Chapter Five

Hollis awakened to sunlight heating the bedroom like a sauna. Beside her, Stede still slept; his handsome face awash in golden strains of amber. After slipping from bed, she pulled on a pair of cuffed jeans, grabbed a pink lace tank top from her small closet, and headed for the kitchen to make coffee.

While her aged, much-used Mr. Coffee choked and gurgled, she reminisced about last night. Had Stede really sang to her? Did he really say he thought her beautiful? The bucket list…dare she hope when he thought about his future, she was in it?

Walking on air, she poured a cup of coffee and decided to enjoy it on the wooden steps outside. She breathed deep, savoring the fresh scent of earth after last night's rain and the subtle aroma from the pathetic, single row of Salvia she'd planted several weeks ago.

A cupboard door slammed inside the trailer. Apparently, the smell of coffee had awakened Stede. She moved from the steps and slid onto a bench at the picnic table her mother hauled home years ago.

The screen door creaked when Stede pushed it open with his foot, cup of steaming coffee in hand, and settled onto the bench opposite her. His sleep-drugged voice slithered over her. "Morning."

"And what a beautiful morning it is."

He answered her with a grunt, not bothering to look up at the sky. "So what's on the agenda today?"

"Why don't we go fishing? I got a feeling they'll be biting."

"Woman's intuition or are you just feeling lucky?"

"Both. Besides, Eli talked about firing up the barbeque at the ranch tomorrow. Let's surprise him with a bucket load of cutthroat trout."

"Sounds good to me. Let me finish my coffee first."

"No hurry." Hollis looked off into the distance. "Wish he'd find a good woman to love."

"What?"

Turning her attention to him again, she said, "Eli. I said I wish he'd find—"

"I heard you," Stede said with a shake of his head. "Just can't believe you said that."

"Why, is it wrong for me to want him to be happy?"

Stede stared at her as if she'd suddenly grown horns. "You don't have the slightest clue, do you?"

"Wait…you mean he does love someone?"

"Damn, Hollis, sometimes I think you live under a cloud."

"Well, if you two wouldn't keep everything from me, maybe I wouldn't look so clueless all the time."

"I'm not keeping anything from you. Eli might be, but I assumed you knew."

"Apparently not, so if you're not keeping secrets from me, tell me her name. Do I know her?"

"Oh, yeah, real well."

She felt her brow furrow. "How can that be? And why hasn't Eli told me?"

Another shake of his head, but this time he closed his eyes. When he opened them, his face took on a serious expression. "You, Hollis. Eli loves you."

"What!"

He nodded, his eyes serious, and then schooled his features as he always did.

"That's impossible. You don't mean that."

"'Fraid so."

"He told you this?"

"Hell no, Eli wouldn't admit that to me, not when he knows you and me…."

A long pause fell between them. Hollis waited, studied his face and realized he wasn't going to finish his sentence.

"Then it's all speculation on your part."

"Hello . . . Earth to Hollis. Anyone around you two would have to be blind not to see it."

A hand went to her throat while she processed the disbelief. "Sure, I love him like the brother I never had but not in the way I love . . .."

Crickets entered their space, like they had when he left his sentence unfinished seconds ago. Would it always be like this between them, words unspoken, feelings stuffed?

He spoke first. "Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but what Eli has for you isn't familial love. I think he's been in love with you for years."

Placing one leg behind her, she rose from the bench and paced a small area around them. "I wish you hadn't told me. I had no idea. I don't want things to change between us. Crap! He'll know you told me. How am I supposed to act now?"

Stede allowed her to rant without saying a word and then looked toward the sound of a truck pulling into the driveway. "Better figure it out because he just rolled in."

Hollis glanced up and followed his gaze. "What's he doing here, and . . . why is Zeke Freeman behind him?"

Eli jumped from the truck as soon as it came to a halt, his wheat-colored hair daubed with sunlight. "I wanted to warn you, Stede, but Zeke was on me like a tic on a coonhound."

The Sheriff pulled his police car next to Eli's truck, exited like he had all the time in the world, and walked forward. Hollis had come to realize over the years that Zeke Freeman and his sidekick, Buck Jonas, ran the town with cool heads. After her mother died, it wasn't uncommon to see one or the other taking a slow drive through the trailer park. To make sure she was all right, she suspected. Everyone liked the law in Barrows, herself included.

"Morning, folks," Zeke said glancing from her to Stede and Eli. His dark eyes scanned the blue sky overhead, and then he turned to Stede. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news on such a beautiful day, son, but I got to take you in."

"What the hell for?"

Eli spat the words. "That slime from Glendale filed a formal complaint against you."

Unexpected bile filled the back of Hollis's throat. "Ned and Jasper?"

Zeke nodded. "Ned said you attacked him outside the Beer Gardens and threatened to kill him."

"I told you, Sheriff, Stede tackled him after he insulted Hollis, that's all."

"What do you have to say, son?"

Stede's lip curled into a snarl. "Other than knocking him to the ground, I never touched him." He shook his head. "Not that I didn't want to."

"Did you tell him you planned to kill him?"

"Hell, no. I-I said if-if he even looked at Hollis again—"

"You'd kill him."

"I didn't mean it literally; it was just a saying, something I said in the heat of the moment."

Zeke blew air through his lips. "The County Prosecutor brought in pictures attached to the Complaint, said he's filing it Monday, and if I knew what was good for me, I'd have you behind bars by sundown."

"He's their uncle, for chrissake!" Eli's eyes sparked with anger. "He's covered up their dung for years."

Confusion marred Stede's brow. "Pictures? What kind of pictures?"

"Ugly ones. Hobb's face looks like a meat grinder got a hold of it. It's a mass of bruises and swollen like the underbelly of a dead heifer left to rot in the sun."

"Someone else got to him then, cuz I swear by all that's holy, Stede didn't deliver one punch to that bastard's face."

Zeke looked at her. "Hollis?"

"They're telling the truth, Sheriff. I was there the whole time." She slumped onto the picnic bench again, muttering under her breath. "Pictures? But how, I don't…don't understand?"

"They have a signed Affidavit from Rex Crump, a witness to the whole thing."

"That's a lie!" Eli threw his hands out at his sides. "They were alone, just Ned and Jasper."

The Sheriff drew a line in the dirt with his boot. "Look, I don't believe one word they wrote down in that Complaint, and I trust Vernon Mabry 'bout as much as I trust a fox guarding the hen house, but I got to put you behind bars until this gets sorted out by Judge Caldwell on Monday morning."

Dread rumbled in Hollis's stomach. "You're here to arrest him?"

"Got no choice, Hollis, he broke a condition of his probation." His glance wandered to Stede again. "You come along with me peacefully, and I promise to do everything I can to help you." His eyes hardened. "Don't even think about it. You run now, son, and it will go twice as hard for you. I'd like nothing better than to lock up those Mabrys and see their uncle disbarred. But until we get this straightened out, you're in my custody." Zeke advanced and pulled the handcuffs out of his back pocket. "Turn around, son, hands behind your back."

Stede huffed a breath and turned his back on Zeke.

When the click of metal resounded in Hollis's ears, she rose from the table, walked toward Stede and trailed her fingers down his cheek. "Eli and I will think of something. They won't get away with this."

"I'll call our lawyer—"

"No, Eli. I didn't lay a finger on Ned, and I don't need a fancy three-piece suit to convince the Judge I'm innocent."

Zeke led him toward the police car, eased him into the back seat and walked around to the driver's side. "Court is set for Monday morning, nine a.m., Glendale Courthouse."

Hollis fought back tears. "We'll be there, Stede, you hear me? This won't stand."

Eli draped an arm around Hollis's shoulder as Zeke pulled from the trailer park and headed toward Main Street. "I'm gonna kill Ned and Jasper myself when I get my hands on them."

"Oh, that will be a big help to Stede. Sheesh, Eli, what are you thinking?" Her mind swam with convoluted thoughts. Several minutes passed while they stood there staring at the road. "Oh, Eli, the whole thing was a setup."

"What do you mean?"

"They weren't after you. They wanted Stede."

"What!"

"They were there to settle the score but used you and me as bait to draw him out. When things didn't work out as planned in the Beer Gardens, they waited by your truck and did everything they could to provoke him into a fight."

"Knowing he was on probation and would go to jail for a long time if he broke the conditions."

"Exactly."

"What do we do about a lawyer?"

She chewed on her bottom lip. "You heard him…no lawyer. If there's one thing I know about Stede, once he makes up his mind, a pack of wild hogs on the attack can't change it."

He dropped his arm from her shoulder and took her hands. "I gotta get back to Painted Moon. You gonna be okay?"

She gave him a short nod. Only if you consider crying my eyes out all night okay. "Yeah, sure. You'll pick me up Monday morning?"

"You know I will. What are you going to tell Erline?"

She looked at the vivid blue sky overhead. "I won't have to tell her anything. She'll know about it before the Methodist Church bells chime twelve noon and all is well."

"Hollis…."

She looked into his eyes, and only then remembered what Stede had said, before all hell broke loose, about Eli being in love with her. Please, Eli, please don't go down that road now. "Yeah?"

"If you need anything or you're not okay, you'll call me, right?"

"Yes, worry wart." She kissed his cheek the way she always had when they met or parted. She still didn't buy into the Eli loves Hollis fairytale. Surely, she would have sensed it. "Who else would I call?"

After Eli left, Hollis walked into the trailer and collapsed onto the bed. Stede's scent lingered on his pillow. Uncertainty and doubt wreaked havoc with her mind, threatening to unravel her—Stede's mysterious past, Ned and Jasper's dogmatic quest for vengeance, Eli's feelings about her. No matter what road she ventured down, answers remained elusive. She had a bad feeling about the future. Whoever coined the term, Good Guys Always Prevail, needed to reassess their theory. She remembered her mother's favorite Bible passage, Fret not yourself because of evildoers; for they will soon fade like the grass and wither. Or something like that.

With her arm supporting her head, she curled into a ball and closed her eyes. "Mom, if you're up there, please help him."