The Single Dad's Redemption (Aspen Creek Crossroads Book 3) Read online

  Maybe Bess had been truthful... It was possible that she’d fallen.

  But it wasn’t likely.

  And she either didn’t want help and would be embarrassed if a deputy stopped by—or she was afraid to ask. But if Keeley called the sheriff’s office and law enforcement showed up, would the poor woman suffer even greater consequences? And what about Bobby? Or the mysterious husband?

  Keeley started to pray.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Keeley parked in front of Dad’s house, her thoughts troubled. “That sure was strange, with those creepy-looking guys loitering outside the bar and staring at us, and the way Bess was acting.”

  “Seems like a rough area.”

  “During the day it’s just a sad, run-down part of town with litter and junker cars everywhere. At night, with the rough kind of people who hang around that bar, it’s scary. Thanks so much for coming along.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “I just wish Bobby didn’t have to live there. What kind of environment is that for raising a teenage boy?”

  “He’s a good kid, so someone must be trying to raise him right.” Connor flashed a smile in the darkness. “I suspect you’ve had a big part in it.”

  “I just wish I could do more.” She stared out into the darkness. “And despite what Bess said, I’m still wondering if I should call the sheriff’s office tonight for a welfare check. She didn’t look good at all.”

  Connor opened his car door partway but made no move to get out. “True, but it sounds like she wouldn’t thank you for it. And she’ll likely tell a deputy the same thing she told you—that she fell.”

  “Those bruises were nasty, and I don’t believe her story about falling.” Keeley shuddered. “Though I’ve smelled alcohol on her breath many times before, so I suppose it’s possible. Still, what if someone is in her house, terrorizing her?”

  “I’d guess she would’ve seemed far more nervous or scared, but I’m no expert. Anyway, it’s pretty clear that she has little money and no worldly goods worth stealing. Why bother with her house when there are McMansions a few blocks away?”

  “Unless the stranger was a Hannibal Lecter type,” Keeley shot back darkly. “And what was that about a husband? I’ve never seen any sign of one in all the times I’ve picked Bobby up or dropped him off, and he’s never said a word about having an uncle here in town. He was agitated today, though. So what’s going on?”

  “Maybe Bess and her husband were separated long ago and he came back. Or maybe he travels a lot.” Connor shrugged. “Or she could have a new boyfriend staying over.”

  “Either way, I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight unless I call the sheriff’s office,” Keeley said on a long sigh. “If a deputy shows up at Bess’s door, I just hope she doesn’t blame it on Bobby, thinking he’d said something to us. It would be much harder to help him if he wasn’t allowed to work at the store.”

  Connor studied her for a moment with a hint of a smile. “You are one amazing woman,” he said after a long pause. “If I was in trouble I’d definitely want you in my corner.”

  The dark interior of her SUV suddenly seemed smaller, more intimate, and she found herself transfixed by the long black lashes shading his silvery blue eyes. The lean, strong lines of his face. And his mouth...

  Oh, my.

  The more time she spent with him, the more compelling he was, and the more dangerous to her fragile heart.

  She’d never felt this kind of connection with someone, had never found her wayward thoughts drifting toward wedding bells and babies and forever-afters. Not one man in her life had ever come close.

  She’d known him such a short time that those thoughts were foolish. And yet—she’d seen how caring and concerned he was with Bobby, how kind he was with her irascible father. How he’d risked his life in the river for a boy he barely knew.

  Just once, before he walked out of her life, she hoped for a single kiss. A long, mind-blowing kiss that she could hold in her heart and remember forever.

  She jerked herself back to reality. “Uh, thanks for letting me ramble on for so long. It really helped just having someone listen.”

  Connor stepped out of the vehicle and braced an arm on the roof. “Anytime. You’re a wonderful person, Keeley. Don’t ever doubt it,” he murmured softly. “Keep safe. And sleep well.”

  And with that, he was gone.

  * * *

  Hoping for even larger crowds at the store on Saturday, Keeley had asked Connor to come to the store instead of painting another cabin.

  But as he entered the store through the back door, she met him with a worried frown. “I did call the sheriff’s office last night,” she murmured. “I kept seeing Bess’s bruises and I was worried about her.”

  The bells over the front door of the shop jangled. She glanced over her shoulder toward the front of the store then lowered her voice. “And then I called the sheriff’s office again this morning to ask about her, but the receptionist wouldn’t tell me anything because of ‘privacy issues.’ And now Bobby is late for work.”

  “Yoo-hoo,” a woman’s voice trilled. “Is anyone here? I’d like to buy the children’s rocker in the front window.”

  Connor lowered his voice. “Do you want me to go check on him?”

  She glanced at the clock above the workbench and tossed her car keys to him. “If he isn’t here in a half hour, yes. You could just say you’ve come to give him a ride to work.”

  The bells over the front door jangled again and he heard more footsteps coming in.

  “In the meantime, you cover the cash register and I’ll help the customers. Okay?”

  He nodded and followed her into the store, where three customers were wandering through the aisles, looking at the displays.

  One of them, a woman with tight gray curls and a shape like a chest of drawers, eyed him with dawning recognition and scurried over to intercept him as he headed for the front counter.

  “Why, you’re the young man who saved the Gordon boy during the flood. Connor something. Connor...” She turned. “Marge! Remember that story about the flood here in town? This is the hero who saved the senator’s boy!”

  Her companion, who was as spindly and tall as the first woman was round, came over with a smile and offered her hand. “It isn’t often my sister and I get to meet someone like you. The article in our Chicago paper said you actually risked your life for that boy.”

  He shifted uncomfortably, at a loss for words, and thought longingly of the pails of paint back at the cabin. There it was quiet and peaceful, with just the soft rustle of the breezes through the pines.

  Here in town, someone stopped him in the street or came up to him in the store every now and then, and he never knew what to say. He hadn’t been heroic at all. He’d automatically reacted to the situation, without a thought.

  The people who had heard about his prison experience, thanks to someone named Millie or the newspaper article, and rudely asked questions about that, were a little harder to take.

  “Connor,” Keeley called from across the store. “Could you see if that gentleman could use some help?”

  She was giving him a knowing look and sending a lifeline, which he gladly took. “Thanks, ladies.” He nodded at them and headed for the man studying the display case of antique jewelry with a baffled expression.

  He looked up, his forehead furrowed. “I was here yesterday midafternoon, and I’m very interested in several garnet pieces—an ornate bracelet of Bohemian garnets, earrings and a heavy gold ring. From the 1800s, the tags said. But they aren’t here. Were they sold?”

  “I wasn’t here yesterday. Keeley?”

  “I heard.” She joined them at the display case. “Are you sure they aren’t there? I would remember selling them, because I actually wished I could afford to keep t
hem, as they were so beautiful. They came from the estate of a woman I admired very much.”

  She unlocked and opened the sliding doors at the back of the case and pulled out one tray after another until she’d searched each one, then sank back on her heels. “This is unbelievable. The case is always locked. I was the only one working here yesterday, so I had the only key with me all day.”

  The door bells jangled again, but she didn’t look up. “It isn’t like I ever have diamonds here, but that jewelry was the most expensive I’ve carried, and the three pieces easily totaled at least two grand. Probably more, if I’d listed them on an eBay auction.”

  The customer’s face fell as he turned to leave. “They would have been a perfect gift for my wife. But thanks anyway.”

  “Another theft, I take it?”

  At the all-too-familiar voice, Connor stepped aside as the deputy came forward to lean a beefy arm on the glass case.

  “I guess so,” Keeley said with a sad smile. “I can’t believe it. I’m always so careful.”

  “The front and back doors were locked when you came in this morning?”

  “Locked tight. The only main-floor window that can be opened is in the back, and it was locked, as well. I know, because I opened it a tad when I got here.”

  “So it was either an inside job or a customer.”

  “Look, Todd. I—”

  “Okay, okay.” Todd held up both hands to her, palms out. “Far be it from me to suggest an inside job. Because you absolutely know that couldn’t be true.”

  His gaze slid over to Connor and held. “Quite an operation you have going for yourself, buddy. But you are going to slip up and you are going to get caught. Red-handed. And then I promise that there won’t be any early releases coming your way.”

  Keeley crossed her arms across her chest. “Barring your instant assumption, do you have any leads at all? Since this is the fifth theft in town that I know about, surely you must have found something.”

  Todd bristled. “I’ve stopped by every store to warn the owners. I’ve alerted the consignment stores and pawnshops throughout the county. And if a store doesn’t have surveillance cameras, I’m recommending they be installed.”

  “Fingerprints?”

  “I’ve tried, but nothing has turned up. So either this is someone who has never been arrested and fingerprinted, or he’s been wearing gloves.” Todd waved everyone away from the jewelry case. “Don’t touch anything. I’ll go get my fingerprint kit and hope that this time I can find a match.”

  * * *

  By the time Todd finished lifting prints from the jewelry case and the shelf where the pieces had been displayed, a small crowd of tourists and their children had gathered to gawk over his shoulder.

  “That’s about it,” he said, standing to gather his supplies. “You folks can go on about your business.”

  “I need to talk to you,” Keeley said quietly. “Could you come to the back room with me?”

  “Are you gonna scold me again? If so, I think I just got an emergency call out to someplace else.”

  “No scolding.” Leaving Connor to watch the store, she led the way to the back room away from the customers. “Last night we took Bobby home after an evening at the park, and I’ve been worried ever since.”

  Todd frowned. “We? As in you and Rafferty?”

  “I shouldn’t have to discuss my personal life, Todd. But, yes—with Connor Rafferty. I asked Bobby if he’d like to join me for supper, and I gave him a fistful of tickets so he could go on the rides. But when we took him home, his aunt Bess was secretive and she had some pretty big bruises. And now Bobby is two hours late for work and he’s never late. I’m worried about them both.”

  Todd hitched a shoulder, clearly uncomfortable. “I can’t really talk to you about it.”

  Keeley paced to the far end of the room then returned and threw her hands in the air. “I hit this roadblock every time. Hospital. School. Social workers. I understand the privacy laws. I really do. But I’m trying to help that poor kid, and no one makes it easier. As far as I can tell, no one is interceding on his behalf. I honestly wish I had custody of him so he’d have a better life.”

  Todd pursed his lips and seemed to carefully think through his response. “What if someone had a guardian—or parent—who hypothetically had something like, say...serious diabetes and heart disease. Who is maybe known for low blood sugars—where she’s sometimes nearly comatose and has to go off to the hospital. Or ends up there with angina.”

  “I already knew Bess is diabetic, with heart disease,” Keeley said quietly. “I didn’t realize she was that bad.”

  “I’m only talking hypothetically, remember,” Todd admonished her. “And only because I know how much you’ve been trying to help Bobby.”

  “So a deputy did visit her last night?” Keeley prompted.

  “On a drive-by security check, around two in the morning. He thought it strange that she was sitting on her front steps in the dark, so he went up to check.”

  “Oh, no,” Keeley breathed.

  “At first he thought she was drunk, because her voice was slurred and she seemed really foggy. But then he saw her Medical Alert bracelet and he called the EMTs. Apparently she’d really bottomed out, so they took her to the ER and got her blood sugar back up.”

  “But she had bruises before then. I saw them. Can’t you do something about it?”

  “Not if she denies being assaulted and there aren’t any witnesses. The deputy asked her, and she said she’d fallen on the stairs yesterday.”

  But when Todd wouldn’t quite meet her eyes, Keeley knew he didn’t believe that story, either. “Was anyone else in the house last night? She wouldn’t let us in yesterday evening. She said something about her husband being asleep inside.”

  “In all the calls I’ve had to that house, I’ve rarely seen any sign of Rafe. He doesn’t often show up in town, but apparently he is staying at her house now.”

  “That worries me. A lot.”

  “I would definitely stay away from there if I were you. It was quiet on my shift yesterday, so I went through the records clear back to our precomputer days. His name brought up a list of old charges as long as your arm—most for domestic abuse. He’s had several convictions and served time in prison.”

  Keeley shuddered. “It’s a shame he isn’t still there. Poor Bess.”

  Todd sighed heavily. “But he won’t be going back unless she tells the truth. If he was brought to court, she could deny everything and the case would be tossed.”

  “Maybe she’s afraid he’ll kill her in revenge if it comes to that.”

  Todd frowned. “Speaking of retaliation, the bartender at the Pine Cone called us. Rafe was there at closing time, and you wouldn’t want to hear the choice names he’s been calling you because you showed up at the house yesterday and ‘interfered’ in his life.”

  “All I did was talk to Bess,” Keeley protested.

  “He’s a violent man, Keeley. No one you want to mess with—not in any way.”

  “But Bobby—”

  “Is not your responsibility. His social worker is working on finding a temporary foster-care placement, and we’ll be patrolling the area around that house very carefully.”

  “You think you can watch Rafe every minute in the meantime? I doubt it.”

  “Don’t worry about him. He ended up serving only part of his last sentence thanks to a lenient judge. But one false step—that we can prove—and he’ll be back behind bars to finish his time, plus whatever new convictions he racks up.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to leave. Just promise me that you’ll stay clear of this whole situation.”

  She offered only a vague nod, but after Todd left through the back door of the shop, she bowed her head in silent prayer.

  Pleas
e, Lord, protect Bobby and his aunt, and keep them safe. And guide me to do whatever it takes to help them. In Jesus’s name, I pray.

  Whatever Todd thought, she knew that random drive-bys by a deputy would not prevent Rafe from another episode of domestic abuse, and someday, Bess and Bobby might not survive.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Keeley settled into her usual pew and savored the comforting scents of burning candles and the lemon-oil polish that gave the old oak pews a rich golden glow. This morning—Praise the Lord—the sun was shining, casting jewel-toned splashes of color across the sanctuary.

  She glanced around. All of the regular members were here, as usual, as well as a scattering of tourists who were probably in town for the Antique Walk events.

  She couldn’t see Bobby anywhere, and her heart fell.

  The church was midway between her apartment over the store and Bess’s house, so each of them walked to the service on Sunday mornings and he usually sat beside her. He hadn’t shown up at the store yesterday, either. Had his uncle Rafe made him stay home? Was he all right?

  A flutter of murmurs rippled through the congregation and, a split second later, a little shiver of awareness coursed through her. From the corner of her eye she saw a tall man in a black oxford shirt and Levi’s pause at the end of her pew. “Do you mind?”

  “Connor! Of course I don’t mind. If I’d known you were coming I would have waited for you outside.”

  “Apparently your dad didn’t want to come. I went up to the house and asked him, though.”

  “I’m afraid that will never happen,” she whispered back. “He’s rarely set foot in a church since Mom died, but I never quit hoping.”

  She tipped her head toward the front of the church, where a towering stained-glass window depicted Jesus as a shepherd surrounded by a flock of sheep. “Isn’t that beautiful? The church was built in 1879 and the stained-glass windows are all original. When I was little, I spent most of my time here just looking at the pretty windows.”

  A hush fell over the congregation as the organist began a hauntingly beautiful rendition of “Beautiful Savior” followed by a soloist singing “Amazing Grace.”