Appalachian Prey

“So you’ve already drawn up the report on the money?” she asked, cutting to the chase.

“Yep.” Harlan picked up the printed document. “Just need you to sign it.”

She sat down next to him and primly placed her purse in her lap. He slid the paper toward her, and she glanced down. “I’m not signing it. There’s no longer any need for a report.”

“Why? You found it?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.”

He was missing something. People didn’t “misplace” thousands of dollars of cash. “That’s good. Where was it?”

“I forgot I’d moved it from under the mattress to the bottom dresser drawer.”

She was lying, but why? Truth was, he’d been reluctant to write up the report, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to her newfound wealth. At least not until the money was accounted for and safely deposited in the bank. Besides, her family’s name was mud as it was. This report would drag more fodder and speculation about Chauncey’s questionable activities.

“Are you sure about this? What’s really going on?”

“I’m more worried about intruders than...”

She stopped, obviously flustered about blurting out that tidbit.

“Intruders?” he honed in quickly. “You have any more men showing up to buy moonshine?”

“No. Never mind about that. I’m leaving today, anyway.”

“Sure you won’t change your mind?” He’d secretly hoped she would hang around long enough for him to try to win her back.

“It’s for the best.”

“You’re scared. Tell me what’s going on. Has someone hurt you or threatened you in any way?” If they had, he’d hunt them down like a dog and make them pay. He lowered his voice and took her hand. “Tell me.”

She jerked her hand away. “There’s nothing to tell. Forget the report.”

“Sure, never mind that I wasted an hour writing this up,” he shot back, hurt and annoyed.

Lilah shrugged. “Sorry.”

Her tone implied she was anything but sorry.

“For God’s sake, Lilah, what the hell is going on here?” He was conscious of his fellow officers glancing their way. He lowered his voice. “First, the missing money, then you hint at an intruder and now you deny anything’s wrong?”

“Don’t badger me, Harlan Sampson,” she said, glaring. “I didn’t come here today to talk about the report, anyway. That’s not important.”

“Not important?” he asked, incredulous. “Are you for real? I demand to know what’s going on.”

She jumped to her feet, her face flushed and her voice raised. “You have no right to demand anything from me. Never did. I just dropped by to tell you that I’m—I’m...oh, never mind. I won’t bother you with the news.”

The room was the quietest Harlan had ever witnessed. From deep in the recesses behind their administrative offices, an inmate could be heard cursing in a holding cell.

This wasn’t happening. His mind spun in circles. Surely Lilah wasn’t about to say she was pregnant, was she? They’d been careful. Except, well, there were a couple of times they’d been too impatient. He felt like he’d fallen down into a deep well and couldn’t catch his breath.

Lilah raised her chin and strolled away, her back ramrod stiff. From the corner of his eyes, he caught Sheriff Bentley shaking his head in an I-told-you-so way.

Instead of heading to the front door, she made an abrupt turn to the right and entered the women’s restroom. Jolene Smithers, a fellow officer, rose from behind her desk. “I’ll check on her,” she said, eyes wide with equal measures of pity and curiosity.

To hell with J.D.

He found his feet and followed Jolene, aware that every eye in the room was upon them. Someone snickered, and the back of his neck flushed with heat.

* * *

LILAH PULLED BACK her hair and leaned over the toilet, gagging. A few deep, shuddering breaths later, she straightened, bracing her hands against the stall’s cool metal siding.

That’d been close. For a moment back there, she’d been ready to upchuck all over Harlan’s carefully prepared report. One that was no longer needed.

“Get yourself together and get the hell out of Dodge,” she muttered.

“You all right in there?” a female voice drawled.

Lilah stiffened. “I’m fine,” she said in a mind-your-own-business tone.

“Don’t sound fine to me.”

Lilah waited. Whoever was on the other side of the door wasn’t leaving and wasn’t entering the neighboring stall. Just what she needed. Why couldn’t a girl get a clean break when she needed to beat a hasty exit? Sighing, she pushed open the door and strode to the washbasin, determined to ignore the nosy stranger. From the corner of her eye, she took her in—a tall rangy woman, wearing a brown uniform and a badge.

“Quite a scene out there,” the woman commented drily.

Lilah splashed her face and rinsed her mouth out.

“I think Harlan’s worried about you.”

“Told ya I was fine.” She jerked a paper towel from the dispenser and dried her face and hands before throwing it in the bin.

“You with child?” the woman asked.

Lilah snatched the keys from her pocketbook and marched to the door. Another minute and she would be out of this stifling place.

“Is it Harlan’s?”

The nerve. Lilah’s eyes snapped to meet the intruder’s. She wore no makeup and her auburn hair was pulled back in a careless ponytail. Still, it was easy to see she was a beauty in a tomboyish, no-frills kind of way with a peaches-and-cream complexion and large hazel eyes.

“None of your business...” Lilah glanced at the nameplate pinned below her badge. “Officer Smithers.”

“We’re all good buddies working here. Family, even. So is it his?”

Lilah pushed past the woman but Jolene Smithers stepped in front of her.

“Following in your sister’s footsteps? Guess I should give you some credit, though. At least you managed to finish high school before populating our county with more Tedders.”