Elisabeth Rees - Foul Play

Chad was more animated than usual upon hearing Deborah’s voice. “I heard some news today,” he said, interrupting her greeting. “Cole Strachan has moved back to town. A friend of mine saw him at the hospital today. I wondered if you saw him, too.”

“Yeah,” Deborah replied flatly. “I saw him.”

“Are you okay, sis?” Chad asked, trying hard to be sympathetic. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Deborah sighed. “No, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Are you sure? You sound really down.”

“Actually,” she said, “I had a scare at work today, and I wondered if you could come over, maybe stay the night?”

“What happened?” Chad sounded concerned.

How could she explain the situation without worrying him even further? “I’ll tell you about it when you get here.”

“I got called into the office on short notice,” Chad replied. “We’re working on a big presentation. I’m here till late. Sorry, sis. Is this serious? Can you call somebody else?” Without waiting for her reply, he continued, “Is this something to do with Cole? Did he upset you today? Because if he upset you, I’ll make sure he never bothers you again.”

“No, Chad,” she said. “Can we stop talking about Cole, please?”

“Sure we can. Sorry. Listen, I’d love to come over any other time, but I can’t tonight. Call one of your friends or Mom. Don’t be alone, okay?”

“Okay, Chad. Don’t work too hard.”

He laughed. “I never do.”

After hanging up, she started to punch in her parents’ number. Her mom or dad would surely be able to stay with her tonight. Then she thought of all their questions, their interest in Cole, their desire to defend her against her ex-finance’s intrusion back into her life. She simply didn’t know if she had the emotional energy to cope with Cole Strachan being the number one topic of conversation. She placed the phone on its base and stood in her living room, contemplating her options. Her house was pretty secure, with strong locks on all points of entry. She would be safe here alone for one night. She could make a plan tomorrow after a good night’s rest.

She pushed down the feeling of guilt at breaking her word to Cole. After all, he had broken the biggest promise of them all.

* * *

Cole snatched his cell from the nightstand, checked the time on his clock: 3:00 a.m.

He answered it with just one word: “Deborah.”

Her garbled voice was fast and difficult to understand.

“Slow down,” he said calmly. “Take it nice and steady.”

“I hear noises,” she said. “I think somebody is trying to get in.”

“Where’s your brother?”

Her silence was the answer she clearly didn’t want to give.

“You’re alone in the house, aren’t you?” he asked as his irritation at her obstinacy was quickly replaced by concern for her well-being.

“Yes.”

He grabbed his keys from the dresser and pulled on a sweater.

“What do you hear?” he asked.

“It sounds like someone is turning a key in the lock of the front door, but the chain lock is stopping it from opening.” She gave a cry. “How could they have a key?”

“Did you go downstairs?”

“No.”

He slipped his feet into sneakers and holstered his gun. “Good. Stay out of sight until I get there. I can reach you quicker than the police.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He took the stairs in his home two at a time and headed for the front door. “What for?”

“I promised I wouldn’t stay in the house by myself tonight,” she said.

Cole broke into a run on the walkway, unlocking his vehicle with the button along the way. Was she really apologizing for breaking a promise? To him of all people. It made him realize what a good woman he had let slip through his fingers. And now it was too late.

“I’ll be there soon,” he said. “Just sit tight.”

He uttered a prayer while racing to the house. He felt God’s guiding hand upon him, giving him the strength to face up to his past so that he could help shape Deborah’s future. If he was going to defeat the danger in her life, he had to accept her occasional harsh words, her resentment toward him and her instinct to push him away. It was his responsibility to take all of that and more.

He screeched to a halt outside her house. It was shrouded in darkness, and as he slipped from the driver’s seat, the scent of calming lavender came to him on the breeze. Yet the calm was instantly broken when he saw a masked man standing on the porch watching his approach. Cole reached for his gun and the man began to back away, quickly swinging his legs over the porch rail and disappearing under the cover of the trees in the backyard.

Cole gritted his teeth and gave chase.

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