“Hey, we have a situation.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
“You know when I saw it was you I was expecting you were calling to apologize,” Ty drawled, kicking back in his desk chair. “Then when you said you had a situation, I thought you were calling to tell me that you were driving around with Linc’s body in the back of your truck.”
Luke shifted in Ty’s visitors’ chair. The station smelled like stale coffee and old books. “I do owe you an apology and I haven’t killed anyone. Yet.” He dropped Harper’s folder on Ty’s desk. “Harper’s in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
Luke filled him in on the details he knew. Ty gave a low whistle when he’d finished. “Sounds like our girl’s in a bad spot.”
“How can we keep this asshole from getting out?”
“I’m gonna look into it. But Luke, in the eyes of the law, this Perry guy has served his time.” He skimmed the letter on top of the file. “How about you give me some time to run Harper and this guy through the system? I want to read these letters, too. Why don’t you go get us a couple of coffees and meet me back here in half an hour?”
“Just so you know, this guy never gets near her. No matter what.”
“I understand what you’re saying and we’ll cross that bridge when we have to. Now go get some coffee. Two sugars in mine.”
Luke got coffee and, because it was almost time for dinner, a pizza. The late afternoon sun glinted off of the small mounds of snow on Main Street. You couldn’t get more quintessential than Main Street in Benevolence at Christmas. Sunday, the caroling would start in the park near the Christmas tree and wind its way through the neighborhoods before ending at the fire station for hot chocolate and a toy and clothing drive. Balancing the cup carrier on top of the pizza box, Luke nodded a greeting to his high school math teacher and his wife on their way to the second-run theater. He waved hello to Sheila from Remo’s when she whistled at him from across the street.
No one was a stranger here, no matter how often he wished he could be. Walking down the idyllic street under the snowflake lights and garland strung over anything that would hold still gave residents the feeling that nothing bad could ever happen here.
But bad things did happen, even in Benevolence. Luke just hoped he could prevent this one.
When he pushed back into the station, he was greeted with a blast of warm air and silence. Alma, the sheriff’s wife and station office manager, had headed home for the day so Luke let himself in and walked back to Ty’s office.
Ty was just hanging up the phone when Luke walked in.
“Pizza, coffee, and I got to punch you in the face? This must be my lucky day.”
Luke dumped the pie on the desk and rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, about that.”
“What about that?”
Luke plucked his coffee from the carrier and sank into the chair. “I guess I owe you an apology for acting like an asshole.”
“Apology accepted.”
“Well that was easy.”
“We all do stupid things for the women we love.” Ty didn’t give him a chance to argue, he just plowed right on with his drawl. “And speaking of the woman you love, I got some information and I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
“What is it?”
“I found the case file on this Clive Perry. It was pretty bad. James had a houseful of kids who were all beaten, malnourished, and suffering from neglect. Harper lived with him for about eight weeks. According to the report, one night he came home drunk and started wailing on one of the younger ones, and Harper got the others out of the house to a neighbor’s and went back for the little one.”
Luke braced his hands against his knees.
“Anyway, there was a confrontation, and she put herself between him and kid and held steady until the neighbor’s husband busted in with a shotgun and got Perry cornered in the kitchen. Police showed up and Harper was pretty beat up. Broken arm, cuts and bruises. Took her to the hospital and found she had broken ribs from an earlier beating. She told them everything. Got him put away for twelve years.”
“She was just a kid.” Luke stood up to pace Ty’s miniscule office.
“I put in a call to the investigating officer. He’s retired now, but I got him at home. He gave me the name of a rookie cop who was on the scene. Seems she bonded with Harper and the two of them have testified at every one of his parole hearings.”
“Did you talk to her yet? Does she know Harper’s a target?”
“I have not. I was about to when you showed up with Dawson’s.” He eyed up the pizza box.
