as she paused beside the door of her Chevy Blazer, which was parked next to her husbandâs F-150. Their long marriage was a testament to the idea that a Ford person and a Chevy person could get along, if they had a strong enough incentive to do so.
Tom shook his head in reply to her question. âNo, Iâve already given my statement and signed it. Iâll have to testify when Mendezâs case comes up before the grand jury, but thatâs probably the next thing I have to do. And it wonât be for a while, since heâs in the hospital, too.â
âI hope Mrs. Montgomery recovers all right,â Bonnie said with a worried frown. âIt can be pretty bad to break a hip at her age.â
âSheâll be fine,â Tom said confidently. âThereâs nobody tougher than that old lady.â
Bonnie unlocked and opened the door of her SUV. âAre you going to the store?â
âReckon Iâd better. Loulyâs probably heard lots of wild stories by now about what happened. Iâll go by and put her mind at ease, see if she can handle things for the rest of the day. Then Iâll come on home.â
âDonât neglect the store on my account. Iâll be fine. You donât have to come home and babysit me.â
That was just like her, still touchy about certain things, even after all these years. She didnât want anybody thinking she couldnât take care of herself. That fierce, stubborn independence could be annoying at timesâbut it was also one of the reasons Tom Brannon had fallen in love with her and still loved her with a depth and intensity that could take his breath away.
âBabysitting you wasnât what I had in mind,â he told her. âIâm just a mite tired after capturing some Guatemalan gang member and rescuing a fair damsel.â
âDonât joke about it, Tom,â Bonnie said quickly. âYou canât begin to know what Carla May has gone through, that poor girl.â
He ran his hand over his head and nodded. âYeah, I reckon youâre right about that. I didnât mean anything by what I said.â
Bonnie stepped closer to him and lifted a hand to rest it on his cheek. âI know you didnât.â She came up on her toes to kiss him, although she didnât have to raise herself much. She was almost as tall as he was. âI think Iâll go by her house and see how sheâs doing. You think that would be all right?â
âI donât see why not. See you at home later?â
âSure.â
They got in their respective vehicles and drove off, Tom hanging back so that Bonnie could pull out of the parking lot first. Then they turned in different directions, Bonnie toward the edge of town where Carla lived, Tom toward the business district.
As he drove, he felt worry gnawing lightly at his guts. He could have gone with Bonnie and called Louly at the store. That way he would have known that Bonnie was safe.
On the other hand, they couldnât stay together 24/7. They would have to be apart some of the time. He couldnât dump all the responsibility for the business on Louly, and there were his parents to think about, too. He couldnât neglect them.
That brought up a fresh worry. His folks lived several miles out of town, and Buddy Gorman had said that M-15 liked to strike back at their enemies through family. Was it safe for his mom and dad to be out there by themselves? Tom wondered if they should come and stay with him and Bonnie for awhile. They would put up an argument, of course, especially his dad. Herb Brannon had lived in that ranch house all his life. Getting him to budge from it might require dynamite. Tom smiled at the thought.
The Explorer that had driven through the front of the accountantâs office was gone nowâalong with the body of the dead gang member inside itâbut there was still plenty of evidence of the destruction that had taken
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley