Safely Home (11 page)

Nick shook his head yes and leaned forward. “But Aiden wasn’t. And neither was she.” He pointed a serious finger at Cress.

Cress bristled at being blown in like some common criminal. “Listen, turncoat, I didn’t smack your brother regardless of how tempting it seemed, so you should cut me some slack, okay?”

Nick’s brow puckered, trying to figure out what she just said while
Alex looked her over. “You’re in one piece. Not too shabby for your first night.”

“Um, yeah, about that, Counselor?” She leveled him a look, dragged her gaze to Aiden, then drew it back to
Alex. “First and last.”

Alex
grinned. “While I totally understand what you’re loathe to say, Detective, I know that once you consider the mitigating circumstances you’ll reconsider. You did promise Gran, after all.”

“Promise?”
Cress didn’t remember being allowed the luxury of a promise. “Hoodwinked would be a better term.”

“
A commitment is a commitment,” he reminded her, laugh lines crinkling the corners of his eyes. “And I said I’d get ice cream for anyone that was good. I guess that means you.” He kissed Nick’s cheek and set the boy down, taking a firm grasp of his hand as cars moved along the park road, toting tired children home. He slanted Cress a look of invitation. “And since I think you’re pretty good in general, Ms. Dietrich, Nick and I would be pleased to have you join us.”

“No, I—”

“Pwease?”

Nick’s entreaty was hard to resist. Aiden clinched the deal by making a face at her, hoping she’d head home, no doubt. In
which case…

“I’d love to.” She flashed the five-year-old a ‘gotcha’ smile and grabbed the bag of waters and fruit snacks. “I’ll just get my car and meet you guys ther
e.” She’d made it a good ten steps before Alex’s voice paused her.

“Hey, Cress?”

She swung back. “Yes?”

“Are too.”

She puzzled, thought, then smiled as the light bulb clicked on. “Why, Counselor, thank you.”

Something about his lazy grin as he held the hands of two little boys made her take a step back, remembering the tiny plaid coat in Gran’s cedar chest, the thoughts of snowy days and cozy nights. One hand came to her face, her neck, fingers trailing, wondering if
Alex ever thought of settling down, having a family. He’d be a good father, she supposed, just seeing him with Mac’s boys.

His left brow arched slightly. His grin deepened. He dipped his chin, head angled, the smile doing goofy things to her cardio-vascular system. “See you at Smithy’s.”

“Right.”

She dropped her hand, turned and walked to her car, eyes down, mentally slapping herself. What was she thinking? What was she doing? She had a job and a life in Minneapolis, didn’t she? A place where women on the force were respected and promoted. Where real crimes occurred on a daily basis and her instinct and intelligence brought hard-core criminals to justice.

A job that had ended with her taking a bullet in the leg because her attentions were split. The thought of facing that, facing Carl, the partner she’d endangered because she let personal issues interfere with professional duties, weighed heavy.

She stewed all the way from the parking lot to the village light, a distance of less than a thousand feet, thoughts churning, the directional switch mocking her from its spot on the dashboard.

Should she turn right toward the ice cream shop where Alex Westmore waited with two motherless little boys?

Or left toward Gran’s house, two feet tucked firmly in the soil of the past?

The light turned green.

A car honked softly behind her, the gentle toot of small-town America as opposed to the blaring horns of rush-hour traffic in a metropolis.

She hesitated three quick beats, then heaved a sigh, hit the directional and cranked the wheel left, pushing aside feelings of regret with a firm hand.

Chapter Ten

Cruz leaned through the doorframe of Alex’s office the next morning, arms braced on either side of the cherry molding. “Your new friend came by the sheriff’s office a little while ago.”

Alex
frowned, stood and tucked a file into the top desk drawer before sliding the door shut and testing it to make sure the lock engaged. “New friend?” Visions of area kids flitted through his brain. He shook his head as he headed toward Cruz. “I don’t know—”

“Crescent Dietrich.”

Alex put up a flat hand. “Nothing new or different about Cress. Same old, same old. And she’s not my new friend.”

“Which is why you had her watching
Mac’s kids last night?” Cruz wondered before giving Alex a brotherly shove. “She just happened to be in town and jumped at the opportunity to babysit kids she’s never met.”

Alex
kept moving toward the main office door. “She’s met Mac.”

“Everybody’s met
Mac.”

“Her grandmother shamed her into it.”

“Uh huh.”

“She did.”
Alex shut the office door, tested the lock, and headed for the street exit, his laptop bag in hand. “And when Gran guilts you, you listen.”

“Right.”

Alex slid the topic away from babysitting and women that promise to come for ice cream, then don’t show up. “To what did the Chippewa County Sheriff’s office owe a visit from a Minneapolis detective?”

“She was looking for information about a
woman.”

Alex
frowned and wished his pulse didn’t ramp up at the thought of Cress doing anything. “What woman?”

“A loner o
ut on Highway Nine. Keeps to herself. Raising a grandkid, I guess.”

Alex
frowned, confused. So did Cruz. “I don’t get it either. Mick filled me in because he saw her with Mac’s kids last night, and figured she was a friend, then she showed up this morning asking questions.”

“So who is this
woman again? And why do we care?”

“
She inherited Tan Wandtke’s place. I guess they were friends and she helped the old guy out. Took care of him when he was dying, and Tan left her the house.”

“So we actually know nothing ab
out her?” Which meant Cress knew nothing about her, right? “Why would she spark Cress’s interest?”

Cruz
shook his head, hands up, palms out. “Ask her. She’s your girlfriend, not mine.”

“Yeah, right.”
Alex dismissed his brother’s declaration with a shake of his head, but his interest was piqued. Obviously Cress had tweaked the interest of the sheriff’s office as well, if Mick had carried the story to Cruz. “Can we find out anything about this woman?”

“Legally?”

Alex frowned, knowing the answer.

Cruz
climbed into Alex’s front seat and gave him the low-down. “She’s been divorced for nearly two decades, did some odd jobs for people, has some sort of disability and gets a government check every month.”

“And lives off the road, out of sight, with a kid.”

Cruz worked his jaw, his fingers tapping a flat beat against his knee. “Yup.”

Alex
considered the options, then turned to face Cruz. “You know Cress is probably right, don’t you?”

Cruz
narrowed his eyes. “Why would you assume that?”

Because he’d grown up with her. Knew her penchant for digging up truth, even when it meant hurting those around her. Including things about their father
Alex would have liked to remain private. He shoved off the memory of childhood taunts as old news, best forgotten. “She’s good at what she does. Always has been. If there was something to be found out, Cress did it, even when we were kids.”

Back then, nothing Cress uncovered stayed
private. Right now, that might turn out to be a good thing.

“How’d she see this woman
?”

Cruz
jerked his head toward the grocery store as they passed it. “Spotted her at Gordy’s and didn’t like the attitude.”

“Nothing in
the woman’s record about having a kid?”

“No, but there wouldn’t necessarily be if it’s a grandkid, right?”

Alex acknowledged that with a half-shrug. “Kid had to come from somewhere.”

He banked a turn onto
Mac’s road and glanced back at Cruz. “You guys following up on this?”

“
Unofficially. We’ve got to stay on the upside of legal, but I think they’re going to check things out.”

“Quickly?”

Cruz ‘s finger drummed a faster beat. He shifted, frowning. “I hope so.”

*

Cruz’s words niggled Alex. He wasn’t sure if it was the idea of a kid who might possibly be in rough circumstances or the fact that Cress was willing to act on her own to sort things out.

Then he realized it was both.

He swung by to visit Gran late in the day, hoping to find out what Cress might know.

Stacey
Dietrich smiled as he strode through the door. “Alex. Good to see you.”

He nodded back. “You, too. I thought I’d stop by and see how Gran’s doing.” He held up a small bouquet of bright-toned flowers. “Thought she might like a bit of color indoors.”

“Smelly things.” Gran huffed around the corner from the dining room, her gaze narrow. “I’ve got flowers.” She angled her head toward the side yard where the mums stood in full bloom. “Plenty of ‘em. Save your money.”

“Feeling better, I see.”
Alex grinned her way and handed the flowers to Cress’s stepmother. “I was worried the other day. You were way too nice.”

“Really?”
Stacey’s calm gaze said more than her words. “That’s wonderful.” She set a stack of dishes away and headed toward the back pantry. “I’ll get a vase for these, Alex.”

He nodded. “Thanks.”

Gran sat, her look foreboding. “Half the time she puts things in the wrong place. You’d think after all these years she’d know where my stuff goes.”

“Well hurry and get well then you can take care of your own stuff,”
Alex told her, refusing to indict Stacey. “She’s a good woman.”

“A ditz.”

Alex sent her a look that said he refused to have that particular conversation. She shrugged, folded her arms and glared, only softening when Stacey returned, flowers in hand. Stacey set them on the table with a nod of appreciation. “They’re beautiful, Alex.”

“From Mom’s garden. See?” He swung Gran’s way. “I spent nothing. But the colors were great and she has flowers everywhere, so I figured I’d nip a few for you. But I’ll take ‘em right back if you’re grouchy.”

“I’ve got cancer. I’m allowed.”

He conceded that with a smile. “I guess.” Glancing around, he thrust up a brow. “Where’s Cress hiding?”

“At Audra’s,” Stacey replied. Alex was pretty sure she didn’t notice Gran’s heightened interest in his question, the way her bird-like eyes sharpened in shrewd appraisal. “She’s helping Audra with a horse that’s got some leg issues.”

“
Commiseration.”

Stacey
lifted one shoulder, her expression a mix of resignation and resolve. “Her father is hoping the horse will coax her out of the city. Keep her closer. The idea of having his oldest daughter shot isn’t sitting well with him. Of course the two of them have little to say to one another, so it’s an interesting situation. I get bits and pieces from both and one of these days I’m going to knock their heads together and remind them to leave the past behind and move on. Pair of stubborn mules.”

Alex
had no trouble believing that, and Stacey’s gaze said she wasn’t sure who to smack upside the head first, Ray or his bull-headed daughter. She’d married Ray Dietrich after meeting him in AA. In Alex’s opinion, she’d been the best thing that happened to the family since losing their mother, but Stacey followed her own path, and that irked Norma and Cress. Kiera had been too young to care much and Audra’s accepting nature just wanted to make the world a better place, Hallmark-movie friendly.

Cress and Gran? They were “show-me” women, looking for proof.

“It takes a rare kind of woman to carry a badge and a gun,” cut in Gran, her tone disparaging.

Stacey’s gaze agreed
. “We’re in full agreement on that. So the idea of her helping with this horse makes me happy. Anything that ties her here makes me happy these days, because we want her safe. And while her father and I would love to see
her
happy, Ray thinks she’s afraid to go back and that bothers him. But of course, being obstinate by nature,” her look said she understood that Cress came by that attribute from both sides of the family, “She’s not about to waste her time with mental health therapy to help her through the aftermath.”

Cress, frightened
? Not likely. “I can’t envision Cress afraid of anything.”

Saying the words, Alex
realized he was wrong. Something in Stacey’s eyes confirmed his instinct, but she shrouded the look quickly.

H
adn’t Cress shrunk from him on two separate occasions? Once in his office, the other time upstairs, when he’d startled her. As if—

He gave an inward shake to his head and
stood. No way, no how did anyone mess with a girl like Cress. She carried self-assurance like battle armor, a strong line of defense. Apt, able and opinionated. That was Cress Dietrich in a nutshell.

And yet—

“I’m heading home.” Alex directed his attention to Gran. “Behave yourself, okay?”

“No football practice tonight?” Gran shifted her gaze from him to the wall calendar, then back. “Oh, it’s F
riday. I forgot.” She eyed him and straightened her shoulders. “Cress made out all right, then, watching them boys?”

Stacey
’s light snort tempted Alex to reveal too much information about Cress and Mac’s boys, but he desisted, mostly because he really didn’t want the chewing out she’d give him for opening his mouth. “Just fine.”

“Hmph.”

Stacey saw him to the back door. “The flowers are lovely. Thank you and your mother.”

Alex
shared a grin with her, hoping she’d understand his silent sympathy. Her look told him she got it. He stuck out a hand, grasping hers. “I’ll be sure to tell her.” Raising his eyes he hailed Gran from across the room. “I’ll come by again soon.”

“See that you do,” she ordered, no nonsense. “I’m teaching that girl how to bake while she’s here and we need willing subjects.”

“Would you consider moving the rat poison?”

Stacey
and Gran exchanged puzzled looks. Stacey broke the silence. “Because?”

Alex
leaned forward, his voice a stage whisper. “I hear it’s got proximity to the sugar bin. We don’t want to put too much temptation in her way, now do we?”

Stacey
laughed outright and Gran cracked a smile, right up until she realized she and Stacey might actually be in agreement on something, and then she clamped those lips shut tighter than a small town loan officer’s bankroll.

*

“What are you doing here?” Cress eyed Alex as he approached the paddock, hands thrust into his pockets, his shirt undone at the top. A glimpse of plain white cotton peeked from within the folds of a dress shirt that should have looked mussed this late in the day and didn’t. That meant he was sporting a big bucks button-down that probably could’ve fed a small orphanage for a week. Maybe a Third World country. Reason enough right there to hate him. So why didn’t she?

He’d loosened the shirt cuffs and rolled the sleeves high, above the elbows. Tanned arms hung from the
turned folds. How many shirts could maintain a classy image while rolled up?

This one.

He returned her scowl with one of his own. “You stood me up. I had an interesting time explaining to Nick why you didn’t show for ice cream like you said.”

She
shrugged off his words and moved away from the shy horse, unwilling to have Alex spook him. “I had to get back to Gran.”

“Not good enough.”

“Maybe not for you, Counselor, but she’s pretty important to me.”

The look on his face told her he wasn’t buy
ing it. “Gran was covered. And you know Stacey will jump in and help if there’s a time crunch, even if Gran gives her a hard time. I know this because I just came from Gran’s.”

Cress slid the subject away from the night previous. “And they sent you here? Why? Is everything all right? Gran’s okay?”

“Everything’s fine.” He moved closer, keeping his voice light and low. “Your grandmother’s feisty and your stepmother is dodging shots. Situation: Normal.”

“Stacey’s tough enough to handle Gran. Now.”

That tweaked his grin. “I noticed that.”  He held an easy hand down at his side, then patted his thigh twice, two quick pats in succession.

Cress shook her head. “He won’t come, he’s –”