At Peace (16 page)

“Gonna say this quick, Vi, don’t wanna fuck
up the day. But you know I know how it feels to have some creepy
psycho messin’ with your life. You need to talk, you need anything
from Colt or me, we’re here. Anytime. We know how it is and we
don’t like that you’re across the street with your girls, alone.
It’s messin’ with Colt’s head, thinkin’ this guy could come
anytime, fuck with you and he might not be around. So he messes
with you or you get freaked or you just want company, don’t think
about it, you just call. It’d make Colt feel better, you do. He
prefers doin’ somethin’ rather than hangin’ around worrying.
Yeah?”

I didn’t know whether to feel bad,
considering that my situation was messing with their heads, or to
feel good that I lucked out and moved across the street from such
good people.

I decided to feel good.

“Thanks Feb, that’s sweet.”

“Don’t tell me it’s sweet, honey, tell me
you’ll call.”

I nodded and pulled her son close to my
chest, wrapping my arms around him to give him a squeeze. Then I
dropped my head and kissed the top of his dark-haired, soft, fuzzy
baby one.

“I’ll call,” I mumbled against Jack’s baby
head.

“Good,” Feb said softly and I took in a
breath, nuzzled Jack’s baby head and he squirmed, not thrilled
about his captivity so I let him go and took his hands, allowing
him to bounce in my lap again when Feb muttered, “Matchmaker.”

I looked up to see Keira, Heather and Joe
under the sideless tent. Keira had my plate of cupcakes in her hand
and she was shoving them at Joe.

Shit.

“
She’s social,” I told Feb and watched as
Keira pointed at me, pointed at the cupcakes and then rolled her
eyes and let her head fall back in a “Mom’s cupcakes are
to die
for
” gesture.

Shitshit
shit!

My cupcakes were good even I had to admit
that. Another recipe I’d fiddled with, yellow cake with crushed up
bars of gourmet dark chocolate baked in them and vanilla bean
frosting that was simply orgasmic. So much so it was a wonder any
made it to the cupcakes since I ate most of it while
icing.

But it wasn’t that Keira wanted to share the
bounty of my cupcakes. It also wasn’t that my daughter had a crush
on Joe.

It was that she wanted him for me.

Shit!

This annoyed me and surprised me. Tim had
been gone awhile it was true, but not
that
long.

Then again, life had changed,
I
had changed and I didn’t hide
my pain when Tim died. The girls were also in pain and I didn’t
want them to think they had to hide it either. I didn’t want them
to bury that only to have it eat at them later and, weirdly, I
wanted us to give that to Tim. I wanted my girls and anyone to know
I was inside out with losing Tim. I wanted people to see it because
they’d know who Tim was and what he meant to me and that he was the
kind of man whose death would cause that kind of pain. Because he
was.

But my daughter loved her mother; Keira
would want to take away that pain.

Shit!

“Keira’s a nut,” I told Feb and I looked from
my daughter and Joe, who had taken a cupcake and was in the process
of taking a huge bite, to Feb.

“And Cal’s a good guy,” she said back, I felt
my body jolt at the look on her face and I knew that she knew about
Joe and me. How she knew, I didn’t know. But she knew.

“I –”

“We’ll have drinks, you and me, one day soon.
I’ll explain and maybe, when I do, you’ll give him a break and a
second chance.”

A break? A second chance? What was she
talking about?

First of all, he didn’t deserve a break.
Secondly, he didn’t want a second chance.

“Feb –” I started.

“Feb!” Colt yelled. “Baby, we got any more
Bud?”

“I feel like I’m at work,” she muttered then
shouted across the yard, “Yeah, it’s in the fridge in the
garage.”

Colt looked at his woman, Feb looked at
her man. I knew where this was going. Even though he mowed the
lawn, erected a tent and stood at the grill for the last two hours
and she’d probably been planning this for weeks and preparing for
days, doing the grocery shopping, cooking and running around, they
were locked in a standoff as to who was going to replenish the
drink coolers. She was sitting in the grass, taking a break. He was
manning the grill which he considered work even though it was
mostly just standing there. Therefore, Feb was going to
lose.

“Shit,” she muttered, losing, and looked at
me, getting up. “Can you take care of Jack? I gotta go get more
beer.”

I smiled at her. “Absolutely.”

“
Momalicious!” Keira called as Feb walked
away. “Joe
loves
your
cupcakes!”

Everyone turned to Keira, Heather and Joe but
I only saw Joe’s eyes on me. I doubted he told Keira that he
“loved” my cupcakes (though, he’d be a freak of nature if he didn’t
at least like them, they were delicious) and I further doubted he
was thrilled that Keira announced it to everyone.

But, whatever.

I avoided Joe’s eyes and shouted back, “I can
die happy.”

Then I looked down at Jack, cooed at him
softly while smiling. He smiled back and did a baby giggle and I
snatched him in my hands, shoving him into the air while he emitted
another baby giggle then bringing his belly down to my face to give
him a nuzzle so I could get another giggle.

Baby Jack didn’t disappoint.

* * * * *

“Nice cupcakes, buddy,” I heard from behind
me half an hour later and I saw, in front of me, Feb, who I was
talking to, lift her gaze to some high point over my shoulder.

Joe obviously was there.

It sucked that he could sneak up on me.

“Crap, Scout got hold of my shoe,” Feb
muttered. “Be back.”

I watched as Feb rushed across the yard to
the puppy who looked really pissed at one of her flip-flops. The
dog was jerking his head back and forth, flip-flop between his
teeth then putting a paw to the shoe and tugging at the strap with
his mouth.

“Violet.”

My eyes went from the dog to Joe.

“Yeah?”

“We need to talk about your system.”

I didn’t say anything but I also didn’t move
away, I just looked at him and waited.

“Chip fucked up the wiring, not a big deal
but it’s gonna take some more time.”

“Whatever,” I muttered, looking away.

“I’ll do it in the morning.”

“Fine.”

There was a pause then a terse, “See you
haven’t decided to grow up.”

My eyes went back to him and I opened my
mouth to speak but I heard a shouted, “
Mom!
”

It was Kate’s shout, it was high-pitched
and the sound turned my blood to ice.

I felt Joe tense at my side and he and I
both turned to look along the side yard of Colt and Feb’s house
toward my house. Dane’s yellow pickup was in the drive beside my
Mustang but Kate was running fast across the street toward me, Dane
coming after her.

I started running to Kate and met her in Colt
and Feb’s front yard. As I moved, I felt Joe moving behind me.

My hands went to her shoulders and I got
close.

“Honey, what’s goin’ on?”

“The porch,” was all she said.

Dane stopped behind her but I looked beyond
him to my porch.

Then my heart stopped.

There was a huge, flamboyant bouquet of
purple flowers – roses mixed with dainty violets – on my welcome
mat. So huge and wide, I could see them from across the street.
They came halfway up the door and spread wide across it.

Daniel Hart’s calling card.

He knew where I was.

And Kate knew what those flowers were. Since
Tim died I got a delivery, exactly like that, like clockwork every
Saturday morning for months. I’d called the florists and told them
to stop, which they did but then a new florist would send them.
Eventually Barry or one of Tim’s other cop buddies would sit in our
drive on Saturday morning and take them away before the girls could
see them but, until I sold the house and moved, they never stopped
coming.

I looked at Kate and saw she was trembling.
“It’s okay, honey.”

“But, he knows where we live.”

“It’s okay,” I lied to and for my
daughter.

I felt movement and looked to my left to see
Joe was stalking toward my house. Then I felt more movement and I
saw Colt and his partner Sully following Joe.

I looked at Kate. “Go and get yourself and
Dane a burger, okay?”

“But –”

I gave her a smile and hoped it wasn’t as
shaky as it felt. “Dane’s a football star, honey, he needs his
grub.”

“Mom –”

I moved my face close to her face and
squeezed her shoulders. “Go, look after your sister. Yeah?”

That would get her, giving her something to
do, something responsible, something which made her feel she was
helping out her Mom. Kate’s mind would be turned from panic to duty
by that.

“Okay,” she whispered, I let her go, nodded
to Dane who looked worried (therefore, I knew Kate had shared the
situation with him) and he followed Kate as she walked to the
backyard.

I turned and watched only to see Keira
standing in the yard, Feb’s squirming puppy in her arms, her eyes
locked on our house. Feb and Cheryl were standing on either side of
her.

“Feb,” I called, her eyes went from my house
to me and I tipped my head to Keira.

Feb nodded, put her arm around Keira’s
shoulders, moved Keira’s stiff body around and she led her to the
back of the house, Cheryl, Kate and Dane following.

I watched until I lost sight of them then I
ran to my house.

Joe, Colt and Sully were standing at my front
door. Joe had a little white card between his fingers but he looked
from it to me when I hit the yard and he watched me run until I
stopped at their huddle.

“Talk us through this,” he ordered the minute
I arrived, his head jerking to the flowers.

“It’s Saturday,” I explained stupidly.

“And?”

“He sends me flowers every Saturday.”

Joe’s mouth got tight and even in the bright
sunshine of the day he shifted straight to sinister.

“You been gettin’ flowers?” Joe asked and I
shook my head.

“This is the first here,” I answered.

His eyes went to Colt.

“Moratorium,” he growled and I blinked in
confusion at his strange word.

“We’ll call the florists in town,” Sully said
quickly and I got it then.

“That won’t work, I tried that,” I informed
them, Joe’s eyes came to me and it took a lot for me not to shrink
from him, he looked so pissed.

“We’ll be thorough,” Joe told me and I
couldn’t do anything but nod because, the way he said that, I
didn’t doubt for a second they would.

“What comes after this?” Colt asked and I
looked at him.

“
Gifts,” I answered, “then
visits.”

“What kind of gifts?” Colt asked.

“It could be anything, it started small. Like
he sent caviar which was weird. Then he sent fancy champagne and
gift certificates to nice restaurants for me and the girls. Then he
started to send jewelry.”

“Expensive?” Colt asked and I nodded.

“Visits come after the jewelry?” Joe asked
and I nodded to him too. “What’d you do with the shit?”

“
Gave it to Barry, Tim’s partner. He’s got
it all still, at the Station.”

“How much time we got?” Joe went on.

“I don’t know, it went on for months and then
he started to come ‘round.”

“Don’t suspect we got months,” Sully muttered
and I suspected he was right, it had been months, me being away, I
figured Daniel Hart would speed things up a bit.

“You talk to him?” Joe asked.

“He just showed, sat outside in his car. Then
his man would come to the door, knock on it. Then he would. I
didn’t go out in the beginning, didn’t answer the door. Barry
talked to him at first and it didn’t work so then Barry talked to
him officially and that didn’t work either. In the end, I talked to
him a couple of times, thought he’d get it. That didn’t work
either. Barry helped me get a restraining order so, after that,
he’d sit in his car just outside of order range and just
watch.”

“You don’t talk to him now,” Joe commanded.
“Colt or me talk to him. We aren’t here, you stay in the house and
call the police. We’re here, you stay in the house and call one of
us then you call the police, got me?”

I nodded.

“He come when the girls were with you?” Joe
asked.

“Yeah.”

I watched Joe’s face go hard as granite
before he continued. “He come when the girls were home alone?”

I nodded and repeated, “Yeah, in the end,
that’s when I decided to move.”

“Fuck,” Colt muttered.

“All right, buddy, listen to me,” Joe stated.
“You stay in the fuckin’ house, you keep the alarm armed at all
times, you keep the doors locked. Even when you’re home, alarm on,
doors locked. You only work in your yard if you know Colt or me are
here. You go to your car with your keys in your hand, ready to
roll. You lock your doors in your car the minute your ass is in the
seat and the door is closed, at home, comin’ from work, at the
store. You tell Kate the same. You stay in the fuckin’ house if he
shows. That’s your job, that’s all you do, you leave the rest to
me, Colt and the cops. Got me?”

“Got you.”

“
You get anything, flowers, gifts, calls,
hang ups, you think someone’s followin’ you in your car, you think
someone’s watchin’ you, you even get a bad fuckin’ feelin’, you
report it to Colt or me. Yeah?”

I nodded again and whispered, “Yeah.”