Protector - Laurel Dewey [127]
Jane and Emily watched as Kathy made a wide U-turn on Main Street, beeped her car horn and took off toward the highway.
“Can I take the basket in the house and look inside?” Emily said excitedly.
“Sure. I’ll be in right after I scrape that goddamn bumper sticker off our car.”
Chapter 19
Eight uneventful days passed. Jane wondered when the proverbial shoe would drop. Emily had stopped sleeping in her own bed, preferring to stay with Jane. For the entire eight days, Emily hadn’t experienced any flashbacks and was peacefully resting through the thunderous passings of the nightly coal train. On the surface, everything looked serene, but Jane knew that something boiled under that tenuous facade.
During those eight tedious days, Jane estimated that she saw Kathy at least three times each day. It was as though the woman was on the warpath, following them and keeping mental notes. She let it slip one day about her husband, Kent. “Kent and Kathy!” Kathy proudly exclaimed, continually amused by the fact that she and her husband were a human alliteration. Kent was a land developer who, according to Kathy, had “made super land investments” in the early 1980s and was reaping the benefits with the newcomers to Colorado. When she wasn’t bragging about Kent’s sale of land to “those nasty Californians,” Kathy was forever reminding Jane about her big Wednesday night “Cherry Jubilee” gathering that was only six days away.
Jane and Emily had only seen Dan in fleeting moments when he was racing to an important maintenance call. It seemed that Dan was a man of many talents. During one conversation with Kathy, she mentioned that Dan had won the county swing and line dancing championship. He was also an expert fly fisherman, a whiz with an ax and could recite the names of all 50 states in less than thirty seconds. When Jane sarcastically remarked that Dan was a true Renaissance man, Kathy insisted that Dan was not familiar with that period of history.
And then there was Sheriff George. Fortunately, Jane had hardly run into the portly fellow. She’d heard through the grapevine that due to summer road repair on the highway, the Sheriff and his deputies were racking up overtime as they kept the traffic moving and the public out of harm’s way. Jane prayed each night for rocks to slide and cause further road damage so the sheriff would stay occupied and out of her face.
As the days blended into each other, Jane checked her pager once every hour. She had it set to vibrate so nobody would hear the telltale beep and have more fodder for gossip. But the damn thing didn’t vibrate once. Weyler said he would only contact her if absolutely necessary, but she wanted to hear from him, if only to know that everything was status quo. Jane was still not sure if Weyler had nefarious intentions. And yet, she yearned to hear a familiar voice besides Emily’s.
She also yearned to hear intelligent conversation and news. The Peachville Gazette, which came out weekly and still only printed a miserable 14 pages, was filled to the gills with advertisements and stories that had to do with farm prices, who was sponsoring the weekly “fruit affair” and updates on highway projects. Clearly, the isolation of the town was getting to Jane. However, Emily seemed to truly love the provincial surroundings. She lit up whenever she caught a glimpse of Dan “the 24-hour man,” which became more amusing than annoying to Jane. Unlike Jane, Emily liked Kathy and always remarked how pretty she looked. It didn’t hurt that Kathy continued to drop off homemade dishes. Emily even tolerated bellicose Heather, although Jane couldn’t understand how anyone could suffer the brat’s behavior.
When June 10th rolled around, Jane awoke realizing that she would finally have something new to occupy herself with