Prodigal

Chapter 4

4

Jennifer Jane Tulley looked out at the half dozen or so armed men in her yard before returning her gaze to Adam. Tall and broad-shouldered, dark-haired with heavy brows that emphasized the deep shadows the porch light left beneath his eyes. Was the little punk smiling? He still had that damn dimple, peeking through the scruff on his face. She struggled not to smile back, to keep the steel in her voice and her spine. Some days it just didn’t pay to get up in the morning, and this seemed to be one of those days.

“I asked,” she continued, looking past Adam at the other assorted men in her yard, “what the hell you think you’re doing here? Leslie, you want to speak to that?”

A man in a heavy flannel shirt spoke from the driver’s side of the first pickup to arrive. “You know what we’re doing, JJ. Now put the goddamn shotgun down.”

Instead of relaxing her grip, JJ lifted her arms higher to sight along the barrel at him. Not that she needed to at this distance. She watched Adam take a slow step sideways, just to be safe.

“What do you think my daddy would’ve done if you showed up on his own property and told him to put his goddamned gun down?” JJ asked.

He would’ve blown your balls off. Everyone knew it, but sometimes they needed a reminder that she was her father’s daughter. Trooper let out a low yip of solidarity from his tie-out.

Leslie didn’t speak, but he did lower his rifle. The man who’d driven the second pickup—wearing a camouflage jacket and rendered almost unrecognizable by the trucker cap pulled down to his eyebrows—set his own weapon on his seat and stepped away from the pickup, raising his hands. A long-eared hound in the back stood and looked around the cab, only mildly curious.

“Easy, JJ,” the man said. “It’s nothing to get riled up about. We’d just finished searching the hollow when we saw this guy driving by in a strange car. You can understand why we’d want to check him out.”

JJ stared at Adam. He took the hint, pulling his baseball cap down, and climbed the rest of the steps in a hurry. Too much of a hurry, in fact. A sneakered toe caught the edge at the top, and he narrowly missed bumping against JJ. She had a sudden flash of Adam slipping while they were climbing a clump of sugar maples as kids, hanging upside down—literally red-faced—until she and Danny got an adult to pry his ankle loose. Good to know some things never changed. Adam moved behind her, and she turned her attention back to the trespassers in her yard.

“I appreciate that, Malcolm,” JJ said, lowering the barrel of her gun a few inches. The damn thing was getting heavy. “Now that you know everything’s okay, you can get back to your family. That’s where everybody should be tonight, at home with their families.”

Malcolm nodded and moved his rifle to the rack in back so he could climb in. “All right, JJ. You take care, and let us know if you need anything.”

JJ nodded back, finally letting her gun barrel point at the ground. “Thanks, Malcolm. Give Marlene my best.”

JJ watched the men return to their vehicles, but really her attention was focused on Leslie. He’d been a bully when they were kids, and wasn’t much better as an adult. The only thing you could count on was his unpredictability. Leslie leaned in to the pickup next to him and said something to the man inside that JJ couldn’t hear. The other man’s foot came back out to rest on the ground, and he hovered, half in and half out of the truck.

Damn. She should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.

“JJ,” Leslie called out, “no offense, but how do we know that’s not Marcus hiding behind you? I mean, we wouldn’t want him sneaking his way back into your house and doing something. I hear he’s a pretty mean drunk.”

“You know damn well it’s not Marcus,” JJ said.

Leslie shifted so he could grin at the man next to him. “Maybe I should come inside and check your house for you, just in case.”

JJ felt her father’s temper roll through her. She’d never admit it to anyone—least of all to her daughter—but JJ occasionally wished she were a man, so her physical power could match her fury. But then she’d probably just end up in jail, like most of her cousins on her dad’s side. Instead, JJ turned to her most powerful weapon—her mouth.

“Thanks, but no thanks, Leslie. If you’re so hard up for company, why don’t you head over to Old Man Prior’s. I hear he’s got some new ewes you could break in.”

JJ heard appreciative snickers in the dark. Leslie looked around, trying to gauge the source of the sounds, then stepped toward the house, pointing at JJ as if his index finger were loaded.

“f**k you, JJ.”

“Nope. Sorry. I don’t have s*x with sheep, even by the transitive property. Now get off my land, before you put me in a bad mood.”

Leslie pointed again, but before he could speak, a deep growling rolled from the dark. Les jerked, glancing in the direction of the sound, where Trooper’s four-legged silhouette stood, immobile. Then he ran a hand through his wavy dark hair, before swatting dismissively in JJ’s general direction and heading back to his pickup.

JJ watched while the three vehicles began five-point ballets, trying to turn around in the now-snug quarters. She felt Adam move closer, head near her shoulder.

“The transitive property?” he asked. “Where did that come from?”

“I didn’t sleep through math class,” JJ said. “Did anyone recognize you?”

“I don’t think so,” Adam replied, so close she felt his warm breath stir her hair.

“You’d better hope Leslie didn’t.”

She waited until the last of the taillights winked down the driveway, then headed down into the yard. Adam stumbled after her. A large German shepherd mix tied to a doghouse wagged his tail and woofed as JJ approached. Adam flinched next to her. She looked at him, but his face was in shadows.

“I never knew you to be afraid of a dog,” JJ said.

“He startled me.”

JJ didn’t believe him, but didn’t push it. She squatted down and rubbed the dog’s face, back and forth on both sides. She couldn’t see his doggie grin, but she could feel it.

“Sorry, Trooper,” she whispered, dropping her head next to the dog’s. She ignored the itch of his hair against her face and took pleasure in its warmth. “I hate having you out here, too, but it’s just for a little longer.”

JJ felt a sudden pressure in her eyes and sinuses. Putting dogs on tie-outs was one of the few things she’d ever fought with her father about. It was ridiculous that seeing her dog on her dad’s old chain could almost reduce her to tears now, when there were so many things in the world—in Beecham County—that were so much worse. But then, she didn’t have control over those things, and she did control how she treated her dog.

Unfortunately, Trooper was a much better watchdog outside than inside, where he tended to sleep like the dead. On the couch if no one was watching. She hugged him to her leg one last time, then stood to confront everything else, all the bad crap. Maybe there was something she could do about that after all.

“So you heard about the girl?” she asked.

Adam was still backlit from the porch, and JJ wished she could see his face, but she didn’t very well have the time to take him inside and interrogate him about where he’d been and what had brought him back. She heard Adam let out a breath before he said, “Yeah.”

“Well, then, let’s go,” JJ said, striding back toward the house.

“Go where?” Adam asked, struggling to keep up as they crossed the unfamiliar yard.

Out of the corner of her eye, JJ saw him make a last-minute, wild leap over Evie’s prone bicycle. She wished she could laugh. “Down the road to see her parents.”

Adam stopped following her.

JJ slipped inside to grab her keys from the dining table. She didn’t always lock up, but she’d been more diligent about it lately, even though she suspected one determined run at the front door with a strong shoulder would be enough to bring it down.

Adam was still standing at the bottom of the steps when she came out. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked. “Don’t you think maybe the parents want to be left alone?”

The key stuck in the door, and JJ cursed under her breath as she yanked it free. “No, I don’t. I think they want their daughter back. And we’re going to find her.”

Adam blinked in the glare of the porch light. His eyes glistened, and his nose was pink with the cold. He looked twelve years old again. Okay, maybe fourteen. JJ felt a thickness in her throat.

“Do you really think so?” Adam asked. “Do you think we can find her?”

JJ put her hands firmly on his shoulders. She could feel her lips pressing together, hear the branches tickle each other in the breeze. She had the sensation that time had stopped, and something was waiting for her answer.

“Yes, we will,” she said. “This time, we will.”

Adam dropped his eyes to the ground.

JJ leaned forward, kissing him on the cheek. “Welcome home.”