No One But You

“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?”