Keely, her head full of what they were saying, felt numb. She didn’t say a word. She only smiled at Carly when she left, and avoided being alone with her mother, who was as quiet as a church. It was so uncharacteristic that Keely felt chilled, as if she’d stepped over her own grave.
* * *
SHE DID TRY, once, to get her mother to open up about her father. Ella changed the subject and went to watch the news on television. She’d started doing that every day, as if she were waiting for some story to break. It made Keely nervous.
Clark came the next night, Saturday, to get her for one of their dates, and he was glum when they drove away from her mother’s house.
“What’s wrong with you?” Keely asked.
He glanced at her. “I wanted to drive us over to San Antonio for dinner and to take in a play. Boone said we couldn’t go.” He frowned, glancing at her. “He says you’re in some sort of trouble, and you aren’t supposed to go out of the county.”
Her breath stopped in her throat. How had Boone known? What did he know? Then she remembered. Hayes Carson was his best friend. They went out together every week to play poker with Garon Grier and Jon Blackhawk, Officer Kilraven’s half brother.
“What’s going on, Keely?” Clark asked. “What does Boone know that I don’t?”
She ground her teeth together. She didn’t want to talk about it, but it would be nice to get some of her worries off her chest. “My father is in some sort of trouble and Sheriff Carson thinks Mama and I might be in danger. He wants money. Apparently he called my mother and threatened her. She won’t tell me what he said.”
“Good Lord!” Clark exclaimed. He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Would that have anything to do with why we’re being followed?”
“Followed?”
“Yes. By a sheriff’s car when I picked you up, and by a Jacobsville police car now that we’re here in town.”
Keely remembered what Hayes had told her. She clutched her purse in her lap. “Sheriff Carson said they’d look out for me,” she confessed. “They think I might be in danger if I go out at night.”
“With me?”
“You could be in the line of fire, too, Clark,” she said, just realizing it. “Maybe we should stop seeing each other….”
“No.” His voice was firm. “I’m not giving up Nellie. This is a good plan. We’ll work around your father. After all, a threat is just a threat. How is he going to hurt you when we’re surrounded by uniforms?” he asked, grinning.
“I don’t know.”
“We’ll be perfectly safe,” he said. “When Boone said I couldn’t take you to San Antonio, I called Nellie and had her drive down here. I’ll leave you at the local library. It stays open until nine o’clock. That will give me a little time with her, if you’re game. You’ll be safe at the library,” he added.
She knew that. The police would be able to watch her through the many glass windows if she sat at a table. “Okay,” she agreed.
He grinned at her. “You’re the nicest girl I know.”
“Thanks, Clark.”
“I mean it.” He hesitated. “You don’t think your own father would really hurt you?” he added, worried.
“Of course not,” she lied.
“That makes me feel better.”
“Will Nellie be safe, driving down here from San Antonio and back, alone at night?” she added, and she was concerned.
“She drives one of those huge SUVs,” he said. “A tank couldn’t dent it. And she has a cell phone that I pay for. She can call for help if she has to.”
“She seems very nice,” she replied.
“She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he murmured, smiling wistfully. “She’s just dynamite in bed, and when I give her presents, she embarrasses me with the gratitude. The diamond earrings made her cry.”
She wondered if Clark realized what he was admitting. The woman was trading sex for expensive gifts, and he thought it was love. She didn’t. She’d seen the greed in Nellie’s eyes when Clark had talked to her at the restaurant. Men were so dim, she thought sadly. Even Boone, going out with that traitorous woman who’d left him in the lurch when he was wounded overseas. He’d taken her back in a heartbeat.
“You’re very quiet,” Clark remarked. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have made that remark about Nellie being hot. I guess you think of sex outside marriage as a sin.”
“I do,” she confessed.
“Our dad never thought of it like that,” he returned. “He enjoyed women. He never remarried, but he sure played the field. Winnie, though, didn’t approve of his lifestyle. She’s a lot like you.” He glanced at her. “She didn’t like Nellie at all.” He grimaced. “I guess Nellie doesn’t appeal to women,” he added. “She has a lot of trouble at work. Her coworkers think she gets too many tips. They say she plays on men’s vanity just so they’ll leave her big tips. Ridiculous!”
It wasn’t, but Keely wasn’t going to say so. With any luck, when Clark spent enough time with his pretty girlfriend, he’d learn the truth for himself. If Winnie didn’t like the girl, it meant something. Winnie loved people, and she wasn’t possessive about her brothers.
“You don’t mind staying here alone?” he asked when he pulled up in front of the library. He’d called Nellie on the way there.
She smiled. “Of course not. Go have fun.”
He bent and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re sweet. I’ll make it up to you. How about some emerald earrings? I know you love emeralds…”
She frowned. “I don’t want anything from you, Clark,” she said, puzzled. “You’re my friend!”
He looked as if she’d knocked him in the head. “But you love emeralds,” he persisted.
She reached up and kissed his cheek. “If I want any, I’ll buy them. One day,” she added, laughing. “Isn’t that Nellie?” she asked, indicating a big green SUV that had just pulled up next to
