Page 3
THREE
Meredith checked her rearview mirror.
Still there.
Gray was following her home, as promised.
She’d kissed him. What had she been thinking? It wasn’t that big of a deal. She liked Donovan. A lot. And she loved Cassie. She was so happy for them and so excited about their pending nuptials. Cassie had a very specific idea in mind for her flowers, and Meredith had used up far too many brain cells trying to figure out how to redirect Donovan from making a truly horrible mistake.
Gray’s solution was fabulous, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. She’d overreacted. She’d been goofy and ridiculous, and in her glee, she’d kissed Gray’s face.
Ten minutes outside of town, her phone rang. She answered it through the Bluetooth. “Beep! What’s up?”
“That’s what we want to know,” Bronwyn said. “I have you on speaker. I’m with Landry. Cal’s on the phone with Mo. But Cal is just doing a lot of grunting, and we can’t figure out what’s going on. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Meredith broke down the events of the morning. “I’m almost back in town. Donovan’s going to peel off and return to the police station. Gray’s following me to Mom and Dad’s. Then he’ll give me a ride back to my office to get my car.”
“Someone punctured your fuel line.” Landry, Cal’s wife, chimed in. “Why? What were they hoping to accomplish?” Given that Landry had been targeted by a stalker a year ago, her questions held an edge of worry that didn’t surprise Meredith.
“I don’t know. I’m sure Gray will do everything he can to find out. But I was in Neeson County.”
“You’re going to have to stay out of there.” Bronwyn used her CEO tone.
Their friendship had resolidified enough over the past couple of years that Meredith wasn’t afraid to push back. “I’m not your employee.”
“I never said you were. But I’m sick and tired of my friends and employees being in danger. First Landry. Then Cassie. Now you? It needs to stop.”
“We’re all good. Better than good.” Landry’s voice filtered through the speaker. “And, Bronwyn, I get that you’re afraid for Meredith, but taking that fear out on your oldest friend isn’t going to solve anything.”
“Go, Landry!” Meredith crowed. “I do love having you for a sister.” Technically, Landry was her cousin-in-law, but Quinns didn’t get too fussed about actual familial titles.
“I love having sisters.” Meredith could hear the smile in Landry’s voice. “And as your new sister, I have to tell you that while I don’t agree with Bronwyn’s approach, I can’t disagree with her overall message. There’s something going on over there, and I’m afraid for you. Cal and Mo need you. So do Bronwyn and I.”
Somehow, Landry’s gentle reproof shattered the wall Meredith had erected to keep herself calm, and she had to work to keep from crying. “I know. You’re right. I don’t understand it. But I’ll be careful. I’ve already promised Gray I won’t leave the county alone. And if I go anywhere out of my normal routine, I’ll make sure someone knows what’s happening.”
“Good. I’m sorry I was so bossy. I’m just...” Bronwyn went silent.
“What she isn’t saying,” Landry said, “is that when she gets scared, she tries to control everything and everyone around her. She’s working on that.”
Landry’s comment made Meredith laugh. And she could hear Bronwyn’s laughter as well. “Can we talk more tonight? Firepit?”
“Sure,” Landry agreed immediately.
Bronwyn hesitated. “I don’t know. My presence adds a layer of tension to the proceedings. I don’t want that.”
Meredith turned into her parents’ driveway. Bronwyn wasn’t wrong. The rift between Bronwyn and Mo was so deep that Meredith had almost given up hope that it would ever be healed. “Mo doesn’t talk to me about you. He never has. I’m not sure if he ever will. But he did tell Cal that he was glad you’re back in my life. And in Cal’s life. I don’t think he wants to keep us from spending time together. Please come.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll work on her,” Landry said.
“Thanks. Listen, I’m at Mom and Dad’s, so I need to run.”
“Give them my love,” Bronwyn said. “And let us know if you need us to do anything.”
“Will do.”
In her rearview mirror, she saw that Gray had parked in the driveway. Meredith continued on behind the house and straight to her father’s shop. Every Quinn male had a shop of some kind. Meredith suspected it was because they all carried a packrat gene and they knew better than to try to bring all their junk inside their homes.
Papa Quinn’s shop mostly had tools and gardening equipment. Her dad’s shop held similar items but also an assortment of specific tools for car repair. He’d had a passion for cars since he was a kid. A passion Papa Quinn didn’t share but had encouraged all the same.
She parked the van, climbed out, and came face-to-face with two men who, on the surface, couldn’t be more different. Her dad was lean but still straight and strong. His once-brown hair was shot through with gray, most of which had come over the last few years. He wore glasses and gave off a bit of an academic vibe. And he was the best dad a girl could have. He’d held her heart safe for every single moment of her thirty-two years.
Beside him, Gray stood a couple of inches taller and about a foot wider in the shoulders. Gray had a muscular frame that made people ask him if he’d played football in high school (no) or been in the military (yes, a Marine). His dark hair was cut short. His ethnicity was a mix of African American, Hispanic, and White, and his skin stayed brown year-round, although it did darken a little in the summer. At thirty-five, he didn’t look old, but there was already a gravitas and maturity to him that screamed “I’ve got this.” Even when he was relaxed, he gave off a protective vibe.
When he wasn’t relaxed, like now, the vibe morphed into a fierce energy that radiated from him and gave the impression that he was a microsecond away from throwing his body in front of a bullet. He was the best police chief Gossamer Falls had ever had. And he’d held Meredith’s heart in a stranglehold since the moment she’d laid eyes on him two and a half years ago.
Gray must have already assured her dad that she was unharmed, because he wasn’t nearly as freaked out as she’d expected him to be. In this situation, the best defense was offense.
“Hey, Dad! Some idiot cut my fuel line. Do you think you can fix it?” She was going for more outrage than fear.
“Nice try, munchkin.” Her dad sounded stern, but his eyes crinkled and he held out an arm. She snuggled against him. “Gray told me someone had cut it. He hasn’t gotten around to telling me why.”
“He doesn’t know, Dad. It just happened.”
“And why am I just now hearing about it?”
“Because I didn’t want you or Mom to freak out. I’m fine. Perfectly safe. And...”
She trailed off as his arm tightened.
“No more solo trips.” There was no budge in his voice.
“Dad—”
“No more, young lady. I know you’re grown. I couldn’t be prouder of you. But my heart can’t take it. Please.”
She caught Gray’s eye, and he dropped his gaze and studied the ground. But not before she caught the flicker of satisfaction on his face.
“I promise.”
“Thank you.” He kissed her temple and released her. As he walked around her van he called over his shoulder, “When do you need Flossy back?”
Gray tensed and quirked one eyebrow at her. She’d stood in front of a mirror once and tried her best to mimic the look but had failed miserably. The best she could do was get one eyebrow a fraction higher than the other.
“Not for two weeks. I don’t have anything planned next weekend.” She pitched her voice loud enough to carry to him on the other side of her van. “I’m still working on Cassie’s flowers, and I got a new wedding order this week that I wanted to create a few samples for. I’m planning to be in the shop this weekend and next.”
Gray’s shoulders dropped a few inches, and her dad’s grunt of approval filtered to her. “Do you need a ride back to your office? Or do you want to go in and see your mom?” Gray’s question sent a prickle of ... something ... along Meredith’s spine.
This man. He kept himself so closed off that sometimes she wondered if he even liked her. Not in a romantic way. She’d given up on that. Or, tried to give up on it. But she did suspect that he knew how she felt and her presence annoyed him. She was sensitive to things like that, and she was aware that he made it a point to avoid her. Not always. But enough that she’d noticed and had tried to stay out of his orbit as much as possible too.
And then he went and did something like this. Something so thoughtful and gracious. He had other things to do, but he was willing to wait for her to say hello to her mom because, somehow, he knew she’d feel bad if she didn’t.
Following her train of thought to what seemed like a logical conclusion, she decided that Gray did like her. He did pay attention to her. He did know things about her that she didn’t make a point of sharing. It made her want to hug him.
But she’d already kissed him today. It wouldn’t be wise to force herself into his personal space again. “Can I have five minutes?”
“You can have as long as you want.” His voice was low and gravelly. “I’ll be out here. Come find me when you’re ready.”
“Thank you. I’ll be fast.”
Gray watched as Meredith jogged to the house. He would never tell her she couldn’t speak to her mother. One of the things he appreciated most about her was her connection to her family. The way they loved each other so openly and so well.
But he had a couple of ulterior motives today. One, he wanted to talk to Doug Quinn without Meredith overhearing. And two, he needed some space before he drove her to the office.
Doug leaned against the van. “What do we need to do to protect her?” he asked Gray. “Keeping her in the county isn’t a permanent solution.”
Gray took a position beside Doug. “It’s a start.”
“I’ll talk to the boys.”
“The boys” would ultimately include every male member of the Quinn family, but it would begin with Mo, Cal, Cal’s brothers Chad and Connor, and Cal’s dad, Craig Shaw.
“And I’ll be having a chat with the mayor.”
Gray frowned. What would the mayor have to do with it?
“We’re long overdue for some changes around here. How would you feel about being sheriff?”
The police/sheriff situation in this part of the state was muddled at best and full-on chaotic at worst. North Carolina’s constitution called for each county to have a sheriff, but through some quirk of distance and muleheadedness, Gossamer County, Neeson County, and a few other neighboring counties had never gotten the memo.
Even though it was a murky legal area, Gray handled the law enforcement for the entire county. Chief Kirby did the same in Neeson County and for the town of Neeson.
They’d had few major crimes, and no one had questioned Gray’s authority to enforce the law in Gossamer County.
But Doug wasn’t wrong. No one wanted a criminal to get by with their crimes due to technicalities over jurisdiction limits.
Gray wasn’t sure how he felt about the position, but before he could answer, Doug continued. “Think about it. If it turns out that you’d have to run for sheriff, are you willing to do it? I can assure you, you’ll win. You’ll probably run uncontested.”
“I don’t love the idea of running for office.”
“I know. But times are changing. We need to get ourselves sorted.” He looked toward the house where Meredith had opened the door. “Right now, though, we just need to keep our girl safe. I don’t want this sheriff stuff to distract you.”
“Then why’d you bring it up?”
“Because I don’t want you hearing about it from the wrong person or being blindsided by it. You’ve done a great job as chief of police. This town and this county are too small to need a sheriff and a police chief. If we have to change the titles we will, but when it comes to how things get done? No one wants anything to change.”
Meredith came to a stop beside them. “That could be Gossamer Falls’ motto. ‘We don’t want anything to change.’” She bumped her dad’s shoulder. “But what specifically don’t we want to change?”
Doug looked at Gray, then at Meredith. “Just talking to Gray here about the whole sheriff/police situation.”
Gray had expected Meredith to shrug off the words, but her face grew serious. “We really do need to fix it. We need to be sure everything is buttoned up tight so there’s no wiggle room for criminals here. It’s bad enough that it’s on our doorstep. Kirby’s dirty, and I don’t trust his mess not to bleed over.”
Doug put an arm around his daughter. “You ever gonna tell us what dirt you have on him, baby girl?”
She shook her head. “I have more suspicion than specifics. My specifics are legit, but I hear things. Kids talk. Patients talk. There’s stuff going on in Neeson County that we wouldn’t let fly here. And Kirby looks the other way. I suspect they have something on him.”
“Who are they ?” Gray asked.
“ They are whoever’s really running the show. I have an idea of who that is. But no proof. But there’s hinky stuff going on. The last time I was up there, I had three patients who had injuries that indicated abuse. I saw a teenage girl who I suspect is being trafficked by her stepbrother. And two moms who sported bruises that looked an awful lot like someone had used them as a punching bag.”
Meredith pulled away from her dad and paced. “One of those moms is the wife of a sheriff’s deputy. The fox is in the henhouse, and those poor people can’t do anything about it. They can’t afford to move. They can’t risk speaking up. So they deal with it.”
She focused on Gray. “You wouldn’t know this because you didn’t grow up here, but I’ve been told my entire life to ‘stay out of Neeson.’” She glanced at her dad, and Doug confirmed it with a nod. “When I was young, I thought it was overprotective parents being paranoid. Then, when I hit my late teens and early twenties and knew everything”—she winked at her dad—“I was sure it was some kind of better-than-thou attitude. Like Gossamer Falls folks were too good to associate with the likes of people in Neeson. And I thought that was because everyone here had a serious case of entitlement.”
She shrugged. “Then I moved home and spent some time in Neeson. If I had kids? I’d tell them to stay out of Neeson too. There’s something going on up there, and it isn’t right. There are good people there, but they’re overshadowed by bad people who’ve decided Neeson is theirs.”
Nothing Meredith said was news to Gray. But he hadn’t realized how much she’d seen and absorbed. To his knowledge, the only time she was ever in Neeson was when she did a clinic. Which meant her patients were talking. And Meredith might know more than she realized she did.
Whether she did or didn’t know anything specific, someone in Neeson thought she did.
Had the goal today been to scare her? To abduct her? To kill her?
His chest tightened at the thought. “We’ll get to the bottom of it.” The words were a vow he had no problem making. Failure wasn’t an option because to fail would mean leaving Meredith at risk.
As far as Gray was concerned, Meredith was dangerous, but she should never be in danger. And whether she liked it or not, he intended to make sure she was protected.
The world needed people like Meredith Quinn. Shoot. He needed people like Meredith Quinn.
Or maybe he just needed Meredith Quinn.
But he couldn’t have her. He’d closed that door a long time ago. His role in her life wasn’t to be the one she came home to. It was to be the one who made sure she was safe and able to go home ... to whoever awaited her.
Right now, that meant driving her back to her office and then finding out what was going on in Neeson.