A Home Come True

Before she could turn and yell over her shoulder, Sarah, Rebecca and Stephanie stepped up behind her. At this point, she was all too aware of how vertically challenged she was and that was doubly irritating.

“What do you want?” Sarah demanded. “Unless you have something to tell me about my father, I’m busy.” She’d been waiting for answers from Hollister or the Austin Police Department for weeks. Her father, Big Bobby Hillman, had embezzled funds from his car dealerships and disappeared.

Hollister had been certain she was helping Bobby or biding her time until she could disappear and had hounded her for information. Passing on the single clue she had to his whereabouts had been Sarah’s only choice. She deserved to know what was happening.

“Bobby will be in Austin, at the main station, tonight.” Hollister’s arms hung loose at his sides, almost like he could reach for his weapon at any minute. But he wasn’t armed. Maybe he was always on guard. “Radio silence has been in effect while the department worked with Miami police and the Marshals to bring Bobby into custody and transport him home. Thanks to you, they were able to track him from Tampa.”

Jen turned to wrap her hand around Sarah’s. Whatever their history, Jen hated to see someone as suddenly pale as Sarah was.

“Is he...okay?” Sarah cleared her throat. “I want to see my father.”

“I thought you would say that. This is not protocol, but I got permission for you to visit Bobby in Austin tomorrow.” Hollister’s grim face was lit by the soft glow of the porch light. Jen wasn’t sure what she’d expected from a jerk who’d threatened her stepbrother, Will, in an effort to get Sarah to turn in her father.

Hollister seemed to be waiting for something. The grim set of his lips matched the tilt of his chin. He was determined. “I’ll have to go, too.”

Sarah’s fingernails were sharp needles in Jen’s hand; she said, “I’ll go but without you, Hollister.”

He shook his head. “That’s not the deal. It’s either both of us or no one. You can talk to Bobby, get a lawyer hired. He’s going to need one.”

Sarah was committed to helping the police right her father’s wrongs, but she’d do her best to protect him at the same time. Jen could understand the conflicting urges, the need to see justice done and the desire to protect someone she loved.

At least Sarah no longer had to worry about where her father might be. This close, she could check on him every chance she got.

Hollister sighed as he pulled out his wallet. Sarah clenched Jen’s hand tighter and refused to take whatever he offered, so Jen held out her free, unbroken hand. The business card was hard to read in that light.

Sarah snorted. “You and those cards. I’m surprised you have any left.” She shook her head. “I’m surprised I don’t have those details committed to memory.”

Hollister put his wallet back in his pocket. “Last one. I guess I was holding on to a souvenir. I’ll introduce you to the detective who took over the investigation and my part in this is done.”

“We’ll all be so relieved. I still expect you to be lurking in the bushes when I step outside in the morning.” Sarah glared at him. “That’s what you like to do, right? Take advantage of the element of surprise, sleepless nights and a lone woman all by herself.”

Hollister’s lips tightened into a firm line. “I like to catch criminals. I do what it takes. I didn’t have to do this for you, you know.” He held up a hand to stem whatever angry retort Sarah was building. “I’ve got a new lead on the B&E at the shelter that I’ll pursue next week. When we tie up these loose ends with Bobby, I’m hoping you and I will have no reason to see each other in the future.”

“At the grocery store, you better go the other way,” Sarah muttered. “I’m dangerous with a cart.”

Jen tilted her head as she considered that threat. What it lacked in violence, it made up for in creativity. Sarah Hillman had always been the most stylish of her bullies at Holly Heights High School.

Since she still hated a bully, Jen waded into the choppy waters to add, “And she’s got a lot of friends in this town.” Not strictly true but more than Hollister had. Besides, he needed to know she was watching him...if not from across the street.

“Two o’clock. I’ll meet you at the station.” He had nothing else to say, so he walked to his car. Turning his back on four angry women was either brave or foolish. Maybe both. When he opened the car door to slide into some vintage-y Mustang, he met her stare for an instant. It was hard to see his eyes in the darkness, but it was also impossible to ignore how that stare felt as it was locked on her.

Before she could respond with insolence, Sarah reached around Jen and slammed the door shut.

Instead of being too loud and too much fun, for Jen at least, the silence that filled Rebecca’s foyer vibrated with tension.

Eventually, Sarah wilted and Rebecca wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug.

“He’s okay.” Sarah rested her chin on Rebecca’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “My father’s okay. Ever since Hollister suggested he wasn’t calling because he was dead in a ditch somewhere, I haven’t been able to get that picture out of my head.”

Jen had to contain a low growl of disgust. Using a woman’s fears against her might be standard operating procedure, but he wouldn’t get away with it again, not with any of her friends.

“Do you want to sit down?” Jen asked and then pointed at the table. The whole group moved together to watch Sarah collapse into a chair.

Sarah took the glass Rebecca offered her and drank it down in one gulp. “How will I afford a lawyer? I didn’t win any lottery.” She closed her eyes and waved off all the offers filling the air. “It was rhetorical. I will find a lawyer. Not Cece Grant’s husband, either.” She squeezed her eyes tightly. “Can you even imagine the storm in the paper next week?”

Jen smiled at Rebecca who chuckled. They were still weathering the rough waters that came from Rebecca’s—Holly Heights’ favorite citizen—arrest and the hubbub over their defense of Cole, the town’s latest black sheep.

“I’ll get some recommendations from my accounts in Austin,” Will murmured. “We’ll find the best.”

Sarah nodded firmly to Will. “Yes. Together we can do anything.” The color returned to her cheeks. “This is going to be fine.” She met Jen’s gaze and added, “Thanks for throwing your weight to my threat. That should have him shaking in his shoes.”

Jen narrowed her eyes, certain Sarah was teasing her.

“What can I say? You’ve grown on me.” Jen grunted as Sarah wrapped her arms tightly around her neck. An awkward pat of her shoulder provoked a watery sniff from Sarah.

“I hate pretty criers.”

Everyone laughed and Jen decided it was safe to resume her escape. Hit the door. Find some peace and quiet. Settle her nerves.

She added a step. Annoy the neighbor. If things were uncomfortable enough, they could send him back to Austin. Permanently.

“If you need me to go with you tomorrow, let me know. I’ll pack my brass knuckles.” Jen didn’t own any brass knuckles, but if she needed some, she could leave early, pick some up.

“Will’s going with me.” Sarah didn’t even glance over her shoulder to make sure he agreed. It must be nice to have someone to depend on like that.

“Okay. Call me. Let me know how it went.” Everyone called out their goodbyes as Jen grabbed her purse and stepped out into the peaceful night. Hollister was gone. That was a good thing.

She might as well be the only person on the planet at this point. Rebecca lived in the oldest part of Holly Heights where the houses were close together, but there was not a person moving. Jen headed for her car as a burst of laughter came from Sarah’s place.

All the couples were happy again. That was nice.

And the only single person in the group had left the building.

CHAPTER TWO (#ubfd31712-645a-50a8-91f4-44513ce7c533)

LUKE HOLLISTER TOOK a deep breath as he started up the Mustang and backed out of Rebecca Lincoln’s driveway. When he’d stopped by both Sarah Hillman’s apartment and Will Barnes’s and neither turned up his target, he’d decided to do a drive-by of known accomplices. That kind of persistence had always worked in his favor and tonight was no exception.

If he’d been able to look into a crystal ball to see a vision of facing off against four angry women, he might have tried to call first. However she’d done it, no one could deny that Sarah Hillman, formerly the pariah of Holly Heights, thanks in no small part to his best efforts, had built a formidable posse.

Sarah was tough enough. In all the times he’d tried to break her in order to find her father, she’d never once fallen apart. Even at her worst, when she’d been one step from homeless, he’d seen fear, but not the weakness he’d been searching for. The fact that she’d converted pillars of Holly Heights, the town’s newest millionaires, to friends suggested she had more going for her than he’d ever expected from a spoiled princess.

He’d been in Holly Heights less than a month and already he’d heard the praises of the Yates and Lincoln families sung. He’d met Rebecca Lincoln at the shelter. By process of elimination, the other angry woman flanking Sarah had been Stephanie Yates.

And down in front, his neighbor, Jennifer Neil. Red hair like hers, cut in some cool way he couldn’t name, caught a man’s attention. He’d never once managed to stop her outside to introduce himself when he made it a priority to know his neighbors. Now that he had a family to protect, that knowledge mattered more than ever.

All four of those women knew how to murder a man with their eyes.

And the men behind them would have finished him off with pleasure if there’d been anything left after the battle. Cole Ferguson, the ex-con he’d met at the shelter, and Will Barnes, the guy he’d tried to strong-arm into informing on Sarah, were familiar. The third guy he’d never met, but the expression had been “die” to match the rest.