A Creed in Stone Creek - Linda Lael Miller [100]
“Martine—” Melissa sputtered “—what on earth?”
“There’s been a robbery!” Martine choked out. “A man wearing a ski mask—he took all the money in the till and made me open the safe—he had a gun—”
“Breathe,” Melissa ordered, taking Martine’s hands.
“I’ll get the sheriff,” Steven said from somewhere at the fringes of Melissa’s awareness, and she nodded without looking at him.
“Are you hurt?” Melissa asked, and Martine shook her head, still half-hysterical.
“No—I did what he said—there was nobody else in the store, thank God—”
Melissa steered Martine, who was trembling violently by then, back to her car. Seated her on the passenger side.
Tom arrived quickly, with Tessa and Steven and several other people following. Melissa moved aside, and Tom crouched next to Martine’s car, looking up into her pale face.
“Tell me what happened,” he said gently.
Martine repeated what she’d told Melissa. A man had come into the store, waving a gun and wearing a ski mask. She’d been so scared—certain he meant to kill her, he was so jittery—and she’d done what she was told. Given him all the money she had access to, including the contents of her own wallet.
Tom asked if she’d recognized the man.
Martine shook her head, bit down hard on her lower lip.
“What?” Tom prompted, very quietly. “Tell me, Martine.”
“I was practically out of my head with fear, but—but something made me look out the window—I guess I wanted to make sure he wasn’t coming back—and I saw him get into a car and drive off.” She paused again, looking miserably uncertain. “I can’t swear to it, Tom, but it sure looked like that old heap of Velda Cahill’s.”
Melissa felt a tightening in the pit of her stomach.
Dear God. Byron?
Tom straightened, turned to Tessa. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice gruff.
Tessa nodded, reached out to touch his arm. “I can get home on my own,” she said. “You be careful.”
Call it a premonition, call it common sense. Whatever the feeling was, it washed over Melissa like ice-cold water.
For now, maybe forever, the fun was over.
STEVEN AND MELISSA took Tessa home, pulling into the alley behind the Sunflower Café, where an outside stairway led to the apartment upstairs.
Leaving Melissa in the truck, Steven saw Tessa to her door, waited while she worked the lock, leaned inside to switch on the living room lights. A visible shudder moved through her as she paused on the threshold.
“It’s creepy,” she said. “Knowing a criminal might be running loose in Stone Creek, I mean.”
“We could wait,” Steven offered. “Until your brother and his wife get here, at least.”
“I’ll be all right,” Tessa replied quietly. “Olivia and Tanner won’t be long—they just wanted to go by their place and make sure the kids were okay.”
Tessa might have been a lot of things, but “all right” wasn’t among them. She looked scared to death.
“We wouldn’t mind hanging around for a while,” Steven reiterated.
Tears glimmered in Tessa’s eyes. She sniffled and shook her head once, as though to fling away her fears. “This guy threatened Martine with a gun. What if—what if something happens to Tom—?”
“He strikes me as the type who can take care of himself,” Steven said truthfully. “And, besides, he has deputies to back him up.”
“If anything happened—” Tessa fretted, more to herself than to Steven.
Steven didn’t answer. He wasn’t about to throw out a flippant “Don’t worry, everything will be all right” experience had taught him that that wasn’t necessarily so. Nor did he feel right about leaving quite yet.
“I’ve never told Tom that I love him,” Tessa said, looking directly into his eyes. “What if I don’t get a chance to tell him?”
Steven touched her arm. “What if you do?” he countered gently.
Just then, another truck appeared in the alley below, sitting headlights-to-headlights with his own rig.
“Looks like Tanner and Olivia are here,” Tessa said, with obvious relief.
Melissa had gotten out of Steven’s rig to speak to them. The two women were embracing, while Tanner took the stairs two at a time.
Steven nodded to him and stepped