
“Lindy?”
She blinked a few times. “Oh, hi, Sheriff Clapper. I didn’t expect to see you here.” Shane Clapper was the sheriff in Riston, and his wife, Kelsi, ran the diner on River’s End Ranch where Lindy used to work.
“I was on my way home from a conference and heard the call on my scanner. What’s going on?”
“That . . . that person was strangling Trix when we walked out of the pub just now,” Lindy said. “Alan probably saved her life.” She glanced around Sheriff Clapper’s shoulder to look at Alan just as Alan collapsed on the ground.
“Oh, no. Oh, no.” Lindy felt terror race across her scalp and down her arms. She could be strong for Trix, but just barely, and if Alan was hurt too . . .
Sheriff Clapper put a hand on her shoulder. “Lindy, breathe. It’s all right. Look—Quinn Valley’s deputy just pulled up, and they brought an ambulance. We’ll get this under control.”
She nodded, not loosening her grip on Trix. They both needed that hug.
They watched as Alan was helped into the ambulance and Saul was placed in the back of Sheriff Clapper’s car. Then the Quinn Valley deputy came over to speak with them.
“Ladies, can I give you a lift down to the station? I need to take your statements, but I don’t think either of you can drive.” He nodded toward Trix. “A nurse will meet us there, unless you feel you need to be seen at the hospital.”
“A nurse is fine,” Trix said, her voice just above a whisper, and the deputy nodded. “I’m parked just right over here.”
Lindy buckled her seatbelt, every movement automatic, then sent a quick text to Helen to see if she could possibly stay longer. Helen said it was fine, and Lindy closed her eyes. At least one thing wasn’t spinning out of control at the moment.
***
Once at the sheriff’s station, the deputy, who had introduced himself as Billings, took pictures of Trix, and then a nurse got to work on her lip while Billings asked a series of questions.
“I met him last week,” Trix answered. “He was outside the bookstore with a couple of other guys, and he started talking to me. I told him I’d meet him at Quinn’s that night, and I asked my brother to show up too, just to keep an eye on things. He bought me a couple of drinks—a Coke and a beer—and we talked. It was fun, but we didn’t really click, and when he asked me if I’d like to go out again, I told him I wasn’t really interested. I could tell he wasn’t happy, but he said okay.”
Lindy squeezed her hand while she spoke.
“The next day, I saw him around town again, and he came over to talk to me. He asked me out again, I told him I was busy, and he said something about how he thought he deserved at least one real date. I pretended not to hear that, and I didn’t see him again until tonight.”
The nurse finished swabbing the cut, which made it easier for Trix to tell her story.
“He asked me to dance tonight, and I didn’t really want to, but I didn’t want to cause a scene. While we were dancing, he started touching me a little too much—running his hands up and down my arms, stuff like that. I tried to back away, but he grabbed my wrists, and Alan came over and stood up for me. Saul left, and I thought that was the end of it.”
Lindy did her best to suppress a shudder. The end of it . . . it never was the end of it.
“My friends got in their car and drove away, and I was just climbing into my car when Saul came up and grabbed me. He pushed me up against my car and told me that I owed him, that I’d been leading him on and it wasn’t fair. He ripped my shirt, and I screamed, and then he started choking me. Then Alan and Lindy showed up, and then the police.”
Deputy Billings had been taking careful notes. “Do you want to press charges?”
“Yes,” Lindy said before Trix put together an answer. “Yes, she does. I mean . . . I think she does. I would if I were her.”
Trix looked at Lindy curiously, then nodded. “Yes, I want to press charges.”
“All right. We’ll take statements from everyone who saw what happened tonight, and we’ve documented your injuries.”
“Can she change now?” the nurse asked. “I’ve got a clean T-shirt in my bag she can borrow.”
“Yes, that’s fine,” the deputy said.
He stepped out of the room while Trix changed. “He’ll want to save this shirt for evidence,” the nurse said, motioning to the blouse Trix had taken off. “Take care of yourself, all right?”
Trix nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She put a hand on Trix’s shoulder and looked her straight in the eye. “Don’t you back down on this, honey. You hear me?”
Trix nodded, and the nurse left.
“Do you think Alan’s all right?” she asked as the door closed, echoing the question that had been circling through Lindy’s mind for an hour.
“I have no idea,” Lindy replied. “Hopefully, they’ll tell us soon.”
***
It was well after three o’clock in the morning before Lindy made it home. Trix’s brother had come down to the station and picked her up—he’d give her a ride to their grandmother’s, where she’d stay for a few days. Saul was being treated for the kidney punch and a chipped tooth, but he was under arrest. Lindy hadn’t heard anything about Alan, though, and it was driving her crazy.
She tiptoed up the stairs, hoping Celeste was asleep, but her aunt and Helen were both wide awake. They’d been watching a movie, which they put on pause as soon as Lindy peeked in through the door.
“Lindy! What on earth happened to you tonight?”
Her text to Helen had been pretty vague, but purposely so—she hadn’t wanted to worry anyone.
“Um . . .” She took a seat on the edge of her aunt’s bed. “Bad things. Oh, such bad things.”
All the emotions she’d been holding back came pouring out, and her chest ached as though she’d been the one receiving the punches. She tried to talk around her gasps, but it was hard to make herself understood.
“And . . . and Alan collapsed, and I don’t know where he is,” she finished. She’d used every tissue Celeste had pushed in her hand while she’d been talking, but she still felt as though she could use another couple dozen boxes.
“Oh, hon.” Celeste rubbed her back. “What a rotten night. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s too bad that she agreed to meet a man she’d only spoken to on the sidewalk,” Helen commented. “And pubs are no place for a first date. That kind of atmosphere . . .”
Lindy blinked. “I’m . . . sorry?”
“I just think we have to be more careful. That’s all.”
Lindy honestly thought her brain was going to explode. “Are you blaming Trix for what happened?” she asked, trying hard to keep her voice level.
“As women, we should be a little more aware.” Helen smiled. “I’m not trying to cause offense, Lindy. I’m just stating a fact.”
Lindy closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. “I like facts,” she said at last. “I like them a lot. The first fact is that Trix had asked her brother to be present during their first date. He was sitting at the next table with his girlfriend where he could keep an eye on everything. The second fact is that Trix drank one Coke and one beer. One beer is not enough to get someone of Trix’s height and weight drunk, so she was being careful to keep her wits about her. She was surrounded by people the whole time. And then, tonight, the only moment she was alone was the moment when he attacked. That means he was watching her and following her. That means that he’s a bad, bad man, and men like that will attack you whether you’re in a library or a store or a church—wherever they can find you. Trix didn’t do one single thing to deserve this—no woman deserves this. I’m sorry. I . . . I need to go to bed now.”
She didn’t look at Helen or at Celeste. She just ran out of the room, into the bathroom, and locked the door. Then she turned on the shower full blast and climbed in, clothes and all, standing there until the water turned cold and she came to herself, realizing that she’d just ruined her favorite pair of shoes.