“You might as well tell me, you know.”
“Tell you what?”
He scratched his neck to make his words seem more casual, less like a threat. “About whatever it is that has you so scared.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“You’re even afraid for your kids.”
“Having them stay with you tonight is for practical reasons, that’s all.”
“That’s not all.”
She didn’t reply. She just kept walking.
“I’m going to find out,” he called after her, but she didn’t turn around again.
11
Now she’d done it. She’d made the sheriff so determined to learn more about her that he might actually dedicate some time and resources to it. Which was the last thing she needed…
How was she going to get him to back off?
The obvious answer would be to move out of state without a forwarding address. But that wasn’t any more appealing now than it’d been before. She didn’t want to live anywhere else. She had her kids in a place she loved; she had a business that was beginning to thrive—or soon would be. She deserved to be able to stay here, to continue building her life, didn’t she?
Even if she didn’t, she wasn’t leaving.
That meant she had to do something about the sheriff.
Or maybe not. What if she simply avoided him for a while? There wasn’t any way he could find out who she really was. He had her ex-husband’s initials. So what? That wasn’t enough to go on. He wasn’t like The Crew, who knew Virgil and Rex so well and were familiar with her background—who’d been tracking her for four years. If Myles tried to dig up any details about her past, it would only lead to one dead end after another, because he didn’t know what to look for. Besides, he had Pat’s murder investigation to worry about, which was much more important than filling in the details of her past—
She froze as she reached her house. The front door stood slightly ajar.
She’d locked it; she was absolutely certain of that. Had Jake or Mia come home for a toy or a treat?
They were asleep, so she couldn’t ask. And since she’d already parted company with Sheriff King, she planned to do everything she could to avoid further interaction. Hopefully, time would take care of the mistakes she’d made, allow all those confusing emotions she’d stirred up to dissipate so their relationship could return to what it had been before, what it had to remain.
Besides, if The Crew was waiting inside, Vivian couldn’t think of a better time to confront them. At least her children weren’t with her. No other innocent bystanders could be hurt. It was just her—and them. And she had a gun.
Come on, you bastards. I’m done. Let’s finish this here and now.
Taking the Sig from her waistband, she removed the safety and crept silently across the porch. She imagined the sheriff hearing a series of gunshots, knew he’d come running, but by the time he showed up, whatever was going to happen could well be over. Either the men who were trying to kill her would be dead, or she would, at which point she hoped The Crew would flee without hurting anyone else.
If only her shooting skills weren’t quite so rusty. Could she hit a man? Especially one who might be moving? And, if so, could she fire fast enough and absorb the recoil of each shot in time to aim and shoot again?
They did it all the time in the movies. But this wasn’t a movie. She could be confronting three or four men, maybe more. The one called Ink still appeared in her nightmares. She’d seen what he could do, what they could all do. They killed with no remorse.
But Ink was in prison, and he was the one who frightened her most. She wouldn’t have to deal with him.
Calm down. If she could pull this off, she’d be doing Virgil and his wife and son, even the new baby, a huge favor. She’d be freeing the people she loved, including—and perhaps most of all—her own children. That made it worth the risk, didn’t it? She was so tired of running, so tired of living in fear that someone she loved would be hurt.
Besides, she no longer wanted to be the person The Crew had twisted her into: Trying to reach you is like…grasping at smoke!
She hadn’t chosen to be that way…?.
The door creaked as she gave it a gentle push.
Moonlight streamed across her living room floor in elongated squares. The landlord she’d just bought the house from hadn’t provided blinds for the old heavy-paned windows. Not in the front rooms. And she’d never gone to the expense of getting them herself. Her neighbors weren’t close enough to be able to see in, and thanks to the bears there weren’t many people walking around the lake after dark. With all her family’s other needs, blinds hadn’t seemed like a high priority, not when she did the majority of her work in the basement once the kids went to sleep. That was where she had her work-room.
The rattle of her own breathing spooked her. Holding her breath, she slipped through the door, then paused to listen. If there were people in her house, they weren’t ransacking the dressers and cupboards. She couldn’t hear a sound…?.
Maybe The Crew had come and gone. Or maybe they hadn’t come at all, and she was worked up over nothing.
She was just beginning to chide herself for being paranoid, when she spotted two footprints on the hardwood floor framed by one of those ethereal-looking squares. Someone had come in, and it wasn’t her children. Those footprints were too large. They had to belong to a man. And they were fresh. As meticulous as she was about keeping this wood floor polished, she would’ve noticed them earlier.
A hard lump formed in the pit of her stomach. Was her intruder alone?
Fortunately, she saw only one set of prints. But that wasn’t conclusive. Maybe his companions wore different kinds of shoes, ones with soles that didn’t pick up enough dust to stick to the polish.
A bead of sweat rolled from her hairline. This was it, all right. She’d soon come face-to-face with the end, one way or another.
Praying she’d survive, she swallowed hard and forced her legs to carry her forward. The adrenaline that was supposed to come in so handy during a fight was actually sapping her strength, making her light-headed. With her heart chugging a mile a minute, and her body slick with sweat, she couldn’t even hold the gun steady.
But she so badly wanted this to be over that she didn’t give up and turn around. Eyes as wide as possible, so she could take in every bit of light, she made herself move farther inside. She studied the darker recesses, searching for any indication of where her visitor had gone.