The officer handed something to Chance. “Make yourself useful, Mr. Rader, and secure those two.”
“My pleasure.”
“Ma’am, why don’t you turn on some lights?”
Rory nodded and reached inside to flip the switch. Chance was crouched next to the first of the two men. He secured his hands behind his back. The second man started to rouse. He kicked at Chance.
The officer crouched down at his head. “Well, well, if it’s not Riley O’Brien. Looks like you got yourself into a little trouble tonight.”
O’Brien shouted obscenities at the officer.
Chance stepped back from the other man he had secured. That one too had roused and was attempting to get onto his knees.
The officer instructed him to stay down, and the man started shouting that he hadn’t done anything. The second officer reappeared.
“Let’s load ’em up,” the officer who sounded in charge said. Rory and Chance waited on the porch while the two men who had caused the disturbance were loaded into the back seat of the cruiser. One officer stayed in the patrol car while the other, the one who’d done all the talking, returned to the porch. As he approached, he scanned his flashlight over her house. Varying sizes of red splats dotted the faded and chipped white paint.
“Looks like you’ve got yourself a new design theme.”
Rory felt sick. “A broken window too.”
“Let’s go inside,” the office suggested, “and I’ll take your statement. Then I’ll get these two back to the station and processed.”
Rory went inside first, then Chance. They settled on the sofa, and the officer took the chair. As Rory recounted the details of what happened starting with her broken window, she noticed that his name was Proctor. She’d gone to middle school with aboy with the last name Proctor. The officer actually looked a bit like that kid. She wondered if it was the same guy. He’d moved to a different town before high school. If it was him, he was likely wondering how one of his former classmates had become a convicted murderer.
When the interview was finished, Officer Proctor stood. “We’ll have a tow truck come for the vehicle.” He tucked his pen into his pocket and did the same with his notepad. “O’Brien still lives with his parents. I’m sure they’ll see to it that the damages are taken care of to prevent any criminal charges.”
And that was the way of it in small towns. Guys like the two who had vandalized her home and terrorized her somehow never faced the consequences of their actions. But to argue the idea would be pointless. She had enough trouble as it was.
“Thank you.” She rose to her feet. “I appreciate you coming out.”
He gave her a nod and headed for the door. She followed. He paused before going out and looked back at her. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
She mustered up her best effort at a smile. “You remind me of someone I went to school with. Seventh grade, I think.”
“That’s me.” He glanced at Chance, then set his attention on her once more. “I just moved back last year. Sorry to hear about your trouble. But just so you know, there are a lot of folks in this town who believe you don’t deserve to be out of prison. Watch your back.” Again he hesitated. “But that doesn’t mean everyone feels that way.”
He left. Rory watched from the door as the patrol car drove away. She wanted to feel marginally better in light of his comment, but as sure as she did, something else would happen. Instead, she let it go and locked the door.
“This has been a tough day,” Chance said, reading her mind.
She nodded, tears burning her eyes. She refused to cry. Damn it. But now that the disturbance was over, at least this time, she felt weak with the weight of the coming retrial. Devastated at the inevitability of how this was obviously going to continue. How had she ever believed for a second that she could come back here and prove her innocence, much less have a life?
“There are people who will initially try to make you regret standing up for yourself,” the man watching her so closely said gently. “In any case like this, it’s always the same. People do stupid things. Sometimes because they firmly believe they’re right, other times just to be a part of something. But in my experience, as the details start to emerge, these things generally come to a quick end.” He shrugged, offered her a smile. “It’s a small town. You’re the latest big news. Give it time to settle.”
She drew in a big breath. “I wish I wasn’t…news, I mean.”
“I wish you weren’t either.” He hitched his head toward the hall. “How about we get that window situation taken care of and call it a night. I’d prefer to stay on your sofa, just in case, if that’s okay with you.”
His suggestion had relief washing over her. “That is very okay with me.”
She hadn’t expected to be afraid…to need someone to babysit her. But maybe she had been a fool to believe she could be here—in this town where it all happened—and no one would make a big deal out of her challenge to the court’s past decision. Unquestionably she had expected the Harris family to snub her. To talk about her when interviewed by the media, on social media and in plain old local gossip. To try and make her look even worse. But she really hadn’t expected this sort of behavior out of people not related to her dead husband. Pete would never have wanted his friends to do these things.
She kept telling herself this, but Pete wasn’t here. Someone had murdered him, and for all she knew, it could have beenfriends of his. Someone jealous of who he was and what he had accomplished—of his family’s money. Her attorney had brought up the idea to her during the trial. At the time she had been so devastated she really hadn’t been able to think straight, much less form a coherent scenario about murder.
But she’d had plenty of time to think in prison. She’d also seen and heard enough horror to understand that people—most people—were capable of very bad things when pushed into a corner or prompted in just the right way.
Together she and Chance boarded up the broken window. She would get it repaired eventually. Right now, she had far more pressing issues. He took the tools back to the shed and secured the doors while she rounded up a quilt and pillow for him.
