“I want to. If I drive you home, I get to spend more time with you.”
Well, she couldn’t argue with that.
***
Tilly walked into her apartment later that night, tossing her purse on the sofa. Placing her hands on the small of her back, she stretched. She walked to the fridge and pulled out a beer, taking a large pull of the ice cold brew.
Her answering machine beeped annoyingly. With an irritated sigh, she reached over a
nd pressed the playback button.
“Hi Tilly, it’s Nate Rivers. I’m just calling to let you know that Javier Cabeza has been killed in prison. There was a fight and he was stabbed. There is an investigation into exactly what happened. If you have any questions, you can call me on…” He rattled off a number, but she didn’t pay any attention.
Feeling numb, she played the message again. And again. Finally, she moved to the sofa and sat, just staring off into the distance.
Javier was dead? Murdered?
Tilly wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Should she be relieved? Sad? She felt kind of numb. He’d been a horrible man who’d put her down whenever he had the opportunity. Still, she couldn’t be glad he was dead.
She’d wanted him to suffer in prison for a long time.
Her cell phone rang and she grabbed her purse, digging around inside until she found her phone. “Hello?”
“Hi, midgie,” her father’s voice rumbled down the phone.
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Did you hear about Javier?” he asked in a gruff voice.
“Yeah, Nate left me a message on my answering machine. I can’t believe it.”
“Nate left you a message?” her father said, sounding outraged. “He couldn’t even wait until he got hold of you to talk to you?”
“It’s okay, Daddy.”
“It’s not okay. There’s such a thing as common courtesy. I’ll be having words with that boy.”
Poor Nate, she thought. Nate and her brother, Dare, had been best friends since they were five years old. Her father saw him as another son.
“How come Dare didn’t call me?” she asked. Her second-oldest brother was a now a deputy sheriff.
“He’s in Dallas for Trent’s wedding. Gets back day after tomorrow.”
“Do you know exactly what happened?” she asked her father.
“No, apparently there were a number of prisoners involved in a fight and someone stabbed him. Good riddance, I say. I can sleep easier at night knowing he’s no longer on this earth.”
Guilt flooded her at the thought of her father lying awake, thinking about Javier and everything he’d done to them. Her fault. She’d brought him into their lives.
“I-I need to go, Daddy. I should get to bed.”
“What? Oh, ahh, yeah I guess I should too. You sure you’re okay?”
No, no she really wasn’t. But her father didn’t need to be burdened with that as well. She’d brought enough worry into his life.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t need to come home?”