CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Agnes Merill, or whatever she went by these days, hadn’t aged well. There was little left of the bright, beautiful woman from the family photo album in the too thin, too sharp woman before her. Her once red hair was dyed a shade of burnt blonde. Sallow skin sagged around her chin, and her cheeks were hollow. Her fingers were yellowed with nicotine stains, pink paint peeling from the nails.
In all the times Eva had seen Agnes since the woman found her, she’d never seen a hint of the woman her father had married, the woman who had baked her sisters fanciful birthday cakes and taught them silly songs. That woman had disappeared just as surely as if she’d died. And in her place was a scheming, angry shell.
“I’ve got some plans cooking, and I need that cash now,” Agnes told her, lighting a cigarette with a cheap Bic that flickered in the autumn breeze. There was no greeting, no “How’s it going, sweetie?” Everything with Agnes was about the bottom line.
Eva looked over her shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief that Franklin and Phoebe were no longer in sight.
Agnes rasped out a laugh and with it a cloud of blue smoke. “Yeah, I saw him. Looks like Frank got himself a new wife.”
Eva’s eyes narrowed. “Stay away from them,” she said. She may be a lot of things, a push-over, a liar, a chicken shit. But no one messed with Eva’s family.
“Oh, I will, but it’ll cost you.”
Eva was already shaking her head. “Not this time, Agnes. The ATM is closed.”
Agnes gave another dry laugh, one that didn’t reach her bloodshot green eyes. “You owe me, Eva. Because of you, I lost everything.”
It was the line that had gotten Eva a hundred times before and the guilt, familiar as an old quilt, settled onto her shoulders. “If you’d just gotten help—”
“There was no help. You were born, and I was dropped into a black hole. I lost my husband, my family, my home,” Agnes counted her losses on her stained fingers.
“You walked away from your husband, your family, your home,” Eva countered.
“Well, well. Look who decided to grow a backbone,” Agnes said, amused.
“Get out of Blue Moon now, and don’t ever come back.”
Agnes looked around them at the morning sidewalk bustle of a town waking up and starting its day. She shrugged rail thin shoulders. “I don’t know. I kinda like it here. I might decide to stay.”
“If you don’t leave town and leave me alone, it’ll be your turn to pay,” Eva said, her voice shaking with the vehemence behind her words. It ended now. She was done paying for something that wasn’t her fault.
“Now, you listen to me. I want ten grand, and I want it by next week. If you don’t deliver, I’ll do everything I can to ruin your pretty little life, just like you ruined mine. And when I’m done with you, I’ll start on your sisters and your father,” Agnes spat back.
Eva took a threatening step forward. She wasn’t sure just how far she’d be willing to go on the sidewalk on Main Street, but Agnes didn’t need to know that.
“You go anywhere near—”
“Everything okay, Eves?” Nikolai and Jax, handsome as devils and looking concerned appeared behind her.
Agnes’s twisted face smoothed into a bright smile. “Thanks for the directions, sweetie. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”
It was a threat plain as day but one Eva couldn’t deal with right now. Not with family witnesses. She watched Agnes scurry off toward the park and then pasted a facsimile of a smile on her face.
“What brings you two handsome men out so early today?” she asked brightly.
“Who was that?” Niko demanded, his eyes still on Agnes’s thin frame.
“Yeah, you looked like you were about to deck her on the street,” Jax commented.
“She’s no one. Just a stranger asking for directions.”
Neither of them looked remotely convinced. “Eva, if you’re in trouble—” Jax began.
“You give us names and social security numbers, and no one will ever find the bodies,” Niko interjected, doing his best impression of a hitman from Jersey.
Eva laughed to reassure them though the pit in her stomach seemed to grow by miles. “Are you two doing some kind of overprotective street patrol for Donovan?” she joked, her voice tight in her throat.
“We’re on our way to pay our pal the sheriff a visit. The PI turned up a trail for Reva and Caleb’s mom. We want to move on it before it goes cold.”
Christ on a freaking cracker, what was with mothers abandoning their children and being shit human beings? Eva wondered, her chest tightening. She hoped that Reva and Caleb’s story would be a happier one than her own. Jax and Joey would stand between those kids and their mother just as she stood between hers and her family.
Eva bobbed her head. “Uh, well, good luck. Tell Donovan I said… nevermind. I’ll see you guys around.”
She turned, but Jax stopped her.
“Hey, are you coming out to the farm Saturday? Apple butter boil day. You don’t want to miss it.”
“Uh, sure. Yeah. I’ll be there,” Eva nodded. “See ya.”
This time she escaped, climbing behind the wheel of Donovan’s SUV and locking the doors.
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Nothing was going to dampen Donovan’s mood today. He diffused the cold brew battle at Overly Caffeinated without even having threatened anyone with charges. Clayton, a teddy bear at heart that looked like a retired linebacker, graciously accepted Selma’s apology for dumping her cold brew coffee on his crotch after an argument about whether the Giants’ new quarterback was worth his $20 million contract.
Donovan even scored a free cup of truly excellent coffee for his troubles and was in the office, whistling, by seven.
“Someone’s in a good mood,” Minnie said, raising an eyebrow as he snatched a blueberry muffin out of the box she’d brought.
“The sun is shining. The birds are singing. And I didn’t have to arrest anyone before seven a.m.” Donovan told her. “What’s not to be happy about?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Right. The sun that’s not even over the horizon yet,” she snorted. “Did the sun also bail out Tanbark and send him home? Wait. Nope. That was Evangelina Merill according to this form.” She waved the paper in his face.
“Eva has a big heart. She thought Tanbark should be home with his parents.”
“Uh-huh. And did she also believe that two weeks of files should be tossed on the floor of your office and rolled around on?”
“Don’t you have some filing or faxing or muffin-eating to do?” Donovan asked.
Minnie stuck her tongue out at him as he grabbed the new Weekly Monthly Moon off the counter and resumed his whistling on his way into his office.
He wasn’t even shocked by the headline. But that didn’t mean he didn’t roll his eyes. That Anthony Berkowicz made small town journalism look more like a high school yearbook.
Sheriff Dating Fire Victim: Engagement announcement expected shortly.
He settled in behind his desk and sat for just a moment, enjoying the coffee and the sunshine that was just now peeking over the park and Main Street. He wondered what Eva’s reaction to the paper would be. Her reluctance had certainly taken a backseat last night. He swiveled in his chair to stare fondly at the bare counter behind his desk. Everything had changed last night. Years of waiting, of wanting, of dreaming and fantasizing, had finally come to a head, and he couldn’t have imagined it being more perfect.
The way Eva responded to him… hell, the way he responded to her. It was like coming home. No wonder he had a big, stupid smile on his face. The rest of his life had finally begun.
His phone vibrated on his desk.
It looked like his work day had begun too.
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Donovan held up a finger when Jax and Nikolai strolled into his office.
“I appreciate it. Keep me apprised,” he said into the phone.
“Keep me apprised,” Jax mimicked in a falsetto to Niko.
Donovan raised a different finger in his friends’ direction. “Uh-huh. Thanks, chief,” he said and hung up the phone. He tossed the empty muffin wrapper at Jax. “You’re going to feel like an asshole in a minute.”
“You sound like my wife,” Jax grinned. “We come bearing news that needs to be acted on ASAP, and we need your shiny little badge to get some shit done.”
Donovan brought his fingers to his temples. “Let me guess. Your P.I. found Reeva and Caleb’s mom in Ocean City, Maryland, and we need to move now?”
Jax rushed Donovan’s desk, his excitement palpable. “How’d you—”
“Your P.I. texted this morning. She got a hot tip thanks to a Facebook post. That was the chief of police in OC. He’s having a car pick up Sheila at her motel now on a few outstandings.”
“Hot damn!” Jax grabbed Donovan by his shoulders and laid a kiss on his forehead. He punched Nikolai in the shoulder and ran for the door.
“Where are you going?” Donovan yelled after him, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead.
Jax ran back. “I gotta tell Joey. We gotta tell the kids.”
Donovan sighed. “Jeez, it’s like someone just told you you were gonna be parents. Tell Joey, but wait on the kids until the cops pick her up. Have Beckett fax the papers to this number,” he instructed, shoving a scrap of paper at Jax. “If she signs, drag the kids out of school and throw a damn party.”
“Tell Joey. Fax papers. Have party. Got it!” Jax took off leaving the fax number on Donovan’s desk.
Donovan sighed again. “You mind delivering this to your idiot friend?”
“Happy to help,” Nikolai said. “You got a minute?” he asked, glancing toward the doorway.
“No one’s burned anything down yet today,” Donovan said. His interest piqued when Nikolai shut the door.
“Okay, first thing is kind of a formality. I hear you and Eva are… seeing each other.”
Donovan steepled his fingertips. “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. We are.”
“Technically, through marriage, Eva is my business,” Niko argued amicably. “So, I wanted to give you the ‘treat her well or else’ spiel.”
“Message received.” Donovan could appreciate the protective vibe, but the only man Eva was going to need protecting her was him. Not some well-meaning brother-in-law.
“I also wanted to let you know that I think you two are a good thing. So, when I tell you this, I don’t think I’m being disloyal. Their mother leaving them had an effect on each of them. They all seem to think that since Eva was the youngest, it was easier on her. I think she lets them think that. And I can tell by your expression I’m not telling you anything you don’t know.”
“I think Eva tends to cope by keeping things to herself,” he admitted. “But I plan to make sure she understands that honesty is the only policy.”
Nikolai looked relieved. “Just wanted to make sure you were aware. These Merill women are formidable, and I want you in the fight.”
“Appreciate it,” Donovan said. They shook over his desk. “Anything else?”
Niko shrugged his shoulders under his leather jacket. “We ran into her on our way here. Looked like she was arguing with someone.”
“Who?”
“Don’t know. Said the woman was a stranger. But that wasn’t the vibe she was giving off. I didn’t catch what they were saying, but it was tense.”
“What did the woman look like?”
“Bleach blonde, older. Smoker. From the looks of her, she had some other unhealthy habits. I’m new here, but she definitely wasn’t the type that usually hangs out around town. And the way they looked at each other?” Nikolai shook his head. “There’s history there.”
Donovan frowned. He had a hard time imagining Eva having an issue with anyone. She’d be more likely to pick someone apart and use them as an antagonist in a book than hate them.
“I’ll ask her about it,” he told Nikolai.
His friend nodded. “Good. Okay. I’m going to go find my wife and talk her into breakfast in bed.”
“You do that. And thanks, Niko.”
Donovan drummed his fingers on the desk when Nikolai left. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but it sounded like Eva was keeping secrets.