Page 14 of Rules

"I'm having a family dinner tonight and I wanted to give my girls a bouquet of flowers. I thought maybe it would lift their spirits considering what's happened."

I can feel my eyebrows furrow, placing a hand on her forearm I asked. "What happened?"

"You haven't heard?" Mrs. Whitaker looks shocked. "I thought Melanie would have called."

"No, she hasn't." My anxiety shot up like someone ringing the bell at the carnival. "We talked before they left on their honeymoon but I didn't figure I would hear from her until they got back. What happened to Mel?"

Mrs. Whitaker looked around, leaning into me she whispered, "Are we alone?"

Side stepping around her I hurried to the door and locked it. "Yes, it's just us. What's going on?"

"Michael escaped."

The gasp that escaped my mouth was pure shock. "No."

"Yes, he killed two FBI agents and disappeared."

I had to sit down. "That monster is on the loose again?" Shaking my head I looked at the table. "That's why he—"

"That's why who?" Mrs. Whitaker was eyeing me. "Who is he?"

"Nothing, I ran into Tobias and he looked particularly stressed." Wanting to change the subject as quickly as I could. "Does Melanie know?"

"Tobias is exceedingly worried." She tells me. "As he should be, Michael is a vicious, horrible man." Mrs. Whitaker straightened her jacket. "Cameron and Melanie know. You won't be able to talk to her for a while. They, along with her mother and aunt, have gone into hiding. We all felt it was best."

Still shocked at what I'm hearing and my new understanding of what it was Tobias was trying to tell me but couldn't. The poor man he's facing a monster coming back into the town where he's the law. The one that has to stop him. I'd not had a chance to talk to Tobias about his feelings on how the Michael event went down. Or how he was handling the knowledge that Michael operated in the county Tobias was sworn to protect.

"Ruth?"

I snapped my head up looking at Mrs. Whitaker. "I'm sorry, this is a lot to process."

"It really is. Now, about the flowers, dear. I'm kind of under a time crunch."

"Sure, sure."

Ten minutes later I helped carry the vases to Mrs. Whitaker's car. With a final wish for her to tell Melanie, should she talk to her, that I'm thinking of them and praying for safety. I turned and went back into the shop. Glancing at the clock there was only an hour left.

"Let's close early," I called to Joey. "I want to fill Mary in on the new information."

Chapter 7

Tobias

Saturday mornings are supposed to be quiet. Long cups of coffee, maybe catching up on paperwork at home instead of the office, the occasional phone call from Tim checking if I'll be coming to Sunday dinner. The normalcy of it all borders on sacred.

So, when my phone rings at seven forty two AM with Holly's name on the screen, I know instantly that my sacred Saturday is shot to hell.

"What happened?" I answer, already standing from my Lazy-Boy, fully alert.

"Break-in at Treasures of Time, the antique shop on Elm." Holly's voice is tight. "It's bad, Tobias. John had the ambulance called for both of the Hendersons."

I'm in my closet before she finishes speaking, pulling on pants while jamming the phone on speaker. "Fuck, how bad?"

"Not sure yet. John found them unconscious. Mr. Henderson regained consciousness in the ambulance, said something about four men in ski masks."

I grabbed my badge and weapon from the bedside safe as she continued.

"John's already there. He called to have you notified. Reynolds shift just started, he's heading over now. Should I call anyone else in?"

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