Page 29 of Two Couples

Patrick groaned. “And that means us.” He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, his face in his upturned hands.

I went to the kitchen, needing something to snack on. I knew I should be eyeing the fruit bowl, but I had a deep craving for something salty. I pulled a box of cheese crackers out of the cabinet and shook a handful into a small bowl. Standing in the front of the picture window, I started nibbling on the satisfying, calming tang of cheese, made more addictive with a bit of oil and salt.

As my eyes focused on the front yard and the yawning hole where our car window used to be, I saw the sheriff’s car was still parked between our driveway and the one next door. The deputy stood beside the open door of her car, arms folded across her chest. Jordan stood close to the deputy, her back to me. She was talking and gesturing wildly. Then they both turned to look at our house.

TWENTY-TWO

SAMANTHA

Shoving the rest of the crackers into my mouth, I washed the bowl and put it away. Would the deputy see me as someone guilty, with something to hide, if I rushed out there and inserted myself into their conversation?

I looked out the narrow window beside the front door. My view was restricted here, but I could still see them. The deputy was now backing away from Jordan, appearing eager to get into her car, nodding as if to agree and wind down the conversation.

What was Jordan telling her? I hadn’t been aware of her presence when I’d been listening to Patrick, but my attention was tightly focused on him. Had she been watching me watch them? The thought made me uncomfortable. People often claimed to sense it when they were being watched. I’d experienced that once or twice, but it wasn’t guaranteed. That sixth sense is sometimes nothing more than well-developed peripheral vision.

The deputy disappeared into her car and the door closed. A moment later, she pulled forward and made a sharp U-turn. I had to find out what Jordan had said to her. I desperately hoped she hadn’t mentioned Patrick’s frantic digging, or hearing people fight at our house.

If I asked her straight out, she’d wonder why I was interested. It might feed her curiosity further. But I had to know. That knowledge wouldn’t help me fix the situation, but it’s always better to know what you’re up against.

I waited for Jordan to return to her house. Instead, she stood there for another five minutes, staring after the deputy’s car with longing. Finally, she turned and glanced at our front door, locking her gaze as if she knew I was there. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked back toward her house, vanishing behind the trees that divided the two properties.

I wasn’t going to let her disappear like that, keeping her conversation with the deputy a secret from us. Our lives might depend on knowing what they’d discussed. Thinking this way might have been dramatic, but I honestly believed it was the truth. We’d been threatened. Someone was trying to scare us further by smashing our window, if they didn’t think they’d scared us enough with their notes.

I bolted out the front door and down the steps. “Jordan!”

She didn’t turn. Although I thought I’d been quite loud, I raised my voice further, calling her name a second time. She still didn’t turn. I ran after her, arriving beside her slightly short of breath. Even after two days, I hadn’t fully adjusted to the six-thousand-foot altitude. It made me think I appeared weak and slightly frantic.

“Jordan. Hi. How are you?”

“I’m fine.”

“We haven’t really had a chance to talk to each other. But I saw you with the deputy and thought this was a good⁠—”

“We don’t need to talk to each other.” She pulled her notebook out of her shoulder bag. She flipped it open, made a few scratches with a very nice pen, and closed the notebook. Without another word, she walked quickly toward her house.

“I thought we could…”

She opened the front door, stepped inside, and closed it behind her without turning to look. She was a woman with a strong core of resolve—she hadn’t given in to curiosity, checking to see how I’d reacted to her rebuff.

I stepped onto their porch and knocked on the door. It opened immediately.

“Samantha! How nice to see you again,” Linda said.

“Could I speak to Jordan, please?”

“She’s busy. Can I help you with something?”

I wasn’t sure I should mention Jordan talking to the deputy. I had no idea what her relationship with her mother was like. Maybe Jordan wanted to keep the conversation to herself. If I was ever going to find out what she’d said, it was better to keep that as a confidence. At least for now.

“I’m sure you know our car window was smashed,” I said.

She nodded. “Jordan told me. But I didn’t see anything.”

“Do you have a security camera?”

“Yes, but the range doesn’t extend that far. The trees⁠—”

“They didn’t take anything, even though Patrick had tools in there.”