they crossed the road, but Jeannette’s face was expressionless. Maybe she was used to this. Being Laura’s best friend couldn’t be an easy task.
Jeannette steered them to her car, which was parked at the curb, and opened the rear door. Wordlessly they helped Laura inside. She promptly slid over to lie down on the seat. Jeannette closed the door.
“I’ll take it from here.” She yanked the driver’s door open. “Thank you.” The words were an after-thought, apparently. She started the car and drove off.
Meredith shivered, rubbing her arms as she watched the red taillights recede down the nearly empty street. It didn’t look as if anyone had noticed them. She’d better get inside before she was missed.
When she reached her own driveway again, she couldn’t help glancing at Jeannette’s place, and she sucked in a breath. She’d been wrong. Someone had noticed them. Zach stood in the upstairs window, and he was looking right at her.
Meredith turned and fled for the back door.
CHAPTER FOUR
Z ACH PUSHED ASIDE the frilly curtain in his bedroom to stare out at the street again. Frills—the place was full of them. Jeannette’s taste ran toward what he supposed was High Victorian—fine for those who liked it, but he didn’t.
The street told him exactly nothing. Meredith had vanished into her house. Really hers, as Jeannette had informed him over breakfast. Meredith’s father had left everything to her, along with the responsibility of taking care of her mother. In any event, she hadn’t reappeared since that little scene he’d witnessed earlier, and Jeannette hadn’t come back.
Not that he cared, but it was odd. It was in a cop’s nature to notice odd.
Meredith and Jeannette didn’t care much for each other—that much was evident from the way Jeannette spoke of her. Yet they’d come out of the driveway next to Meredith’s place together, supporting a third woman between them. They’d put her into the backseat of Jeannette’s car and exchanged a few words. Jeannette drove off.
That was all, except that when Meredith looked up and saw him, she’d run like a scared rabbit. Or like someone with something to hide.
Okay, he could call it a cop’s instinct if he wanted to, but he suspected he was just too interested in anything to do with Meredith King. Just as he’d been back in high school, noticing her, but not letting her see that he was. At that point in his life he’d figured someone like Meredith was as far out of his reach as the moon, but it hadn’t turned out that way. When she’d turned those big brown eyes on him and looked, really looked, at him, he’d been sunk.
Impatient with himself, he grabbed the room key and headed for the stairs. He’d been cooped up too long. He needed some exercise to help him get his mind on other things.
Deer Run was the kind of place where they rolled up the sidewalks at ten o’clock. Nothing was open at this hour except for the village’s lone bar, and even it didn’t seem to be doing much business for a Friday night. He passed the fire hall grounds, already set up for the auction tomorrow. Those Amish auctions had been going on when he was a kid—everybody in town turned out for them. The auction tent had already been erected, fluttering ghostly in the dark.
Zach turned aimlessly at the corner and headed along a residential street where the houses sat back from the road, their windows warm yellow rectangles behind which families went about their business.
Jeannette could have turned up one of these streets. He’d had no way of seeing her route from his vantage point. If she’d been taking someone home from Meredith’s... But what sense did that make? And why had she and Meredith been supporting the woman between them?
He hadn’t been able to identify the third woman, not at that distance and in the near dark. Anyway, he’d been gone too long to remember most of the denizens of Deer Run.
At least he could return Jeannette’s curiosity
Jeannette steered them to her car, which was parked at the curb, and opened the rear door. Wordlessly they helped Laura inside. She promptly slid over to lie down on the seat. Jeannette closed the door.
“I’ll take it from here.” She yanked the driver’s door open. “Thank you.” The words were an after-thought, apparently. She started the car and drove off.
Meredith shivered, rubbing her arms as she watched the red taillights recede down the nearly empty street. It didn’t look as if anyone had noticed them. She’d better get inside before she was missed.
When she reached her own driveway again, she couldn’t help glancing at Jeannette’s place, and she sucked in a breath. She’d been wrong. Someone had noticed them. Zach stood in the upstairs window, and he was looking right at her.
Meredith turned and fled for the back door.
CHAPTER FOUR
Z ACH PUSHED ASIDE the frilly curtain in his bedroom to stare out at the street again. Frills—the place was full of them. Jeannette’s taste ran toward what he supposed was High Victorian—fine for those who liked it, but he didn’t.
The street told him exactly nothing. Meredith had vanished into her house. Really hers, as Jeannette had informed him over breakfast. Meredith’s father had left everything to her, along with the responsibility of taking care of her mother. In any event, she hadn’t reappeared since that little scene he’d witnessed earlier, and Jeannette hadn’t come back.
Not that he cared, but it was odd. It was in a cop’s nature to notice odd.
Meredith and Jeannette didn’t care much for each other—that much was evident from the way Jeannette spoke of her. Yet they’d come out of the driveway next to Meredith’s place together, supporting a third woman between them. They’d put her into the backseat of Jeannette’s car and exchanged a few words. Jeannette drove off.
That was all, except that when Meredith looked up and saw him, she’d run like a scared rabbit. Or like someone with something to hide.
Okay, he could call it a cop’s instinct if he wanted to, but he suspected he was just too interested in anything to do with Meredith King. Just as he’d been back in high school, noticing her, but not letting her see that he was. At that point in his life he’d figured someone like Meredith was as far out of his reach as the moon, but it hadn’t turned out that way. When she’d turned those big brown eyes on him and looked, really looked, at him, he’d been sunk.
Impatient with himself, he grabbed the room key and headed for the stairs. He’d been cooped up too long. He needed some exercise to help him get his mind on other things.
Deer Run was the kind of place where they rolled up the sidewalks at ten o’clock. Nothing was open at this hour except for the village’s lone bar, and even it didn’t seem to be doing much business for a Friday night. He passed the fire hall grounds, already set up for the auction tomorrow. Those Amish auctions had been going on when he was a kid—everybody in town turned out for them. The auction tent had already been erected, fluttering ghostly in the dark.
Zach turned aimlessly at the corner and headed along a residential street where the houses sat back from the road, their windows warm yellow rectangles behind which families went about their business.
Jeannette could have turned up one of these streets. He’d had no way of seeing her route from his vantage point. If she’d been taking someone home from Meredith’s... But what sense did that make? And why had she and Meredith been supporting the woman between them?
He hadn’t been able to identify the third woman, not at that distance and in the near dark. Anyway, he’d been gone too long to remember most of the denizens of Deer Run.
At least he could return Jeannette’s curiosity
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