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“Dwight Jones,” Lorna Bea’s father said stiffly.
“Is your daughter here?” the mother asked.
Betsy piped up. “Her name’s Lorna Bea.”
Her father’s fingers drummed faster. “What do you want with her?”
Lorna’s stomach flip flopped again. She wanted to play with the kids next door. Cade was about her age and she’d always wanted a little sister.
But her dad would probably scare them off like he did other kids she’d met. And if they told him what she’d done, she’d be in trouble.
“Actually, we wanted to thank her,” Betsy’s mama said. “Betsy wandered off earlier and your daughter found her and brought her back.”
“Is that so?” her father asked.
“Yeah, I felled in the shed and she got me out and gave me a piggyback ride,” Betsy said.
“We had search teams out looking,” Betsy’s father said. “We owe her a big thanks.”
Lorna Bea wanted to run over and say hey, but Nana kept her arm tightly around Lorna Bea’s shoulders like she did when she meant business.
Her father’s jaw hardened as he looked at her. “Lorna Bea, these people want to thank you.”
Nana gave her an encouraging little push and Lorna Bea walked over, although judging from her father’s look she knew not to say too much.
“We are so grateful to you, sweetie,” the woman said, with tears in her eyes. “Thank you so much for rescuing Betsy.”
“Yes, thank you,” the father said. “We’d like to do something to repay you.”
Lorna Bea smiled up at them, especially the mother. She had a sweet-sounding voice and kind eyes and made her wonder what it would be like to have a mother who hugged her like Betsy’s mama had hugged Betsy when they’d played outside earlier.
“My daughter doesn’t need payment,” Lorna Bea’s daddy said. “But thank you for offering.”
The couple stood there for another minute as if waiting to be invited inside. The clock ticked in the background. Lorna Bea watched as one minute passed, then another. The room’s air conditioner whirred noisily.
But her daddy said nothing.
“Can she come over and play with us?” Betsy finally asked.
Her father folded his jittery fingers into his fists. “Not now, honey. We’re about to have dinner. But thanks for stopping by.” Then he closed the door in their faces.
Lorna Bea bit down her lip as her father snatched her arm and yanked her toward the table. “I told you to stay inside,” he said sharply.
“But, Daddy, I saw people looking for Betsy, then I spotted her. She was lost,” Lorna Bea said, her voice almost as tiny as Betsy’s now. “It was getting dark and I couldn’t just leave her out there. Could I?”
Especially with that strange man in black in the woods. Although, she didn’t dare mention him or her father would go ape-crazy.
An awkward second rattled between them. An odd look flashed in his eyes, then he heaved a breath. “No, I guess you couldn’t. But you are not to go to their house, do you hear me?”
Lorna Bea nodded and blinked back tears. She wanted a friend so bad she almost let loose and screamed at him, asking why she couldn’t go next door and play with them like normal kids did.
But Nana looked worried and gave a tiny shake of her head in a warning, so she clamped her teeth over her lip and said nothing.
NINETEEN
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ATLANTA AND CROOKED CREEK
Derrick had had a killer of a day. He’d gotten nothing out of Radcliff.
