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“Ma’am, it’s the police. Can you open the door?”
Flying to her feet, Barbara yanked the door open. Gaping at the police officer, it took her a minute to realize how badly the entire situation had affected her. Tears were streaming down her face. Wiping them away with the back of her hand, she tried to pull herself together. “I don’t know who called you, but thanks for responding so quickly.”
“Dispatch says they got three separate calls. From the look of things, they were right to call.”
“My ex just got a little angry. He has a temper, but I can honestly say he’s never laid a hand on me.”
“Well, if you’ll just give me a few minutes of your time, we’ll do our best to make sure he never does.”
“I don’t want to cause any trouble for him. I just want him to leave me alone.”
“How likely do you think that is to happen?”
“After what I told him today, I think it’s pretty damn good.” Crap, she just cursed at an officer of the law. That was disrespectful. She felt her face color slightly. “Sorry about the cursing. I’ve had a rough day.”
“It’s no problem. Look, I’m really not supposed to do this except under special circumstances, but if you want to give me a statement, I can flag your address in our database as a high-priority target for domestic violence and code the name of the perp as management-level access only.”
Blinking up at him, she mumbled, “I didn’t know something like that was possible.”
“It’s part of the chief’s new strategy for safeguarding families. They figure if we handle the information in a private fashion, women will feel more comfortable disclosing sensitive information.”
Pulling her fingers through her long red locks, Barbara tried to get ahold of her wildly vacillating emotions. “That sounds like a good policy to me. Come on in and we can talk.”
~ Ace ~
Tipping a frozen margarita into Tiffany’s glass, Ace grinned at her question. “If you think I’m looking better, I guess all the clean living and eating three squares a day must be paying off.” Pinching at the loose flesh on his side like he’d seen women do, he intoned sarcastically, “I need to cut it out before I lose my girlish figure.”
Tiffany laughed at his shenanigans. “You’ve got a ways to go before you need to concern yourself with things like that. You really are looking a lot better these days. I’m real proud of you. I hope you know that.”
Smiling indulgently at the woman who’d saved his life, Ace murmured shyly, “Gee, thanks, Mom.”
Tiffany giggled capriciously. “I’m younger than you, so don’t go there.”
“Well, you act like a responsible adult.” Shooting a glance around the clubhouse, he ignored the prospects horse-playing in the corner, the brother playing a shooting game on the big screen, and the ones in the back shooting pool. “Sometimes, I think you’re the only grown-up in my life.”
Her phone rang and she immediately reached for it. “You’re the one who’s been acting like an old man lately.” Glancing at the screen, she cursed under her breath. “It’s Stuart again.” Swiping the screen, she greeted her strange friend politely.
Why Tiffany’s crazy ex-husband kept calling her wasn’t hard to figure out. The man only had two friends in the entire world, and Tiff was one of them. They’d known each other since they were little, and he couldn’t let go of all the history between them. Even though she’d signed the man into a psych ward, he was still as obsessed with her as he’d ever been.
Stuart’s shaky voice was clear enough for Ace to hear from behind the bar. “I’m not right, Tiff. Talking to a therapist all the hours of the day isn’t going to fix that.”
Cradling the phone with two hands, her expression was one of concern and slight annoyance. “You’re fine, Stuart. The doctors say you’re getting better every day.”
“Remember that time I hit you with a rolledup newspaper when you wouldn’t purr? You don’t hit cats with a newspaper. That’s something you only do to dogs. I shouldn’t have done that to my favorite sexy kitty.”
Anxiety edged into her voice. “I’m not talking to you about anything cat related. You’re therapist says it just retards your progress.”
“I know.” He sounded sad and a little despondent to Ace’s ears.
Tiffany’s brow creased. “Are you taking your medication? You’re never going to get discharged if you keep dreaming up creative ways to cheek your meds. You know that, right?”
Stuart’s voice dropped, sounding muffled, as if he was cupping his hand over the speaker. His words came out fast and pressured. “I’ve been devising a way to save up a bunch of the little blue pills. I plan to drop them in the coffee pot at the nurse’s station. When they’re all drowsy and falling asleep, I’m breaking out of this place.”
Tiffany bolted up in her seat. “Stuart! Tell me you’re joking about that.”
Ace somehow doubted the stupid fuck was quite that far gone, but then again, Stuart was unpredictable, stubborn, and irrational. It was a bad combination.
Suddenly, there was some kerfuffling on his end, along with the sound of muffled voices, as if someone was trying to take the phone from him.
