“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. “Yes. I suppose I do.”
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.