“Were the guards seriously hurt?”
“Thankfully, no. One needed stitches, the other had a bit of a concussion, nothing major for either one.”
“Well, nothing major except for a major case of embarrassment at letting a prisoner escape.”
Jake sounded disgusted enough for them both, so Adam didn’t feel he needed to add anything. Yes, there was a case for accusing the guards of being negligent. The closer truth was that budget cuts hit hard everywhere. Some of the guards at some of the jails just didn’t have the training or even the will to be able to handle such unexpected circumstances.
“So where do we start?” Jake asked.
“In Abilene, I guess. I have the name of the man that Walters was on his way to visit when Ginny got away from him. He used the guy as a ‘character reference’ the first time the Rangers had him.”
“Does this paragon have an address?”
“Yes, and it’s on file, because the Rangers
did
question him.”
“Then they let Walters go, only to scoop him two days later when you talked Ginny into signing that complaint against him.”
Adam swallowed hard. He doubted the memory of those first days would ever leave him. He’d wished, selfishly, that Jake had been around then so he could have shared that particular burden. Not that he even considered at the time that Ginny was going to be the one for them, just that Jake was a good sounding board.
“I looked at the report you filed.” Jake’s voice came quietly as Adam drove the short distance to Ginny’s apartment. He parked on the south side of the building, so that he and Jake could look up and see her apartment windows. The place was dark, of course. It was nearly one in the morning.
Adam turned to look at his brother. The anger he saw burning in Jake’s eyes matched the fury that had been in his heart as he’d taken those damning photographs that recorded the evidence of the assault Ginny had suffered at the hands of Deke Walters.
“I’d resisted all this time, because I thought to let you carry that on your own. Have you noticed? You’re so very gentle with her, so almost…tentative. Because of your first interactions with her, I’m thinking. I’m not that gentle. I’m just me, and I figured together we balanced each other out, and we could keep her off balance without spooking her.”
“Yeah, I noticed. I can’t help it. I didn’t believe at first that we could ever truly
reach
her.”
“I know.”
They both sat silently for a moment.
“I hope she’s sleeping well,” Jake said. “She does trust us. I saw it in her eyes.”
“The entire town has our backs,” Adam said. “I figured we’d head out, first thing, and interview this friend of Walters. His name is Jerry Stone, known to his friends and associates as ‘Moose.’”
“Take us a good three hours to get to Abilene,” Jake said.
“That’s why I want to leave first thing in the morning. I’ll have to call Matt and let him know. He’s scheduled to relieve Jasper, anyway.”
“I figured whatever you had in mind you’d want to do first thing. I’m coming with you, by the way.”
Adam met his brother’s gaze. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“And I even promise you that if we happen to find Walters there, I won’t beat him to bloody death. Just close to it.”
Adam grinned. “Hell, don’t promise that. As it is, I can’t kill the bastard. I’m an officer of the law
and
an officer of the courts.”
“I’m an officer of the courts, too. I’ll just say I was doing my Christian duty. The bible does say, ‘thou shalt not kill,’ but it doesn’t say anything about maiming.”
Adam laughed. It felt good knowing that his brother would be with him. They often thought as one, and together, he’d bet they’d make some headway.
“Are we going to tell her what we’re about, in the morning?”
Adam followed Jake’s line of vision, taking one last look at Ginny’s apartment. He hoped she was sound asleep, too. He didn’t doubt that learning of Walters’s escape had unsettled her. Likely, she’d only just gotten to sleep, despite the fact they’d taken her home before ten.
But Ginny Rose had to know that, being in Lusty, being
of
Lusty, meant she had a lot of folks keeping an eye out on her behalf.
“No.” Adam started the car, and then headed toward home. “No, we’ll probably be gone before she awakens, anyway. Plus, I don’t want to worry her. In fact, the less we say about the whole situation, the better. Let her see us every day, and let her see life goes on as normal. She’s a smart woman. She’ll understand we’re doing everything we can to ensure that Walters is apprehended, and that she’s safe.”
“Damn straight,” Jake exhaled and shot him a grin. “Hell, in all likelihood, that bastard will be in custody again in a day, two at most. I read the transcripts of both interviews the Rangers had with him. He didn’t strike me as being very bright, at all. In fact, he’s nothing more than a bully—a blowhard. All hat and no cattle, as Grandmother Miranda used to say.”
Adam tended to agree with that assessment. But he knew, too, that sometimes the criminally stupid could become the inheritors of pure dumb luck. He’d do what he could to strengthen the lines of defense around their woman. He’d already gotten the nod from his family. He knew that while he and Jake were in Abilene tomorrow, Ginny would be protected. Better to get this out-of-town investigation done straightaway. He didn’t think Walters would be able to make it to Lusty quite this soon.
He looked over at his brother.
“We’ll get it done,” Jake said.
Adam nodded. And he knew neither of them would truly rest until Walters was in custody again.
Chapter 2
“Why can’t Adam and Jake go with us, Mom?”
Ginny looked up from the suitcase she was packing for Benny to encounter his sullen, thumb-in-mouth stance.
Ginny hadn’t understood until just that moment how close her son had become with Adam and Jake Kendall. She bit down her first, knee-jerk response that the brothers Kendall weren’t family.
That response, though technically true, might belittle Benny’s feelings. That, she would never, ever do. She reached for a tone of calm reason. “Well, for one thing, they can’t get away right now.”
“So then why do we have to leave
now
? Can’t we wait until they
can
get away?”
“No, sweetheart, we can’t. My Aunt Margaret has lots of room for us right now, because the tourist season won’t start for another month or so.”
“We’re going to be gone that long? What about school?”
Ginny wondered at the tenacity, and the logic, of her son. Only in first grade, but already he could reason and wrangle with the best of them.
She sat on his bed and held out her arms to him. He came to her at once, and she lifted him onto her lap. He was growing up so fast, that before long she likely wouldn’t be able to cuddle him as easily as this. “No, we won’t be gone that long,” she said. At least, she prayed not. Surely to God Deke would be in custody again in a few days?
She turned her attention back to her son. “We’ll get your teacher to send me your homework online. Ms. Kendall came by this morning and let me have use of her laptop.” Adam and Jake’s mother also offered her a whole lot of money, “just in case.” Ginny had politely, but firmly, refused the cash. She had more than several hundred dollars of her own put by—her rainy-day fund. Last night the torrential downpour had begun. The flight hadn’t cost that much, and her aunt had been thrilled she was coming and was giving her one of the rooms that, in season, guests would pay good money for.
Because Samantha Kendall had been so kind and wanting to help, she’d felt she had to take the cell phone she then had also offered. Of course, she’d only use it in case of emergency. But that good woman had been so relieved to have been of help, before she knew it, Ginny had promised to keep the phone charged, and on, at
all
times.
It was a small enough promise to make in return for such big-hearted kindness.
Everyone had been more understanding than she’d imagined they would be. Kelsey had even told her not to worry one second about her job. Of course she had to go, and of course that job would be waiting for her when she came home.
Only Benny, it seemed, was giving her a hard time about the decision she’d made.
“I know this is sudden,” Ginny said. “But I promise you, it’s only for a little while. We have a short drive and then the long flight to Wildwood, New Jersey. I’m going to need you to be your usually cheery self, Benny Rose. We’ll go meet my mama’s baby sister, and settle in for a week, two at most. Wouldn’t you like to see the Atlantic Ocean? Why, my Aunt Margaret says her motor inn is right on the beach and that the sand comes right on up to the back of the building.”
“Can we swim in the ocean?”
Benny had perked up at the prospect, and Ginny was sorely tempted to let him think he could indeed go swimming.
But she’d always been as honest as she could with him, and so she said, “No, the ocean will still be a bit too chilly to swim in. But, we can play in the sand and build sand castles together.”
“You’ll build some with me?”
“Oh, you bet I will. Now, will you help me get us packed and on the road? Our flight leaves in four hours.”
“Okay. How come you never met your own aunt before?”
“Well now, she’s your aunt too. Your great-aunt, as a matter of fact.”
“How do we know she’s great if’n we haven’t even met her yet?”
Ginny laughed and hugged Benny. Then she put him down and got back to her packing.
“Great-aunt just means that she’s the aunt of one of your parents,” Ginny said. “Now, as to how it is we never met her, I will tell you that’s likely more my fault than hers.”
“Because she lives in New Jersey?”
“That’s part of it. But you see, when I was young—not quite as young as you—my own mama passed on, and so I was put into a foster home.”
“Is that where people take in kids to give them a good home when they don’t even know them?”
Not for the world would Ginny be
that
honest with her son. She could see no harm in letting him believe that those who took in orphaned children did so out of the kindness of their hearts.
Surely some of them had to.
“That’s right. Anyway, I didn’t know that my momma had any family, on account of her own mother refused to see her after she ran away and married my daddy. I don’t think momma even knew she had a baby sister, although she must have done as there were only fifteen years between them. Anyway, when Grandmother Morrison passed on is when Aunt Margaret learned about me and you for the first time. She somehow found out we lived in Waco, and so she sent me a letter. And we’ve kind of written back and forth, ever since.”
“And now we’re going to visit her and find out if she’s great or not.”
Ginny laughed, then hugged Benny close. “That’s right.”
It didn’t take her long to finish packing Benny’s bag. Her own took even less time. She brought both cases into the living room. A knock sounded at the door. She looked out the peephole, then smiled and opened the door.
“I had to come and give my honorary grandson a hug good-bye.” Bernice Benedict gave her a hug first, then moved into the room.
“Plus, we’re here to drive you to the airport,” Grandma Kate said. She opened her arms, and Ginny went to her, absorbing the fierceness and the kindness of the embrace.
“Oh, I can’t ask you to drive us all the way to DFW.”
“You’re not asking, sweetheart, we’re offering.” Bernice stood with her arm around Benny.
Ginny’s heart filled just thinking of all the honorary aunts, uncles, and grandparents her son now could claim.
“Besides, this will save having to spend money keeping your car parked there.” Grandma Kate gave Ginny a level look. “And I want no arguments from you, young lady, when I tell you there’ll be a rental car waiting for you at Atlantic City International Airport when you arrive.”
Ginny opened her mouth, closed it, but couldn’t really let it be. “Grandma Kate, it’s not more than fifty miles from the airport to my aunt’s place. I was going to take a bus.”
“Well, now you can drive yourself there, instead. I’m sure you’d rather have the option of a car being at your disposal, just in case.”