and she was currently chopping fresh strawberries.
“Where exactly am I going to be?” she asked.
I poured myself a glass of orange juice and sat down at the table. Before she moved in, I usually skipped breakfast. Thankfully most days the food was a little healthier than today’s selection. Although I’d never complain about being served bacon. “At the station.”
“Why am I going to be at the station?”
“Because that’s where I’ll be. In light of the information you told me last night, I will not be leaving you unprotected until something significant changes.”
“The situation has been going on for eight days now.”
“Yes, but I didn’t know about it.”
She made me a plate with two slices of bacon, a fried egg, and a handful of berries. It smelled so good.
“My job is here at your house,” she said. “Cleaning it. That's what you hired me to do.”
I put my glass door and peered at her. “We both know you're not a housekeeper. Why do you want to keep up the ruse? Look, it doesn't matter you're not staying at my house alone. You'll come with me to the station and if you want Barrett to bring you back here when he's off-duty, he can.”
“I doubt he wants to spend his time off babysitting me.”
“Barrett will gladly help keep you safe, whether he wants to or not. Because it’s the right thing to do. For that matter, it doesn't really matter to me what you want. I'm going to keep you safe.”
She made a face.
I wasn’t dissuaded. She was not going to stay here and make herself a target. It was my house, and she was working for me. That made me the one who was responsible for her well-being, whether she liked it or not.
“So let me get this straight,” Barrett said. “Your girl decided to expose the dark side of organized crime in Chicago.”
Last night when I called Barrett, I'd only told him the bare-bones of Ava’s story. Had had sent him photos of Christopher and Carl and warned him that she might be in danger. But I had not given him any details but now I was filling him in on all the pertinent details.
“Specifically, a gambling ring that she’d heard about for her entire life,” he said.
I nodded. “Right. But instead of finding a bunch of two-bit crooks, she finds out that the lowlifes responsible for the gambling ring include her father and his two partners.”
“Yikes,” he said. “And then these two partners wanted to kill her. And she came here.”
I nodded again. “That about sums it up.”
“Fuck. that’s crazy.”
“Yeah. It is. I wanted to get you up to speed before I tell the rest of the staff. I’m going to keep them in the loop about what’s going on.”
“Good idea.”
I called a staff meeting. We had our secretary, an older lady named Mrs. Smith, and one other deputy who’d been around forever, and he served as our detective. His name was Thomas. Our judge came over too, and I also called in the fire chief, and the postmaster. I told them every detail that I was aware of, and showed them the mug shots of Ava’s father’s partners.
Everyone in the meeting assured me they’d use every resource to help keep Ava safe, and to watch out for these criminals.
At that moment, everyone in Pine Hills felt like family. I was grateful to have them all protecting Ava.
Chapter Seventeen
Ava
Jenny didn’t stop texting me. My burner phone chimed so often I was tempted to turn it off, while I was sitting in the freaking sheriff’s office.
I need to see you. In person.
That was never going to happen. In the light of day, concealing yet one more fact from Tyler seemed like a really bad idea. I wasn’t sure what I’d been thinking last night.
I mean it, Ava. I have some more information about the gambling ring.
How do I know it’s you? I replied.
You were wearing a ripped blue shirt with a palm tree on it when we met. You bought me Wendy’s food because I was hungry.
She was right. I had been wearing that. God knows how long I’d agonized over that outfit, wanting to make sure I’d blend in.
Could there be a less suitable place for me to be having this conversation? It didn’t seem likely. I was with the freaking sheriff, and Jenny wouldn't stop texting me.
You could turn off the phone. Just block her, and forget about it.
But I couldn't. I needed to know what she had