To Save a Child--A Clean Romance Page 5

  “I haven’t lied to you. Joel accused me of harassing him. That’s what he told the police—that I was always meddling in my sister’s affairs, which wasn’t true. I let her make her own decisions. I didn’t like him, but I never interfered except that one time I called the police after he hit her. I called a lot of times after she died. I wanted him arrested. He didn’t even spend one night in jail. I can’t even bury my sister because the coroner still has the body. The police are waiting on the autopsy to see how she died. I just want to bury my...”

  He hardened himself against the anguish in her voice. “I’ll check into that, too.” He said he wasn’t swayed by emotions, but he could feel himself being pulled into her life, her problems, and he had enough of his own.

  “I’ll be back around lunch.” He walked toward the back door thinking of the number-one rule a cop learns—never get emotionally involved. It was a problem he’d never had. His emotions were all locked up tight inside him, and it would take an extortionist, a priest and an exorcist to free him. And a dark-eyed beauty wasn’t going to change that.

  * * *

  GRACE MULLED OVER Cole’s words for a moment, knowing he was a straight-arrow kind of cop and he wasn’t going to be swayed by her story. She knew that before she told him what had happened. Now she had to deal with the results. But somewhere deep inside, she knew Cole had a heart—or he wouldn’t be here trying to take care of his grandfather.

  She tidied the house and noticed there was a lot of laundry to do. “Mr. Walt, do you mind if I do a couple loads of laundry?”

  “No. Somebody has to do it.” He got to his feet and put Zoe in the Pack ’n Play. “I’m gonna take a shower.”

  “Okay.”

  “What are we having for lunch?”

  “I honestly haven’t thought about it.”

  “I want fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans and homemade biscuits, and maybe coconut pie.”

  Grace’s eyes opened wide. “I didn’t realize this was a diner.”

  He frowned at her. “Are you one of those women who’s gonna tell me I’m a male pig something?”

  She couldn’t help but smile. The old man was lonely and missing his wife, and she would pamper him for this day. Everybody needed a little pampering. “Where would I find the chicken?”

  “In the freezer in the utility room.”

  “Is it cut up?”

  “No. You have to do that.”

  “I don’t know how to cut up a chicken.” Nor did she know how to fry one. She’d never fried a chicken in her whole life.

  “I’ll show you.”

  “Well, then, I guess I better thaw it out.”

  “I know you’re a woman who can tell a man how a cow ate the cabbage, but you’re also kind and gentle. My Jamie was like that. Cole, he’s different.”

  She had no idea what he was talking about, but the last part caught her attention. It was none of her business, but she had to ask, “Why do you always do that?”

  “What?” He was genuinely puzzled.

  “Compare Cole to Jamie.”

  “I don’t do that.”

  “Yes, you do. You’ve done it several times since I’ve been here.”

  “I did not. You’re talking nonsense. I’m going to take a shower.” He walked toward the hall.

  Grace shook her head. He was never going to admit he’d done anything wrong. He probably saw it as nothing, but when Mr. Walt had mentioned it last night, she’d noticed the look on Cole’s face. It was something to him. She glanced at all the photos of Jamie on the walls and found not one of Cole. She’d bet Cole noticed that, too.

  * * *

  COLE CHECKED IN with Wyatt and filled out an accident report. Bubba had already hauled the car to Lamar’s garage, so Cole drove there. It wasn’t far from town. Lamar’s ancestors had bought the land cheap after the Civil War, and they were still there. Lamar loved to talk and tell stories about his family.

  Ms. Bennett’s car was parked in his driveway, and Cole pulled up behind it. The garage was to the right of Lamar’s house. Dori, Lamar’s wife, taught school, and Cole knew them both well.

  Lamar, a tall black man, came out of the house. He wore overalls and a Carhartt jacket. A baseball cap rested on his gray hair.

  “Mornin’, Cole.”

  “Morning, Lamar.” They shook hands. “I see Bubba brought the car.”

  “Yeah, early this morning. There’s a stroller and baby things he took out of the car, and you might want to get that car seat out.”

  Lamar helped him move everything into Cole’s truck.

  “Let’s go to my office. It’s cold out here.” Lamar shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

  They went into a side door of the garage. It was a small space with a desk and all kinds of auto parts stacked on shelves. The desk was littered with papers and manuals. The linoleum floor was covered in muddy footprints.

  Cole pulled up a metal chair, and Lamar sat at the desk.

  “Has Miss Dori seen this place?”

  “My wife’s not allowed in here. This is my space and my business, and she’s not bringing all her cleaning stuff and messing it up. I’d never be able to find anything.”

  Cole chuckled to himself. Miss Dori’s house was spotless. At least it had been all the times he’d been there as a teenager. Cole had been good friends with their daughter, Jasmine.

  “How long will it take you to fix the car? The lady is stuck at Grandpa’s house until you do.”

  “Depends on how long it’ll take to get parts.”

  “Soon, Lamar. Soon.”

  Lamar put on his wire-rimmed glasses and pulled a manual toward him. Then he looked up. “You know what. I get parts from a junkyard over in Temple. The car is a 2018 Camry. They probably have that fender over there. If they do, I can get it fixed quickly.”

  “Good deal.” Cole reached into his pocket and placed the insurance card on the desk. Lamar made a copy and gave it back to him. Cole hadn’t seen the computer or the printer. They were behind a tall stack of manuals.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Lamar said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Have you been watching LJ play?”

  LJ was Lamar’s son, who played in the NFL. “Every chance I get.”

  Lamar got to his feet and walked Cole to his truck. “I guess you know he got married.”

  “Yeah, Miss Dori told me after the funeral.”

  “Married a white girl. Broke his mama’s heart.”

  When Cole had talked to Miss Dori, she didn’t seem all that upset about it. So that meant Lamar was upset about it.

  “Thought he’d come back here and live on this land that his ancestors bought for mere pennies. But I don’t see that happening now. She’s a city girl.”

  “Give her a chance, Lamar. She might surprise you.”

  “That’s what Dori says,” Lamar mumbled almost to himself.

  Cole patted him on the back. “See you later.”

  Family relationships were never easy. Cole saw it in his work and in his own life. Was there such a thing as happiness? Or was it just a dream, like clouds floating across the sky—beautiful one minute and dark and dangerous the next. Was anything real? Or forever?

  * * *

  MR. WALT CUT up the chicken. Grace figured if he knew how, he could do it. She fixed everything Mr. Walt wanted according to his directions, even the coconut pie. She wasn’t exactly a cook and had never made a pie. Mr. Walt got his wife’s recipes down, and she followed them to the letter. She had more flour on her and the counter than she did in the pie crust. But it turned out, to her surprise.

  She searched for green beans and couldn’t find any in the pantry. “Mr. Walt, there aren’t any green beans.”

  He came into the kitchen with Zoe in his arms. He had shaved his sc
raggly beard and was in clean jeans and a flannel shirt. “Sure there is. You just have to look.”

  “I’ve looked everywhere.”

  “They’re in the cabinets in the utility room above the washer and dryer.”

  Grace opened the doors and found a treasure trove of canned vegetables, from green beans, peas, corn, carrots and squash to pickles and peaches.

  “Cora cans vegetables from the garden every year.”

  Grace grabbed a pint of green beans.

  “Don’t put anything in them. They just need heat.”

  Zoe became fussy, and Grace took her. “I wish I had her high chair. She’ll sit in it and play.”

  “There’s one in the attic. I’ll get it down.”

  “No.” She stopped him before he could move. “You will not climb into the attic. I’ll do it.”

  “Suit yourself. The ladder’s in the hallway. It has a string and you have to pull it down.”

  “I know, Mr. Walt.” She handed him Zoe.

  She had no problem pulling the ladder down.

  “There’s a light switch to the right, and the chair should be on the left.” Mr. Walt continued to give instructions.

  Grace flipped on the light and paused at the sight before her. Everything was covered in plastic, and Jamie’s name was written in big black letters on every box. Everything that Jamie had ever touched or owned was up here. It was like a shrine.

  She removed the plastic from the high chair and just stared. It was a dark oak, and carved on the inside at the back was Jamie’s name, surrounded by painted butterflies and tiny flowers.

  Oh, good heavens! This was hallowed ground—she couldn’t use this chair. She could almost hear the music from The Twilight Zone playing in her head. There was a lot in this house that was unnatural.

  And then she realized the Chisholms cherished all of Jamie’s things in a way to keep him alive. But Jamie had left the most important part of him behind—his son. And he wasn’t covered in plastic with years of dust clinging to him. Yet, the Chisholms never saw that. Maybe it was time someone pointed out this fact.

  Of course, it was none of her business, but something about this place and the two men tore at her heart. One clung to the past and the other was desperate to escape it.

  She grabbed the high chair and carted it down the steps. Time for a little reality.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  COLE’S PHONE BUZZED, and he stopped at the cattle guard to answer it. Stephanie.

  “Cole, are you coming to Austin tonight?”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  “I was hoping you could come to the city and we could do something.”

  He took a long breath. Stephanie never seemed to hear what he said. She only heard what she wanted to. “I’m still dealing with my grandpa. I told you I won’t be back until the Monday after Thanksgiving.”

  “But you’re coming to my parents’ for Thanksgiving, aren’t you?”

  “I’ll try.” That’s the best he could do. He really didn’t want to deal with this. He had so much other stuff on his mind.

  “Cole.” He was beginning to dislike her whiny voice.

  “Go out with your girlfriends. Y’all always have a good time. I just can’t come to Austin right now.”

  “I have so much more fun with you.”

  “I have to go, Steph. I’ll let you know about Thanksgiving and how things are here.” She never once asked about his grandfather, and that bothered him.

  Stephanie’s father was a defense attorney, and Stephanie wanted to follow in his footsteps. She was working at another firm but soon would transfer to her father’s. Cole disliked defense attorneys. They always got criminals off, and that didn’t sit well with him. But he’d liked Stephanie, and the relationship had worked well up to this point. Now he was second-guessing himself. Maybe he just needed to get back to Austin, to his own life. He was grumpy right now with everything that had fallen onto his plate.

  He glanced out at the dreary day. The temperature was now in the thirties, and the sun’s breath was melting ice everywhere. It was a welcome relief that the sun would continue to warm the day.

  But truly, only one thing occupied his mind: Grace Bennett. She’d had an awful childhood, just like he had. Yet she was a strong woman, and he admired her courage in trying to keep Zoe safe. But she might have to fold on this one. He worked with cops and lawyers, and when it came to custody situations, parents had the upper hand. Unless everything Ms. Bennett had told him was true. The only way to find that out was to investigate. He had a feeling it had already been investigated.

  He wasn’t a knight in shining armor, and he didn’t rescue damsels in distress. That wasn’t his thing. But Ms. Bennett needed someone. And to live with a clear conscience, he would try to help her.

  He picked up his phone and called his best friend, Beauregard Goodnight. He couldn’t have gotten through his childhood without Bo. They both had dysfunctional families. Bo had a terrible relationship with his dad and it probably would never change. His dad had cheated on his mom several times with other women. Even after the divorce his mom continued to take the man back when he was down on his luck. Every time that happened, it revved up Bo’s blood pressure.

  The two of them had leaned on each other during those hard times. They spent many a night in Cole’s grandpa’s barn because Bo didn’t want to go home if his dad was there. Sometimes Grandpa would come looking for Cole. He would tell him he was keeping Bo company and would be inside later. He would say okay, but his grandmother never seemed to know he wasn’t in the house. She never seemed to know he existed.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Bo’s strong, familiar voice sounded in his ear. It reminded him of all the plans they’d made as teenagers. The number-one plan was to join the Army and leave Horseshoe, Texas, and their families as soon as they turned eighteen. They would make their own lives. Their own decisions. They would find happiness somewhere in that big old world. The plan sounded great in their young minds, but heartache was heartache everywhere you took it.

  “Hey, Cole, are you there?”

  Bo’s voice jarred him back to reality, and he told him about Grace Bennett. “I feel I should help her.” After they’d left the service, they’d both joined the police academy, starting out as beat cops and slowly moving up the ranks. They both made sergeant about the same time. Cole chose detective work, while Bo was a member of an elite SWAT team.

  “I’ve heard about the case. Colin Parker is the lead detective. Ralph Tenney’s his partner, and I talk to him a lot. He’s trying to get into SWAT. He says the Joel Briggs situation is an open-and-shut case. They’re just waiting on the autopsy to close it.”

  “I know. Grace Bennett is very sincere and I tend to believe her, but I will check facts first. I’m trying to follow protocol and not step on anyone’s toes.”

  “Parker’s pretty sensitive. He doesn’t like anyone messing in his cases. He’s been on the force thirty-plus years, and he thinks his word is the end of it. Do you have something concrete to dispute his decision?”

  “Just Grace Bennett’s word.”

  “Going all in for the lady, are you?”

  “A nine-month-old baby is involved, and she deserves the very best. We had lousy childhoods, but this kid has a chance at a good life. And I don’t believe it’s with Joel Briggs.”

  “I can’t help you, but since I work with SWAT, I can rescue you when all this hits the fan, so to speak. If you confront Parker, there will be fireworks.”

  “I don’t plan on confronting anyone. I plan to talk detective to detective.”

  “Let me know how that goes.”

  “Are you saying my negotiating skills are weak?”

  “Remember that time we were in Kunar, Afghanistan, at a small bar taking a break? The barmaid wanted to marry one of us so she could come to Texas. Remember
what you told her?”

  “Bo...”

  “You told her that she didn’t want to go to Texas and she asked why. You stole one of Grandpa’s sayings. It went something like this—a famous general once said if he owned Texas and hell, he’d rent out Texas and live in hell. She said she didn’t know what that meant, and you told her that Texas was hotter than hell. She frowned and wouldn’t serve us any more drinks. The good ol’ days, Cole.”

  “There were never any good ol’ days.”

  “Yep, you’re probably right. How’s Grandpa?” Bo had always called Cole’s grandfather Grandpa. It just seemed natural.

  “You’re not gonna believe it. He’s taken a shine to Ms. Bennett and the baby. He says Grandma sent them.”

  “It’s always been crazy at your house, and I mean haunted house and Looney Tunes crazy.”

  “Like your family is sane,” Cole shot back.

  Bo laughed again. “My family was just highly dysfunctional. Yours had a ghost-and-hereafter feel to it.”

  Cole laughed this time. “Yeah, and those ghosts come out regularly.” Cole glanced at the time on his dashboard. “I gotta go. I told Ms. Bennett I’d be back by noon.”

  “Good luck.”

  Cole laid his phone in the console and drove to the house. As he entered through the back door, he heard Grace and Grandpa talking. He didn’t know why he didn’t walk in. Something held him back.

  “When are we going to eat?” Grandpa asked.

  “Cole said he’d be back by noon, so we’re waiting,” Grace told him.

  “Ah, you can’t go by Cole. He might not come back until this afternoon.”

  “I sense that Cole is a man of his word.”

  “But I’m hungry.”

  “A few minutes, that’s all.”

  “You’re letting Zoe Grace eat.”

  “Because she’s a baby, and she’s used to eating at this time. You’re not a baby, are you?”

  Grandpa didn’t answer, and Cole started to walk in until Grandpa spoke.