When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,52

riskin’ my baby gettin’ a concussion. If you want to go to the high school football games, he can be in the band.”

“A band geek?”

I shot him a glare. “You got a problem with that?”

Joe grinned down at me. “None at all. No football, but if he’s gonna be in the band, can he at least play the sax?”

I laughed. “We’ll let him decide. We have to promise not to pressure him into doing anything he doesn’t want to do.”

He turned serious. “We’ll support him no matter what choices he makes.”

Suddenly, I could see our lives together so clearly—Joe, me, and our baby. I saw Joe and I sitting together, watching him grow. Joe and I holding hands. His arm wrapped around my back.

I saw us together. As a couple.

And I liked it. I liked the life I saw with Joe. I liked the thought of the three of us having a loving, happy home. And the thought of having more babies with Joe.

But I couldn’t bring it up now. There was too much going on. And I didn’t want to propose this after seeing James for fear Joe would get the wrong message. I needed him to know he wasn’t some sort of panic rebound.

Chapter 13

I didn’t sleep well. Between my anxiety and my heartburn, I tossed and turned until I finally got up around midnight and went downstairs for a glass of water. Muffy came down with me, and I turned off the security alarm to let her out the back door.

The water didn’t help, so I slipped on a pair of boots I kept by the back door, pulled a sweater from the coat tree over my nightgown, and followed her outside. She sniffed around the back of the house for a few seconds, but then her back stiffened and she raced around the corner of the house toward the front yard.

I followed her, worried about what she’d found and whether it would hurt her. Joe had found evidence of a raccoon getting into the trash the week before, and I knew Muffy wouldn’t back down if she came face-to-face with one.

But it wasn’t a raccoon she was running after—it was a car. A station wagon was parked on the side of the driveway under the shadows of the trees by the county road, its lights off and its nose pointed toward the house.

And Muffy was tearing toward it.

Despite the dim light, I recognized the station wagon. I’d seen this car, and the woman who drove it, twice before. The first time was back in December. Vera had come into the nursery holding a little boy, but she’d reacted strangely to my offer to help. Then, out of nowhere, she’d revealed that she knew my pseudonym: the Lady in Black. I probably would have been able to get more information from her, but a vision had stolen over me of Vera hiding in a closet with a little girl, scared to death of the man calling out to her.

When I’d blurted out my vision—He’s gonna kill you—she’d freaked out and run off. I’d attempted to follow and had fallen instead, breaking my clavicle and scaring everyone to death. The next time had happened a couple of months later—I’d noticed her sitting in the driver’s seat of the station wagon outside the nursery. But she’d torn out of the parking lot before I could approach her or get her license plate number.

And now she was parked in my driveway at midnight.

“Muffy!” I shouted as my little dog ran for the car. “Come back!”

The headlights turned on and the engine started.

Muffy continued running for the car.

“Muffy!”

The light in Joe’s bedroom flicked on.

The car shot forward, kicking up gravel as it headed for Muffy. Then the car swerved sharply, perhaps because the driver saw Muffy, or perhaps because she was simply desperate to escape, but it was too late.

As the station wagon skidded sideways, its back tires spinning out, Muffy disappeared underneath it.

“Muffy!” My foot slipped on the wet grass and my arms flailed as I tried to keep from falling. Once I had my balance, I raced after her again.

The front door burst open and Joe ran out, in pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, chasing after me on bare feet as the car sped toward the county road and spun left, barely slowing down, its tires squealing on the pavement.

“Muffy!” I screamed, trying to see her in the darkness.

Joe gained on me and wrapped his arms around my chest