Breathe (23 page)

There was nearly fifty thousand dollars in those packets. Six years of being on the take. IA made sure it was leaked to the media that Chace had turned in his money. They set him up as the poster boy for all that was good and right in law enforcement. They wanted no one to have any doubts so they set about making that so, using Chace to do it. Although it was true, in fact, everything they shared with the media was true, just selectively chosen as to what they’d share, it wasn’t anyone’s business. The way they shared it made it seem like he was some sort of white knight with a sword endowed with mystical powers, which he was not.

Luckily all that had died down, as it usually does, the infested personnel had been fired or incarcerated and replaced and the town seemed to be settling, slowly but they were doing it.

Which brought Chace to his plans for the day. Grocery shopping for the weekend and his meet with Tate Jackson.

Tate was part owner of Bubba’s bar but he was mostly a bounty hunter. He had once been a cop. So when the citizens of Carnal had a problem they couldn’t trust the police to handle they went to Tate. Tate, a good cop who never got dirty under Arnie’s rule, a good man, always did what he could.

Since Chace’s unexpected meeting with Clinton Bonar, Tate had been out of town after a skip. Chace had phoned him and told him they needed a meet as soon as he was home. Frank Dolinski knew about Bonar. To cover his bases, Chace needed Tate to know as well as a select few other men in town.

Tate got home yesterday.

They were meeting that afternoon.

On this thought, and another sip of coffee, something caught the corner of Chace’s eye and he turned his head to gaze at the lone road that wound through the ranchland around his house. Seeing as the area between Carnal and the base of the mountain where Chace lived only had one road, Chace knew every car or truck that came down that road. Living there eight years, he even knew the vehicles of friends and family members.

This was not one of those vehicles.

It was a black Jeep Wrangler.

Chace reckoned he knew who was in that Wrangler.

The Goodknight family was a Jeep family. Faye, Sondra and Silas all drove Jeeps of varying ages.

Silas drove a black Wrangler.

Watching Faye’s father’s approach, sipping coffee, preparing for what was to come next, vaguely it occurred to Chace that Faye and Sondra, when it came to cars, were like mother like daughter. Their cars were not new. Faye had never upgraded hers that he knew of. Sondra took over Silas’s vehicles when he was done. By the look of her and the way she acted the times he saw her, no nonsense, busy and active, she probably didn’t care what she drove just as long as it got her where she wanted to go.

Chace watched Silas drive through the doublewide opening in the white picket fence at the end of Chace’s lane which led to a fenced off enormous backyard. The rest of his land was unfenced. He liked the land, the space, the quiet, the peace. He didn’t give a fuck if the livestock of his neighbors wandered onto his land. If they chewed the grass it meant Chace didn’t have to mow the shit.

But that white picket fence was what sold him on this property and he sanded it and painted it once every two years. Any time there was a repair needed, he saw to it as soon as he could and he walked the fence occasionally just to check. The house was big, you could build a family there, you could add to it if you needed more room. But that long, white, rectangular line of fence surrounding it, delineating it, creating a yard, circling and highlighting the house made it seem like a home.

Chace waited until Silas made it to the end of the lane and stopped close to the house before he took his feet off the railing. He rose as Silas threw open his door. He walked to the top of the steps and leaned a shoulder against the white painted porch post as Silas made his way up the cleared of snow flagstone walk Chace laid six years ago.

“Mr. Goodknight,” he called when Silas was halfway up the walk and Silas, eyes to his boots, lifted a hand and kept up the path.

Only when he stopped at the bottom of the steps did his crystal blue eyes rise to Chace.

“Call me Silas, Detective Keaton,” he invited.

Chace jerked up his chin and returned, “Chace.”

Silas jerked up his own chin then tipped his head to Chace’s coffee mug. “Got more ‘a that?”

As answer, Chace turned and walked to the house, opening the storm door, the front door and moving through, turning to hold the storm door open for Silas to follow.

He did and in they went, Chace leading the way over the oak floors that led to the back of the house that he’d laid four years ago when Misty was on a two week vacation to visit a friend in Maryland.

Left side, a big dining room with rectangular table. The room had hints of western, hints of country, all of it with an underlying class that was all his mother.

Right side was what his mother liked to call the formal living room. Chace wasn’t formal so the room had two comfortable burgundy couches facing each other with more hints of western, none at all of country which his mother referred to as “the formal part”.

Chace moved through a deep, wide archway as he led Silas into the vast space that made up a big kitchen and family room.

The kitchen had an island in the middle with a five burner stove and so much counter space it served as a kitchen table that could comfortably seat a family of eight. The island was a showstopper but so was the massive picture window over the sink at the back of the house.

The family room had an enormous sectional, three sides which were essentially three full couches. Big flat screen TV. Shelves filled with books, CDs, DVDs. And a stone hearth fireplace in the corner.

Off the kitchen leading toward the front of the house was the pantry, a hidden entry to the dining room and doors to a utility room and the garage.

Straight ahead from the wide hall that flowed from the front of the house to the back, there were doublewide French windows that led to the back deck.

Chace went directly to the coffeepot, asking, “How do you take it?”

“Seein’ as Sondra ain’t here, three sugars and a healthy dose of half and half.”

Chace put down his mug, opened the cupboard and reached for another one as Silas continued to speak to his back.

“On me all the time, Sondra is. Her Dad had a heart attack so she’s got it in her head I’ll have one. I run two miles a day. Do my sit ups, pull ups, pushups every day. Work outside most of the time. Got ten acres to take care of. And three kids that may be grown but that don’t mean I don’t lend a hand. I do all this so I can enjoy half and half and sweet in my coffee. She doesn’t see the balance.”

Chace poured coffee and gave him the bad news. “I don’t have half and half. Just milk.”

“You don’t have half and half?”

His tone was off in a way that Chace couldn’t read but it still set him on edge. Or
more
on edge.

He looked over his shoulder at the man even as he reached for the sugar.

“No.”

Silas Goodknight locked eyes with him and announced, “My Faye, she puts half and half in her coffee. Hazelnut flavored.”

There it was. A feeler.

Chace and Faye were not seeing each other on the sly. By now, the whole town knew they were dating. Regardless, Faye had told Chace that she’d told her folks they were seeing each other when she was at dinner at their place last weekend.

Now, Silas Goodknight knew that his daughter was not waking up and making her coffee at Chace’s house.

Chace mentally added hazelnut flavored half and half to his grocery list and replied to Silas, “Buy her coffees at La-La Land, Silas. Know she likes hazelnut. Haven’t had occasion to see her usin’ half and half.”

Silas held his eyes a moment before murmuring, “Right.”

Chace turned away, prepared Silas’s coffee and handed the mug to the man before returning the milk to the fridge, tagging his own mug, turning toward him and resting his hips against the counter. Silas had the side of his hip to the island.

Neither man spoke as they both sipped.

Finally, Chace cut to it, “What brings you out this way, Silas?”

Silas moved his gaze from contemplating the view out the picture window to Chace.

“Been meanin’ to do it for a while so decided to do it. Wanted to tell you I admire what you did. That kinda thing doesn’t take bravery, it takes balls. Big ones. Not a lotta men would make the decision you made and carry it through. The kinda thing that was happening beats a man down. Most men think they have two choices and all the others took one of those two choices. Either he joins in or he cuts his losses and moves on. You didn’t do either ‘a those. You saw wrong bein’ done, stomached it for as long as you could then set about rightin’ it. Took guts. Took balls. Not a lotta men have either. You do. I admire that.”

“Obliged but not sure I agree,” Chace muttered politely. Surprised this was his opener, not wanting to be on this subject, he braced because he had a strong feeling Silas didn’t seek him out to share gratitude a week after he found out Chace was dating his daughter.

Silas’s focus grew intense and his voice went quiet when he returned, “Then you’d be wrong, son. Arnie Fuller was a piss-ant as a kid. His Dad was an asshole. His Granddaddy was an even bigger one. Then he got himself a uniform and he was no less a piss-ant. But a piss-ant with a badge is not a good thing. Grew from there ‘cause, see, that man had no way to go except bein’ an asshole like his kin. Problem was, he was better at it than both of ‘em. You may not have been here then but you know it grew and how it grew. It wasn’t bad when you started but that kinda shit is always bad, just the level of shit you gotta negotiate rising. Got to the point we were all drownin’ in it. You and Dolinski cleared that away. Not one man before you, even Tate Jackson, took that on. Two decades of shit at a rising level. So, I disagree with you not agreein’. You did a thing no man before you would do and a lot of people are grateful.”

Not wanting to talk about this but definitely wanting to shut it down, Chace accepted the gratitude with a chin lift then he took another sip of coffee.

Silas took a sip of his and his gaze returned to the window.

Silas didn’t speak. Chace didn’t either. This stretched on awhile and Chace tired of it.

“Silas, there more you wanted to share?”

Silas’s eyes cut to him and he didn’t hesitate lowering the boom.

“I don’t want you datin’ my daughter.”

Chace felt his body go solid.

Fuck, shit, there it was.

Fuck.

Shit.

“Silas –” he started.

Silas lifted a hand. “Grateful, son, told you that. But I’m an honest man so I came here to share that gratitude and lay it out. I wish you happiness. You deserve it but not with my daughter.”

“That doesn’t sync, Silas,” Chace said quietly.

“I get that. But I’m guessin’ you also get me,” Silas returned quietly. “See, Chace, I pay attention. Knew the kind of man you are the minute I laid eyes on you. Don’t know the story. Know it’s not a good one. It’s none of my business and I don’t wanna know. So I’m not askin’. What I do know is my daughter’s a dreamer. She hides those stars in her eyes but you don’t gotta look deep to see ‘em. As her father, I want her to live out whatever dream she’s cookin’ in that pretty head ‘a hers. I also know that you married a woman under the eyes of God and even if you didn’t wanna have your ring on her finger, it was. Then you went about your business like you hadn’t made those vows under the eyes of God. I figure you had your reasons but whatever they were, I’m a man, a husband, a father and I want good for my daughter. I hope somewhere inside you that you get me when I say that no matter what the reason, breakin’ that vow to your wife, to God, don’t sit good with me when it comes to you spendin’ time with my girl.”

“We were married by a Justice of the Peace,” Chace shot back immediately when Silas stopped talking and he watched Silas blink.

“Come again, son?”

Chace straightened away from the counter and held the man’s eyes.

“At the time, didn’t think I’d have another shot. What I did know was that if I married a woman I intended to love and cherish until death did us part, I’d be happy to stand in front of a preacher in God’s house and make that vow with the intention of keepin’ it. Misty wanted a church wedding. She did not get one for precisely that reason. I was not going to make a vow in God’s house that I intended to break. So I didn’t. Now, if I’m lucky enough to find a woman I love and cherish, I will make that vow to her and to God to stand by her side in sickness and in health until death do us part. And if that woman happens to be a woman I chose, a woman I actually love and cherish, make no mistake, Silas, when I make that vow, I’ll mean it.”

He took in breath, Silas opened his mouth to speak but Chace beat him to it.

“And I want you to know, I don’t take offense. You’re right. I get you. You just don’t get me. I even appreciate you comin’ here, lookin’ after your girl. You’re also right, what went down is none of your business. I’m not gonna tell you what that is, not ever. What I can promise you is that, if what’s bloomin’ between me and Faye keeps takin’ root, grows and blossoms, she will know everything. I will not keep anything from her. It’ll be up to her to make the decision whether she wants to stick with me on this path I’m on tryin’ to get back to the man I wanted to be. When she learns, if she decides to share that with you, that’s her call. I won’t get in the middle of family and how they communicate. I won’t ask her not to share. I’ll let her decide what she needs to do. I’m fortunate her folks are the folks they are ‘cause I already know without havin’ to ask that you and your wife won’t share if Faye does.”