Sidetracked-Kobo Read Free

station phone rang again. The front door opened and closed.
    “Did he see you, Del? Enough to recognize you?”
    The question froze me. Surely my car had kept me in shadow, even if I’d been near a streetlight. “Does it matter? By now the whole town’s heard.”
    Andy looked away, his jaw moving back and forth—the expression that overtook him whenever he processed how to take care of a problem. The look mimicked his dad’s in similar situations. The Bradshaws were the richest, most influential family in Redbud. They were used to fixing things.
    “You should stay at my parents’ house tonight.” Andy squeezed my shoulder. “You’ll be safe there.”
    “I want to go home.” My relationship with Andy’s parents was tenuous at best. I didn’t fit their picture of the Kentucky belle their son and only child should marry. “Pete and Nicole and Colleen are waiting for me. They’re worried.”
    “ I’m worried.” Our past discussionstinged the words. Andy never could understand my modern-day “boarding house,” the eclectic trio I’d gathered around me. But then, Andy had always had family.
    “I’ll be fine. Besides, Pete has a gun.”
    “Pete’s in his seventies.”
    “And knows how to shoot.”
    Melcher came back into the room, ending the conversation.
    “Are you done here?” Andy’s tone said he should be.
    The Chief nodded. “For now. If we have more questions, Miss Miller, we’ll let you know.” He retrieved the green blanket from the floor and laid it on the table.
    Andy picked up my purse and handed it to me. “You okay to drive?”
    No . “Yes.”
    He turned to the Chief. “You need to find who did this now .”
    Melcher bristled. “We’re working on it.”
    Andy stood a few inches taller than Melcher. He looked down and held the chief’s gaze. “Nobody’s safe until you do. Especially Delanie.”
    “I’m aware—”
    “Especially if he thinks she can identify him.”
    The chief’s mouth hardened. “I don’t need you telling me how to do my job.”
    “I’m merely worried about Delanie.”
    “We’ll do everything we can to keep her safe, Mr. Bradshaw. As well as the rest of the town.”
    Andy held the chief’s gaze a moment longer, then nodded.
    Melcher put his hands on his hips. The old cop swagger. “We’re going to put the word out that she can’t identify who she saw. It was a shadowed figure in the dark, that’s all. Besides, that’s the truth.”
    I managed a nod.
    “Of course we still have the main issue. Whoever did this is still on the loose, and in that sense no one’s safe.” Melcher ran a hand across his forehead. “Mr. Bradshaw, see that she gets home. I’ve got a lot of other people to talk to. Won’t be seeing my bed tonight.”
    The two men sized each other up. Andy embodied the town, all its citizens who would be pressing for a quick arrest. The chief clearly felt that stress already and wasn’t about to look weak under it.
    Andy slid a protective arm around me. “Let’s go.”
    Once in our cars he waved for me to get on the road first. He would follow, watching my back.
    I drove by rote, my spine not touching the seat. The night, so beautiful and full of promise a few hours ago, now hung heavy with portent. How many people lived without ever stumbling upon the body of a loved one? Now it had happened to me twice.
    Was God punishing me?
    Surely not this way, involving innocent Clara. But hadn’t I always feared one day it would all catch up to me?
    I needed to call Clara’s parents. And Jerald. Tell them how sorry I was. How I wished I could have helped …
    Fresh tears rolled down my face.
    I turned onto my street, and soon my rambling brick house came into view. It had never looked so comforting. I pulled into the garage, Andy parking his BMW in the driveway. He followed me into the garage, making sure I closed the door. We’d barely stepped into the kitchen before Pete appeared. “She’s home!” he yelled over his shoulder. Pete’s