3
Sadie passed a restless night. She hadn’t heard from Sly since their conversation at the park, but she knew he wouldn’t go about minding his own business. He’d blindside her with something, sometime, which was why she kept looking out the window, watching for his squad car. If he was working, he’d think nothing of stopping by in the middle of the night and dragging her out of bed to continue their argument—regardless of what she had to do the next day. Even if he wasn’t working, he could drop by very late. He’d done it before.
Fortunately, she didn’t hear from him. But even when she wasn’t getting up to check her windows and make sure her doors were locked, she was lying on the mattress she shared with Jayden, wondering what it was going to be like juggling two jobs for a couple of weeks. She’d be putting in long hours; it wouldn’t be easy.
She kept telling herself she’d muddle through, but the closer it came to morning, the more nervous she grew. Her shift at Lolita’s would go fast. She’d been there for three years, ever since Jayden had been potty-trained (what Sly required in order to watch him), so it had become almost second nature. She just hoped what she had to do in the afternoon wouldn’t be too difficult or upsetting. Dawson had said she’d clean the house. But no way would she let him assign her the Reeds’ bedroom. She hoped someone had already taken care of the blood that had been spilled there...
She hurried to focus on something else before she lost the nerve to go there at all. Did Dawson even have cleaning supplies? Or would she need to bring some with her?
She called him after she got up in the morning to check, before taking Jayden to Petra’s.
“Hello?” His voice, deep and filled with a bit of gravel, was easily recognizable from the few minutes she’d spent with him during the interview.
“It’s Sadie Harris.”
There was a long pause. Then he said, “Please don’t tell me you’re already calling to quit.”
She gripped her phone that much tighter. Should she? That was what Maude and Sly wanted her to do. If her parents were alive, she’d be willing to bet they, too, would weigh in on the side of keeping her distance. But, in spite of caution, she heard herself say, “No. I’m calling to see if you’d like me to pick up anything before I come.”
“You mean like groceries?”
“If you need them.”
“That’d be great. I’ve been meaning to get back to the store, but...there hasn’t been time.”
She couldn’t imagine shopping would be fun for him, anyway. The second he walked through the doors of the local supermarket, everyone would stop and stare. It was even possible the checker would refuse to ring him up. That was how hostile Silver Springs felt toward him. “What should I get?”
“I have oatmeal and eggs. That’s about it.”
“So...maybe some bread, lunch meat and fruit? Stuff like that?”
“Sure. And whatever else you like to eat. I don’t want you going hungry while you’re out here. Something for dinner would be nice.”
What was he surviving on? Oatmeal and eggs, even in the evenings? “Okay. I’ll swing by the store. What about cleaning supplies?”
“You’d better get that sort of thing, too.”
“What do you need me to clean?”
“The whole house.”
“The whole house?” she echoed.
She knew he’d heard her uncertainty, and understood the reason for it, when he quickly amended that comment. “Everything that’s not closed off. I mean...the space I’m using. The living room, the dining area, the kitchen, two bathrooms, my bedroom and Angela’s. I’ll deal with the master when...when I can.”
She took his response to mean it hadn’t been cleaned. That she’d be working in a house where two people had been murdered and the blood hadn’t even been washed from the walls and carpet made her feel slightly ill. But she wasn’t sure she should let that change her mind. She’d known about the murders before she went out to meet with him.
Still, she didn’t want to see that room, let alone touch anything. Maybe he felt the same. Maybe that was why he’d closed it off. “What supplies do you have now?”
“Not much. To be honest, I haven’t had a chance to think about that sort of thing. All of my work so far has been outside.”
“So furniture polish, disinfectant, dishwashing soap, toilet bowl cleaner, oven cleaner, a powdered cleanser and some rags? Do you have a toilet bowl brush?”
“No. Grab one of those, too. Most everything was stolen or trashed while I was...away, so I threw all the broken bits and pieces in the pile of garbage out front. I didn’t have time to sort and salvage. I needed some space to be able to live so I could get out on the land.”
“What are you going to do about that pile?”
“Get rid of it. I’ve hired someone to haul it away this weekend.”
“I see.” If he was as innocent as he claimed, the day he saw what others had done to his house must’ve been very difficult. She couldn’t imagine showing up to find her home in such poor shape, the blood of her parents still in their bedroom upstairs. How was he living there let alone working?
And if he wasn’t innocent?
Sadie wouldn’t consider that. She’d decided to trust the jury’s verdict, hadn’t she? “What about a vacuum?” she asked as she switched the phone to her other ear.
“Don’t have one. Someone... Never mind. I threw that out along with everything else. How much do you think a new one’ll cost?”
More than she could front, and she didn’t get the impression he had money to burn, either. “I’ll bring one. We can limp by using mine for a while.”
“That’s very nice of you. Do you have a credit card or something to put the purchases on until I can reimburse you? If not, feel free to swing by and pick up some cash to take with you.”
“I’ve got a little room on my card.” She should be able to get a few things—at least enough that she’d be able to work today.
“Okay. Thanks.”
Jayden came out of their bedroom in his Spider-Man pajamas, rubbing his eyes. “Mommy? Why are you awake when it’s dark?”
Sadie covered the speaker on her phone. “Because it’s almost morning, handsome. We need to get you dressed and over to Petra’s. Can you go potty for me first?”
With a tired nod, he went into the bathroom, and she spoke into the phone again. “I’ll be there as soon as I get off at the diner.”
“I’ll be in the north field. Come find me, and I’ll let you in.”
“Okay.”
“Mommy?” Jayden called with some emergency. “The toilet won’t flush!”
“I’m coming, babe.” Sadie was afraid he’d filled it with toilet paper again. She had no idea how or why he’d developed such a fascination for stopping up the toilet, but she wished she had remembered and gone into the bathroom with him to protect the plumbing. “I’ve gotta go,” she told Dawson.
“You can bring your son here, you know,” Dawson said. “He’ll be safe.”
“That’s okay. We’ll see if I survive the day first.” She laughed as if she was making a joke, but when he didn’t respond, she cursed herself for being so insensitive. She’d been trying to feel safer by making light of the danger. Instead, she’d rubbed salt into what had to be a very painful wound.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That wasn’t funny.”
He made no comment on the subject. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
“It’ll be at least one.”
“Understood.”
She started to hang up, but he spoke again. “Sadie?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have anything to worry about over here.”
Could she believe him? He sounded sincere. But she’d once been in love with a man she could no longer stand. That showed how easy it was to be fooled, didn’t it? “Good to know. Thank you for trying to reassure me.”
After another pause, he said, “You’re not going to ask me if I killed them?”
Them being his parents, of course. What else could he be referring to? “Would you tell me if you did?”
“No, I guess I wouldn’t,” he admitted. “So much for words.”
He disconnected, but, as unsettling as their conversation had been, she didn’t have time to mull over her gaffe or his reaction to it.
“Mommy, the toilet’s going to spill!” Jayden called.
Setting her phone on the counter, she rushed into the bathroom. “Stop flushing it!”
* * *
The diner was crowded, but Sadie was relieved to be busy. The crush kept her from thinking too much. For some reason, the comment she’d made at the end of her conversation with Dawson kept running through her mind—along with the pregnant silence that’d fallen afterward—and she couldn’t quit kicking herself. Just in case he was innocent, she needed to be more sensitive. She’d rather err on the side of assuming the best, of being kind, than piling on with everyone else, wouldn’t she? Dawson faced enough haters. The only person who stood in his corner, and had throughout the entire ordeal, was Aiyana Turner, the woman in charge of New Horizons. Aiyana insisted the man she knew could never do what had been done to the Reeds.
Usually, Aiyana’s opinion carried some weight in Silver Springs. She did a lot of good in the community, was well respected, but she was always an advocate for her “boys,” had adopted eight of the students who’d attended New Horizons herself. Some of them probably supported Dawson, too. They’d gone to school together, after all. Everyone just discounted what the Turners had to say because of their close affiliation with Dawson and the fact that if he was responsible for those murders, it would reflect poorly on Aiyana and the school, for bringing him to town.
Now that Sadie would be working for Dawson, however, she prayed the founder of New Horizons knew what she was talking about. The man Sadie had met didn’t seem unhinged or greedy. He’d seemed perfectly normal.
But what did she know? She’d barely met him. Maybe she was letting his gorgeous face and jaw-dropping body get in the way of her good judgment.
Sadie was just putting in an order for a Spanish omelet when two of Sly’s closest friends from the police force came in. They stood at the door and gazed around the restaurant until they saw her. Then they skipped the hostess station and headed directly to her section at the breakfast bar.
“Hi, Pete. Hi, George.” She handed them both menus. “How are you today?”
Young, maybe twenty-eight, and stocky, with close-cropped dark hair, Pete looked at his older and much heavier companion. “We’d be a damn sight better if we hadn’t just heard what we heard,” he replied.
Sadie dodged another server to be able to grab the coffeepot so she could fill their cups. She knew they liked coffee, had served them many times over the past three years. “What’d you hear?”
“Sly told us you’re going to be working for the man who murdered Lonnie and Larry Reed. That true?”
Sadie nearly dropped the coffee. She’d known word would spread, but she hadn’t expected to be confronted by these guys. Although she’d been to a few barbecues with them over the years, she didn’t feel as if they were close enough—at least to her—to say anything. “I’ll be working for their son, Dawson.”
Pete’s thick eyebrows came together. “Like I said, the man who murdered Lonnie and Larry.”
“Dawson has already been tried in a court of law, Pete. He was found not guilty. So... I’m not sure who killed the Reeds. From everything I’ve seen and heard, no one is certain.”
He added a touch of cream to his coffee. “When you work in law enforcement, you get a feel for these things, Sadie. You can tell when someone’s lying. Dawson Reed is guilty as sin. Don’t let him or anyone else convince you otherwise.”
She put the coffeepot back on its warmer so that the other servers would be able to get to it. “Even cops get things wrong now and then. If that wasn’t true, we wouldn’t have so many innocent people in prison.”
The expression on his face suggested he didn’t appreciate her daring to argue with him when he was such an authority on the matter. She’d seen that look before, many times, on Sly’s face.
No wonder they were friends...
Leaning back, he rested his hand on the butt of his gun as he appraised her. “If you think there are a lot of innocent people in prison, you’re more delusional than I thought.”
“Delusional, Pete?” Sadie said, shocked that he’d go that far.
He shrugged. “Just sayin’. You’ve got this one wrong, sweetheart. And you’ll pay a hefty price, if you’re not careful.”
“You don’t know I’m wrong.” By the way Pete was treating her, Sly had been flapping his gums again, running her down even though she tried so hard not to disparage him. He was, after all, the father of her child. “But, now that’s out of the way, what can I get you both this morning?” she asked, pulling the order pad from her apron pocket.
“I’ll take some biscuits and gravy,” George said.
Obviously tempted to pursue the argument, Pete hesitated. But then he closed his menu and handed it back to her. “I’ll have the pigs in a blanket.”
“Great. Your food’ll be out in a few minutes.” She’d already turned away when George tried to stop her.
“Sadie...”
The order window was right behind her, so she stuck their ticket on the rounder for the cooks. “Yes?”
“Look, you and Pete got off on the wrong foot. We’re not trying to be jerks. We understand things have been a little...rough financially since you and Sly split up. Divorce is never easy. But is going to work for Dawson Reed the best solution? I mean, think about it. If we’re right and you’re wrong...something terrible could happen.”
“I appreciate your concern,” she said. But she didn’t really believe it was concern. They were supporting Sly while attempting to isolate Dawson, to make sure he was reviled for his “crime,” even though a twelve-person jury had heard all the evidence and determined he shouldn’t be punished for what happened to the Reeds. “But I’m hoping my faith in our court system hasn’t been misplaced.”
“You’re not going to listen,” he said, incredulous.
She remembered the terror that’d shot through her when Dawson grabbed her arm as she was leaving the farm yesterday—and how quickly he’d backed off when she turned. That made him seem safe, but there was nothing to say he wouldn’t harm her later. She just hated how certain everyone else seemed to be when they didn’t know whether he was guilty any more than she did. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”
Pete made a clicking sound with his mouth. “Sure hope so. Either way, you’ve been sufficiently warned.”
“Meaning...”
His eyes widened at the challenge. “If you get into trouble now, you’re going to have to call someone else.”
Although Sadie had empty plates to collect farther down the bar, she put that off. “What?”
“You heard me,” he replied.
Her jaw fell open. “You’re on the police force! Don’t tell me you’re saying that if I call for help from the Reed farm, no one will come...”
“Of course someone will come,” George said.
Pete nudged him. “But we can’t promise whoever it is will come real quick,” he added with a laugh.
Sadie glared at him. “You’re a self-righteous bastard, Pete Montgomery. Now I know why you get along so well with Sly.”
He sobered instantly. “Whoa! Sounds to me like you deserve whatever you might get!”
“And it sounds to me as if you’ve appointed yourself judge, jury and executioner—not only for Dawson Reed but for me, as well.”
“You’re the one putting yourself in a bad situation.” He shoved his coffee out of the way as he leaned forward. “The question is why? Do you and Dawson have something going on? Is he warming your bed at night now that he’s out of lockup?”
She shook her head. “You’re disgusting.”
“What?” He gestured as if he’d said nothing wrong. “You wouldn’t be the first to want to spread your legs for him. You should’ve seen the women on that jury, preening and making eyes at him whenever he walked into the courtroom. If not for them, he’d be in prison right now, awaiting an execution date. So next time you think he’s innocent because that damn jury handed down a ‘not guilty’ verdict, you might consider there were seven women on it.”
“Women can weigh evidence as well as men,” she snapped.
He nearly spilled George’s coffee when he shoved his water glass into it. “Don’t give me that feminist bullshit!”
“Pete, that’s enough,” George mumbled, looking around. “You’re going too far.”
People were starting to stare, but he didn’t seem to care about that. “She’s the one who won’t listen!” he responded.
“Thanks for your concern, but tell Sly I’ll make my own decisions,” she said.
Glenn Swank, down the bar, was growing impatient with her lack of attention. “Hey, Sadie! Are you going to bring my check sometime today or what?” he called out. “I gotta go to work!”
Sadie nodded to reassure him. “I’m coming.”
“Remember, you’re taking a big chance,” Pete growled as she hurried away. “Are you sure he’s worth it?”
* * *
Sadie was still livid when she reached the grocery store. Every time she thought about that visit at the diner from Pete and George, she wanted to go ballistic. How dare they say what they did! They had no right. They were just taking up for Sly. He’d sent his buddies over because she wouldn’t listen to him.
“Pricks,” she muttered.
“What’d you say, dear?”
Sadie turned to see the organist from her church standing behind her in the aisle and felt her face grow hot for cursing. “Nothing,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry. I thought you were talking to me.”
Fortunately, Mrs. Handley was partially deaf. “No. I was just...mumbling to myself.”
“Nowadays you never know what people are doing.” She shook her head in apparent exasperation. “What with those little devices—blue teeth or whatever they’re called—they have in their ears.”
“Bluetooth. People talk on Bluetooth.”
“That’s it.”
Sadie smiled, trying to relax. “How have you been?”
“Good, and you?”
“Busy.”
“Will I see you at church on Sunday?”
If Dawson didn’t murder her first. The idea that he might be dangerous had always been daunting. But now she knew the police would be slow to react if she called for help. Pete, George and Sly had all warned her not to take the job, so they felt justified in letting her go it alone. They meant to teach her a lesson, even though it could be a costly lesson indeed.
She’d almost told them she’d been forced to take the job because Sly was being so stingy with his child. It cost a lot more to take care of Jayden than the $250/month Sly was currently paying. That didn’t even cover his child care! But she knew that would only cause more problems. Sly would call her up and accuse her of trying to make him look bad in front of his friends, and they’d be headed toward yet another terrible argument.
“Yes. I’ll be there,” she told Mrs. Handley.
“I’m glad. I’ll see you then. Have a nice day, dear.”
“You, too.” Sadie wheeled her cart around to the next aisle and then the next, whizzing through the store, grabbing everything on her list. She needed to get started cleaning Dawson’s house so that she could accomplish something before it was time to go home.
Once she’d bought his food and supplies, she stuck the receipt in her purse and loaded the items in her car. Dawson owed her $189.03. She hoped he was good for it. She also hoped he’d like what she bought as far as groceries. She’d picked up a roast and some vegetables to put in her slow cooker, which she needed to pick up, since she hadn’t thought of using it when she put her vacuum in the back of the car earlier. After being out on the farm all day, she figured he could use a solid meat-and-potatoes kind of meal.
Sadie had the slow cooker in her car with the vacuum and a few other things she thought might be useful and was walking around to get behind the wheel when Maude called out to her from where she’d been standing yesterday. “Are you heading to the Reed farm?”
“Yeah, I’m off,” she said, turning to wave. She couldn’t help thinking Maude might be the last person she’d ever see alive. She almost implored her to look after Jayden if anything happened, but she knew, if she were to be murdered, Sly’s mother would step in and raise him. It wasn’t as if Marliss expected her beloved son to do much.
“Good luck,” Maude said. “I hope everything goes okay.”
Wading through so much disapproval was zapping Sadie’s strength. She felt like she needed a nap—she probably did, since she hadn’t been able to sleep last night—and yet she had a whole afternoon of menial labor ahead of her. “So do I,” she said and got in the car.