CHAPTER 60

Ogden didn’t resist arrest. He seemed to deflate once the police arrived. A broken nose didn’t help. After Lincoln told me I could go, Kimuri said she’d give me a ride home.

“Can I use your cell?” I asked her from the passenger seat in her cruiser. “Mine got crushed out there.” Mom’s, more precisely.

“Sure.” She activated her cell and handed it to me.

I sent Derrick a quick text.

This is Mac. Am fine. Heading home. Ogden attacked me near Short Beach, but police have him now. Pls tell group and parents. Will go to parsonage four-ish.

I sent it and returned the phone. “Thanks.

At home, I spent a couple of hours alone processing what had happened. I put a load of laundry into my compact stacked washing machine. I emailed Tim saying I hoped Jamie was better and that he was having fun with the kiddos. And that I missed him. Telling him about my brush with danger could wait for a phone conversation. I made a cheese sandwich, opened a beer, and hung out with Belle as I ate.

“That was a close one, Belle.” I stroked her feathers and fed her halves of frozen grapes.

“Close one,” she muttered. “Close one.”

I’d seen—and felt—the awl’s sharp tip. I shuddered as I pictured it piercing my carotid artery. Or my brain stem. It had been the definition of close.

How troubled Ogden must be to act with such desperation. At least he hadn’t had a knife, or worse, a gun. The awl was lethal, but he could have pulled a trigger a lot sooner. He must use the awl for wood or maybe leather at the shop.

An email came in from Gin saying the group was going to gather for dinner at Tulia’s restaurant at six. I replied that I’d be there.

At four thirty I walked to my parents’ house, where Derrick and Cokey had showed up for dinner. Reba and Derrick sat in chairs at the kitchen table. I sat, too. Mom cut biscuits out of flattened dough and Pa tore lettuce leaves into a salad bowl. The French beef stew made the house smell like heaven.

“Abo Ree, how are you feeling?” I asked after we all exchanged greetings.

“I’m fine and dandy, honey.”

“You look much better than this morning.” I covered her hand with mine.

“We tried to call you, Mac,” Pa said. “You didn’t pick up. Then Derrick told us you were fine. For which we are blessed and thank the good Lord.”

“I am fine.” I gazed at my niece and back at my father. I couldn’t talk about what had happened while Cokey was listening. “I’ll tell you all about it in a minute.”

The little girl wrestled with the dog. She bounced a tennis ball that he leapt to catch, but he knocked down a kitchen chair in the process.

“Cokey, no balls in the house,” Pa said in his firm grandfather’s tone.

“Honey, take Tucker and the ball outside.” Derrick pulled open the sliding glass door.

“Okay. Come on, Tucker. Ball!” She held up the tennis ball.

Girl and dog headed out. Good. A fence surrounded the yard, and we could see them through the glass.

Abo Reba nodded her approval. “Children and dogs need regular exercise. As my mother used to say, they need to go out and get the stink blown off.”

I suppressed a giggle. She’d said that to Derrick and me when we were kids, too. Now, while the next generation of girl played, I filled in my family on the details of what had happened with Ogden.

Abo Reba’s eyes went wide. “Good heavens, Mackenzie. I’m glad you’re all right. But that Ogden Hicks, I always wondered about him.”

“You did?” I asked. “Why?”

“We were never quite sure what happened to his wife.” My grandma rapped the table with a knobby finger. “I mean, how she died.”

“Really?” I’d hadn’t heard a word about suspicious circumstances regarding the late Mrs. Hicks.

“That’s right,” Mom said. “I believe he had taken out quite the insurance policy on her.”

“But the authorities didn’t charge him in her death, remember,” Pa admonished.

“No.” Abo Reba sounded almost disappointed.

“Mom, I’m sorry about your phone,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it. We can go together tomorrow to get new ones. Won’t that be fun?”

“You might want to upgrade, Mom.” Derrick rolled his eyes. “Just saying.”

“We’ll see.” She slid her pan of biscuits into the oven and set a timer. “You’re staying for dinner, Mac, right?”

“I can’t, after all. The book group is going to have a debriefing dinner, but thank you.” I gazed at my lovely new ring. “I’m going to use the land line here to call Tim, if that’s okay.”

“Our phone is your phone,” Pa said. “Please give him our fond regards.”

I planned to do that, and much more.