No One But You. Brenda Novak
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“The whole house.”
“The whole house?” she echoed.
She knew he’d heard her uncertainty, and understood the reason for it, when he quickly amended that comment. “Everything that’s not closed off. I mean...the space I’m using. The living room, the dining area, the kitchen, two bathrooms, my bedroom and Angela’s. I’ll deal with the master when...when I can.”
She took his response to mean it hadn’t been cleaned. That she’d be working in a house where two people had been murdered and the blood hadn’t even been washed from the walls and carpet made her feel slightly ill. But she wasn’t sure she should let that change her mind. She’d known about the murders before she went out to meet with him.
Still, she didn’t want to see that room, let alone touch anything. Maybe he felt the same. Maybe that was why he’d closed it off. “What supplies do you have now?”
“Not much. To be honest, I haven’t had a chance to think about that sort of thing. All of my work so far has been outside.”
“So furniture polish, disinfectant, dishwashing soap, toilet bowl cleaner, oven cleaner, a powdered cleanser and some rags? Do you have a toilet bowl brush?”
“No. Grab one of those, too. Most everything was stolen or trashed while I was...away, so I threw all the broken bits and pieces in the pile of garbage out front. I didn’t have time to sort and salvage. I needed some space to be able to live so I could get out on the land.”
“What are you going to do about that pile?”
“Get rid of it. I’ve hired someone to haul it away this weekend.”
“I see.” If he was as innocent as he claimed, the day he saw what others had done to his house must’ve been very difficult. She couldn’t imagine showing up to find her home in such poor shape, the blood of her parents still in their bedroom upstairs. How was he living there let alone working?
And if he wasn’t innocent?
Sadie wouldn’t consider that. She’d decided to trust the jury’s verdict, hadn’t she? “What about a vacuum?” she asked as she switched the phone to her other ear.
“Don’t have one. Someone... Never mind. I threw that out along with everything else. How much do you think a new one’ll cost?”
More than she could front, and she didn’t get the impression he had money to burn, either. “I’ll bring one. We can limp by using mine for a while.”
“That’s very nice of you. Do you have a credit card or something to put the purchases on until I can reimburse you? If not, feel free to swing by and pick up some cash to take with you.”
“I’ve got a little room on my card.” She should be able to get a few things—at least enough that she’d be able to work today.
“Okay. Thanks.”
Jayden came out of their bedroom in his Spider-Man pajamas, rubbing his eyes. “Mommy? Why are you awake when it’s dark?”
Sadie covered the speaker on her phone. “Because it’s almost morning, handsome. We need to get you dressed and over to Petra’s. Can you go potty for me first?”
With a tired nod, he went into the bathroom, and she spoke into the phone again. “I’ll be there as soon as I get off at the diner.”
“I’ll be in the north field. Come find me, and I’ll let you in.”
“Okay.”
“Mommy?” Jayden called with some emergency. “The toilet won’t flush!”
“I’m coming, babe.” Sadie was afraid he’d filled it with toilet paper again. She had no idea how or why he’d developed such a fascination for stopping up the toilet, but she wished she had remembered and gone into the bathroom with him to protect the plumbing. “I’ve gotta go,” she told Dawson.
“You can bring your son here, you know,” Dawson said. “He’ll be safe.”
“That’s okay. We’ll see if I survive the day first.” She laughed as if she was making a joke, but when he didn’t respond, she cursed herself for being so insensitive. She’d been trying to feel safer by making light of the danger. Instead, she’d rubbed salt into what had to be a very painful wound.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That wasn’t funny.”
He made no comment on the subject. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
“It’ll be at least one.”
“Understood.”
She started to hang up, but he spoke again. “Sadie?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have anything to worry about over here.”
Could she believe him? He sounded sincere. But she’d once been in love with a man she could no longer stand. That showed how easy it was to be fooled, didn’t it? “Good to know. Thank you for trying to reassure me.”
After another pause, he said, “You’re not going to ask me if I killed them?”
Them being his parents, of course. What else could he be referring to? “Would you tell me if you did?”
“No, I guess I wouldn’t,” he admitted. “So much for words.”
He disconnected, but, as unsettling as their conversation had been, she didn’t have time to mull over her gaffe or his reaction to it.
“Mommy, the toilet’s going to spill!” Jayden called.
Setting her phone on the counter, she rushed into the bathroom. “Stop flushing it!”
* * *
The diner was crowded, but Sadie was relieved to be busy. The crush kept her from thinking too much. For some reason, the comment she’d made at the end of her conversation with Dawson kept running through her mind—along with the pregnant silence that’d fallen afterward—and she couldn’t quit kicking herself. Just in case he was innocent, she needed to be more sensitive. She’d rather err on the side of assuming the best, of being kind, than piling on with everyone else, wouldn’t she? Dawson faced enough haters. The only person who stood in his corner, and had throughout the entire ordeal, was Aiyana Turner, the woman in charge of New Horizons. Aiyana insisted the man she knew could never do what had been done to the Reeds.
Usually, Aiyana’s opinion carried some weight in Silver Springs. She did a lot of good in the community, was well respected, but she was always an advocate for her “boys,” had adopted eight of the students who’d attended New Horizons herself. Some of them probably supported Dawson, too. They’d gone to school together, after all. Everyone just discounted what the Turners had to say because of their close affiliation with Dawson and the fact that if he was responsible for those murders, it would reflect poorly on Aiyana and the school, for bringing him to town.
Now that Sadie would be working for Dawson, however, she prayed the founder of New Horizons knew what she was talking about. The man Sadie had met didn’t seem unhinged or greedy. He’d seemed perfectly normal.
But what did she know? She’d barely met him. Maybe she was letting his gorgeous face and jaw-dropping body get in the way of her good judgment.
Sadie was just putting in an order for a Spanish omelet when two of Sly’s closest friends from the police force came in. They stood at the door and gazed around the restaurant until they saw her. Then they skipped the hostess station and headed directly to her section at the breakfast bar.
“Hi, Pete. Hi, George.” She handed them both menus. “How are you today?”
Young, maybe twenty-eight, and stocky, with close-cropped dark hair, Pete looked at his older and much heavier companion. “We’d be a damn sight better if we hadn’t