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“Hmm…” Mary Jo was silent for a bit. “Well…it sounds silly, but her dad made us get ready for bed at eight o’clock. I mean, we always used to stay dressed until we went to bed, but the last few times he insisted we get ready before we watched TV. I thought that was kind of weird, but parents can be crazy sometimes, you know?”
“I know.”
“Anyway, that just seemed stupid to me, but…” She hesitated. “This sounds awful, Miss Anna, and I don’t want you to think poorly of me.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
“Well…” Mary Jo drew a long breath. “I don’t have a sick mind or anything, but it just made me uncomfortable to see Lorna running around in front of her dad in those baby doll pajamas. She didn’t put on a robe or anything. My dad would have a fit if I sat around in the living room dressed like that.”
It was now Anna’s turn to draw a deep breath. Her heart accelerated. “But he didn’t say anything or do anything?”
“Not about her running around like that. But then she was acting funny. I couldn’t figure it out. It was like she didn’t want to be dressed that way, either. She kept her arms all folded up and scrunched herself into a corner of the couch, like she wanted to hide. And she didn’t say much after that. Her dad got on her about being so gloomy. She just kind of ignored him, and then he tried to tickle her out of it. Tried to tickle me, too, but not much. I figured that was because I wasn’t one of his kids and he didn’t think it would be right. But he tried to tickle her, and she said the weirdest thing.”
“What was that?”
“She said, ‘Don’t touch me.’ And then she looked at him like she was gonna kill him. It sort of scared me. I didn’t know she hated her dad that much.”
Anna drew a shaky breath. “Thanks, Mary Jo.
You’ve been a great help.”
“Really? I hope so. Oh! I just remembered one other thing. The last time I was over there, she had this big old pipe wrench under her bed. I asked her what it was doing there, and she told me she was afraid of burglars coming through the window. Did you ever hear anything so crazy?”
Anna had.
Under her own bed she had kept a hammer. It required a lot of effort for her to find her voice. “Thanks, Mary Jo. This is what I needed.”
“Good. If I think of anything else, I’ll call you. But you know, Miss Anna, I haven’t been over there since. When my dad heard that Mr. Lacey had tried to tickle me, he flat put his foot down about me ever going there again.”
“Your dad is right, Mary Jo. Absolutely right. Don’t go over there again.”
When she hung up the phone, her hands were shaking. She looked down at the little puppy curled contentedly on her lap and tried to drag herself back to the present. But it was so difficult. Memories long buried were beating on the doors of her mind, demanding recognition.
Sleet rattled sharply against the window, and the wind moaned sorrowfully. A draft snaked across the floor and wrapped around her ankles, causing her to shiver. She needed to change. She needed to get into something warm and comfortable, and make herself some dinner. She needed to get busy so she could take control again and push the memories away. And she needed to figure out what she was going to do about Lorna.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 4 (#u5ac1458c-a478-531b-af62-b7a8e7025ab1)
In the morning, the world was covered with a clear, sparkling glaze of ice. Anna looked out her window and wondered how she was going to get to work or to the sheriff’s office. Not only did she not have a car, but it looked too treacherous even to walk.
She’d spent a disturbed night, sleeping fitfully, almost as if she were a child again, afraid that the bedroom door might open at any moment. Afraid that another night of fear and humiliation was about to begin.
She wondered if Lorna had slept any better at the sheriff’s house. She hoped so.
Jazz was startled by the ice out back, slipping and sliding and looking at Anna with confused dismay. She finally managed to find purchase on some blades of grass that were poking up, and made a little puddle and a little pile. Anna praised her extravagantly, causing the puppy’s tail to wag like a racing metronome.
While Jazz ate breakfast, Anna made herself some coffee and poached an egg. She was just getting ready to sit down when the phone rang.
“Anna? It’s Dan. Listen, the roads are really bad this morning, so don’t even try to come to work, okay? If it melts off later, we’ll talk about whether it’s worth going in, but for now, just stay put.”
“You won’t get any argument from me.”
“Enjoy the break,” he added. “I intend to. I’ve got this new computer game I’ve been dying to try. Talk to you later.”
Anna ate her egg and a piece of whole wheat toast and wondered how she would fill her day, since she couldn’t go anywhere. Plus there was the problem of Lorna, and she was really reluctant to let matters ride another day. What the child needed more than anything in the world right now was to know that someone was on her side and would protect her. She didn’t need to spend even one more day alone in hell.
Making up her mind at last how she was going to handle the matter, she called the sheriff’s office and was put straight through to Nate Tate.
“Lovely day, isn’t it, sweet pea?” he asked in his deep, gravelly voice. “We’ve had a three-car pileup on the state highway, reports of cars in ditches all over the county, and half my men can’t get to work. Velma managed to make it in, though, and she’s teaching Lorna how to work the dispatch desk.”
The image of wizened, chain-smoking, blunt-talking Velma Jansen working with a soft-spoken thirteen-year-old made Anna feel like smiling for the first time that day.
“What’s Lorna think of that?”
“Unless I miss my guess, she’s thrilled. So what’s up? Are you stuck in a ditch, too?”
“No, but probably only because my car died at the church last night.”
“How’d you get home? Did you call a deputy?”
“Hugh Gallagher took me.”
“Well, that’s the next best thing. He’s one fine man.”
Anna knew she should come to the point, but she seized on Hugh as an excuse to avoid it just a little longer. “Is he?”
“You bet. He’s a bona fide war hero, you know. Everybody knows he had some head problems after the Gulf War and hid up in the mountains with those vets for a few years, but that isn’t the whole story. Anyway, for all that, he’s got his head screwed on straight. But I don’t gossip, so you’ll just have to find out the rest for yourself.”
Anna had to chuckle at that.
“Now, what’s up, sweet pea? Not that I want to rush you or anything, but you never know when there might be another pileup on the state highway. Some of those damn truckers are pushing through like that pavement is dry.”
“Well, it’s about Lorna.” She drew a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut, reminding herself to keep her own feelings out of this. She had to speak to save the girl. “I’m convinced her father is sexually molesting her.”
“So are all of us who were at that hearing yesterday. But there’s not a whole lot I can do without proof. If she won’t talk, my hands are tied.”
“I talked to one of her friends last night, Nate. And she said some things…well, I think if I tell her what I know, I might be able to persuade her to confide in me.”
He was silent for a moment. She could almost hear him ruminating. “All right. It’s worth a stab. At least if she talks to you, I’ll have something to start with. Okay, sweet pea, get into your outdoor gear.
I’ll have a deputy at your door in ten minutes.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“Damn county’s going to hell in a handbasket,” he muttered. “See you in a few minutes, Anna.”
Anna put Jazz in her cage, then dressed with trembling hands. She was about to do something she hadn’t done in fifteen years: expose her past to another person. She didn’t kid herself that she was going to get anywhere with Lorna if she didn’t. God, she hoped she had the strength to go through with it.
The deputy took longer than ten minutes to get there. More like twenty, actually. Anna was just grateful that Nate had sent a woman. Sara Ironheart apologized profusely for the delay, but said she’d had to stop at an intersection to help get a car out of the way.
“Don’t you live all the way out at the west end of the county?” Anna asked her. “How did you manage to get in this morning?”
Sara flashed her a smile. “I never got home last night. I’ve been on duty since three o’clock yesterday afternoon.”
“You must be exhausted!”
Sara shrugged. “I caught a couple of catnaps at the office.”
“Well, I hope the roads clear soon, so you can go home.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. It looks like snow is moving in, and unless some of the other guys manage to find their way in, Nate’s going to need every one of us still here to stick it out.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an ice storm like this.”
“I don’t recall us ever having one here. Usually it’s just snow. Funny weather yesterday. Really funny.”
The chains on the tires of the Blazer clanked loudly as they drove down the ice-coated streets. The trees looked like something out of a fairy tale, encased in ice and icicles. If the sun had been out, the world would have glittered and sparkled, but overhead, leaden clouds dulled the day.
“How’s Joey doing?” Anna asked, referring to Sara’s eighteen-year-old brother. When she had first moved here, Joey had been in the youth group and going through some hard times.
“Glad to be away at college, I think. I’m so glad my husband was able to talk him into at least trying it. I’d sure hate to see him miss the opportunity.”
“Gideon seemed to have a good influence on him.”
“He’s been a good influence on all of us,” Sara said. “And he’s sure taken the load off my grandfather’s shoulders.”
“You board horses for people at your ranch, don’t you?”
“Board some and raise some. Gideon’s a wonder with those ponies.” She shook her head and smiled. “The man is magic with horses. You ought to come up sometime and watch him work with them. It’s well worth seeing.”
“Some day I’d like to ride a horse.”
Sara smiled at her. “We can arrange that, too. We have some really gentle ponies that are good for getting started on.
Gideon’s thinking about giving lessons to town kids who don’t get the chance to ride like the ranch kids. I’m sure he’d love to practice on you.”
“I’ll think about it.” But Gideon Ironheart, pleasant as he was, intimidated her. He was so big and muscular, and so exotic looking with his long black hair. She didn’t think she would ever feel comfortable enough to take riding lessons from him.
They pulled up at last in front of the sheriff’s office, and nervousness washed over Anna. It was no worse than stage fright, she told herself. Just do it. Just walk through it and do what needs doing.
Lorna was still sitting at the dispatcher’s desk, working with Velma. When she looked up and saw Anna, she broke into a wide smile that nearly broke Anna’s heart. This child looked so different today from yesterday. So much more alive and hopeful.
“Hi, Miss Anna!” Lorna said cheerfully. “Did you get stuck, too?”
“No, I just wanted to see you, so Sheriff Tate had Deputy Ironheart pick me up. Have you tried walking out there? You need ice skates!”
Lorna laughed and tossed her long blond hair. “I fell on my bottom this morning at the sheriff’s house when I was helping put down salt on the driveway. And now it’s going to snow. I hope it snows so deep that nobody can go anywhere.” She looked suddenly wistful, and Anna identified with the feeling. How many times had she hoped her stepfather wouldn’t be able to make it home from work?
“This child,” said Velma, through a cloud of cigarette smoke, “just wants to be stuck here at this desk forever. Can you believe it? She actually likes talking to all these deputies and answering the phones. Next thing you know, they’ll be retiring me and giving her my job.”
Lorna grinned at her.
“You shouldn’t give them such a hard time.”
“Child,” said Velma, “giving deputies a hard time is my stock-in-trade. Somebody’s got to keep them in line.”
Nate Tate came down the hallway and greeted Anna. Then he turned to Velma. “Let Lorna go visit for a while with Miss Anna. We can’t have you working the girl too hard. We’ll run afoul of the child labor laws.”
“Working her?” Velma snorted. “Boss, this child is having fun. Now scoot, Lorna, and go visit with Miss Anna.”
Nate led Anna and Lorna to an empty office and left them alone with the door closed. Anna sat on a creaky office chair, while Lorna went to the window to look out.
“Did you have a good time at Sheriff Tate’s last night?”
Lorna nodded. “He has a nice family. He didn’t even make me wear handcuffs like I thought he would. I just had to promise I wouldn’t run away from him, so I did.”
“That was a wise promise to make. And he does have a lovely family.”
“They’re all so happy,”
Lorna said wistfully. She kept on looking out the window. “We made popcorn after dinner and watched some funny movies. It was really fun.” She paused. “I bet his daughters don’t think about running away.”
Anna drew a long breath to steady herself. “Do you think about running away?”
“All the time.”
“Why?”
Lorna didn’t answer.
Anna hesitated, wondering whether to keep beating around the bush or to just charge right in. For the first time in her life, she wished she had some formal training in psychology. At last she said, “I used to think about running away when I was your age. Finally I did.”
Lorna turned from the window, looking at her with evident interest. “Did you make it?”
“That depends on what you mean by making it. I got away. But I paid a terrible price for it. There isn’t much a fourteen-year-old girl can do on the streets. Nobody will hire you. I wound up having to do things I’m too ashamed to talk about.”
Lorna came closer and sat, facing her. “I won’t tell anybody. I promise.”
Anna shook her head. “I don’t like to talk about it. But running away is never an answer, Lorna. I found that out the hard way.”
The girl nodded. “I kind of figured that out myself. Did they catch you and make you go home?”
“They caught me. But no, they didn’t make me go home.”
“How come?”
“Because I finally told them the truth about what was going on. After that, they made sure I didn’t have to go home.”
