FOUR

      It seemed to Candace that time sped up as soon as Angela dropped her bombshell. In a matter of three hours, an officer from the San Diego Police Department named Jennifer Barnes, and Ridley from the Coronado Police were meeting with the adults in the family room, while Lon and Tracy were occupied building a spaceship with Tracy’s Lego set in the kitchen. Candace suspected Lon was silently taking in every word of the briefing, but fortunately, Tracy seemed oblivious.

      Candace tried hard to focus, but her mind was still fogged in disbelief. The Pack had somehow tracked down her mother’s phone number and called to inform Candace that she would be terrorized and killed for daring to testify against their gang brother Kevin Tooley. She wondered if the same message had been left on her own home phone. A shiver went through her. Though her mother and Angela flanked her on either side and Marco and Brent stood sentry nearby, Candace felt the roots of fear taking hold. Suddenly Marco’s preparations did not seem so over-the-top.

      “The district attorney has three witnesses that saw Kevin Tooley pull the trigger at the gas station,” Barnes said. “So far you’re the only one who has been threatened. I’ve been assigned along with Officer Ridley and another couple of San Diego officers to do drive-by checks of your house during the day and post a cop here at night until the trial.”

      Candace blinked. “But what about when I’m not at home? Are you supposed to follow me for the next four weeks until our court date?”

      Barnes shook her head. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We just don’t have enough manpower for that. We’d like to suggest that you stay at home as much as possible.”

      “But I’ve got a daughter.”

      She nodded. “Any other kids?”

      “Tracy is an only child.” Only child, though Tracy desperately wanted a sibling. The words always hit Candace hard when she had to say them.

      For a brief, shining period of time, she had carried that little sibling for Tracy. But then there was a knock on the door, the men in uniform respectfully reducing her life to ruins, and then there was the miscarriage when she’d lost the last part of Rick, and then there was a bottomless well of depression where she could see no hope, not even from the God she beseeched for mercy.

      And then...

      Angela’s hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her reverie. How did her sister always know when Candace was teetering on the edge of that abyss? She covered her sister’s fingers and squeezed back, telegraphing the thank-you she couldn’t voice in front of the officers. How grateful she was to God for giving her sisters, who were truly the hands and feet of Jesus in her life. It felt doubly painful that she had not been able to give any siblings to Tracy. The only thing with which she could supply her daughter were the memories of her heroic father. Candace meant to preserve each one to keep Rick alive in Tracy’s heart. What’s more, she would not let her daughter see her fear. Her chin went up.

      “Am I supposed to lock Tracy away for a month?”

      Ridley tapped a pencil against his knee. “That’s not Jay Rico’s pattern. He usually orders the Pack to take out the direct threat to his organization and avoid collaterals.”

      “What does that mean?” Angela asked.

      “They target the person who has crossed them,” Marco said.

      JeanBeth jerked. “But we’re going to stop that, right?”

      “Affirmative,” Marco said. “There are enough of us to supplement the police watch. If the Pack is going to make a move, they’ll have to get through us first.”

      “If?” Donna said. “So this could be intimidation only?”

      Ridley nodded. “That’s most likely. The Pack is not active here in Coronado, though we’ve been keeping our eye on some auto thefts, but it would be risky for them to take action. They are probably just trying to scare you.”

      They’re doing a great job of that, Candace thought.

      “The guy Rico sent to the college was more than intimidation,” Marco said.

      “Maybe.” Ridley shrugged. “Could be he exceeded his orders from Rico.”

      “I’m not willing to put Candace’s safety on the line for a maybe.” Marco looked around at the family members. “From now on, she and Tracy stay inside unless it’s urgent, and we get her whatever she needs, agreed?”

      Everyone nodded.

      “What about Tracy’s school?” Candace said. Her daughter adored third grade and her teacher.

      Marco shrugged. “You can get one of those home study packets, and she gets a vacation.”

      Candace felt like screaming. “So we’re going to be prisoners until the trial is over?”

      “Think of it as protective custody,” Marco said.

      “I feel like I’m being punished.”

      “Not punished, protected.” Marco got up. “Let’s talk about a schedule, and we need to know everything you have on Jay Rico.”

      They clustered together with phones and notepads, as if Candace was no longer even in the room.

      Bullied. That’s how she felt about this five rings business. Like she was back in junior high, being bullied by the boys who refused to let her take a seat on the bus. She remembered sitting on the sticky floor in the rear, trying to ignore the jeers from her classmates, wishing one person might make a space for her.

      All she’d needed was a single brave soul to be her ally, but no one wanted to stand up to those bullies.

      No one.

      And Candace had resolved, after she got off at her stop on that long-ago day, never to be the subject of bullying again. The next day on the bus, she had elbowed her way to the front of the line, sitting down on the very first seat and announcing to the boys that she wasn’t moving.

      “And if you lay one finger on me,” she’d shouted, “I will show you how I earned my black belt in karate.” They’d believed her, even though she’d never set foot in a karate studio, and though they teased her relentlessly for the remainder of her school year, no one ever dared take her seat again.

      Candace remembered how Rick had laughed in delight when she’d told him that story early in their marriage. “That’s my girl,” he’d said. “Don’t ever let anyone bully you.” He’d tossed an eighteen-month-old Tracy into the air until she’d giggled with delight. “And my baby girl is going to have her mama’s tiger stripes, aren’t you?”

      And now here Candace was, a fully grown adult, being bullied by Jay Rico and his pack of thugs. Where were her tiger stripes now?

      “I want to go home,” she said quietly.

      There