Miz Scarlet and the Bewildered Bridegroom by Sara M. Barton

pulled her
close.
    “What do you think,
Captain Peacock?” Bur asked his buddy across the dining room table.
“Is he trustworthy?”
    “You can’t tell just by
looking at him, Poup. Let’s wait and see.”
    “Fine. Shall we call
this Scrabble game a draw? If I play my cards right, there’s still
time to take Kasey out for a drink at the Hungry
Owl.”
    “Seriously?” I glared
at my brother, my hands on my hips. “You’re going to call that poor
woman up at the last minute? Why does she let you get away with
such bad behavior? What is she, chopped liver to your lumpfish
caviar?”
    “I’ll have you know
that I had a date scheduled with her until Laurel begged
me...
begged me
to play Scrabble tonight! Mother
said....”
    “Fine,” I retorted.
“But if it was me....”
    “You’d still be single.
Oh, wait. You are!” he hooted.
    That’s when my cell
phone danced in my pocket, startling me as it bounced against my
hip. I pulled it out. “It’s Jenny. Hi, kiddo. What’s
up?”
    “Somebody popped all of
Hammerhead’s tires!”
    “Somebody did what?
Where are you?” My heart was in my throat.
Please don’t let her be out in the middle of
nowhere, parking with the shark boy.
“We’ll come and get you.”
    “Scarlet, I’m scared!”
she confessed. “We’re on the highway.”
    “You’re stranded on the
highway, as in I-384?”
    “Yes!”
    “Crap!” Kenny snatched
the phone from my hand, peppering her with questions. I could tell
Jenny had lost her composure when I heard sobbing. He asked to
speak to Hammerhead. “Listen, we’re leaving right now. We’ll be
there in five minutes. I want you two to stay on the line with
Scarlet. Whatever you do, I don’t want you to hang up. And keep
your eyes and ears open, Michael. Don’t let anyone get near Jenny.
Get back in the car and lock it. And if anyone approaches, don’t
roll down your window or open the door. Lean on the horn and make a
lot of noise if you feel in danger. Can you do that for me? Good.
Okay, we’re on our way.”
    He handed the phone
back to me. “Hammer...er, Michael, can you put Jenny back
on?”
    “Sure.” I heard the
door locks click into place and then sniffles on the other end of
the line.
    “You okay,
Jen?”
    “I guess so. What is
going on?”
    “I wish I knew,” I told
her.
    We stopped on our way
past the living room only long enough to let the Scrabble players
know what was going on. I knew the ladies were nervous. I didn’t
blame them. I was nervous too.
    Kenny turned to my
brother as we stepped back into the hallway. “Bur, just to be on
the safe side, could you follow us in your car?”
    “Sure. No
problem.”
    A minute later, our
two-car rescue caravan left the inn for the short drive to the
interstate.
Please don’t let
something terrible happen to them, God. Don’t let some drunk driver
plow into the disabled car or some nutty tire slasher terrorize
them with a knife.
    “Talk to them,” Kenny
instructed me. “Get some information.”
    “What kind of
information?”
    “We want to know what
happened, blow by blow. Start at the beginning.”
    Prompted by Kenny, I
tossed out a half-baked question, still not thinking straight.
“Where were you when the tires were popped?”
     

Chapter Eight --
     
    “We weren’t anywhere.
We got in the car and drove out of the driveway. When we got onto
the entrance ramp for I-384, Hammerhead noticed the steering
started to go wobbly. By the time we were on the highway, we knew
something was definitely wrong. He pulled over the car and got out
to check the tires. They were all flat. Miz Scarlet, doesn’t that
mean someone did this to Hammerhead’s car while it was parked at
the inn?”
    “I don’t know, Jen. Is
it possible it happened before he got to the inn and the tires just
didn’t go flat right away? Maybe he drove over broken glass or a
box of nails some careless idiot left in the road.”
    “Hammerhead said to
tell you there are punctures in the