Paula Graves - Chickasaw County Captive

The startled man pointed to an alcove off the kitchen. Sam headed that way and found himself in a narrow, dimly lit hallway. The men’s and women’s restrooms were to his left, clearly marked. To his right were two unmarked doors. He tried the first one. Locked.

The handle of the second door turned easily in his hand. Inside, he found a small storage closet. Boxes and bins took up almost every inch of the space.

“Maddy?”

The small, muffled voice that answered him sent such a powerful shot of relief through his veins that his knees nearly buckled. “I’m not going with Mommy!”

“You don’t have to, baby.”

A small box near the back of the closet shifted, and Maddy’s tear-streaked face stared back at him from the void. “Daddy’s honor?”

He grinned. “Daddy’s honor.”

She squeezed out of the tight hiding spot and threw herself in his arms. He hugged her tightly, flattening his hand against her back until he could feel her heartbeat against his palm.

“Is she okay?” Kristen asked just behind him.

He eased his grip on Maddy and turned to look at her. Her eyes were soft with relief, and he reached for her instinctively. She didn’t resist as he pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her hair.

She smelled good, like the woods after a rain, and where her cheek brushed his, her skin was as soft as a whisper. Relief faded into something darker and hotter, and he wondered if she could feel the sudden acceleration of his heartbeat as it hammered in his chest.

“Sam?” Norah’s voice broke through the heated haze settling over his brain. He felt Kristen push gently against his grasp, and he let her go, turning toward the sound of his ex-wife’s voice. Norah stood at the end of the narrow corridor, her expression tentative.

Maddy tightened her grip on Sam, burying her face in his neck. “No, Daddy!” she whispered.

Norah didn’t miss their daughter’s reaction. Her face crumpled, and she hurried out of sight.

“Ah, hell,” he muttered.

Kristen laid her hand on his arm. “Take Maddy home. I’ll make sure Norah’s okay.”

The offer surprised him. “You sure you want to do that?”

Her lips curved in a wry half smile. “I think I’m probably the most uniquely qualified person to do that. You know, being an expert on really bad mothers.”

His gut twisted in a knot. Until he’d seen his own daughter’s terrified reaction to Norah’s unintentional gaffe, his understanding of what Kristen had gone through as a child was mostly academic. But if something as simple and harmless as a misunderstanding could reduce his normally happy-go-lucky child to a terrified, quivering mess, how much worse must it have been for Kristen Tandy, living day in and day out with a mother like hers? And to witness the murders of her sisters and brothers, barely escaping her own death at her mother’s hand-how had she survived it?

No wonder she was so guarded with her emotions, so reticent about her inner life.

He walked with her into the main dining area, staying close enough to feel her warmth against his arm. The patrons and staff stared for a second before breaking into applause. Kristen’s face went red with embarrassment as the restaurant manager came over to offer his congratulations-and dinner on the house.

Sam thanked him but declined. “I just want to get Maddy home to bed.” As the manager returned to his post at the front, Sam leaned his head toward Kristen. “How am I supposed to get back to the lake? You drove.”

“I’ll get one of the officers to drop you off.” She smiled at Maddy, who’d finally loosened her death grip on Sam’s neck. “Maybe you can sweet-talk the nice officer into running the siren!”

“Don’t give her any ideas,” Sam warned with a smile.

Kristen grabbed one of the uniformed officers, murmured a few words to him and brought him over to where Sam and Maddy stood near the door. “This is Officer Simmons. He’s going to drive you back to the lake.”

As Sam started to follow Simmons out the door, Maddy tugged sharply at his collar. “Wait!” she insisted, and twisted her body in his grasp, holding her arms out toward Kristen.

Kristen stared at her a moment, her expression hard to read. Sam held his breath, wondering if she’d rebuff his daughter’s offer of affection. He might better understand the difficulty she had relating to Maddy now, but he couldn’t explain those nuances to a four-year-old. Maddy would feel rejected no matter what he told her.

Kristen’s lips curved into a big smile and she opened her arms, wrapping Maddy in a quick but genuine hug. “Make your daddy read you two stories tonight,” she murmured, her tone conspiratorial. Maddy grinned with delight.

Kristen’s gaze slid up to meet Sam’s. He could see the pain lurking there in their blue depths, and his heart broke a little for her, but for the first time, he also saw the spark of genuine affection for his daughter. “Thank you,” he said, reaching out to touch her arm.

Her mouth tightened, and she turned away from him quickly. “Talk to you later,” she tossed gruffly over her shoulder, and then she was gone, weaving her way through the crowd in search of Norah.

Sam watched her go, regret settling low in his gut. Tonight’s events might have broken down a few of the walls Kristen Tandy built around herself, but there were still plenty left in place. It might take a whole lifetime to tear them all down.

Did he want to devote his life to such a task or drag Maddy along on that kind of roller-coaster ride? Wouldn’t it be better to just step back and regain some distance from Kristen and her problems?

At this point, however, he wasn’t sure stepping back was even possible. Maddy was crazy about Kristen, flaws and all. And despite his clear-eyed understanding of just how difficult a woman she might be to care about, he found himself becoming more and more entangled in her life.

It wasn’t likely, at this point, that any of them would leave this case unscathed.

“GO AWAY, DETECTIVE.” Norah Cabot’s voice was muffled and weary behind the door to her room at the inn. “We can talk in the morning.”

“I think we should talk now,” Kristen said firmly, even though a part of her wanted nothing more than to go home and bury herself under the covers of her old four-poster bed.

“Are you enjoying this?” Norah asked faintly.

“No, I’m not,” Kristen replied. “Believe it or not, I’m here to help you.”

There was a brief pause, then a rattle of the latch. The door opened and Norah stood on the other side, clad in a red silk robe that nearly matched the color of her tear-swollen eyes. “Here to help me. I’ve heard that before.”

“I brought tissues.” Kristen held out the small travel-size tissue box she’d picked up at the gift shop downstairs before heading up to the guest rooms.

Norah released a huff of laughter and took the box from Kristen’s outstretched hand. “You think of everything.”

“May I come in?”

Norah seemed to consider the question for a moment, then gave an indifferent shrug. “Why not? It’s not like my night could get any worse.”

“Believe me, it could,” Kristen murmured.

Norah ignored her and crossed to a small credenza along one wall of the small but pretty room. “The inn was kind enough to send up a complimentary bottle of sparkling water. I would have preferred champagne, but I suppose this is one of those dry counties you Southerners are so fond of.”

“If you want to get liquored up, I could drive you to the next county over.”

“Couldn’t you just direct me to the nearest moonshine still instead?” Norah tossed a couple of ice cubes in a glass with excessive vigor. She set the glass down with a clatter and drove her long fingers through her hair, tousling the already unruly curls. “I’m sorry. I can be a total bitch.”