3

      After a small, but awkward pause, Martin Davis cleared his throat and leaned toward Madeleine. “Do you think she needs to see us looking wounded and fearful?”

      “Oh, no.” Embarrassed that they must see her as an ungrateful bitch, Bay caved in. “I’ll come. I mean, thank you…for the invitation. For everything. Really.”

      With a satisfied nod, her champion directed her toward the door. Bay thanked Madeleine Ridgeway again and let the shy Lulu show her the rest of the way out.

      As promised, Elvin was waiting. The process of being handed off from person to person and passing through doorways triggered another unpleasant sensation, one she quickly reasoned away. There was no comparing this to prison, especially when she eyed the sprig of mint dangling from Elvin’s mouth.

      A scan of the landscape had her gaze settling on the thigh-high brick flower box on the far side of the portico. Amid the sea of red and white geraniums, she spotted lavender, parsley, dill and basil. So Madeleine didn’t waste space any more than she did time or contacts. For a second, Bay wished the sprig was a cigarette so she could bum one. From someone who’d never taken up the habit to begin with, that spoke fathoms.

      His hands thrust deep into his trouser pockets, Elvin rocked back on his heels and grinned. “You’re looking like you did a few test rounds with a champ.”

      Not willing to admit how right he was, Bay asked, “I guess you know where to go?”

      “Spent virtually every waking hour there for the last two months.”

      As he tossed away the wilting herb and headed for the driver’s side, his cheerful reply triggered a nagging something in Bay’s overtaxed, underfed brain. Then it clicked. “I only heard of the possibility of my release a few weeks ago,” she said from the back seat. She slammed shut the passenger door. “Even then I wasn’t certain it was a sure thing.”

      Elvin shrugged as he keyed the engine. “So it felt shorter to you. I got through it by practicing my music. Speaking of—” he turned on the radio to another gospel station “—if you don’t mind, I need to listen. I’m trying to get these folks to consider my stuff.”

      A frustrated artist, Bay mused, studying the back of his head. She noted that while his hair was similar in color to Pastor Davis’s, it lacked the neat cut and styling. At best Elvin’s shaggy mane seemed to be combed by his stubby fingers. Not great hands for a musician, Bay surmised. Nervous, too. They were always active, like his hazel eyes. “Go figure,” she murmured.

      “What’s that?”

      “I suppose you can’t study too much.”

      With a nod, Elvin sped back to the Loop and turned left, this time passing the street that led into town and Bay’s old shop. Ignoring the pang of yearning, she watched as they continued on, until they reached the turnoff for Pounds Field. For a regional airport, the area retained its rural atmosphere, the traffic lighter than in town.

      About a mile farther, past a nursery, a produce stand and a ballpark, Elvin made another left turn into a wooded property.

      Bay had been browsing through the contents of the envelope and had already read that the land consisted of one-point-three acres, narrow but long, meaning limited highway frontage. As far as she was concerned, any frontage made the gift a gold mine.

      Her first glimpse of the tin building that was to be her shop had her agreeing with Madeleine’s appraisal—the decrepit shack needed work, new doors to start and sturdy locks, particularly once she started buying equipment and material stock. In contrast, the house was a haven, adorable as a dollhouse, freshly painted a cheery yellow with white trim and adorned with lacy iron supports that held up the white awning. Parked under the connecting carport weighed by an opulent trumpet vine was a black Chevy truck.

      “That was mine,” Elvin said. “Mrs. R. gave me one of the newer estate trucks in trade for getting the place in shape on time. But there’s plenty more miles in that sweet thing.”

      Elvin’s tone warned that he still saw his slightly worn baby as a Cadillac among trucks. “I see. Well, I’ll take good care of her, thank you.” Forewarned, Bay would be prepared for impromptu under-the-hood checks and see that the ashtray and floorboard stayed as tidy as her profession allowed.

      “All righty…so the phone and lights are working in there and you’ve got water. You’ll have to transfer things over in your name, of course.”

      “I’ll get to it right away.”

      “Mrs. R. had me stock the kitchen and whatnot. Do you need me to come in with you and show you around?”

      Preoccupied with shoving papers back into the envelope, Bay belatedly met his gaze in the rearview mirror. Maybe it was the play of light or her over-taxed nerves, but in that instant she saw something in Elvin Capps’s face that had the hairs on her arms lifting.

      “Earth to blondie…? Hey, you having an out-of-body experience or something? I asked—”

      “No.”

      “Criminy. Sue me for doing my job.”

      As she felt her face heat, Bay ducked her head, wishing for once that she had long hair to hide behind. “What I mean is, you’ve done so much already. I think I can manage from here.” She scrambled out of the car convinced he must think her certifiable. It would serve her right if he rushed back to his employer to report what a bad decision she’d made.

      Elvin lowered the front passenger window and leaned over to peer up at her. “You’ve got my number in that stuff. Use it. It’s my job.”

      He cut a sharp three-point turn, and Bay finally relaxed as he broke into yet another song. Butler, Butler, she thought. If the harmless, starstruck Elvin Capps could spook her, how did she hope to function around everyone else?

      The Town Car eased out into the road and rolled out of sight. Exhaling, Bay rubbed at the house key she’d all but imprinted into her palm and headed inside. She took her time unlocking the front door, savoring the solid feel of the dead bolt. She was less pleased with all the glass. What was the point of locks if all you had to do was chuck a rock to get in?

      Her paranoia passed as she checked out the inside. True to his word, Elvin had been working hard. Though small and probably a good forty years old, the place was spotless and as appealing as it looked from the outside. The cloud nine, listen-for-angel-harps white color scheme might be too perky for her, but she could overlook that for the time being. It was a hundred times better than where she’d been.

      So much room…

      Wandering from the kitchen-dinette area through the rest of the house, she opened cabinets and closets, finding that while the majority of the house remained unfurnished, Elvin had made sure she had the essentials—a broom here, an extra set of sheets and a few towels there. The closet in the bedroom with the queen-size bed that took up most of the room had her staring outright. Clothes, too?

      On impulse Bay reached for the top drawer on the chest beside the closet and found everything from underwear to cotton socks, unnerving even though none of it was what anyone would call provocative. Seeing it was the correct size—she checked the A-cup bras and panty hose—she told herself this had to be Madeleine’s handiwork.

      She returned to the closet and noted more details—size six jeans, small T-shirts, the jogging shoes were a size seven…the powder-blue silk shift with matching three-inch pumps had her staring. Could she make it out of the house without breaking her neck, let alone navigate a church parking lot?

      Although disconcerted that someone knew her body so well, the urge to rid herself of any physical link to Gatesville prompted Bay into stripping. Leaving her things where they fell, she went straight into the bathroom