Free Ripples by DL Fowler Page B

Maybe someone could help her find her folks.”
    “But when Tess finds she’s gone, she’s gonna come hunting for her. No way I want people snooping around here. They’d spoil everything.”
    “Okay. I’ll make it look like she took off on the mare and headed down to town. I can ride the old nag along the dirt shoulder for a ways. Leave tracks.”
    “Guess it’s the least I can do—after leaving her behind.”
    “Yeah. We better do it tonight. Tess said something about her old man coming to get them in a few days—after the coast is clear.”
    “Just as soon get it over with. Never planned on going back there. Not after ....” The pain in her eyes reminds me of the stories she tells about being a prisoner at Uncle Eric's place. Still can't believe that's true. Uncle Eric wouldn’t do stuff like that. Just the same, I say, “I understand."
    "It's tonight, then."
    “Great. My room is next to Uncle Eric’s. I’ll signal you with my flashlight when I hear them getting it on. Then you can sneak down to the barn.”
    “That'll work ... as long as Bryce doesn't show up. He can get nasty … and violent. He’d kill them both if he caught ’em at it.”
    “That Tess woman is pretty nuts, too.”
    “Only because Bryce bullies her. And she’s got a thing against Amy for some reason.”
    “Don’t know. The girl seems pretty nice. She’s really afraid of the old witch.”
    "This sure as the hell better not be about springing her just so the two of you can hook up. I'm not about to start being anybody’s damned matchmaker."
    "I told you ...."
    “I heard what you said."
    I watch her walk over to a box in the corner and pull out a pair of black shoes, black pants and black hoodie. "So we’re on for tonight, right?” I ask.
    "Yeah, I've got stuff to do.”
    "See you tonight, then."
    “Sure, tonight." Mercedes looks at me, her eyes misty. "Must’ve been a lot worse for her after I split.”
    Mercedes
    After RJ leaves, I dig out my lock picking tools and practice on several different types of padlocks. Bryce taught me how to use them before I was ten. He made me help him rob folks in town. He’d sit in the pickup until I signaled the coast was clear. That way, he could take off if I got caught. He claimed the cops would go easy on a 10-year-old girl. I wonder if Amy inherited the job once I bailed.
     

Chapter Seven
    Jacob
    I t’s been dark for an hour and a half. Longer, if you count from when the first stars were visible on the horizon. I walk over to the fridge—for the twelfth time—open it, and stare at the six bottles of Irish Death. A pint has as much alcohol as a double shot of eighty proof whiskey.
    Robert Dugoni’s legal thrillers always keep me glued to the page, but tonight, not even his latest bestseller holds my attention. Not his fault I can’t concentrate. I find myself out on the deck staring across the lake, waiting for that sound. Can’t shake the image of that girl cowering under the bastard’s belt.
    I storm into the cabin for my Beretta twelve-gauge, but it’s not by the nightstand where I keep it. I retrace my steps for the past few hours, but there are too many holes in my memory. Then it hits me—must have left it in the underground bunker when I checked the expiration dates on medical supplies earlier in the day. Back in my office, I activate the hidden doorways into the bunker. After turning on the lights, I stand at the top of a half-flight of stairs and scan the ‘safe room’—a row of file cabinets near the back, shelves and glass-front storage cabinets on the walls. In the middle of the tiled floor, my Beretta is laying on an 8-foot long table. I pick up the gun, grab my night-vision goggles, and return to my Irish Death.
    Nearly an hour later, I crouch in the shadows near the neighbor’s shack, shotgun locked and loaded, with a clear line-of-sight through the front window. If the girl is in there, hopefully, I’ll see her.
    I let Celine down a dozen years ago. That