Chapter 10

10

The Marion Police Department was on Main Street, in a rather spacious brick and wood building that had once been a bank in another life. The employees inside were scattered into different divisions, some of which were divided only by partitions made of reclaimed wood. Except for Chief Blake Foster. He got an office. The other room was for holding, and it happened to have the remains of an old vault inside. The officers had a running joke that one day someone they brought in would spend some time in it. Of course they wouldn't actually do that, but every employee there would be lying if he or she said it hadn't crossed their minds. Every once in a while, they brought in someone who simply could not be quiet.

After roll call and a visit to the high school, Ryan Mulaney sat down in his cubicle and glanced at his phone. Again. He had a couple of people he was waiting to hear from about open cases. But what he was really looking for was a text from Candace Evans, aka Miss Crittenden County.

If another officer asked why he was continuing to escort Candace to her various events, Ryan knew he would say all the right things. The first was the excuse he'd given Candace. He needed to get to know the citizens in Marion and the surrounding areas. Meeting them in such a nonconfrontational way wasn't a bad thing.

In addition, he'd remind them she was only twenty-two, petite, and vulnerable. Or how some of the roads in the county flooded easily while others were so remote that obtaining a cell phone signal was about as easy as coaxing a stray cat into one's lap.

Then, of course, was the most obvious reason for him to be at her side—crowds of people surrounded her at these events. Some of them even thought nothing about touching her without her permission, which grated on him like nobody's business. That shook her up—and with good reason. No way should anyone have to put up with a stranger doing that.

Thinking about how, the last time he'd accompanied her, some woman tried to run her hand down Candace's hair, Ryan gritted his teeth. He'd put a stop to that fast. Even the lady's look of hurt outrage hadn't made him regret his decision. Not when he'd caught sight of Candace's face, full of relief.

And ... that was his secret, he supposed. He might be an experienced cop, six foot four and close to two hundred pounds, but whenever Candace was around, he turned into his goofy younger self. The guy who had a crush on the prettiest girl in town.

But who could blame him?

Yeah, she was pretty as all get-out, but that wasn't what drew him to her. It was the way she didn't take herself seriously—the way she seemed more delighted to visit with people and ask them about their lives than to have anyone fuss or congratulate her on her win. So sweet.

It was the way that there was something vulnerable in her hazel eyes that she tried to hide. But it never went away.

And that concerned him.

Though she hadn't spoken anything out loud, Ryan was sure Candace was more afraid of her stalker than she was letting on. She was scared bad enough to accept his company. Scared enough to agree to share her schedule with him and tentatively agree to allow him to drive her to the events.

She relaxed around him too.

So, he spent the next hour working while waiting to hear from her. Doing paperwork. Investigating some of the leads they had on a recent robbery. Helping a lady who came in with concerns about her neighbor's suspicious behavior, and even going so far as to promise to stop by soon.

Just when he was about to reach out to her, Candace texted him.

Hey, Officer Mulaney. It's Candace. Candace Evans.

He couldn't stop the grin as he texted back.

Hi, Candace. I knew it was you. How are you today?

After a few seconds, he spied the telltale line of dots and then her reply.

OK. Busy.

I bet. You got your schedule yet?

I do, but IDK. It's a lot. I feel bad asking you to come.

You don't have to go if you're 2 busy.

Ryan shook his head as he typed his response.

I won't know if I can or can't come with until you send it to me.

Sure?

I'm sure.

He barely resisted rolling his eyes. Then he remembered she didn't know him—and that it was in her nature to be considerate. He'd seen that time and time again.

After a minute passed, he tried again.

Send your schedule my way, okay?

OK. Fine. Screenshot?

That'll do. Send it.

He drummed his fingers on the desk while he waited for her response. And then, there it was. Scanning it, he noticed that her first event was in two hours. Luckily it was in Marion, but her last event was out in Sparta. It was right on the other side of the county line and close to an hour away.

Realizing that the talk they needed to have couldn't wait, he rang her up.

"Officer Mulaney?"

"Hey, Candace. Remember what I've told you? You can call me Ryan."

After a pause, she said, "Um, all right. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you about this schedule of yours. How about you start having me help you set it up?"

"Why?"

"Because if you set up something an hour away at night, I want to be able to go with you. If I'm busy, you might end up going alone, and I don't want that."

"You don't have to go to every event with me," she added in a rush. "That isn't necessary."

She sounded agitated. "I know it isn't," he soothed. "Obviously there's going to be times when something else comes up. If there's an emergency, I'll have to back out."

"Or you're off. I don't want to mess up your days off."

He wouldn't tell her, but he was going to do his best to escort her even if he was off shift. It wasn't like he had a busy social life anyway. "I'll do my best to accompany you."

"Thanks, but Ryan, I promise, I don't mind doing all this alone."

"I hear you. But still, I'd like to try to be with you. Don't forget, part of the reason I'm going to be there is to get to know the county's citizens."

"But—"

Man, she really was so cute. "Listen, I've got to go. Should I pick you up at your house?"

"You don't mind?"

"I don't mind," he said in a firm, soft tone.

"All right. But I think we should talk about this."

"Okay, we'll talk about it tonight. We'll have a couple of hours together, yeah?"

"Yeah."

There was a smile in her voice now, which made him smile. "Okay then. Text me your address and I'll see you later."

"Okay."

Relieved that he'd gotten his way, he finished up. "Good. See you then."

"Wait!"

He gripped his phone tighter. "Yeah?"

"I ... well, I just wanted to tell you thanks."

"No problem." He barely stopped himself from adding honey to the end of that.

Alex, another officer, stopped at his desk after he'd ended the call. "Everything good?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason. Other than I heard you talking about schedules. I'm guessing that was Candace Evans?"

"It was."

"How often do you plan to drive that girl around?"

"She's not exactly a girl. And as often as I'm supposed to."

"You don't seem too put off by that, though." His eyes narrowed. "Is there something going on between you?"

"Definitely not."

"Good, because if there was, that would be a conflict of interest." Alex was in his midforties, a little on the portly side, and a bit of a busybody. "Chief Foster isn't going to be pleased if you overstep yourself."

He knew the other man was trying to be helpful, but his condescending tone was beginning to grate on him. "I came from Connecticut, not the moon. We did things by the book there. I'm not going to do anything inappropriate."

"Good." He exhaled. "Sorry, but I couldn't not say anything."

"Say whatever you want. I'm going to explain myself if I need to, though."

After staring at him hard, Alex lifted his chin. "Understood."

When Alex walked away, Ryan directed his attention back to his paperwork and tried to calm down. He didn't like anyone insinuating that he wasn't acting appropriately. He wasn't that kind of guy.

Still, he knew it probably wasn't a bad idea to keep better tabs on himself. As much as he could say that Candace was nothing more than a citizen of Crittenden County and therefore had every right to police protection, Ryan knew that if things were different, he'd want to ask her out.

An hour later, he pulled up in front of Candace's house. Glad that she wasn't standing on the front lawn waiting for him, he walked to the door and knocked.

Her father answered but didn't move from the doorway. "You must be Officer Mulaney."

"I am, but please call me Ryan." He held out his hand as Mr. Evans stepped onto the stoop.

Mr. Evans shook it, but instead of warming to him, he narrowed his eyes. "Candace told me that you said she could call you by your first name."

"Well, Officer Mulaney is a mouthful." And it was, he supposed, though that wasn't exactly the entire reason. The majority of it had to do with him watching out for her and needing for her to trust him. No way was she going to stick close if she didn't feel comfortable around him.

"I guess it is," her father replied. He sounded grudging, though. After a second's pause, he added, "My name is Wayne."

"It's good to meet you, Wayne."

Wayne stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I didn't tell Dora this, but I'm relieved that you're accompanying Candace as much as you are able. She acts like she's an independent woman, but she's never been on her own. Not really."

"I'm happy to help." He was more than happy, actually.

The door swung farther open. "Dad, who are you talking to? Oh! Hi, Ryan."

"Hey, Candace." It was a true struggle to act as if her beauty didn't affect him. Today she wore a silky-looking, pale green dress and knee-high suede boots with a two- or three-inch heel that made her legs seem even longer. "Are you ready?"

"I think so. Hold on. My stuff is in the duffle bag in the hall."

"I can grab it. If it's anything like last time, it probably weighs a good fifty pounds," he joked.

"It's not that heavy."

Stepping into the entryway, Ryan got a brief glimpse of creamy light gray walls, dark wood, and a blue braided rug covering the floor. It all looked neat and clean. The duffle bag was in the entry, next to the stairs. Sure enough, it was heavy.

When he walked back out, Wayne stared at the duffle as if he was noticing it for the very first time. "What is in there, Candace?"

"A change of clothes. Snacks. And a bunch of stuff from the chamber of commerce."

"How come you have items from the chamber?"

"Because they're my sponsor, Dad," she said in thinly disguised impatience, like it was obvious that she'd told her father that more than once or twice. "They held the contest."

"Oh."

After kissing her father's cheek, she smiled at Ryan. "I'm ready now."

"Let's go, then."

Walking to Ryan's side, Candace lifted a hand. "Bye, Daddy."

"Bye, sweetheart. You have your cell phone?"

She tapped the side of her purse. "It's right here."

"Call if you need anything."

"I will. Bye!" she called out over her shoulder as she headed to Ryan's SUV.

"It's good to meet you, sir. You take care now."

Wayne nodded, but his expression remained serious. "All I care about is you taking care of my daughter."

"I promise I'll do that."

"Good."

Heading to his vehicle, Ryan thought about her father's protective tone. He wondered if he'd always been that way, or if this was something new.

After he joined Candace in the SUV and they punched in her first destination in his GPS, he pulled out and headed down her street. "How are you?" he asked.

"I'm good. Thanks again for taking me around today."

"It's not a problem."

"Well, thanks anyway. I'm really glad I'm not by myself."

Her words were thoughtful, but there was a note of something new in her tone. She sounded apprehensive. "Hey, Candace, is something bothering you?"

"What do you mean?" Her entire posture had changed. She was wary now.

"Oh, you know," he murmured. "You're tired. It's too hot. You've gotten tired of me watching your every move. Or, you're still worried about the stalker?"

"I don't know." She averted her eyes and played with the ends of her hair.

So that was a yes.

"The only way my presence helps is if we're honest with each other."

"I'm being honest."

No, she wasn't. Maybe he should drop the subject, but something was telling him not to do that. Remembering a few women that he'd worked with in the past, he decided to do a little more digging. "I know what happened to Bethanne, Candace. The chief filled me in. You have a very good reason to be a little more wary around men. Maybe my help isn't actually helping you at all?" That was as delicately as he could put it.

Her eyes widened. "This isn't like that. Peter ... Peter led my cousin to believe he was someone different than she'd believed him to be," she continued in a rush. "What's happening to me? I'm worried that I've begun to look for the worst in people."

"But you've been genuinely worried."

"I have, but maybe I've let my imagination get carried away? It could just be a guy with too much time on his hands."

Warning signals blared in his head. "Hmm."

"Do you not believe me?"

Worry, and maybe even a hint of indignation, laced her voice. He didn't want to cause her more stress, but he also wanted her to trust him. Trust him to help her. He took time to answer her question with care. "If your question is, do I believe that someone is giving you a hard time and might be stalking you, yes, I believe that. Absolutely." That was why he was there, after all.

"Then why do you sound so skeptical?"

"Because I think that, at the very least, you might have an idea of who might do something like this."

Looking increasingly uncomfortable, she mumbled, "I really don't know why a stranger would do this."

"Trust me to keep things confidential."

"I do trust you, and if I see him again, I'll point him out to you. I just don't know who he is."

Unable to keep his frustration with the situation from taking over, he said, "Keeping information to yourself isn't going to help if you're wrong. Remember that."

"I'll remember." She looked away.

Ryan felt the knot in his gut tighten. Call it a sixth sense, but he felt Candace was just giving him words. She'd been living in this community her entire life. No one went twentysomething years without making someone angry or upset.

He was going to have to walk an even narrower line. He needed to reinforce her belief that she was in danger without scaring her half to death. He hoped he was up to the task.