Page 45 of Jasmine Street Blues

“I suspect your stepdaughter and I have some traits in common,” Loran whispered. “I know what it’s like to be afraid, to always be ready to run. She’s still so young. Sounds like she’s found a great place for a while, the way Seawolf Beach has been a great place for me.” For a while. “But as long as she’s on the run she’s limited in what she can do with her life. Cash jobs, cash rentals. She can’t enroll in school or get her GED, or get a decent job with a reputable company. She can’t…”

“Fine,” Mac snapped. “I get it. I need to…” He looked at her hard. “You said we. Was that a slip of the tongue? With Henry showing up I figured you’d be out of here like a shot. Isn’t that what the van is for? Load it up with as much as you can and just drive away?”

She wouldn’t lie to him any more. “That was the plan.”

“And now?”

“I’ll help you, if you’ll have me. I don’t want to get in the way, but…”

He leaned over and silenced her with a kiss. She loved the feel of his mouth on hers, loved the way she got lost in it. Did he get lost, too?

Mac pulled back and placed a big, gentle hand on her cheek. “You are never in the way. I haven’t needed anyone for a very long time, but now here you are and I need you, in so many ways.”

I need you, too, she wanted to say. But she didn’t.

He got out of the car, and she did the same. When they met on the sidewalk, he took her hand in his and held on tight. “You go ahead and open your studio. I’ll…”

“I can’t open the studio until I’m sure Henry isn’t hanging around. I thought about it, I’d planned to, but with this news about Carrie… I can’t. I’ll ask Olive to put a sign on the front door that I’m closed, and if she asks I’ll tell her I’m sick.” Another lie. “No, I won’t do that. I’ll just tell her I’ll explain later. She’ll understand.”

“I’m going back to the station to do a little research. I need to know if there’s another stepfather, or two, that Carrie should be concerned about. I can’t tell her she’s in the clear until I’m sure she is.”

“I’ll go home and…”

“Pack?” he interrupted.

“Maybe,” she admitted. “I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you stay here and keep Bubbles company? No one will think to look for you at my place, except maybe Olive. You can relax, take it easy.” They walked into the house. When the door was closed behind them, Mac wrapped his arms around her. “Stick around, think about what it would be like to stay. Not just for a day or two, but for as long as it suits you. Stop running, Loran. Don’t run from me. Stay.”

Stay. Could she? Did she dare?

* * *

Mac settled himself at his desk, in front of the computer he avoided as much as possible. He wanted to be on the street, talking to people, keeping order in his own small way even though not much happened on the streets of Seawolf Beach.

He’d run for county sheriff in the next election, if he didn’t hate paperwork so much. If he found Carrie, if that quest was done, maybe he’d run anyway. The current sheriff was getting old and lazy. The county could use a shake-up.

He found Belle, Florida on the map, and did a little research. The town wasn’t much to brag about. There was one very old motel. Was that where Carrie lived? There were two restaurants, in addition to a handful of fast food joints. One looked to be pretty nice and had a solid four stars. The other was a dump. Two stars. That was likely where Carrie worked. He could call the sheriff of that county and ask a few questions, but that wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t want to spook Carrie and send her running again, and besides, he wanted to be the one to find her, to tell her she didn’t need to run ever again.

Once he had a good feel for the place Carrie had been living, he had no choice but to turn to Kylie. He knew what she’d once been like, and how she’d ended up, but he didn’t know much about the years between their divorce and her death. It wasn’t as if she’d been likely to confess anything to him about her life before she’d died. Or after.

If he’d been more involved, if he hadn’t given up, maybe he would’ve heard sooner about her overdose. He could’ve gotten to Carrie before she ran.

From him? Or from someone else?

It didn’t take long to find a record of a second marriage, which had taken place about the time Carrie’s birthday present was returned as undeliverable. Less than a year after the wedding, Eddie Marshall had done a little time in jail for spousal abuse, but Mac didn’t find any mention of a divorce. The guy’s record was filled with petty and violent crimes that had seen him in and out of jail all his adult life. He would say Kylie knew how to pick ‘em, but what did that say about him?

He wanted to believe that when he’d married Kylie she’d been different, a better person, but he no longer thought that was true. He’d just been gullible. Blind, even.

Marshall wouldn’t be able to answer any questions. Three years ago he’d been shot while robbing a convenience store.

This was the kind of man Carrie might reasonably be afraid of. Relief washed through Mac. With Marshall in the picture, it seemed likely that was the stepfather she’d run from. It pissed him off that Kylie had brought that man into the child’s life.

No matter who’d spooked Carrie, no matter which stepfather she was running from, she had to know the truth. She wouldn’t be free until she did.

When that was done he did a new search, on Loran Teller. That was the name Henry had used for her, Teller. It wasn’t easy to find, but a couple of pages in there it was; an online group whose only purpose was to compare notes on Loran. He read a few of the older posts and then got out. What they accused her of, the ridiculous claims, the hate… no wonder she didn’t stay anywhere very long.

He left the office, after talking to Drew and putting him in charge for a couple of days, with instructions to call the sheriff — old and lazy or not — if anything more than the mundane popped up. When Drew asked where he was going, Mac told him.