No One But You

“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.

4 (#u0d64026d-af9d-56cd-a8bf-f8340880d0f3)

Dawson wasn’t entirely sure Sadie would show up. At one-forty, he still hadn’t heard from her. He kept pausing to gaze toward the highway, hoping to see her distinctive green-and-brown car. But there was no sign of her.

Had her ex-husband gotten hold of her? Convinced her not to work for a “murderer”?

The memory of how Officer Harris had tried to bully him at his own door made Dawson long to break his jaw. The dude deserved it. If Dawson had his guess, Harris wouldn’t be much of an opponent. He hid behind his badge and his gun, would have no clue how to handle himself in a fight where those things weren’t allowed and his position as an officer didn’t count for shit. But if Dawson wanted to bring his sister home and rebuild his life, he had to be careful. He couldn’t get in trouble, especially with a Silver Springs cop. The entire force was so sure that he’d gotten away with murder, the blowback would be severe, and he couldn’t afford to become a victim of police harassment right now. Law enforcement had done enough to destroy him.

At a quarter till two, he pulled out his cell phone again. He had his ringer turned on, in case she tried to reach him. He’d already checked his call history. But maybe something weird had happened and her call had inexplicably transferred straight to voice mail...

Nothing. No missed calls. No texts. He was dialing her number, figured he might as well face it if she had bad news, when he heard the sound of an engine and looked up to see her El Camino turn into the drive.

“Hallelujah,” he muttered and hung up before the call could go through.

She was out of the car and grabbing the handles of four bags of groceries by the time he could reach her.