truck, checking out the empty parking lot, sure he was there someplace just waiting to get at me.
C H A P T E R 1 7
My plan always was if anyone came close to me when I was making a night deposit, well, I planned to throw the bank deposit bag as far away from me as possible and run like hell.
But Ray John wasn’t interested in money, so he wouldn’t follow the cash and leave me alone. He’d come after me. I’d seen what he’d done to Ruth Ann and Rena, what would he do to me?
Even though there was no other vehicle in the lot, fear anchored me in the truck. In the end I squealed out of the parking lot, taking the money with me.
When I got home Marley was still up. I dropped my keys and the fanny pack holding the Beretta on the counter. “How’s she doing?” I asked, nodding in the direction of the den.
“I think she’s waiting for that bastard to come drag her back. Of course, my hanging around pretty much says she’s right to worry.”
I opened the bread drawer and stuck the night deposit bag inside. “I’m going to see Brian tomorrow and charge Ray John.”
Brian Spears was my lawyer as well as my friend and although he was a real estate lawyer, he’d help me through this.
“And I’m going to have another go at Rena. She has to understand what Ray John has been doing to Lacey. Rena wouldn’t listen today but I can’t wait, can’t keep Lacey’s secret anymore. It just helps Ray John. Sooner or later Lacey has to go home; this is just a time out, and if he’s still there the whole thing will start over. I can’t let that happen. I can’t wait any longer.”
“It ain’t going to be pretty,” Marley said. “Are you ready for that?”
I opened a packet of hot chocolate and poured it into a cup. “Do you want some?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Answer the question, are you ready for the bomb that’s about to go off in your life?”
“If you want to reconsider your choice of bridesmaid, I’ll understand,” I told her.
“Like hell you would. You’d do something painful and nasty to me. So you’re still in, even if you end up on Dr. Phil’s show.” Her face clouded over. “That’s if it ever happens, the wedding I mean.”
“Have you talked to David?”
“Nope.”
“Hasn’t he called?”
“Nope.”
“What exactly did you do?” I took the steaming mug out of the microwave and sprayed canned whipped cream three inches thick on top of the hot chocolate, taking comfort in calories. I led the way out to the balcony.
“The church needs a new roof and donations aren’t cutting it. I was just trying to get the bloody garage sale organized.” Marley picked up a silk cushion off a rattan chair and plopped down cross-legged on the chair, hugging the cushion to her chest.
“Seeing how you’re the greatest garage sale fanatic in the nation, they had the perfect person in charge.”
“I know,” she wailed and punched the cushion. “You should see the neat stuff I’ve got stacked in the Sunday School nursery room.” Her emerald eyes gleamed at the thought of the loot. Every Saturday and Sunday she cruised up and down every back street on the island buying vintage stuff. She often talked about opening a small antique store on Hope Street, one street over from Banyan. Hope Street is full of antique stores and tea shops and packed with bargain hunters.
“They’re just so sensitive. I was really into it, but those women just wouldn’t get with the program. Everyone with their own ideas but no one was ready to do any work. I was trying to be efficient.” “I’m thinking you were a tad bossy.”
“I’m not bossy; I just have the best ideas. Besides, what we needed was labor, not ideas. We had a great handmade quilt to raffle and some antique furniture for a silent auction. It was going to be terrific.”
“Words were exchanged?”
“Some.”
“I’m betting not ones that are normally heard in Sunday School.”
“Not exactly.” She reached a finger out
C H A P T E R 1 7
My plan always was if anyone came close to me when I was making a night deposit, well, I planned to throw the bank deposit bag as far away from me as possible and run like hell.
But Ray John wasn’t interested in money, so he wouldn’t follow the cash and leave me alone. He’d come after me. I’d seen what he’d done to Ruth Ann and Rena, what would he do to me?
Even though there was no other vehicle in the lot, fear anchored me in the truck. In the end I squealed out of the parking lot, taking the money with me.
When I got home Marley was still up. I dropped my keys and the fanny pack holding the Beretta on the counter. “How’s she doing?” I asked, nodding in the direction of the den.
“I think she’s waiting for that bastard to come drag her back. Of course, my hanging around pretty much says she’s right to worry.”
I opened the bread drawer and stuck the night deposit bag inside. “I’m going to see Brian tomorrow and charge Ray John.”
Brian Spears was my lawyer as well as my friend and although he was a real estate lawyer, he’d help me through this.
“And I’m going to have another go at Rena. She has to understand what Ray John has been doing to Lacey. Rena wouldn’t listen today but I can’t wait, can’t keep Lacey’s secret anymore. It just helps Ray John. Sooner or later Lacey has to go home; this is just a time out, and if he’s still there the whole thing will start over. I can’t let that happen. I can’t wait any longer.”
“It ain’t going to be pretty,” Marley said. “Are you ready for that?”
I opened a packet of hot chocolate and poured it into a cup. “Do you want some?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Answer the question, are you ready for the bomb that’s about to go off in your life?”
“If you want to reconsider your choice of bridesmaid, I’ll understand,” I told her.
“Like hell you would. You’d do something painful and nasty to me. So you’re still in, even if you end up on Dr. Phil’s show.” Her face clouded over. “That’s if it ever happens, the wedding I mean.”
“Have you talked to David?”
“Nope.”
“Hasn’t he called?”
“Nope.”
“What exactly did you do?” I took the steaming mug out of the microwave and sprayed canned whipped cream three inches thick on top of the hot chocolate, taking comfort in calories. I led the way out to the balcony.
“The church needs a new roof and donations aren’t cutting it. I was just trying to get the bloody garage sale organized.” Marley picked up a silk cushion off a rattan chair and plopped down cross-legged on the chair, hugging the cushion to her chest.
“Seeing how you’re the greatest garage sale fanatic in the nation, they had the perfect person in charge.”
“I know,” she wailed and punched the cushion. “You should see the neat stuff I’ve got stacked in the Sunday School nursery room.” Her emerald eyes gleamed at the thought of the loot. Every Saturday and Sunday she cruised up and down every back street on the island buying vintage stuff. She often talked about opening a small antique store on Hope Street, one street over from Banyan. Hope Street is full of antique stores and tea shops and packed with bargain hunters.
“They’re just so sensitive. I was really into it, but those women just wouldn’t get with the program. Everyone with their own ideas but no one was ready to do any work. I was trying to be efficient.” “I’m thinking you were a tad bossy.”
“I’m not bossy; I just have the best ideas. Besides, what we needed was labor, not ideas. We had a great handmade quilt to raffle and some antique furniture for a silent auction. It was going to be terrific.”
“Words were exchanged?”
“Some.”
“I’m betting not ones that are normally heard in Sunday School.”
“Not exactly.” She reached a finger out
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