"I"m okay, Paige. Really." She glanced down at her blood-streaked T-shirt. "s.h.i.t! My new shirt! Did you get a license number? That guy"s paying for my shirt."
"He"s paying for more than your shirt. And I don"t need a license number. I know who it was."
While Savannah went to retrieve the take-out bag from the sidewalk, I pulled out my cell phone, called the operator, and asked for the police.
"I"m not doubting it was Cary," Willard said. "I"m asking if you can prove it."
Of the three EastFalls deputies, Travis Willard was the one I"d hoped they"d send. The town"s youngest deputy-a couple of years my senior-he was the nicest of the bunch. His wife, Janey, and I had served at several charity functions together, and she was one of the few townspeople who"d made me feel welcome. Now, though, I was questioning the wisdom of phoning the police at all.
Although Willard was considerate enough to sit in my car, instead of making us stand on the sidewalk, everyone who pa.s.sed did a double-take. Only twelve hours ago the police had found a Satanic altar at my house, news of which I was sure had flown through the town before noon. Now, seeing me pulled over talking to a deputy, tongues would wag with fresh speculation. If that wasn"t bad enough, I was quickly realizing that accusing a respected town member of intentional hit-and-run was no easy sell.
"Someone must have seen it," Savannah said. "There were people around."
"None of whom stuck around to do their civic duty," I said. "But there"s bound to be evidence. He didn"t do a lot of damage, but the paint"s scratched. Can"t you check his truck?"
"I could," Willard said. "And if I find silver paint on his b.u.mper I can ask Sheriff Fowler to requisition a lab test and he"ll laugh in my face. I"m not trying to give you a hard time, Paige. I"m suggesting maybe this isn"t the way you want to pursue this. I heard you had a run-in with Cary at the bakery yesterday."
"You did?" Savannah said. "What happened?"
Willard turned to the backseat and asked Savannah to step outside the car for a moment. When she was gone, he looked back at me.
"I know he hit on you. The guy"s a-" Willard cut himself short and shook his head. "He hits on every cute girl in town. Even made a pa.s.s at Janey once-after we were married. I could have-" Another head shake. "But I didn"t. I didn"t do anything. Some things are more trouble than they"re worth."
"I understand that, but-"
"Don"t worry about the car. I"ll write it up for your insurance company as a hit-and-run. And maybe I"ll pay Cary a visit, drop a hint that he should pay the deductible."
"I don"t care about the damage. It"s a car. I"m upset because Savannah was inside. She could have gone through the windshield."
"Do you think Cary knew she was there?"
I hesitated, then shook my head.
"That"s what I figure, too," Willard said. "He wouldn"t have seen her over the headrest. He was driving by, saw your car, and pulled in behind, thinking it was empty. When he saw you walking up, he slammed into the rear end. An a.s.shole, like I said. But not a big enough a.s.shole to intentionally hurt a kid."
"So you won"t do anything."
"If you insist, then I have to make the report, but I"m warning you-"
"Fine. I get the idea."
"I"m sorry, Paige."
I fastened my seatbelt and waved Savannah into the car.
Next stop: 52 Spruce Lane. Home of Mr. and Mrs. Grantham Cary, Jr.
The Carys lived in one of EastFalls"s finest homes. It was one of five stops on the annual EastFalls garden walk. Not that the gardens were spectacular. Quite mundane, in fact, tending to overpruned shrubbery and roses with fancy names and no scent. Yet each year the house made the tour and each year the people of EastFalls paid their fee to troop through the house and gardens. Why? Because each year Lacey hired a top-notch decorator to redo one room in the house, which then set that season"s standard for interior design in East Falls.
"Do you think this is a good idea?" Savannah said as I stalked up the front walkway.
"No one else is going to do it for us."
"Hey, I"m all for putting the boots to the guy, but there are other ways, you know. Better ways. I could cast a spell that"ll-"
"No spells. I don"t want revenge. I want justice."
"A good case of body lice would be justice."
"I want him to know what he did."
"So we"ll send him a card. Cooties courtesy of Paige and Savannah."
I tramped up the steps and whammed the cherub knocker against the wooden door. From inside came the scuffling of shoes. A curtain fluttered. Voices murmured. Then Lacey opened the door.
"I"d like to speak to Grantham, please," I said, with as much courtesy as I could muster.
"He isn"t here."
"Oh? That"s odd. I see his car in the lane. Looks like he sc.r.a.ped up the front b.u.mper."
Lacey"s surgically tightened face didn"t so much as ripple. "I wouldn"t know about that."
"Look, could I please talk to him? This doesn"t concern you, Lacey. I know he"s in there. This is his problem. Let him handle it."
"I"m going to have to ask you to leave."
"He hit my car. On purpose. Savannah was inside."
Not a flicker of reaction. "I"m going to have to ask you to leave now."
"Did you hear me? Grantham hit my car. He-"
"You"re mistaken. If you"re trying to get us to pay for damages-"
"I don"t care about the car!" I said, pulling Savannah over and waving at her bloodied nose and shirt. "This is the damage I care about! She"s thirteen years old."
"Children get b.l.o.o.d.y noses all the time. If you"re hoping to sue-"
"I don"t want to sue! I want him to come out here and see what he"s done. That"s it. Just bring him out here so I can speak to him."
"I"m going to have to ask you to leave."
"Stop covering for him, Lacey. He doesn"t deserve it. The guy chases-"
I stopped there. My quarrel was with Grantham, not Lacey and, as good as it would have felt to tell Lacey what else her husband was doing, it wasn"t fair. Besides, she probably already knew. I"d only be lowering myself to cheap shots.
"Tell him this isn"t finished," I said, then turned and stomped down the steps.
As I approached my car, I realized Savannah wasn"t behind me. I turned to see her in front of the house. Inside the lights flickered on and off. A television soundtrack blared, then faded, then blared again.
"Savannah!" I hissed.
A main floor curtain drew back. Lacey peered out. Savannah looked up and waved her fingers. Then she jogged toward me.
"What do you think you"re doing?" I said.
"Just a warning," she said, grinning. "A friendly warning."
When we got home, the teens were filming my neighbor"s black cat. I ignored them and pulled into the garage.
While Savannah reheated her dinner, I listened to my messages and returned calls to several Bostonian friends who"d seen my plight on the news. My Satanic altar made the Boston news? They each a.s.sured me it had been only a cursory mention on one channel, but that didn"t make me feel better.
The teenagers left at nine forty-five, probably to make curfew. The older quartet stayed, taking turns sitting in the minivan and standing vigil on my lawn. I didn"t phone the police. That would only call more attention to myself. If I didn"t react, the Salvationists would tire soon enough and go home, wherever home was.
I went to bed at eleven. Yes, sad but true, I was young, single, and going to bed at eleven on a Sat.u.r.day night, as I had almost every night for the past nine months. Since Savannah"s arrival, I"ve had to struggle to maintain even friendships. Dating is out of the question. Savannah is very jealous of my time and attention. Or, perhaps more accurately, she dislikes not having me at her convenience. Like I"ve said, stability was one of the few things I could offer her, so I didn"t push it.
Before retiring for the night, I peeked out the front curtain. Two men still stood on my front lawn, with two women in a nearby car, but the faces and the vehicle had changed. Replacement workers? Great.
I spent way too much time that night brooding about Cary. As if dealing with a Satanic altar wasn"t enough, now I had a maturity-challenged lawyer stalking me. How did I get myself into these messes? Maybe publicly humiliating Cary wasn"t my brightest idea ever, but how was I to know the guy would retaliate like a sixteen-year-old turned down for a prom date?
Then there was Travis Willard. I liked Willard, which made his cop-out only that much worse. If he wouldn"t support me against Cary, who would? I could say EastFalls was a typical small town, insular and protective, but I grew up in a small community and it hadn"t been like this at all. If the Elders would only let me move. . . but that led into a whole new area of brooding. I already had enough to last me the entire night.
All was quiet the next morning. Not surprising, given that it was Sunday and this was EastFalls. At nine A.M. the phone rang. I checked caller ID. Private caller. Whenever someone doesn"t want you to know who they are, it"s a good bet they aren"t someone you care to speak to.
I let the machine pick up and set the kettle on the stove. The caller hung up.
Ten minutes later, the phone rang again. Another mystery caller. I sipped my tea and waited for the hang-up. Instead, the caller left a cell-phone-static-choked message.
"Paige, it"s Grant. I want to speak to you about last night. I"ll be at the office at ten."
I grabbed the receiver, but he"d already hung up, and *69 didn"t work. I considered my options, then dumped my tea down the sink and walked down the hall to Savannah"s bedroom.
"Savannah?" I called, rapping at the door. "Time to get up. We"ve got an errand to run."
Chapter 11.
Flying Through the Air with the Greatest of Ease When we arrived at Cary"s office, the reception desk was deserted. No surprise there. I doubted Cary wanted Lacey to overhear this conversation.
Our footsteps echoed through the emptiness as we crossed the hardwood floor.
"h.e.l.lo!" Cary"s voice drifted from his second-story office. "I"ll be right with you!"
I headed up the stairs, Savannah behind me. A rustling of paper erupted from Cary"s office, followed by the squeak of his chair.
"Sorry about that," he said, still hidden from view. "No reception on a Sunday, I"m afraid. The wife doesn"t-" He stepped from his office and blinked. "Paige? Savannah?"
"Who were you expecting?"
He disappeared back into his office. I followed and waved for Savannah to do the same.
"New client," Cary said. "Not until ten-thirty, though, so I guess I can spare a few minutes. Lacey tells me you stopped by the house last night. Apparently I b.u.mped your car on State Street. I did go downtown to pick up some dry cleaning. I can"t say I recall hitting anything, but I did notice a scratch on the front b.u.mper. Of course, I"m extremely sorry-"
"Cut the c.r.a.p. You know what you did. If you called me here to make excuses, I don"t want to hear them."
"Called you here?" He frowned as he settled into his chair. I studied his face for any sign of dissembling but saw none.
"You didn"t call me, did you?" I said.
"No, I. . . well, of course, I was going going to call-" to call-"
"Where"s Lacey?"
A deeper frown. "At church. It"s her week to help Reverend Meacham set up."
"It"s a trap," I murmured. I whirled to Savannah. "We have to get out of here. Now."
"What"s going on?" Cary said, rising from his desk.
I pushed Savannah toward the door, then thought better of it and yanked her behind me before starting forward. She grabbed my arm.
"Careful," she mouthed.
Right. Barreling out the door probably wasn"t the best idea. I had too little experience with running and fighting for my life. Savannah already had too much.
After motioning Savannah back, I inched around the doorway, pressed myself against the wall and peered into the hall. Empty.
"Is something wrong?" Cary asked.
I reached for Savannah. Tugging her at arm"s length behind me, I ventured into the hall. We sidestepped along the wall, moving toward the stairs. Halfway there I stopped and listened. Silence.
"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Cary"s voice fluttered from his office and echoed down the hall.