* * *
Noah cut Kevin off before he could reach the counter. “What’d you do to her?”
Kevin looked out of it, as though she’d just hit him with a strong right hook. “What?”
“What’d you do to her?”
“Nothing.”
Together, they watched Addy peel out of her parking space. She didn’t even take the time to wait for a safe opening in traffic before charging into the street. The driver of a red Honda honked as she cut him off but that didn’t slow her down.
“You scared her,” Noah said when she was gone.
“No, I didn’t do anything, I swear.”
“Why else would she run away like that?”
“How should I know? I said I’d buy her another drink. That was all. I think...I think it was just that I came upon her so suddenly.”
Noah had a hard time believing that could be it. “Maybe she got burned by the coffee....”
Kevin smoothed his Eureka High football T-shirt over the “happy fat” he’d been piling on since getting married. “Could be. But you of all people know she’s had a rough week. I can’t imagine she was in the best frame of mind to begin with.”
Noah couldn’t argue with that and yet the encounter he’d just witnessed bothered him. Addy had seemed absolutely...stricken.
“What’s up with you acting so defensive, anyway?” Kevin put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a playful squeeze. “You pull her from the mine and now you’re her designated savior?”
Noah wasn’t anything to Addy. She didn’t want him involved in her life. She’d made that clear. And yet...he felt oddly protective. She was so sensitive and serious. Hearing about her selfish mother, and knowing she planned to help her aging grandmother despite the attack, made him sympathetic. Adelaide put on a tough-girl front. She wanted him and others to believe she could take care of herself. But he had the feeling that she was attempting to protect a very fragile heart.
“She’s been through enough. That’s all,” he said curtly.
Eve and Olivia hadn’t had a chance to return to their seats before Addy dropped her drink. They’d stood and watched the scene unfold, just as surprised as he’d been. Now they hurried over to join him. “What happened?” they asked, almost in unison.
“Says he doesn’t know,” Noah replied.
“I don’t.” Kevin spread his hands to show his innocence. “If she wasn’t burned, maybe it has to do with the attack. She’s got to be rattled. Someone threatened her with a knife.” He fished his wallet out of his back pocket and checked the menu, written in chalk on a blackboard overhead, even though it seemed unlikely that, after coming here so often, he needed to consult it. “She’ll feel better once they catch the guy who did it. And that should happen soon.”
Taken aback by his confident tone, Noah stopped him before he could move away. “What are you talking about?”
“Haven’t you heard? Chief Stacy identified the owner of that knife he found in the bushes by her door.”
Eve spoke before Noah could. “Doesn’t mean anything.”
“’Course it does!” Kevin argued. “That knife belongs to Aaron Amos.”
Noah thought he must’ve heard wrong. “What?”
“It’s true!” he insisted. “That bastard has never been up to any good. And now they have something on him that might stick. Once they throw his ass in prison, like his daddy, this whole community will sleep better at night.” He shook his head. “That boy needs to learn his lesson.”
Olivia gave Kevin a disapproving look. “Maybe Aaron’s got issues, but he’s not the one who attacked Addy.”
Noah was relieved to hear this. He’d never spent much time with Aaron, but he knew how Dylan would feel about his brother going to prison. Dylan loved his siblings almost as if they were his own children and had every right to, since he’d sacrificed so much of his time, effort and energy to raise them.
“It was his knife,” Kevin said. “Who else could it be?”
“Anyone who might’ve taken it from him,” Eve replied. “I’m telling you, Addy just said it wasn’t him.”
Skepticism drew deep lines in Kevin’s forehead. “Come on...can she really make that call? The guy who broke into her room was wearing a mask, so it’s not like she saw his face. I spoke to Officer Willis this morning—he helped me groom the football field for the Homecoming celebration tonight—and he’s sure Aaron’s the one. Who else in town would do such a thing?”
Eve came to Aaron’s defense. “He has an alibi.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Kevin said. “He claims he was with Shania, but Shania can’t remember exactly what night they were together or for how long. She was too drunk. She thinks it was Monday, not Tuesday. And if he says he was with his brothers? What will that prove? The Amoses would swear to anything to protect him.”
Kevin was getting on Noah’s nerves. “Be careful talking crap about Dylan,” he warned. “Just let the police do their jobs.”
“Hey, I know Aaron’s big brother is your friend these days, but...the truth is the truth,” he said. “And I, for one, hope the truth comes out.”
“Everybody does.” Noah started back to the table. “But there’s no need to lynch Aaron without proof.”
“You all set for tonight?” Kevin called after him.
He wished there was some way he could beg off. But how did he tell his father, and everyone else, that he didn’t want to be part of the big half-time memorial honoring his dead brother?
“I’ll be there,” he grumbled.
* * *
“How was your run?”
Gran’s voice came from the back bedroom as Addy closed and locked the door. But she couldn’t answer. Not yet. She was too out of breath. It was almost as if, now that she’d encountered Kevin, she thought Stephen, Tom and Derek would suddenly appear, too—as if they’d been watching her since she came home, maybe even following her. She knew that was highly unlikely. But fear wasn’t always rational.
She was also kicking herself for not getting a look at Kevin’s vehicle. Was it white? Did it show damage on the front right side?
She couldn’t say. She’d left in such a rush, she’d nearly provoked a full-blown panic attack. Only being back with Gran, where she felt safe, softened the sharper edges of what she was experiencing, helped bring it under control.