pretty empty, sorry.”
Reading Alex wasn’t easy. And Eli was pretty good at judging whether or not people were sincere. But Alex stumped him.
But Holly offered the man a smile, saying, “I appreciate you spending so much time on it. Maybe something will turn up.”
“Well, you look like you’re busy,” Alex noted.
Eli watched the man walk to a booth and slide in. “Isn’t that Jarrod Parker, your lawyer, with him? I seem to remember him from high school, too.”
She looked. “Yeah, Jarrod’s married to Alex’s sister.”
Then her eyes went wide once more and she whispered, “That’s him.”
“That’s who?”
“The guy that…stopped…me outside the sheriff’s office. In the booth next to Alex and Jarrod.”
Eli tilted his head for a look at the man in khaki slacks, a knit collared shirt and sunglasses. He sat alone in the back booth.
She drew in a breath and grunted. The basket clutched in her left hand seemed to have gained weight since leaving her store. “What is his deal?
“I’ll go ask him,” Eli said.
“No. Leave it be.”
“If he’s following you, I want to ask him about it.”
“And have him say what?” she protested as she shifted the basket to the other hand. “It’s a restaurant, Eli, he’ll say he’s here to eat. That’s not against the law.”
“What did he say to you out there on the sidewalk?”
Should she tell him?
The man’s threat against her mother rang in her mind. Tell anyone about our little visit and you’ll regret it.
Eli leaned closer. “What are you not telling me, Holly?”
Gulping, Holly looked back at the man in the booth. His gaze drilled her and she swallowed hard. “Nothing, Eli. Just let me deliver this and I’ll be ready to leave.”
Eli looked like he wanted to argue with her. Instead, he said nothing as she hid her quaking fear of the man in the booth and walked over to a short, thin woman in her mid-thirties. When Sue Anne saw the basket, she squealed and threw her arms around Holly. “Thank you so much.”
“Call your husband and thank him. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
In a hurry to escape the watchful eyes of the stranger, Holly didn’t linger and a minute later, she stepped out of the restaurant and headed for her car. She just wanted to get away, far away from the man and his threats. And she wanted to check on her mother.
Eli followed close behind her.
Ignoring the cold cutting through her down coat, she used a shaking hand to grab her phone.
Good offers only come along every once in a while. Take advantage of it before someone gets hurt.
Clenching her fist around the phone, she considered whether or not to tell Eli about the threat. She wanted to, but what if he confronted the guy and the guy hurt her mother?
He opened the door to her truck as she dialed the number. Sliding in the driver’s seat, she cranked it and turned on the heat. Eli climbed in the passenger side just as her mother answered.
“Hi, Mom. Are you doing okay?”
“Fine, darling.” Holly heard the tolerant tone in her mother’s voice. The woman knew Holly worried and put up with her daughter’s frequent calls. “I’m sitting here reading a book. Duster and Sassy are out chasing squirrels and Millie, the pastor’s wife, called to say she’d be here in about thirty minutes to visit awhile.”
“Oh, good. Well, have a nice visit and I’ll give you a call when I’m headed home, all right?”
“Sounds good, dear.”
She hung up the phone.
Blowing out a breath, Holly focused on what she needed to get done. She’d think about telling Eli about the threat, but right now, they had a pickup to make. From the corner of her eye, she caught movement.
The man from the booth was standing in the door of the restaurant, watching. She opened her mouth to tell Eli when the stranger lifted a finger to his lips in warning. Holly snapped her lips together and glanced at Eli. He was punching a text message into his phone.
Her eyes shot back to the man.
Still watching, threatening.
Was her mother really in danger? Would the man really do something if he found out she said something? Did she dare take a chance? Could she afford not to?
Oh, Lord, tell me what to do.
Shivering, her eyes followed her watcher as he turned back into the restaurant.
After Eli clicked his seat belt into place and dropped his phone into his shirt pocket, she ignored the little inner voice urging her to share her fears and asked