“He wanted to.” She couldn’t say more. Jock had gotten her shirt halfway off and then pushed her away, revolted. Her pride wouldn’t let her admit that to Hayes.
“He was prevented?”
She nodded. Her green eyes looked into his. “Do you know where he is? I mean, he isn’t going to come here and make trouble for Mama and me, is he?”
“I don’t know, Keely. He’s on the run from a new charge, one he shares with your father. Don’t ask. I can’t tell you,” he added when she started to speak. “Suffice it to say that we can put him away for life if we can catch him.”
“And my father?” she prodded gently.
He bit his full lower lip. “He’ll probably get the same sentence. I’m sorry. He’s done some bad things since he left you here. Some very bad things. People have died.”
Her heart sank right into her shoes. She remembered her father laughing, buying her a puppy and taking her around with him in the game park, teasing her about her affection for the big mountain lion, Hilton. He hadn’t been a bad man in those days, and he’d been affectionate with her, and always kind. The man she remembered at the last had been very different, with violent mood swings. Jock had taken over his life. And Keely’s. She’d realized, belatedly, that her father had probably saved her life by bringing her back to Jacobsville.
“He wasn’t a bad man when we had the game park,” she told Hayes. “He had a nice girlfriend who took me to church and he never teased me about it. She was also our bookkeeper. In those days, he was religious, in his own way. He loved the animals. They loved him, too. He could walk right in with the tiger and the mountain lion and pet them.” She laughed, remembering. “They purred…” Her face fell. “What if Jock comes here?” she asked, and she was really afraid. The man had terrified her for weeks. Her father had been so far out of reality that he hadn’t even intervened.
Hayes’s face hardened. “I’ll lock him up so tight he’ll never get out,” he promised.
She relaxed a little. “He was vicious to me.”
“You were lucky he didn’t kill you.”
She nodded.
“We’ll all keep a watch on you,” he promised, rising to his feet. “I’ve worked it out with my deputies, and the Jacobsville police will increase patrols by your office at night when you work late. Call dispatch when you start home and let them know you’re on the road. We’ll watch your back.”
“I will. Thanks, Sheriff Hayes,” she added when they were at the front door.
“I’m sorry about the way things worked out for your father,” he told her abruptly. “I know how it is. My only brother was an addict. He died of an overdose.”
She did know. Everybody did. “I’m sorry, for you, too.”
“Keep your doors locked.”
“I will.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
She watched him drive away. Then she locked the door and sat down, heavily, giving way to tears.
* * *
HER MOTHER SOBERED up the next day and became very quiet. Keely cooked and cleaned, equally silent. Neither of them mentioned the financial situation. Her mother was very watchful and she locked doors. But when Keely asked why, she would not reply.
Carly came over the next Friday night to take Ella out bar crawling, but Ella was sober and didn’t want to go.
They were in the next room, talking softly, but Keely was listening and could hear them above the soft noise of the dishwasher.
“Are you going to tell Keely?” Carly was asking.
“I suppose I’ll have to,” Ella said tautly. “I hoped it would never come to this,” she added brokenly. “I thought it was all over. I prayed he’d die, that he’d stay away forever.”
“I know how you feel,” Carly said. “But it’s too late for that. You talked to the sheriff, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I told him everything I know. He said he’d told Keely that she and I might be in danger and that she had to tell him if she heard from her father.” She hesitated. “She loved her father. I know she still does, in spite of everything. She might not tell anybody if he called.”
“He isn’t the man she loved,” Carly said tightly. “He’d kill her in a heartbeat if she got in his way. And that Jock man, he’d kill anybody without a reason. He’s heartless.”
“Yes,” Ella said, and shuddered. “He came with Brent to bring Keely here. He wouldn’t let Brent out of his sight for a second, and they didn’t stay long.”
“I remember,” Carly replied. “He was the scariest man I ever met. He made my skin crawl when he looked at me.”
“They can’t come back here,” Ella said forcefully. “I don’t care how much trouble they’re in. I can’t give them money I don’t have!” She coughed. “He wanted me to sell the house!”
“It’s all you’ve got left, you can’t do that!”
“I’m not going to,” Ella said. “But he threatened—”
“You told Sheriff Carson. They’ll all watch out for Keely.”
Keely felt her heart stop. Had one of the men threatened her? Surely not her father!
“Jock was in the military,” Ella said dully. “Brent said he’d been in some top secret pacification program. He knows how to torture people and he likes it. Brent said he still had a yen for Keely, despite what happened to her.”
“What did he mean, what happened to her?” Carly wondered aloud.
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.” There was a long pause. “So many secrets. I’ve kept them from Keely and Brent’s kept them from me. Apparently Keely’s keeping some of her own. So many secrets. Oh God, I need a drink!”
“We can’t go out,” Carly said at once. “Not now.”
“I had a little whiskey left,” Ella said wistfully. “I don’t know where it is.”
“You’re better off without it,” Carly said. “You have to think of the consequences. Now, of all times, you need to think clearly!”
There was another pause.
