Seeing a woman that afraid of being found didn’t sit well with him. They needed help. Help he could give. If he could convince them to trust him.
THE RAIN PELTED Carder with no signs of letting up anytime soon. A rainbow crossed the gray sky of the horizon, leading to nowhere. Faith stood in the doorway of the library and studied the expanse of dark clouds. They portended the future much more than the pink and blue and green. Rainbows were supposed to hold magic and hope. She’d lost count of the days since she’d believed in either.
Zoe still did, of course.
Faith attempted to cloak herself in optimism. Maybe their luck could change, but somehow she doubted it. From the morning she’d realized what her ex-husband had done to her car breaking down in this middle-of-nowhere town, she and Zoe hadn’t caught a break. She’d fought against the panic of being discovered every day. Sometimes she succeeded, but she’d been unsettled since the stranger had shown up at the library today. Something to do with how his gaze had pierced right through her, how he’d seemed to see too much and how Zoe couldn’t stop talking about him.
She didn’t know how long she waited before the rain finally tapered off. The library had closed an hour ago, but Faith couldn’t afford for their clothes to get wet or dirty. She didn’t have the money to go to the Laundromat twice in a week.
“Looks like it’s letting up,” Mrs. Hargraves said.
“Thanks for letting me stay.” Faith shifted on her feet. She didn’t like making small talk. It led to relationships, and relationships meant being noticed.
“I don’t mind driving you home, honey.”
“That’s okay. I have to hit the store first. I’m out of your way.”
“Nothing’s out of the way in Carder.”
Faith didn’t respond. Mrs. Hargraves had hired her off the books. It was best no one knew where she lived, not even someone as seemingly honest as her boss. Faith had to be careful. If no one knew where she lived, she could relax enough to close her eyes at night. At least for a few hours. “Pack up, Zoe. We’re going home.”
Her daughter ran up to her with a frown. “It’s not home, you know.”
Before Faith could respond, her daughter rushed to the back of the library. Heat flushed her cheeks and she glanced at Mrs. Hargraves. “Sorry.”
The librarian patted her arm. “Don’t you worry about it. She’s a good girl, just a little frustrated today. Rain’ll do that. I couldn’t ever live in Seattle or somewhere like that. I’d be in a bad mood all the time.”
“Thank you.” Faith met the older woman’s gaze. She’d saved their lives. “For everything you’ve done.”
“You’ve helped me, honey. I’m not getting any younger. Speaking of which, I’m telling you, if I had fifty years back, I’d be all over that man who took a shine to you today.” She winked. “You know who I’m talking about.”
Faith didn’t pretend not to know. “He barely said a word to me.”
“He was watching you all right.”
“Watching me?” A chill froze Faith. “Why?”
“The fact that you’re a very attractive woman might be the reason.” Mrs. Hargraves arched a brow in disbelief. “Come on, Faith. I saw that look you gave him. Besides, Zoe certainly liked our Léon.”
Léon. So her boss knew him. Faith relaxed a bit. Burke had no connection with Carder, so he wouldn’t know Léon, either. She was being paranoid. Again. “I couldn’t place his accent.”
“If you find out, let me know. Every woman in town from seven to seventy would like the answer.” Her boss chuckled. “That boy is easy on the eyes...and the ears.”
Faith couldn’t deny he was attractive. Tall, with a rugged square jaw, that sexy, unshaven look and piercing blue eyes. He could be the hero in a fairy tale, his dark hair highlighted with sun-kissed blond streaks. Except this stranger had a sad, lonely darkness in him, and that kind of need pegged him as a troublesome cloud, not a rainbow.
What struck her as odd, though, was how he’d taken Zoe’s playacting as a librarian seriously. The girl had fallen in love with him after two minutes. Faith didn’t blame her daughter. Faith wasn’t dead either, but since she preferred staying alive, she had to stay as invisible as possible.
Besides, he seemed too good to be true, and she knew better than to believe all those trimmings. She hadn’t seen the danger in Burke, and look what had happened. “If you say so.”
“Of course I do, and so do you.” Mrs. Hargraves took Faith’s hand. “Look, I’ll let you in on a secret. If you need help sometime, Léon is a man who knows what to do.”
Faith bit her lip.
“Don’t ask me for details. I don’t have all the answers. I just know if I were in trouble, Carder is where I’d want to be. We take care of our own.”
Chewing on that interesting tidbit, Faith grabbed the large tote that doubled as her purse and waited. Zoe took her time but eventually dragged her feet through the front door.
Faith took her daughter’s hand.
“Be safe, honey,” her boss called out.
Faith waved to the librarian and the woman locked the door behind them. Zoe skipped along, jumping in a large puddle. Water splashed up her jeans.
“Stop it. You’re getting your clothes dirty.”
Zoe stilled and turned to her mother. “That’s what Dad always says.”
Faith’s heart ripped in two. She knelt down in front of Zoe. “I’m sorry, Slugger. It’s just... I’m trying to find us a new home, a place where we can be happy. I need money to do that and it’s expensive to wash our clothes. When we get our own place, you can dirty up those jeans all you want. In fact, I’ll roll in the mud with you.”
Zoe didn’t meet her gaze for a few moments and then peeked up. “You promise to roll in the mud with me?”
“Pinky swear.” Faith held out her hand. Zoe grinned and linked little fingers.
“I won’t jump anymore, then.”
“Thanks, Slugger.”
Luckily, the family grocery store, which also served as the feed store and gas station, was only a half mile down the road. She and Zoe ducked in and grabbed one of the five carts sitting just inside the door.
Faith pulled out her small calculator. She picked up a loaf of bread, on sale, thankfully, and looked over at the peanut butter. Full price. They could probably make do another week with what they had if she kept the coating thin. Maybe it would be on sale next week.
“Can we get some chips?” Zoe asked.
Faith bit her lip. She shouldn’t. “Maybe a small one. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Zoe gave her a huge grin, and the sight caused Faith’s heart to sink. Her little girl shouldn’t be so excited to buy a small package of chips. She loved Zoe’s enthusiasm, but her reaction made Faith feel like a failure as a mother.
Every day she asked herself if she’d made the right decision, and every night she recognized she’d had no choice but to leave. Not once she’d realized what Burke was. She couldn’t risk losing custody to a serial killer.
She tapped the cost of the small bag of chips into the calculator and scanned her list. Was there anything she could take off?
A scuff sounded behind her. Faith straightened and turned around. No one there. She clutched her purse tighter, hoping to push down the foreboding that laced her every thought. She picked up a bag of beans on sale and placed them in the cart, then paused.