Small-Town Face-Off

“Hey, the floors are the foundation of a home. Not a bad place to start at all,” he pointed out. Mara laughed.

“You seem to be a very optimistic man. I suppose your glass is always half full?” Walden pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and stood with his notebook.

“It’s better to have a half-full glass than an entirely empty bottle.” He gave her a nod. “I’m going to take this to the captain now. It was nice to meet you, Mara.”

It took her a moment to return the sentiment, as she was slightly stunned by the weight of his previous statement. She wasn’t the only one with pain in her life, and compared to most, hers wasn’t the worst. Her thoughts went to the teens in the hospital. She looked at Alexa, transfixed by her bag of cereal. At a time when families and loved ones were supposed to be coming together for holidays, Mara couldn’t imagine what she’d feel like if she were to get a call like the one the families of the teens were no doubt receiving.

“Knock, knock.” Mara shook herself out of such dark thoughts and focused on Cassie standing in the doorway. “Now that you’re finished, I’ve been told to tell you that you don’t have to hang around here any longer,” she said, all smiles. Her gaze went to Alexa. “I’m sure there are much more exciting places to be than a sheriff’s department.”

Although Cassie was no doubt being polite, Mara couldn’t help but wonder who’d told the woman that Mara should leave when finished. Had it been a polite suggestion to start off with or had the young woman changed the tone to stay nice? Mara mentally let out a long, loud sigh. Feelings of uncertainty, self-consciousness and guilt began to crop up within her again.

And she hadn’t even been in Riker County for a full twenty-four hours yet.

Instead of telling the truth—that she’d like to stay until Billy came back—Mara stood with an equally warm, if not entirely true, smile.

“There are a few places I’d like to visit,” she tried, attempting to wrangle her child’s toys and food back into their appropriate places within her bag. “Plus, it does seem to be a nice day outside.”

Cassie nodded, following Mara’s glance out of the conference room windows. Every Southerner had a love-hate relationship with winter. South Alabama had an annoying habit of being humid and hot when it should be chilly or cold. Christmastime was no exception. Mara had left her jacket in the car. She doubted she’d need it while in Carpenter, though she wouldn’t have minded being proven wrong. At least in North Alabama, where she lived with Alexa, the promise of being cold in time for the holidays was sometimes kept.

“Could you ask the sheriff to call me when he gets a chance?” Mara asked when Alexa and her things were finally ready to go. Cassie nodded and promised she would. Together they walked past the hall that led to the back door and, instead, moved past the offices to the lobby.

It was hard to not smile at the department’s attempt at decorating. Colored lights and garlands covered every available inch. On the lobby desk there was even a small Charlie Brown Christmas tree—twigs and a few colorful glass ornaments. An unexpected wave of guilt pushed against Mara at the sight. Not only had she disrupted the life of the sheriff by showing up, but she’d also left behind her own planned Christmas with Alexa back home. Decorations and toys, even holiday treats she’d already baked and packaged. But now that Billy knew about her, what would the holiday look like?

The deputy who had given the news of the overdoses earlier gave them a quick smile while still talking to the secretary, another person Mara didn’t recognize. The only other people in the lobby were two women waiting in the chairs.

As she had with Donna Ramsey in the coffee shop, Mara recognized one of them, a woman named Leigh Cullen. Unlike Donna, Leigh recognized Mara right back. She stood abruptly, pausing in whatever she had been saying.

“Thank you again for everything,” Mara said in a rush, cutting off eye contact and disengaging from her spot next to Cassie. “See you later.”

“You,” Leigh exclaimed, loud enough to catch the entire lobby’s attention. Mara had the wild thought that if she could run out of the building fast enough, Leigh would somehow forget about seeing her. That she could literally outrun her past. But then Leigh began to hurry over toward them, her face reddening as she yelled, “How dare you show your face here again!”

Mara angled Alexa behind her and braced for a confrontation. One she hoped wouldn’t be physical. It was one she deserved but not one she was ready to let Alexa witness. However, Cassie surprised them all.

In all of her compassionate glory, she stepped between Leigh and Mara, and held up her hand like she was a traffic guard telling the driver of a vehicle that they’d better halt their horses. It stunned both women into silence.

“No ma’am,” Cassie said, voice high but firm. “You do not act that way in a sheriff’s department and certainly not in front of a child.”

For the first time, Leigh seemed to notice Alexa on Mara’s hip. Still, her eyes remained fiery.

“Don’t you know who this woman is?” Leigh continued, though her voice had gone from an explosion to a low burn. Probably because the deputy’s attention was fully on them now. “Do you know what she let happen?”

Mara’s face heated. Her heartbeat sped up. How had she thought coming back to Riker County wouldn’t end in disaster? That someone wouldn’t recognize her?

“I know exactly who she is and you don’t see me hollering at her like this,” Cassie said. Though she’d been polite before, Mara could see her sharp edges poking out in defense now.

“Maybe you should take a breather, Leigh,” the deputy added with absolute authority. He looked confused by the situation but determined to stop it.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Leigh said. She turned away, grumbling a few more not-so-becoming words beneath her breath, and stomped back to her companion, who’d remained seated.

“I’m so sorry, Mara.” Cassie didn’t take her eyes off Leigh’s retreating back. “I don’t know what came over her.”

That clinched it. Cassie didn’t know who Mara was.

“Thank you,” Mara said, honest. “But it’s alright. I don’t blame her one bit.” Without explaining herself, Mara took Alexa and left the department.

It wasn’t until they were locked inside the car, “Jingle Bells” playing over the radio, that Mara broke down and cried.

Leigh’s husband had been gunned down while trying to stop an armed robbery almost three years ago. His killer had been one of Bryan Copeland’s drug dealers. If Mara had tried to turn her father in the moment she found out who he was and what he had done, then Leigh’s husband wouldn’t have bled out in the convenience store on Cherry Street. Mara knew that.

And so did Leigh.

* * *

A HALF HOUR LATER, Mara was letting the laughter of her child soothe her wounds as best it could.

They had gone from the department straight to Anthony’s Park. Not as green as it was in the summer, the three-mile stretch of trees, walking paths and recreational spots was located near the town’s limits, closest to the city of Kipsy. Because of that fact, Mara had often visited the park when she’d first started to meet up with Billy. They’d sit in the parking lot, huddled in Billy’s late father’s old Bronco, and try to figure out the best way to stop her father and his drugs.

Are you sure you want to do this? I can take over from here. You can go home and I won’t ever fault you for it, Billy had said one night. Mara still remembered how he’d looked at her then. Concern pulling his brows together, eyes soft, lips set in a thoughtful frown. Compassionate to a fault, Billy had offered her an out.

And would you go home if you were in my place, Billy?

Despite his lower rank back then, in hindsight Mara realized Billy Reed had always been a sheriff at heart. The resolution that had rolled off him in nearly staggering waves as he’d answered had helped Mara come to terms with her own choice to stay.

No. I would see this through to the end.

Mara smiled as Alexa began to giggle uncontrollably at the sand hill she’d just made. Who knew that seeing it through then would have resulted in a daughter.

“You’re brave.”

Mara jumped at the new voice behind her. Afraid it belonged to Beck, she didn’t feel much better when she saw it belonged to another man she didn’t know. That didn’t stop her from assuming he was into some kind of drug, either. Thin, with red, almost-hollow eyes and stringy brown hair, there was a restlessness about him that kept his body constantly moving. He rubbed the thumb of his right hand across his index finger over and over again but, thankfully, the rest of him stayed still on the other side of the bench.

“Excuse me?” Mara said, body tensing so fast that she nearly stood.

“You’re brave to let her play in the sand box,” he said, motioning to Alexa. The little girl looked up from her spot a few feet away but lost interest immediately after.

“How so?”

Mara slowly moved her hand to the top of her bag. The playground they were at was out in the open, which made it very easy to see how alone the three of them were now. The man could have looked like George Clooney and Mara still would have been trying to get her phone out without being noticed.

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