Chapter 1

Ruby Dye was getting ready for church, but her thoughts were anything but angelic. Peanut Butterman, the local lawyer, was taking her to Granny’s Country Kitchen after the services. She’d spent the entire time she was putting on her makeup thinking about him and wondering, even hoping, that he was her secret admirer. For the past few months, someone had been showering her with flowers and gifts, and the idea that a man even found her desirable anymore had resurrected every dream she’d had about heroes—and Peanut was at the top of her list.

There were plenty of single men in Blessings, and most of them came through the Curl Up and Dye at least once a month to get a haircut. Each time one of them had shown up, she’d done her best to see if they were acting any differently toward her, or if their conversation was in any way alluding to more than chitchat.

However, the acquaintance she’d had with Peanut had grown from friendship to a crush to very shocking dreams of the two of them in bed. If he wasn’t the man secretly courting her, her heart was going to break.

She sighed, then paused in front of the mirror, looking past the makeup to the older, wiser woman she’d become—a far cry from the young woman who showed up in Blessings nearly fifteen years ago as a frightened, newly divorced woman in her early twenties. Her dark, expressive eyes were set above high cheekbones in an oval face, and while she would have loved to be taller, she’d come to terms with her appearance.

After one last look, she walked back into her bedroom, eyeing the two outfits she’d laid out on her bed. She still couldn’t decide what to wear—the pale-blue blouse that went with her navy-blue suit, or a long-sleeved wraparound dress in a dark mulberry color. Either one would look good with her strawberry blonde hair, and still suit the cool weather. She decided on the dress and was about to put it on when she heard a knock at the door.

“Who in the world?” she muttered.

Still barefoot and wearing only her slip and underwear, she grabbed a robe, tying the belt around her waist as she went to the door.

A knock sounded again.

“Coming!” she called, and hastened her steps. Someone was certainly in a hurry.

She was smiling as she opened the door, then a moment of pure horror washed through her. For a split second, she was standing outside herself watching this happen, and by the time she came to her senses and tried to slam the door shut in her caller’s face, it was too late.

Jarrod Dye shoved his boot into the space and pushed his way inside, shutting the door behind him.

She hadn’t seen her ex in fifteen years, but the sight of his face was still enough to cause panic.

“What are you doing here?” Ruby cried.

Jarrod grinned. “Why, darlin’, I came to see you.”

“Get out!” Ruby cried, and hated that her voice was shaking.

He lunged forward before she could escape and locked his fingers around her wrist.

“No way, baby. I just got here.”

* * *

Ruby Dye didn’t show up for church.

Her friends were concerned when she didn’t answer their texts. By the time church was over and she had not answered their calls either, they gathered in the parking lot, deciding who would go do a welfare check.

Vera and Vesta Conklin worked with Ruby and knew where she kept the spare key to her house. “We can go,” Vera said. “If she’s sick, we’ll go in and check on her.”

“Let us know,” Lovey said. She owned Granny’s and needed to get to work.

“We will,” Vera replied.

Everyone walked off except Peanut. “I’m going with you. I was taking her to Granny’s after church. I want to make sure she’s okay,” he said.

“Of course,” Vesta said. “Follow us.”

Peanut was a tall, slim man with clear, blue eyes and a ready smile, but his expression could sharpen quickly when he was challenged. He didn’t like to think of Ruby being sick. She was the brightest light in Blessings.

The Conklin twins drove at a fast clip through the streets, cutting through neighborhoods to take the short route to Ruby’s house. As they pulled into the driveway, Peanut drove in behind them. The twins waited for him to get out, and then they went up the steps together.

Vesta knocked, then waited.

Then Vera knocked, and they waited again.

“Well, her car’s still here, so she has to be too,” Peanut said. He stepped in front of the women and knocked even louder, then, out of frustration, jiggled the doorknob.

To his surprise, the door swung inward.

“Well then,” Vera said, and giggled.

But Peanut wasn’t laughing. Something wasn’t right. He walked into the house.

“Ruby! Ruby! It’s me, Peanut! Are you okay?”

It was the silence that raised the hair on the back of Peanut’s neck.

“Ruby! Damn it, girl! Answer me!”

He started through the house with a long, anxious stride that ended as he reached the kitchen. He saw the overturned chairs, the knife block on the floor, and Ruby’s knives scattered around it. He was trying not to panic when he saw the blood.

Vesta and Vera were right behind him. They screamed at the sight and grabbed each other for comfort, but Peanut was already following the blood trail as he ran down the hall toward Ruby’s bedroom.

The bed had been made, but it appeared there had been a terrible tussle atop it. Ruby’s purse had been dumped on the bed. Her wallet was empty, and her cell phone was three feet away beneath the windows. Clothes were on the floor, and one bloody pillow had been slashed. The stuffing was scattered all over the sheets, and the bedspread was missing. Peanut groaned, picturing her lifeless body rolled up inside it and being carried away.

His heart was pounding as he raced into the bathroom and saw bandages and alcohol scattered all over the counter. Then he saw something had been written in blood beneath a roll of bloody gauze. The hair stood up on the back of his neck as he carefully moved the gauze aside.

HELP ME

“Don’t touch anything,” he yelled, then pulled out his phone and called 911.

* * *

Jarrod Dye was cursing a blue streak as he raced out of Blessings with Ruby bound, gagged, and rolled up in her own bedspread in the back seat of his car. He hadn’t planned an abduction or expected her to fight back, and he sure hadn’t expected her to pull that knife. If he hadn’t blocked her with his forearm, she would have stabbed him straight in the chest.

Rage had made him hit her with his fist, but instead of being cowed by it as she had been when they were married, she came back at him again, clawing and scratching. That’s when he had pulled his gun and forced her to bandage his arm.

It wasn’t until he’d tied her up and threw her on the bedspread that he saw fear in her eyes.

“You better be scared, bitch! After what you did to me! I didn’t come to start trouble. All I needed was a little money to tide me over.”

Then he’d rolled her up in her bedspread, carried her over his shoulder to his car, and dumped her in the back seat. He hadn’t decided yet what to do with her, but if he let her go, she’d file charges and put him in jail, so he just kept driving.

* * *

Ruby was scared. As afraid of Jarrod Dye as she’d ever been. She had no idea how he’d found her, but she knew after the fight they’d had that her chances of coming out of this alive were slim to none. What broke her heart was the thought that the secret admirer could have been Jarrod trying to weasel his way back into her good graces. She’d built up such hope, dreaming of a man she could spend the rest of her life with, not the man she’d been hiding from.

She thought of her friends back in Blessings, especially Peanut. They would certainly find out she’d been abducted, but she doubted there’d been a witness. Everyone on her block attended church somewhere and was likely already gone when all of this occurred. The only option she had was to save herself.

In his haste, Jarrod had tied her hands in front of her rather than behind her back, using one of her own leather belts as a tie. The belt was thin and narrow, and he had wrapped it multiple times around her wrists before tying it into a hard, tight knot.

She struggled within the spread until she got her wrists up to her mouth and pulled down the gag. Her head was throbbing, and her lips were swollen and bleeding, but she couldn’t think about the pain. In a desperate effort to free herself, she began biting and pulling on the knotted leather, trying to get it loose while the miles between her and Blessings grew, taking her farther and farther away from the people she loved.

* * *

Police Chief Lon Pittman was in charge of the abduction scene. He already had crime scene tape around the front of Ruby’s house and had sent his deputy, Howard Ralph, to interview everyone on both sides of the block in hopes someone had seen a stranger around Ruby’s house.

He’d already called the county sheriff for help. The sheriff sent his crime scene investigators, who promptly photographed the destruction and blood in the kitchen, then followed the blood trail to the bedroom and bathroom, taking pictures and collecting evidence as they went. They had moved into the bathroom and were now taking fingerprints and bagging up the bloody bandages to run blood types and DNA.

The people in the neighborhood were in shock, but none more so than Peanut and the Conklin twins.

Vera and Vesta had given their statements and, the moment they were released, began making calls. Vera called Mabel Jean, the other employee at the Curl Up and Dye, while Vesta called Lovey Cooper at Granny’s. They went home in tears.

Peanut had also given his statement, but he wasn’t budging. He sat in a chair in Ruby’s living room—the same chair he always chose when he was here—and kept imagining she would come bursting into the house at any moment, eyes shining and a smile on that beautiful face, saying it was all a mistake. But there was no getting around those two words written in blood.

HELP ME

Dear God, sweet Ruby, if only I could.

And then Lon came striding through the house on his phone, talking as he went. “What did he say? Is he sure? Stay there. I’m on my way.”

Peanut stood up. “What’s happening?”

“A neighbor may have seen something,” Lon said.

“I’m coming with you,” Peanut said.

Lon frowned. “This isn’t your business yet, Peanut. You need to—”

“Anything to do with Ruby is my business,” Peanut said.

Lon saw the fear and the pain in the lawyer’s eyes and understood. “Follow me, but I talk. You listen.”

“Yes, yes, I won’t say a word,” Peanut said, and followed the police chief out of the house, across the street, and then two houses down.

“This is where Arnold Purejoy lives. He’s my secretary’s brother-in-law,” Peanut said.

“Let’s hope he saw something helpful,” Lon said.

Deputy Ralph was waiting for them on the porch. “Mr. Purejoy has a broken leg, which is why he wasn’t in church and why he was, as he said, ‘sitting at the window watching the world go by.’”

“I want to talk to him,” Lon said, and then followed his deputy back into the house with Peanut behind him.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Purejoy,” Lon said, and then nodded politely at his wife, Arlene, who was sitting nearby in a recliner. “Mrs. Purejoy. Hope we didn’t disturb your Sunday dinner.”

“It will all heat up,” she said. “We’re happy to do anything that will get our Ruby back. I don’t know what we’d do in this town without her.”

Peanut was sick at his stomach from the thought.

Lon pointed at Purejoy’s cast.

“What happened to your leg?”

“I stepped off the back porch wrong. Broke my leg just above my ankle.”

“Sure sorry to hear that. So, about Ruby… My deputy tells me you saw someone at her house earlier.”

Purejoy nodded.

“Arlene says I’ve turned into a nosy busybody, but I’m used to going to work every day. It’s hard to just sit around.”

“I’m going to videotape your statement,” Lon said as he pulled out his phone, then handed it to his deputy to film. “Tell me what you saw at Ruby Dye’s house that made you think something could be wrong.”

“Well, I saw this guy drive up in her driveway in an SUV. It was a black Chevrolet TrailBlazer with a blue front fender on the driver’s side. Looked like a 2001. I didn’t recognize it or him, so I watched. He got out and knocked at her door, but she didn’t show up, so he knocked again. I saw the door open, but I didn’t see Ruby.”

“What made you think something was wrong?”

“It seemed as if he pushed his way in, but then when he went on in and stayed, I thought I was just imagining things so I got up to check on the roast in the oven like Arlene told me to do before she left for church. I’m slow moving around, so I was gone a little while. When I came back to my chair, the guy was putting something in the back seat.”

“Could you tell what it was?” Lon asked.

“Didn’t get a clear look, but it looked like a rolled-up rug. I thought maybe she was sending one out to be cleaned or something. I sure wish I’d paid more attention.”

Peanut’s soft moan said everything. Lon looked over his shoulder. Peanut’s elbows were on his knees, his hands covering his face.

There was nothing Lon could do or say that would change what had happened, but he could do his job and hopefully be a part of Ruby’s recovery, so he refocused on Purejoy.

“Describe the man for me,” Lon said.

“Hard to see his face from this distance, but he was probably early forties with short brown hair. Skinny guy, and average height. Oh…one other thing. I’m not positive, but I think there was a Tennessee tag on the back of that car. My son lives in Tennessee, and the tags looked the same.”

“Is there anything else you can remember?” Lon asked.

“No, sir,” Purejoy said.

Lon signaled his deputy to stop filming.

“You’ve been a big help, Mr. Purejoy.”

“I sure hope you get her back,” he said.

“Yes, sir, so do we,” Lon said. “Mrs. Purejoy, we’ll be leaving now. Thank you for your hospitality.”

Deputy Ralph gave the phone back to Lon and followed him out. Peanut’s legs were shaking as he started down the steps.

“I’m going home now, Chief, but I would take it as a personal favor if you kept me updated.”

“This info is going out as a BOLO, a be on the lookout, so if I get news, I’ll let you know.”

Peanut’s steps were dragging as he went back across the street to his car and drove away. The knot in his belly was getting tighter, and the pain in his chest was spreading. He’d planned this dinner at Granny’s for weeks, waiting for what he thought would be the perfect time to reveal his feelings.

Please God, don’t let me have waited too long.

* * *

Jarrod was driving as fast as the law allowed on his way back to Tennessee, but fuel was low and getting to the critical point. He had taken the ready cash from Ruby’s wallet, but he’d counted on more than the eighty-three dollars she’d had in it. Still, it was enough to get him home. He glanced over his shoulder into the back seat. As far as he could tell, she hadn’t moved, wasn’t crying, or trying to escape. It occurred to him that she might have suffocated, which gave him the creeps. He didn’t want to be driving around with a dead body. As soon as he fueled up, he’d take off out into rural Georgia. First bridge he came to, he was tossing her into the water below.

About five miles further, he saw an exit road leading to a big truck stop. He took the exit and was thinking about getting something to eat when his phone began to ring.

* * *

Ruby had chewed and bitten on the knots until she finally had the last knot loose enough to get her hands free. She’d swallowed enough blood in the process that she’d made herself sick, but her ankles were still tied with the belt from her robe. She couldn’t undo them without revealing the fact that she was conscious, but she could come out of the bedspread fast enough to get her leather belt over Jarrod’s head and around his neck. She was willing to risk the wreck this might cause rather than be murdered later. Just as she was about to make her move, his phone rang. She paused, holding her breath as she listened to Jarrod’s voice.

“Hello? Oh hey, baby. Yes, I finished my business, and I’m already on the way home but just now stopping to refuel. You made me some ribs? Oh man, I wish I had some now. I’m starvin’. I’m gonna get some snacks to eat on the way. Yes, I’ll be careful, and it’s likely to be midnight before I get home. Okay, yeah, love you too.”

Ruby heard him disconnect, then drive forward at a much slower rate. That’s when it hit her. Oh my God, if he stops for gas, I have a chance to escape.

She heard him get out. The click that followed had to be the door locks, then the gas cap being unscrewed. A few moments later, she smelled the fuel rushing into the gas tank beneath the car.

She didn’t know if she had time to get out before he saw and stopped her, but she would have risked it, if not for the gun. She didn’t want to be shot in the back trying to get away. As difficult as it was, she waited for the gas to shut off. If he didn’t get back in the car right away, she’d know he’d gone into the store for something to eat.

When she heard him putting the gas cap back on and then his footsteps walking away, she tensed. Thank you, God. Now was her chance!

Her heart was pounding as she tore her way out of the bedspread, untied her feet, and reached for the door. To her horror, it wouldn’t open.

But as quickly as she panicked, she realized what the problem was. Nothing but child locks. She leaned over the front seat and pressed the unlock button.

Moments later, she was out and running, unaware of the cold concrete beneath her bare feet or the chilly air on her face. She was twenty yards away and looking back over her shoulder when she ran straight into a trucker who’d been checking his tires.

He took one look at her bare feet and battered face—and the fact that she was wearing nothing but underwear beneath the open front of her bloody robe—and grabbed her.

“Lady! What the hell happened to you?”

Ruby was shaking so hard she could barely talk. “I was kidnapped. Help me. He’ll be coming out of the station any minute.”

“Which car? What’s he look like?” the trucker asked.

“That black SUV with the blue fender, at the back pumps.” And then her heart skipped a beat as she saw Jarrod exit. “That’s him, coming out of the station now.”

“The skinny guy with the red cap?”

“Yes, oh my God,” Ruby moaned and tried to pull out of his arms.

“You’re okay, lady. I got your back. Just stay here,” he said, and hefted the tire iron he was carrying for a better grip.

“He has a gun!” Ruby said.

“I hear you, ma’am. Now, when I get his attention, you just run on inside and tell Melvin at the cash register that Joey B said to call 911.”

Ruby slipped back behind the cab of his truck as the driver started toward the old SUV. Jarrod was eating and walking as if he didn’t have a care in the world, and he didn’t seem to be aware that the man at the pumps was waiting for him.

When Ruby saw the trucker step out from between the gas pumps swinging that tire iron, she knew Jarrod was startled. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but when she saw Jarrod drop his snacks and go for his gun, she took off toward the station with her bathrobe flapping and her bare feet flying.

She heard shouts, a thunk, then silence just as she reached the door. Without looking back, she pushed her way inside and ran straight to the man at the register.

“Melvin!”

He looked up, startled that a stranger knew his name.

“Joey B said for you to call 911. I think he just took out the man who kidnapped me.”

That’s when Melvin focused on her condition. He shoved the cash register shut and reached for the phone as the other men in the station began running outside. She could see Melvin talking, but his voice was fading. People were coming up around her now. A man had his hand on her shoulder, a woman’s lips were moving, but Ruby couldn’t hear what she was saying. The room was spinning. Her last thought was she needed to identify herself.

“My name is Ruby Dye. I live in Blessings, Georgia, and I think I’m going to faint now.”

And down she went.

* * *

It was almost four o’clock when Mercy Pittman stopped by the police station on her way home from work to bring her husband a piece of her coconut pie.

Mercy did all the baking at Granny’s Country Kitchen, and pie had been on special today. She’d carried out the last piece of coconut for Lon, and now he was eating it while they talked about Ruby.

“It’s all anyone talked about today,” Mercy said. “Poor Lovey keeps tearing up when she thinks no one is looking. I know they’re old friends, and she’s scared she won’t see Ruby again.”

“Nothing like this has ever happened here in my time,” Lon said. “The BOLO has been out a few hours now. I keep hoping some highway patrolman will spot that funky TrailBlazer.”

“With that off-color front fender, it would definitely stand out,” Mercy said, and then her voice began to shake. “I keep imagining how I would feel. She has to be scared out of her mind…if she’s still alive.” And then Mercy clapped her hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe I said that aloud.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t thought too,” Lon said, and then the phone on his desk rang. “Excuse me a minute, honey.” He set the pie aside to answer. “Chief Pittman.”

“Chief Pittman, this is Lieutenant Farley of the Georgia State Highway Patrol. We have your kidnap victim, Ruby Dye. The man who took her was Jarrod Dye, her ex-husband. He is in handcuffs and on his way to jail.”

Lon stood up, almost afraid to ask for details. “What are her injuries? What hospital will she be sent to?”

“She’ll be in the local hospital in Dublin, just off Interstate 16. Her injuries are minor.”

“But there was so much blood at the scene,” Lon said.

“Probably from your kidnapper. He’s got a mean cut on his forearm and likely a concussion from the trucker who took him down. He’ll be taken to the hospital for stitches before booking.”

“Thank you. Please tell Ruby we’re coming to get her.”

“Yes, sir. My pleasure, Chief Pittman.”

Lon hung up the phone, grinning.

Mercy ran to him. “They found Ruby, didn’t they? Is she hurt bad?”

“Yes, they’ve got her. It appears most of that blood at the scene was from the guy who kidnapped her. And get this. It was her ex-husband. She got in her licks before he took her down. I’ve got to call Peanut. I’ll be late coming home, honey. We’re going to get her.”

Mercy threw her arms around his neck, her dark eyes dancing. “What wonderful, wonderful news! Is it okay if I tell people?”

Lon grinned. “You can shout it from the rooftops for all I care. This is news I was too scared to hope for. For sure call the Conklin twins, and tell Lovey. They’re best friends. I’m calling Peanut.”

“Why would she need her lawyer?” Mercy asked.

“I think he’s more than her lawyer. I think he’s head over heels for the woman. Thanks for the pie. Love you to pieces, and I’ll call you when we head home.”

He gave her a quick kiss and a pat on the backside as she left the office. He had the lawyer’s info on his cell phone, and Peanut answered on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“They found her. She’s on her way to a hospital in Dublin, just off Interstate 16. I’m going to get her.”

“Take me with you,” Peanut said.

Lon heard the desperation. “Be there in five,” he said, and disconnected.