In Seconds (Bulletproof #2)(67)
Author: Brenda Novak

That was a possibility. Lord knew anyone would be hesitant to return to the situation going on here.

“Let me know when she arrives.”

“Will do,” Campbell promised.

Myles looked at the clock. He needed to get back and relieve his deputy, who had a young family waiting eagerly for him. He was on his way. But he was close to where Marley was staying, so he decided to swing by and pick her up first.

Music blared from the house as he approached the front door. He had to ring the doorbell three times before he managed to rouse anyone, but eventually Alexis, Elizabeth’s sixteen-year-old sister, answered. Dressed in a spaghetti-strap T-shirt and the shortest shorts he’d ever seen, she smiled up at him as if her chest wasn’t all but falling out of her shirt. “Hey, Sheriff.”

Myles avoided looking anywhere below the neck. As far as he was concerned, she was still a child. “Hi, there. Looks like you’ve gotten some sun.” Her red face contrasted sharply with the circles of white around her eyes, giving her an owl-like appearance.

“A little.” She pressed her cheek to show him just how bad it was. “I spent the morning on the chaise. I didn’t realize I was getting burned because it wasn’t that hot.”

“Some aloe vera should help.”

She shrugged away the suggestion. “I’m not worried about it. It’ll turn into a tan by tomorrow.”

“Hope so. Hey, can you grab Marley for me?”

A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I was afraid you were going to ask me that. She’s not here. The girls went to Kalispell with my mom.”

“For what?”

“Shopping.”

Marley had left town without telling him? She knew damn well that she was supposed to ask. She’d say she “forgot” to call—how many times had he heard that excuse?—but she’d probably decided to ask forgiveness instead of permission. She always wanted to go with Elizabeth’s mom. Those excursions meant more to her than any others. He suspected being with Janet reminded her of being with her own mother.

Wondering whether to leave word that Janet should bring Marley home, since she’d taken her out of town without his permission, or come back and pick her up, he cleared his throat. “What are they shopping for?”

“School clothes.”

“But it’s only June. School just got out.”

“My mom starts early,” Alexis said with a laugh. “And I think they wanted to get away, have a girls’ day out. They talked about seeing a movie, too.”

That meant it could be late when they returned. He’d have to ground Marley for disobeying him, but no doubt she’d think it was worth the sacrifice. “Why didn’t you go?” he asked, still trying to figure out what to do about this.

“I already had plans with my boyfriend.”

That would explain Jett Busath’s truck in the driveway. He and Alexis had been an item since Christmas. Their relationship had so captured Marley’s imagination that it’d been all she could talk about for weeks.

“Your father home?” Myles wanted to alert him to what was going on, tell him there were people running around who’d busted out of prison and were very dangerous, but he suspected Henry was gone, and Alexis confirmed it.

“No, he’s on a business trip. That’s why Mom wanted to get out. He’s been traveling, and she’s been stuck here doing laundry and dishes.”

“I see. So you’re babysitting?”

“No, my brothers are at camp this week.”

Alexis was home alone, wearing next to nothing and spending the evening with a boy who, at sixteen, probably had more hormones than brains. Myles’s father-instinct was buzzing like crazy, urging him to warn her to be careful. He knew her parents would freak out if she got pregnant. They were hoping she’d win a scholarship for softball, had big plans for their oldest daughter. But as protective as he felt toward everyone in the community, especially Elizabeth’s family because he knew them so well and they had so much influence over Marley, it wasn’t his place to get involved.

“What time will the girls be home, do you know?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No. Sorry.”

Resting his hands on his utility belt, he turned to look out over the front yard. He liked this property. The cabin was more modern than rustic, but the convenience of having a big, gourmet kitchen and plenty of bathrooms added to its appeal. The Rogers family got to live out in the wilds without missing any of the conveniences of city life—except when it snowed. Then it was hard getting out to the main road, but they always managed.

“If I know Marley and Elizabeth, they’re going to call you up and beg to have Marley stay over again,” Alexis said. “Why don’t you just pick her up in the morning?”

Myles preferred she come home tonight. He hated having her out of his sight when there were dangerous men floating around. But after what he’d learned about Vivian—or Laurel—maybe it was for the best if Marley wasn’t at home while he tried to track down the fugitives. Surely she’d be safer here, sequestered in the mountains with her friend’s family, than sleeping next door to the woman The Crew had come to kill.

“Okay, that’s fine,” he said. “Tell her to call me when she gets home, and we’ll make arrangements for tomorrow.”

A voice issued from somewhere inside the house. “Alexis? Where are you?”

Jett was growing impatient. “I’ll let you get back to your, um, company,” Myles said.

“Thanks.” She sent him a fleeting smile and closed the door.

Trudie’s Grocery was a mom-and-pop establishment with elevator music playing in the background, the kind of place that sold homemade pie and jellies and reminded L.J. of the store his grandparents used to own when they were alive. He lived with them during the summers between his fifth-and seventh-grade years. Those six months before he went into foster care were the happiest of his life, so he liked the feel of this place, the neat rows of cans and snacks, the freezer section at the back with the ice cream and frozen foods. He used to help stock that stuff.

This was one of the rare occasions he’d been away from Ink since Ink was transferred to the California Men’s Colony and became his cellie. Because he really needed the break, he took his time meandering through the aisles before approaching the birdlike woman perched on a stool behind the cash register.

Preoccupied by a show on the small TV behind the counter, she barely looked at him. “That all for tonight, honey?”