Matt asked Lorie and her parents over to supper with the family, but they turned him down. Lorie hoped the MacGregors would understand.
“Not a problem,” Matt assured her. “I’ll bring y’all a plate of everything.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Mom was always more polite than practical.
“It’s no problem, Mrs. Narramore.”
“Please call us Ben and Margaret.”
“Thank you.”
Matt left, instructing Lorie to lock the door after him and not let anyone else in.
Left alone with her parents, Lorie discovered they had taken a keen interest in Matt.
“That young man likes you.”
“Oh, Mom.”
“Your mother’s right. You should see the way he looks when he’s watching you.” Dad grinned. “I believe the boy’s smitten.”
“He’s hardly a boy, Dad. He’s older than I am. He went through school with Jen.”
Dad exchanged a glance with Mom, one of those smiling, parents-know-best looks. The kind Lorie loathed. Especially since they were usually right. That only made it worse.
“It doesn’t matter whether he likes me or not.”
“You like him, too.” Another Mom pronouncement.
“Now is not the right time.”
“I know you’re going through a lot, but he seems like a nice man.”
“You know how I feel about policemen.”
“He’s not a policeman, he’s a deputy.” Mom tried unsuccessfully to hide another smile.
Lorie sighed. “I can’t handle it, Mom.”
Dad reached out and took Lorie by the hand. “You know, cupcake, you can’t keep on blaming the entire world of law enforcement for what you experienced in California.”
“I know.” Lorie swung her hand in her Dad’s, the way she had when she was a little girl. “It’s just so hard to get past the emotional blockade.” Even though they were right. It wasn’t fair to blame Matt for every assumption San Diego County law enforcement had made of her guilt. Her cousin Noah worked for the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, for pity’s sake, and she hadn’t taken it out on him. But family was different. And she wasn’t sure she could let go of all of her fears and defensiveness just because she knew Matt didn’t deserve them.
Mom dragged her into a hug. “I’m sorry, sweetie. You know I just want you to be happy.”
“I’ll be happy when all this is over and our lives can go back to normal.” If that ever happens.
A knock at the door and Matt’s voice told them he was back with supper. A delicious aroma assaulted Lorie’s senses when she opened the door. “Oh, that smells so good. Come on in.”
“Hope you don’t mind if I join you. I brought enough for all of us, and I’ll feel better keeping an eye on you.”
“Of course we don’t mind.” Mom spoke for all of them. She started getting plates down from the cupboard.
Lorie got flatware out of the drawer. Dad grabbed a basket of goodies from Matt. This was turning into a picnic. Indoors. With her favorite chaperones.
Lord, help me to remember why we’re all here. This is about our lives.
Part of her couldn’t help wishing, however, that she and Matt were on a nice picnic somewhere, maybe under a tree, with warm sunshine and the sweet scent of honeysuckle in the air. But dwelling on that would be foolish—and letting her mind wander might put her at risk.
“Who’s watching to make certain nobody sneaks onto the ranch?”
“You mean besides the security video and the SWAT officer from West Bluff? I called the department. We’ve got a deputy volunteering to be here on his free time. Then, too, my brothers are no slouches. My sisters and the in-laws, either. If anything were to happen, if someone tried to come onto the property with the intent to do harm, there are plenty of us to see that doesn’t happen.”
Matt’s words gave her a confidence she hadn’t felt since the first note appeared.
“I just thought of something.”
“What’s that?” Dad looked up from the plate of chicken fried steak.
“The harassment started while I was still in San Diego. After I moved back here, it let up for months. I thought it was over. Why now? What changed?”
“Maybe they were letting you have a breather. Letting you think it was over, before this new plan of attack.”
Lorie swallowed a bite of potato salad. “I can’t imagine who it could be, unless it’s someone connected with Carl’s operation. Oh, I wish I’d never gone to that gala dinner and auction.”
“You didn’t have a choice, from what you told your mother and me,” Dad said, clearly trying to comfort her.
Lorie shook her head. “It was such a huge event, crawling with media. No excuses, be there or else, unless you’re dying.”
Lorie swallowed hard. If she hadn’t been there, would Carl still be alive? Or would Ms. Montoya have killed him? Would he have killed Ms. Montoya? The story might have had a vastly different ending if she’d had a flat tire and couldn’t make it, or had contracted, say, pneumonia. Anything. But as she’d said earlier, she had to believe the events were part of God’s plan. A plan that would come clear to her in time—she just wasn’t there yet.
“Lorie, are you all right?”
Lorie shook herself. The words finally penetrated after Mom repeated them.
“I will be. This is just one more trial. I pray the Lord will help us through it.” If He didn’t... No. That didn’t bear consideration.
* * *
Matt’s hand tightened on Lorie’s, and something flared in her eyes. Hope?
“Let’s finish eating this before it gets cold.”
“Are you—”
The phone rang.
Fear flashed across Lorie’s face.
“Who knows we’re here?”
Matt got up. “I’ll answer it.” He crossed to the phone and picked up the ancient black receiver.
“Rob Roy Ranch.”
But it was only Jim on the phone. “We had a call from Leonard Adderson wanting half a dozen cabins for a weekend party.”
“Leonard Adderson?” Matt’s voice was louder than he’d have liked. Three heads swiveled to look in his direction. He lowered his voice. “We just ran into him at Proudfoot’s in West Bluff.”
“All of you?” Jim’s question came quick and hard.
“Yup. What did you do?”
“I told him that we didn’t have that many vacancies. Also, due to the family nature of the ranch, we couldn’t allow him to bring his party here, not without having to remove the other guests, and they had first priority.”
“Good thinking. But we’ll have to keep a closer eye on things now.”
“Yep. Wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“Thanks.”
Matt rang off and looked back at the Narramores. “Nothing too serious—just a cabin rental request. We turned it down.”
“What is it about Adderson you don’t like?” Ben had his head cocked to one side. “Aside from his flamboyant lifestyle, I mean.”
“The day I met Lorie, I’d narrowly missed making a drug bust. A lead on a meth lab fizzled. The cooks had gotten advance warning and cleared everything out. They were gone before we arrived. We’d put a lot of time into the investigation.” He took the three of them in with a look. “I hope I can trust you not to let this go any further. Adderson owned the property where the meth was being made. And he’s been tied to multiple other properties associated with drugs before.”
Alarm flared in Lorie’s eyes. Margaret reached out and took Ben’s hand.
“Do you think he’s connected with Carl’s drug organization? Could he be behind the threats?” Ben’s voice was quiet, as if he were concerned someone might be listening at the door.
“From what I can tell, no, but his wanting to rent cabins today, after seeing me with all of you—”
“It does seem a trifle opportune.” Margaret squeezed Ben’s hand.
“That makes me nervous about staying here.” The way Lorie gnawed her lower lip emphasized the statement.
“Try not to worry. The department is keeping him under surveillance. You’re safe here.”
“What about church tomorrow? I know Mom wanted to go to First.”
“If you don’t mind, we could go together to Grace Church. It’d be better than going back to Daingerville.”
“Is that around here?” Ben asked.
“Yes, about three miles down the road in Preston. My brothers and sisters and family are there every week. I join them when I can, but I’m almost never here.”
“Well, you’re working.” Ben nodded. “Hard to be two places at once, though I’d have done it a few times during my military career if I could have.”
Margaret reached out and squeezed Ben’s hand. Obviously, they had a good marriage. The same sort Matt wanted for himself one day. The sort he’d kept too busy working since the breakup with Lorene to try to find.
Not that he hadn’t had ladies interested in him, especially at his church in town, but somehow, none had ever generated more than a slight interest on his part. Nothing like the connection he felt with Lorie.
Even with her parents sitting here in the same room with them, he felt warmer just being near her.
If this isn’t from You, Lord, please let it end well, so we can still be friends.
A memory of Lorene surfaced. The diamond engagement ring glittered on her left hand as she showed it off to their friends. He’d felt so proud then, so happy the head cheerleader had chosen a linebacker instead of the quarterback. So glad she didn’t want to wait until they went off to college to get married.
Then his football scholarship to the University of Louisville came through, and suddenly, Lorene didn’t want to leave Arkansas. They’d argued about it, to the point where she’d announced she wouldn’t marry him unless he changed his mind. It was an uncharacteristic argument. Up to that point, he’d always given her what she wanted, always conceded. This time, however, the school had the Justice Administration degree he needed. He tried reasoning with her, to no avail.
Two nights later, he caught her with Owen, the quarterback, at their spot on Lake Cholah. Matt’s stomach churned, remembering Lorene’s hurried “I can explain” along with Owen’s “It’s not what you think.” Right. Sure it wasn’t.
Later, she’d tried to stay friends. Matt had cut her off every time she tried to talk to him, had walked away after Lorene shoved his ring into his shirt pocket. He had gone to Kentucky and not looked back, but news of Lorene and Owen’s hasty marriage, followed by the birth of their daughter five months later, told him she’d been cheating on him a lot longer than he’d imagined.
“Matt? Is something wrong?” Lorie’s voice broke through into his unhappy thoughts.
“I’m okay. Why? Did you hear something?”
Lorie shook her head. Matt was thankful that she didn’t look like his former Lorie. It was a small blessing. Maybe not so small.
Thank You, Lord, for Your guidance in this situation, and please help us to get out of it safely by Your grace.
Saturday sank into oblivion. They finished the dessert Matt had brought over, a delicious Sacher torte Alana liked to bake.
“Well, I guess we’d better turn in.”
Margaret gave Lorie another big hug. “Call us if you need anything.”
“You, too, Mom.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come and sleep on the couch in our cabin?”
“Mom, I’ll be fine.”
Watching her parents walk to Cabin 4 with Matt, Lorie felt a sense of foreboding. Colleen whined from the bedroom where she’d been shut in. The cats’ displeased meows added to the cacophony.
“Oh, poor things.” Lorie opened the door and buried her hands in Colleen’s amber-and-white fur as the cats headed for the cozy couch. “You poor baby. Are you feeling better? Huh, girl?”
Colleen responded by licking her hand.
Lorie checked Colleen’s bandage. It hadn’t worked loose. That was a blessing. The last thing she needed on top of everything else she was going through was for Colleen to get a bad infection.
An attempt to pet the cats was met with disdain on their part. Oh, well. They’d forgive her eventually. She hoped.
After she’d changed into her pajamas, Lorie realized she’d still forgotten to bring anything to read. She picked up the Gideon Bible again and opened it to the front, flipping through the pages. The cadence of Renaissance language, the Elizabethan flavor of the words, made them seem like poetry.
Depth of mercy. Grace. Peace.
Lorie flipped the book open to the back, and thumbed through until she came to “Peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, peace give I unto you.” Jesus’s words gave her comfort. Peace in the midst of storm. That’s what it was all about.
Lord, thank You for Your peace. Thank You for this place to shelter ourselves from those who would seek to harm my family and me.
The feeling of peace lasted, and Lorie readied herself for bed. Colleen lay at the foot of the bed again as Lorie tucked herself in and turned out the light.
Despite the sensation of peace, sleep was a long time in coming.
* * *
A knock at the door seemed to come just after Lorie had fallen asleep. But, blinking at the light leaking through the draperies, she realized it must be morning.
“Just a minute.”
Lorie threw on a light cotton robe over her pajamas and padded to the door.
Matt stood outside.
“Hope I didn’t wake you.”
“‘I cannot tell a lie,’ so I have to admit that you did. But that’s okay. I needed to wake up anyway.” After another two hours of sleep, preferably.
Matt grinned ruefully. “Sorry! I thought you’d want to get ready in plenty of time for Sunday school.”
“Sunday school?”
“It’s High Attendance Sunday. Say you’ll join us so we can drive up the record?”
Lorie rolled her eyes and stifled a yawn. “Okay. As soon as I wake up. Did you talk to my parents yet?”
“Not yet.”
Matt nodded as Lorie stretched. “Do you want to come in for some coffee?”
“No, really I came to tell you breakfast will be ready whenever you want it at the house. I’ll drive y’all over.”
“Mom will say she doesn’t want to be a bother.” Lorie smothered another yawn. “Talk her into it anyway. She doesn’t need to cook this morning.”
“Will do.” Matt reached out and tweaked a stray curl out of Lorie’s face. “Maybe if you splash some water on your face, it’ll help you wake up.”
“No doubt. Thanks.”
Colleen padded to the door and put her nose in Matt’s hand. Matt responded appropriately, giving the dog a good scratch behind the ears.
“I’ll go get your parents and then I’ll be back to drive you to the house.”
“Thanks.”
Lorie closed the door after him, and then headed for the bathroom to see if a dose of cold water really would wake her.
* * *
Matt’s cell phone rang as he was heading back to the main house. Seeing Frank’s number, he answered at once.
“What’s up?”
“An anonymous call came into the station about the Narramore case. Gerhardt alerted me.”
Matt froze in place. “Any luck tracing it?”
“Not yet. You’re not going to like what was said.”
Something cold settled in the pit of Matt’s stomach. “Tell me.”
“The caller emailed a link to a URL from some crackpot blog purporting to tie Ms. Narramore to the Orgulloso cartel. He said they’d been using the library system’s vehicles to transport black heroin and cocaine from the San Ysidro branch to libraries all over the city.”
“Lorie told me about that smear campaign. It’s nothing new. The only difference is now, they’re not trying to influence the trial, they’re just trying to make her look guilty after the fact, so we’ll call off the protection. I happen to agree with the jury that she’s not guilty, but even if she was, she still has a right to protection. No matter what happened in California, the person threatening her is the one breaking the law now.”
“I know—that’s why the protection detail is staying in place. Still, if she’s keeping things from you, then danger might end up coming from a direction you’re not expecting. Just be careful, Matt. I know her father, but I don’t really know Lorie.”
The words seeped into Matt’s soul like poison. What if Lorie had been working for the cartel? What if Carl’s death hadn’t been justifiable homicide? What if she really had deliberately assassinated him?
Matt’s mind recoiled from the thought. Lorie couldn’t be guilty of murder, even though she’d shot and killed the man. It had been accidental self-defense.
Hadn’t it?