What happened next?
Thatcher swung. Knocked Luther out, I heard.
Lauren closed her eyes, almost able to see the scene in her mind. Go on, she whispered into her phone.
Thatcher was the one who called 911. When the sheriff and medics got there, Luther said he was pressing charges for assault and robbery. The medics took Luther to the clinic to be checked, and your dad took Thatcher to jail.
No!
Tim swore. Believe me, L, your pop wasnt happy about it. He looked like he was thinking of strangling the kid for making him do it.
When did this happen?
A couple hours ago. When I heard the sirens, I drove over to the county offices thinking whatever was happening might give me a plot idea. I could hear Thatcher yelling the minute I walked in the door. He was mad and scared and all wrapped up in nervous energy.
Tim finally paused. When he spoke again, his words came slowly. We cant let him go to prison, L.
She thought of mentioning that they were not his parents, but in a strange way the whole town was. Thatcher Jones had been over a year behind in school and living on the fringes of right and wrong when Charley Collins at the Lone Heart Ranch took him in. Anyone could see that the kid had a heart bigger than Texas, but he was proud and had a stubborn streak.
What do we do? Tim asked in a dull tone, as if he really didnt expect her to answer.
Youre right. We have to fix this. Thatcher saved Pops life once. He might have been only fourteen or fifteen then, but he ran through gunfire to get Pop to safety. Pop will do his job, hes always played by the book, but hell help where he can, too. Her logical mind began to put all the pieces she knew together. Why would Thatcher steal food? Ive heard Charleys place is going great.
He swears he didnt. Says he was just bringing the canned goods back, but he says he doesnt remember who he got them from. Wouldnt even tell the sheriff if it was a man or woman who must have stole them in the first place. Just says he cant say. Tim laughed. While Luther was out cold, Thatcher put the food back on the shelf, so there is some confusion as to exactly what was taken.
So there is no evidence of a crime?
Right, unless you count the shiner on Luthers face. Tim hesitated. L, you were in law school once. Youll figure out something.
I never took the bar, remember. I decided to be a writer. Only that doesnt seem to be working out so well for me. I dont think taking customer complaints at the mall counts as training. She didnt want to go into all the reasons she was failing. Part of her wanted to simply say she was failing to thrive out in the real world.
Come home. Tim ended the silence, his voice already pulling her. Thatcher needs you and I miss you.
Ill see if I can get off by noon tomorrow. Ill be there by five.
Great. Tim hesitated. How about staying with me this time? Ive completely remodeled my folks old place on the lake. Youd like it. Plus, your pop knows youre an adult. Hed understand. You could just say were having an adult sleepover.
Ill think about it, she answered. Tim had asked before, but she wasnt ready for any commitment between them. Staying over at his place meant sleeping together. Ill call when Im close to Crossroads so you can meet me at the county offices. She hung up without saying goodbye, then sat very still thinking of Tim, not Thatcher.
Shed grown up with Tim OGrady, gone skinny-dipping in the lake with him when they were ten. Spent a thousand hours talking with him. He was her best friend.
A friend with benefits, she thought, though she could count their nights together on her fingers. Of course she loved him, but not in the way he wanted her to love him. When they occasionally slept together, it was more out of a need not to be alone than passion. She hated that she thought of his loving as vanilla, but somehow she wanted more. Everyone said they were right for each other, a match. Only everyone was wrong.
Tim loved her, really loved her, but she couldnt love him back. They never talked about it, but somehow they both knew the truth, and that one silent truth broke both their hearts.
Shed go home. Shed find a way to help Thatcher. But this time she wouldnt sleep with Tim. Even though it felt good for a while. Even though they both understood the silent rules.
She wouldnt sleep with Tim because she couldnt bear the look hed give her when she had to walk away. Every time. Always.
CHAPTER FOUR
Tuesday
WEAK AFTERNOON SUNLIGHT filtered through the blinds, reminding Dan Brigman another hour had passed without sleep, and the day was only getting worse. Hed barely had time to hug his daughter before she was storming up the steps toward the third floor of the county offices. The tapping rain off and on all afternoon had already given him a headache, and having Lauren show up to interfere with his job wasnt helping.
Hed left the sexy singer yesterday after lunch, looking forward to seeing her again before midnight, but a call came in an hour after he got back to the office that ended that possibility. Since four oclock yesterday, hed had to arrest a kid he cared about for assault, then field a dozen calls from people telling him how to do his job. Midnight passed with him sitting up in the third-floor lockup with a teenager who refused to talk about what hed done. Now, after hed had no sleep for nearly thirty hours, his daughter arrived, demanding to know if hed lost his mind.
At this point, Dan wasnt sure his ears still worked. The whole town could take turns telling him how to be sheriff, and he still wouldnt let Thatcher Jones out until the judge set bail. Once he knew how much it would take, Dan had already decided hed pay it himself.
His daughter was running through facts he already knew about the crime, so Dan simply followed one step behind as she headed upstairs.
Now calm down, Lauren, he finally commented when she breathed. Were doing all we can. The judge says he can bail out if hell give a statement, but Thatcher isnt cooperating.
Did you offer him a lawyer?
Dan huffed. I did. He said he didnt need a lawyer to tell me that hes not talking. He can do that himself.
She wasnt listening, and he didnt blame her. If they were doing all they could do, Thatcher Jones wouldnt still be locked up in the first place. His daughter always thought the world had to be balanced and fair, but it just wasnt.
If it had any fairness at all, hed be sleeping off a wild memory and not putting in a forty-hour workday.
He almost swore. If the world were fair, he would have picked up that singer, Brandi Malone, last night like hed planned, and not be stuck babysitting Thatcher. The kid was so wild he probably would have gnawed through the steel bars if hed been left alone.
Dan unlocked the third-floor door, deciding that Laurens anger was all his fault. Hed raised her. Were working on it. Well figure this out, he said as she stormed past him.
Before he opened the second door to the county lockup, he waited for his daughter to calm. The sound of Tim OGrady tromping up the stairs echoed through the building. Tim was like the Ransom Canyon County Offices resident ghost. He came, night or day, if he thought something was happening. He claimed it helped him with his writing, gave him ideas, but since his last two books were postapocalyptic thrillers for hormone-crazed teens, Dan didnt see that his research at the sheriffs office was doing much good. The young writer was interesting, though, and hed been Laurens friend since they could both walk, so Dan tolerated OGrady even if it did irritate him that Lauren called him Hemingway.
Of course, Dan wasnt the least bit surprised that Tim was with her today. Hed probably called her to notify her about Thatcher.
Finally, Lauren turned and faced him. Why is he in jail, Sheriff? Give me the facts.
Lauren only called him that when she was too angry to remember he was her father.
He wont talk. No one believes he stole food from Luthers old truck stop, and nobody believes his story about not remembering how he got the backpack full of can goods obviously from the store.
Thatcher must have heard them because he yelled from twenty feet away, I aint telling who I got the stolen groceries from, and thats final. I took them back, isnt that good enough? Ill rot in this place before I talk. And I didnt attack Luther. He insulted me and my whole family. Im not arguing that my no-name dad and run-off mother were trash, but that dont give him the right to remind me.
Lauren stormed into the next room, which had one cell on either side of a wide-open space in-between. Stop talking like an idiot, Thatcher. Were trying to get you into Texas Tech this fall, and youll never make it talking like that.
Dan left the doors open for OGrady as he leaned against the opposite cell and enjoyed watching his daughter yell at someone besides him for a while.
Tim OGrady and Lauren might not be more than six or seven years older than Thatcher, but theyd thought of themselves as his substitute parents since theyd all three worked together one summer. Thatcher had been painting the county offices, working off fines. Tim was collecting ideas for his writing. Lauren was organizing her fathers office, something shed done every summer since she was ten.
Thatcher might be four years older than hed been that summer, but his respect for Lauren was obvious as he stood and gripped the bars. Hed grown a few inches since Lauren had been home, but he was still bone-thin. His hair was as wild as prairie grass, and he was tanned so deep his skin hadnt lightened even if winter was settling in for a long stay.
Part of Dan hoped no one ever changed the kid. He was a blend of Tom Sawyer and Billy the Kid with a little bit of a young Abe Lincoln mixed in. Hed been born two hundred years too late to be understood and damn if the kid cared.
Thatcher smiled suddenly, that easy smile that would melt hearts someday, but Lauren didnt smile back.
He lowered his voice. Hell, look at me, Lauren. Im in jail. The chances of any college taking me are not looking too good right now. He bumped his forehead against the bars. But double damn. I got to make it to Tech for Kristis sake. If I dont get there and save her, shell find some brainiac like OGrady and start hanging out with him. Theyll probably marry and have a dozen little redheaded kids with not one of them having a lick of common sense.
Tim finally caught up with the sheriff and Lauren. Whats wrong with red hair? And what makes you think my kids wouldnt have common sense?
Thatcher sighed. You superglued your fingers together that summer I met you. You hooked your ear the last time we tried fly-fishing. You
Im not in jail, Tim interrupted.
Lauren slapped at Thatchers knuckles and flashed Tim a dirty look. Shut up, the both of you. Weve got to get organized and get you out without some kind of record hanging over you. If we just knew who did steal the food, maybe we could clear this up.
I already told you I aint telling. Not even if you torture me.
The sheriff leaned over Laurens shoulder. Dont give me any ideas, kid.
Tim swore as he paced the space between the cells. Ive already tried getting him to talk, Sheriff. Nothing works. We always end up back at square one. The kid is tormenting me. Maybe I should file a complaint. Ive been here all morning talking to him, and all thats happening is my red hair is falling out.
Thatcher reached out and almost grabbed the front of Tims sweatshirt. Im not a kid, OGrady. Call me that one more time, and youll be swallowing teeth. The sheriffs the only one who can call me that. Im eighteen.
What are you going to do? Tim shouted. Knock me out, too, like you did Luther when he accused you of stealing? At the rate youre going, youll have to do double time in prison to ever see daylight.
Lauren shook her head. Her long, straight blond hair waving down her back reminded Dan of how Brandi Malones dark hair had seemed to come alive when she moved. Had it only been noon yesterday when hed touched those dark curls and thought hed see her by midnight? It seemed like a lifetime since hed kissed the singer on the forehead and left the Nowhere Club.
He should have kissed her that last time on the mouth. The way his luck was running right now, Dan might never see his wild, beauty again.
Tims loud lecture drew the sheriff back from his thoughts. OGrady was overreacting as usual. If he wrote as fast as he talked, hed have a dozen books out by now.
When Lauren glanced in Dans direction, he winked at her, silently letting her know that the world was not as dark as she thought it might be.
She finally realized that her father, not just a sheriff, was right beside her. She leaned close to him so hed hear her over Tims rant. Okay, Pop, what do we do now?
Tim gave up talking and listened for a change.
I tried talking Luther out of pressing charges, Dan began. I had no luck. But he used to give you free ice cream even after Id already said no. Maybe you and Tim should go out to the truck stop and give it a shot. Since the stolen goods were found in the store, that charge wont hold, but the assault might. Dan was too tired to think of any other option.
But Lauren started to argue.
Dan pushed his only option. Talk to him. It might not change anything, but who knows, it might help.
What about Thatcher?
Ill be right here. Dan glanced at the kid. Hes not going anywhere for a while. Charley Collins has already talked to him and is out trying to get him a lawyer. The Franklin sisters called to tell me Id better not even think of feeding him prison food. Theyre bringing his meals from the bed and breakfast.
You have prison food? Lauren smothered a giggle.
Dan shook his head. Thats not the worst of it. Ive had half a dozen blankets delivered and threats called in that Id better not let the boy freeze in a cold cell.
You let people threaten you?
Sure. One was Miss Bees. She has to be ninety, but she considers it her civic duty to call in a threat at least once a month. Another was Vern Wagner. I dont think he knew what he was mad about, but Miss Bees probably told him to call in. A few others just dropped off threats with the blankets.
Lauren tilted her head, looking in the cell. I dont see any blankets.
Pearlys examining them now for hacksaws. She learned the word contraband from a TV show last year, and now her new word keeps bouncing around in the office. Dan realized he was starting to sound like a Saturday Night Live skit. Big cities had gangs and major crime; he had senior citizens and do-gooders. Some days it seemed to Dan he had the roughest beat.
Lauren put her hand on her fathers arm. Maybe I should come home to help you, Pop? I did study law, even if I did chicken out on taking the bar.
I thought you did come home to ride shotgun, he said with a smile. Any chance you and Tim could take the late shift, if Thatcher is still locked up tonight? You two are as close to deputies as Ive got right now. Fifth Weathers is down in Austin for training, so Im shorthanded. Ive got something I have to do tonight, and Thatcher is in no danger other than being fed to death or smothered by quilts.