It was getting dark, and so she turned on her headlights as she backed out of her driveway. The Steam Stop was about a fifteen-minute drive, so because she had plenty of time, she decided to take the longer, less traveled route to the coffee shop and avoid the heavier congestion through the main part of town. She didn’t want to deal with traffic this evening.
As Tess drove down the darkened road on the far edge oftown, she looked in her rearview mirror. There were headlights rapidly coming up from behind. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel, full attention on her driving. She continued to glance in her rearview mirror. Tess realized the vehicle was approaching way more rapidly than seemed wise, and then its headlights illuminated the interior of her car.
While she was considering that it must be a large van or pickup truck with the headlights so high, the lights switched to high beam and Tess eased off the gas. Maybe they just wanted to pass. She slowed down, but the vehicle just continued to trail her. Apprehension flooded Tess as she attempted to breathe evenly and her heart rate rose. She pulled as far to the right as she could manage and still remain on the roadway. She slowed but didn’t want to stop when she was out here alone.
The driver brought the vehicle within a few feet of Tess’s bumper and settled there. Tess strained to see the road ahead with the glare of the headlights behind her. She shifted her rearview mirror to diminish the obstruction to her vision, but she wanted to maintain some view of what was happening behind her. They could pass, but they didn’t.
She traveled a few hundred yards with blinding lights in her rearview mirror while her pursuer rode her bumper. Then the driver pulled alongside and paralleled her Mercedes. The vehicle came within a foot of her driver’s door, and she was afraid she was going to be pushed off the road. All Tess could discern as she glanced sideways out her window was that it was definitely a truck with a dark-colored passenger door—at least the blinding lights were no longer reflecting in her mirror. The vehicle’s window was high enough that she had no view inside.
Just after the truck inched even closer and Tess gripped the steering wheel for impact, headlights approached from the opposite direction. The truck driver delivered a few short honks, pulled in front of her, and then finally sped off before therewas a head-on crash. The approaching car slowed, its horn still blaring, and then it continued on its way in the opposite direction. She hadn’t been able to read the truck’s license plate in the moments she could see it, the identification obscured by mud or something else.
Out here in the dark and alone, Tess battled to control her shaking. The rapid draw of her breath alternated with the loud whoosh of exhalation, and those were the only sounds that filled her car. She decided that she needed to pull over.
She took her right hand off the steering wheel and touched her scar. She rubbed it, thinking of the incident that had come so close to killing her. Her heart wasn’t simply hammering in her chest—she could feel her distress pounding in her ears.
Tess concentrated on regulating her breathing. When she had her terror under control, she pulled her phone out from her blazer pocket and called Stella Myers.
After describing what had happened and assuring the police chief that she was unhurt, they agreed that Tess would file a report tomorrow, but that she didn’t need the chief tonight. Chief Myers said she’d have one of her on-duty officers cruise that end of town, so Tess drove on to the meeting.
The digital clock on her dashboard showed that Tess was over ten minutes late when she finally pulled in at the Steam Stop. She wondered if Bree had waited for her.
Bree was visible at the isolated table in the small back room of the coffee shop. It was the same place where they’d sat before when the agenda had been an effort at a reset of their relationship after Tahoe. That agenda certainly hadn’t been accomplished, mostly due to their chemistry.
Tess wondered where their relationship was tonight, only a single night after they’d shared the best day of whale watching and an evening of dinner and dancing and kissing. Her mood had certainly changed.
“Are you okay?” Bree asked. “You look hassled. And you’re rarely late.” Bree’s brow was furrowed, and there was no denying the concern on her face.
Tess nodded but remained silent. She was reaching her limit, but she wasn’t going to tell Bree that. She’d decided as she’d finished the drive that she just wanted to hear what Bree had to say, why she’d stopped a romantic evening in its tracks, even though she’d given so many signals that she also felt that they’d grown so much closer. Tess didn’t think that she’d misread that, so maybe their growing closeness had triggered Bree to decide to call this meeting and follow through with her belief that she wasn’t ready for a new relationship. To end things. All Tess could do was try to hold herself together.
Bree nodded back. “Let me get you a drink. Coffee or tea or something else?”
“A green tea’s fine.” Tess waited while Bree collected the tea. She didn’t believe that threat out there on the road had been random. Not after she’d been shot, and someone seemed to be toying with Bree too—the money bag, the flat tires—maybe even because of her. She didn’t know what the danger was or who was behind it. But first, she’d hear Bree out.
“Here you go.” Bree set the tea on the table.
“Thanks.” Tess took a deep breath to calm herself. “It’s been a long day, so why don’t you tell me what’s going on. We both know that we’ve grown close, even with those reasons why we shouldn’t. So I need to know what else is going on with you. You wanted this talk.” Tess knew her tone was challenging, but she was on the verge of falling apart. Well, she wasn’t going to do that in front of Bree. She carefully took a sip of her tea andwaited.
“Tess.” Bree nodded and then looked at her. “Please hear me out. I know I’ve come across as inconsistent. Not doing a great job of avoiding our connection, our chemistry. Actuallyembracingour connection, our chemistry. Then seeming to back off.”
“So, which is it? Stop or go? I know I’m not great at relationships,” Tess confessed. Just saying that brought home all the times throughout her life that Tess hadn’t lived up to what someone else expected of her. “But I honestly thought we had something, or was I just fooling myself?” Tess watched Bree but couldn’t read her, so she sat back and took another sip in order to have something to do while she waited for a response.
“It’s true that I headed to Corazon Cove with the mindset that I didn’t want a relationship with so much new going on in my life and my divorce issues, but there’s so much more,” Bree said. She took a big breath too, and Tess braced herself. “A few weeks ago, after my strange experience being offered a bag, likely containing a bribe, in a parking lot, a law school classmate who now is an investigator for the CJP, Ned Donahue, called me.” Bree swallowed hard, fixed her gaze on Tess, then waited and studied her.
Tess tried not to react, but her emotions were churning. Where the hell was Bree going with this? This was not even close to what Tess had expected. She tightened her grip on her tea and took a long swallow before she forced her gaze back to Bree.
“There were complaints about a judge or judges at the Corazon County Superior Courthouse,” Bree continued. “I don’t know the nature of the complaints or who is named in them. I was asked by Ned to simply be eyes and ears in the courthouse for anything unusual and report to him. And I was sworn to confidentially. I couldn’t tell you. But last night I told Ned I couldn’t keep this secret from you any longer.”
The shock blindsided Tess—Bree had never offered her a clue. Tess struggled to appear calm.
“I agreed for a number of reasons. Some asshole shot you, Tess. And we don’t even know who or why. There were issues here at the courthouse. I wanted those issues resolved, not just for me, but because I wanted you safe.”
“Did you think I’d done something worthy of official complaints and an investigation?” Tess swallowed hard. “I care about you.” She was afraid that she cared about Bree too much. And she’d hoped that Bree felt the same.
Bree shook her head. “Ned wouldn’t reveal the details of the complaints, but he did tell me that you weren’t involved. I’ve never had a doubt.”
Tess struggled with the weight of what Bree had revealed. This was not simply about Bree needing to succeed at her new life, or heal after her divorce. Or from her own point of view, making sure their relationship didn’t cause any professional issues—Tess knew that she was aware enough and mature enough to address any professional problems. She’d been ready to make whatever professional concessions were required in order to find out if she and Bree could make this work…if Bree wanted that. But this. She didn’t know what to feel.
Tess wanted to be mad. To be furious. Even though she understood confidentiality and Bree’s actions in not telling her. She would have done the same. But what Bree had said—her words slammed into Tess. The reason Bree had given.To keep you safe.
