Sharp Edges (22 page)

“
Oh, poor Daddy,” wept Regan.

“So they don’t know who killed him
, yet?” asked Jeremy.

I shook my head. “No, but I’m sure they’
ll figure it out, Jeremy. They’ll catch this person and put him away.”

His eyes filled with fury
. “I hope they find his killer and they get the death penalty.”

I sighed, understanding his feelings. It was hard enough
for me to deal with but I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like for the kids. Scott had been a great father and they’d loved him dearly.

“I’m
going up to my room,” said Regan, brushing tears from her cheeks. “I just want to lie down for a while.”

I released her hand.
“Okay.”

“
I’m going to my room, too,” mumbled Jeremy.

I walked over to him and gave him another hug. “We’ll get through this,” I said. “We will.”

His body started to shake as I held him and soon he was sobbing all over again. I closed my eyes and prayed that we’d somehow get through this.

“Crap,” said Darcy
when her phone began to vibrate. She took it out of her purse and frowned. “I have to go, Lindsey. I’m sorry.”

I turned around to face her. “
It’s no problem at all. Thanks for everything, Darcy.”

“Call me la
ter,” she said, squeezing my shoulder.

I nodded.
“I will.”

“Come here
, Jeremy,” she said, giving him a hug. “Just remember,
you’re
the man of the house now. In fact, I bet your dad’s looking down at you with a proud smile on his face, knowing very well that you can handle this.”

He wiped his cheeks and nodded.

“Chin up,” she said, her gaze shifting between us. “
Both
of you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said
.

“Bye
, Darcy,” said Jeremy.

I walked her to the door and thanked her again
for being such a rock.

“No problem
, honey. It’s what friends are for. Oh,” she said, putting a hand against her forehead. “I forgot to tell you, I sent your resume to that Sheriff I was telling you about. Anyway, he’s going to give you a call next week,” she smiled. “To schedule an interview.”

A job interview was the last thing on my mind.
I sighed. “Okay.”

She touched my shoulder. “It might not b
e the best time for this, but it could be your financial answer.  Unless, Scott left you some life insurance?”

I shrugged. “
Frankly, I have no idea.”

“Well, funerals don’t pay for themselves, so I’d check on that
soon.”

I nodded.

“Let me know when your mom arrives,” she said.

“Okay.”

After she left, I sat on the couch with Jeremy for a while and we talked about Scott, reminiscing about much better times. Soon Regan came back down and joined us. As the sun went down, I stood up and stretched.

“
I’d better make dinner,” I said, looking at my watch.

“I’m starving,” said Jeremy. “Can we just order a pizza or something?”

I smiled. “You know, that sounds like a great plan.”

I made a phone call
, and a half hour later, the pizza man showed up with a large pepperoni and mushroom pie. When I handed him my credit card for verification, he frowned.

“Didn’t they call you back?” he asked. “The card was declined.”

I sighed. “No, nobody called me back.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. We’ll need another form of payment. It’s fifteen ninety-eight.”

“I’ll take care of it,” said Jake, climbing the steps.

I raised my eyebrows. “Where’d you come from?”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “I was lurking in the shadows when I heard the cry from a damsel in distress.”

I smiled
. “You goof.”

He handed the pizza man a twenty and told him to keep the change.”

“Thank you,” I said after the young man left. “I’ll pay you back, later.”

His eyes twinkled. “You know how I prefer my payments.”

I frowned. “Jake...”

He chuckled.
“Sorry, I couldn’t’ resist.”

“Well, thanks,” I said. “I’d ask you to join us
, but it’s not a good time.”

“That’s okay,
I was just leaving.”

He was dressed in black jeans and a black sweatshirt. Not his normal work attire.

“You working?”

“Something
like that.”

From the look on his face, I wondered if it had to do with my stalker
situation. I shivered at the thought. “Oh.”

“W
ell, have a good night,” he said.

“Be careful. Please.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

I looked down at his hand, the bandage was gone.
“Your hand must be doing better?”

He raised it in the air and nodded. “It’s okay.”

I grimaced. “Are those teeth marks?”

He shrugged.

I sighed. “Please come back unscathed.”

Jake smiled
and then looked beyond my shoulder. “Hey, Jeremy.”

“Hi
, Jake,” said Jeremy. “Mom, come on, we’re starving in here.”

“
Sorry. Well, thanks again, Jake. I’ll pay you back as soon as possible.”

A smile curled on one side of his mouth.
“Oh, I know you will.”

I felt a rush of heat at the way he was staring at me and groaned inwardly. My body, as usual, was my own worst enemy. “Goodbye
, Jake,” I said.

“See you later,” he answered as I shut the door.

I brought the pizza to the kitchen just as my cell phone started to ring.

My mother.

“Hi.”

“I’m on my way
to your place now from the airport,” she answered. “I just rented a car and should be there in about a half hour. Do you need anything?”

I licked my some tomato a sauce from my finger.
“No thanks, mom. We just had a pizza delivered; I’ll try and save you some.”

She snorted. “Good grief, my acid reflux won’t be able to handle that. I’ll find something else.”

I smiled. “Okay, see you soon.”

“Grandma’s in town?” asked Regan
after I hung up.

I nodded. “
Yes.”

“Awesome,” she replied. “I
’ve missed her so much.”

“I do
too, honey.”

I dished out th
e pizza and we ate in silence. When we were finished, I turned on the radio and began loading the dishwasher.

“Mom, you have a phone call,” said Regan, walking into the kitchen.

I dried my hands off. “I didn’t even hear it ring.”

She sighed
. “That’s because I was on the phone when they beeped in. Anyway, the man said it couldn’t wait and that he just
had
to talk to you, now. Let me know when you’re done so I can call my friend back.”

“Why can’t you use your cell phone?”

“Because, I don’t want to waste my minutes.”

“Okay,” I said
, taking the cordless phone from her. “Hello?”

“Stupid bitch
– I told you to keep your mouth shut,” rasped a familiar deep voice. “The next time you open it, I’m going to murder your kids while you watch, and then fuck you until you beg for death.”

He hung up and I stared at the phone in horror.

“Mom, what is it?” asked Regan.

“I…um…it’s nothing,” I
said, trying to remain calm, although my hands were shaking when I handed her back the phone.

Regan frowned. “Was it something about dad?”

Unable to look her directly in the eye, I shook my head and walked away. “No. I’ll be right back.”

“But…”

I left the kitchen, grabbed my cell phone from my purse, and called Jake. Now that my suspicions were confirmed, I was more terrified than ever. Unfortunately, he didn’t answer.

“Hi, it’s Lindsey. Please call me as soon as you can,” I said, leaving a message.

“Mom, grandma’s here!” yelled Regan.

I took a deep breath and tried to collect myself as I walked into the living room.

“Lindsey,” sighed my mother, taking me in her arms. “My poor baby.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled her familiar vanilla scent. “Hi
, mom,” I murmured.

She took a step back and stared at me. “Well, you certainly look good. I see you’ve lost some weight and had your hair done?”

I sighed. “The weight wasn’t on purpose but the hair was.”

“Well, stress becomes you, dear.”

“Gee, thanks,” I snorted.

“Jeremy, can you help me with my bags?” she asked as he entered the living room.

He sighed. “Sure.”

“Regan can you help your brother?” I asked.

“Fine,” she grumbled.

“Typical teenagers,” said my mother as they trudged out the door. “Any kind of physical labor just about kills them.”

“You look good,” I said to her.

She patted her short red hair and smiled. “Thanks, I had my hair done, too.”

You could definitely tell she and I were mother and daughter, except for our body types. She was rail thin where my curves were still borderline chubby, even after losing ten pounds these last couple of weeks.

“Have you talked to your sister?” she asked.

I sighed. “No, I didn’t want to bother her with any of this. But now that Scott’s dead, I suppose I should call her.”

“
Well, I can certainly call her for you,” she said. “In fact, why don’t you go lie down and I’ll get everyone settled for the night?”

“Actually, I’m going to go for a drive,” I said. “I just need to get out of the house for a little while.
I won’t be gone long; then we can talk.”

She nodded. “Okay. I guess I can understand that.”

The truth of the matter was I wanted to drive by Tina’s place to see if anything was going on. I’d avoided driving by that area ever since the threats had started.

I tried calling Jak
e again as I drove off in the SUV, but there was still no answer, which started to worry me. What if something horrible had happened to him? He was obviously placing himself in a lot of danger.

For me.

I left him another message. “Please call me. I’m getting worried.”

Sighing, I turned towards Tina’
s home and then was surprised to see a “For Sale” sign in the front yard. As I slowed down, my phone began to ring.

“Jake,” I said.

“Missed me?”

“I received a phone call from the guy who’s been threat
ening me,” I said. “He made it pretty clear that he was the one who killed Scott.”

Jake swore. “I was afraid of that.”

“What am I going to do? I’m so scared.”

“I just got home. C
an you come over and we’ll talk?”

I sighed. “I’m driving around at the moment
.”

He was silent.

“Jake?”

“Where are you?”

“I just passed Tina’s home. Did you know they have their house up for sale?”

“I just found out myself. They’ve already moved out.”

“Did you find them?” I asked.

“We’ll
talk about it when you get back here.”

“Okay. I have to check back in with m
y mom first, she’s staying with me.”

“Okay.”

I hung up and headed home. When I arrived back at the house, my mom was in her nightgown and yawning.

“Honey, I’m
just exhausted. I shouldn’t have stayed up drinking last night. I don’t know what I was thinking. Would you mind if we talked tomorrow?”

“No, that’s fine. I’m going over to the neighbor’s house for a little while
, anyway.”

She rai
sed her eyebrows. “The neighbor?”

I nodded.
“He’s a police officer and is trying to help with the case.”

She
walked over and gave me a hug. “Okay, dear. Don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t.”

After she went to bed, I went upstairs and checked on the kids, who were thankfully both sleeping. Then I walked over to Jake’s.

“Hey
,” he said, holding the door open for me. I could hear
Bob Seger
playing in the background and there were two empty beer bottles on the hardwood floor, next to his sofa.