“You don’t know if the person who did that to your car is Rene’s murderer,” her mother said. “But in my mind, it doesn’t matter. Ford will figure it out. We have to now.”
“We all have to come together.” There was no other way. “And I think you should stay here now. No one will consider coming after you on this property. Clay will know. It will put a wrinkle in their plans at the very least.”
“Or make them more aggressive,” her mother said. “I’m not sure that is any better.”
“Let them be sloppy,” Gale said. “Come onto the property. We can handle it here. All of us can. Even you, Mom. You shoot a shotgun better than most.”
Her mother laughed and patted her on the cheek. “I haven’t shot one in a long time, but that doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t if I need to. Let me know if either of you needs anything else. I’m assuming you’re staying the night, Gale?”
“Tonight,” she said. “Rory can’t be alone.”
And it’s not like she had to be embarrassed that her family might think she was having sex. All she was doing was playing nurse tonight. No one else should do it other than her, but she knew damn well her family would.
Her mother left, she pulled the food out and set it on the table, then got a glass down for her wine. No wine glasses in the place, but it wasn’t as if she cared. She was about ready to chug it straight from the bottle.
Five minutes into their dinner, Rory said, “This is great. Better than my mom’s.”
She laughed softly. “Does your mother know what happened today?”
“No. I’ll have to tell her something soon. I try not to keep secrets. She knows about the other threats, but this was more than a threat.”
“It’s an attempt,” she said.
“That’s right. They failed.”
“Thanks to your quick thinking and driving ability.”
“If I hadn’t been a cop I’m not sure I would have been able to calmly figure out what to do and the best way to do it. Catching up to traffic had been rough, but thankfully there wasn’t much. I was running out of time and knew it.”
She reached her hand over to grasp his. “You did good. It makes me sick thinking of how much worse you could have gotten hurt and I’m glad it didn’t happen.”
“Me too.”
They ate more, Gale taking a big gulp of her wine. One glass would be enough, even if she wanted to drink more.
“Are my brothers coming back tonight?”
“No,” he said. “I’ll talk to them tomorrow. Ford is looking into things and talking to the State Police. Clay said he has his ear to the ground to see if there is talk going on about what happened.”
“No one would be stupid enough to brag about it.” Did she think it’d make the rounds? Sure. But not this quickly.
Nothing more than he had an accident. Ford had said they were keeping it quiet that the brakes were cut.
If it got out, that would lead right back to the police report or someone in the Sheriff's Department.
She didn’t want to think it was happening under her brother’s nose. But she also knew that anything was possible.
“I’d think they wouldn’t,” he said. “But after talking to Detective Denning, he admitted he wasn’t doing his job.”
“Can you really take his word for it?”
“Not in a court of law,” he said, lifting his head, then reaching for more mashed potatoes. She was glad that he was eating well.
“True.”
“Everything he said is recorded. Ford and Clay have it.”
“Send it to me, please,” she said. He reached for his phone on the table, but she stopped him. “Later. Let’s just eat and rest.”
