“I’m not worried at all! I—”
“I know Booker’s your friend, Beck,” her father said. “But I can’t step in just because you two are close. Believe it or not, I’m actually starting to like him. However, I still have to let the police do their job.”
Rebecca glanced from Katie to Delaney and shook her head. “Fine,” she said into the phone. “Just call me when they’re done, okay? I want to hear you say the police were wrong.”
Katie’s ten o’clock came in just as Rebecca hung up. A recently divorced Sheila Holley wanted a completely new style. Katie felt it was about time Sheila cut off her long straggly hair, but Katie didn’t enjoy the transformation as much as she would have if her thoughts hadn’t been on Booker and the police who were searching the farmhouse while she worked.
Delaney promised to check in later and left. The hours dragged as Katie went from Sheila’s cut and style to a perm and then home to nurse Troy and back to do a color. Ashleigh arrived at one o’clock, but Katie barely noticed her. She was too focused on the telephone, jumping every time it rang.
Rebecca’s father didn’t call until well after lunch. Katie was doing Mrs. Reese’s weekly set, but she paused, comb in hand, as Rebecca took the call.
Katie could tell instantly that it wasn’t good news. Leaving Mrs. Reese in the chair, she crowded beside Rebecca at the front desk, feeling as though her stomach had just turned into lead. “What did they find?”
Rebecca shoved a hand through her hair as she hung up. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.”
“What?” Katie touched Rebecca’s elbow. “Tell me.”
Rebecca forced her eyes away from some indefinable point in the distance. “They found a car.”
“A car?” Katie echoed.
“It was in a gully on Booker’s property, and covered with brush. My father was just out there. He said it’s quite obvious that someone went to great lengths to hide it. So, of course, now they think the worst.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
WHEN KATIE PASSED Booker’s shop on the way home from work, it was closed—just like it had been when she’d gone home for lunch. She wondered if the police had arrested him. If so, they were wasting their time. Booker couldn’t have stolen that car. There had to be some other explanation. She knew he’d made some stupid mistakes when he was younger, but that chapter of his life was over.
Too upset to continue home, she stopped at the diner and used the payphone inside to call the farmhouse.
No one picked up, not even Delbert. Tempted to drive out there to see if she could learn what had happened since the mayor’s call, she glanced at her watch. Troy needed to nurse again. And she had to let her mother leave. Tami had been babysitting for nearly seven hours.
With a sigh, Katie gave up trying to reach Booker and drove to the ranch.
“What’s wrong?” her mother asked the moment she walked through the door.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You look upset.”
Katie was upset. She wanted to talk to Booker, make sure he was okay. But at least Troy seemed to be doing well. He was sleeping peacefully in his bassinet, despite the fact that it was feeding time. “I’m just tired,” she said. “And it’s hard to leave the baby.”
Tami used the remote to turn off the television. “Oh. I thought you might’ve heard about Booker.”
Katie’s stomach muscles tensed. Surely word hadn’t spread already…. “What do you mean?”
“Don called me from the doughnut shop. I guess Officer Orton stopped in for a cup of coffee and mentioned that Booker’s stolen another car.”
The news had spread. Only in Dundee…“Orton doesn’t know that.”
Her mother’s thinly penciled eyebrows notched up. “So you have heard about Booker?”
“Rebecca said something about it at the salon earlier. But I haven’t been able to get hold of Booker to find out what’s really going on.”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” her mother said. “He’s been stealing cars and harassing the Smalls.”
“Mom—”
“Trudy Johnson, my new next-door neighbor, is a good friend of Leah’s. They play Bonco together once a week. And Trudy said Leah told her that Booker’s out to get even with Jon. He blames Jon for getting him thrown in jail a few weeks back.”
“He should blame Jon,” Katie said. “Booker found Jon, his brothers and his cousin beating up on Delbert. Booker stood up for Delbert.”
“Maybe that’s what Booker told you, but—”
“I know what happened. I was living with Booker at the time. I saw him and Delbert when they got home.” Troy began to stir and she went over to pick him up. “Delbert’s the one who told me what happened.”
“He’d say anything to protect Booker. He idolizes him.”
“He wouldn’t lie. I don’t even think he knows how to lie.”
“When someone’s not right in the head, you can’t take anything for granted,” her mother said, gathering up her purse and her coat.
Katie had been about to feed Troy, but the Model-T that Delbert had given her sat on the top shelf of her entertainment center, reminding her how sweet Delbert was—and how good Booker was. After listening to her mother’s derogatory tone, Katie had too much adrenaline pumping through her to sit down. “I care about Booker,” she said abruptly.
Her mother hesitated at the door. “I know you’ve always liked him, but—”
“No.” Katie broke in. Troy’s squirming had progressed to fussing, but Katie couldn’t feed him just yet. She’d finally reached the point where she could no longer deny or avoid the truth. “I don’t only like Booker, Mom. I’m in love with him.”
Her mother’s hand dropped from the doorknob. “What?”
“It’s true. I haven’t wanted to admit it, even to myself. That’s why I left here to begin with. I was in love with Booker and afraid I was making a terrible mistake. Only leaving with Andy was the real mistake.”
“Katie, Booker’s a car thief!”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Then, where did that car in the gully come from? Cars don’t materialize out of thin air.”
“The police are checking. I’m sure they’ll realize it was an old car of Hatty’s or…or something,” she said, although she doubted Hatty was the type to leave an old car on her land. Scrupulously clean and frugal, Hatty had waged war on dirt and waste the whole time Katie had known her.