Page 12 of Operation: Unify

A moment later, he returned, put new booties on, and handed her a Diet Pepsi. She chuckled, since she’d been expecting an actual Coke, but this was a part of the country where ‘coke’ just meant carbonated. Since she never traveled, she hadn’t thought about it.

She took the can to Melinda, opened it for her, and handed it over. “I’ll talk with one of the officers and see if we can leave if I tell him where we’ll be. We could even have an officer follow us if that would make them trust us more.”

Melinda shrugged a shoulder as she took a drink from the can. “Whatever. I’ll be surprised if they don’t arrest me. It’s not the first time they’ve threatened to. Honestly, I’m just waiting for the day they follow through. At least then I won’t have to go home for a few days.”

Lacy hated the fact that her friend had the same lost, hopeless sound to her voice that some of the woman who came to Wayside had. It was all abuse in one form or another. She went over to the officer who had asked her questions and waited until he was finished talking. He turned and waited for her to ask what she wanted.

“I was wondering when it would be okay for me to take Melinda out of this situation? I can get a hotel room nearby, but being here is starting to really affect her.”

He glanced around her to where Melinda sat then met her eyes again. “I get the feeling there is a lot more to this story than we’re getting.”

“You’d be right. She’s a victim of abuse. Abuse that has been turned on its head to look like she was the perpetrator instead of the victim. Look how she is acting and instead of using the preconceived vision of someone who is guilty, see her as the victim and tell me her actions don’t line up.” Lacy crossed her arms in mild challenge. She didn’t want to make the man angry, but someone had to see the truth.

“Where will you be?” He wiped all emotion from his face.

If she went all the way back to her other hotel room, they would be in the next town over. That would put them closer to Melinda’s ex, but farther from Aunt Joy’s house. She gave him the name of her hotel. “Is that all right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll let everyone know they can find you there if we need anything. If you go to a different hotel, please let us know since Melinda has no phone or other way to reach her.”

Lacy nodded. “I also gave your investigator my number. I’ll be with her for a while.” When that would be over, she wasn’t sure. Unfortunately for both of them, it didn’t look like she’d be able to leave soon.

When both women were outside, Lacy took a deep breath. Odd that simple yellow tape could feel like a prison. “We’ll go back to my hotel. You can rest there.”

Melinda took a deep breath and slowly bowed her head. “I’m sorry for getting you wrapped up in all this. I can’t believe you’ve only been here one day, and you’ve been attacked and seen a murdered woman. This has to end. I just don’t think it will end well for me.”

Lacy stopped her before she could reach for the car door. “Hey. Don’t say that. I’m here.” She looked at her phone. They’d been inside that house for hours and at some point, Connor had called her. She hadn’t even heard it ring.

“First, before we go to the hotel, we need food. What’s open 24 hours?” Her stomach rumbled at the idea of eating. Had she even eaten that day? Everything was a blur and the hour was late.

“Denny’s is always open.” She shrugged. “I’m not really hungry.”

She couldn’t blame her friend. The only issue with Denny’s was they couldn’t do drive through. Instead of hunting up the nearest place on her phone, she headed toward the hotel, hoping to see a drive through that was still open. The sooner she could get Melinda somewhere safe and comfortable, the better.

A taco place loomed in the distance, lights clearly still on. She dashed through the drive through then headed for the hotel. As soon as they were safely inside with doors locked and a door alarm mounted under it, she finally took a deep breath.

It was almost 1A.M., but she wanted to call Connor and make sure nothing had happened to make him call her. After his dad, Teddy, was shot, there was no telling what could’ve made him reach out.

She sat at the table and unwrapped a taco, then waited for him to pick up.

“Hello.” His tired voice came over the phone like a balm to her weary soul.

“Hey. Sorry I missed your call.”

“Did you listen to my message?” he asked.

“No, I just wanted to call you back as soon as I could.”

“You don’t have to listen to it. I was worried about you. It sounds like there’s more going on than you wanted to talk about.”

She glanced up at Melinda, who sat across the table from her, poking at a taco of her own. She had yet to take a bite.

“Yup, that would be the case.” She focused back on her food so Melinda wouldn’t think she was talking about her.

“Can you go somewhere so we can talk? I can tell you’re holding back.”

She took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to tell Connor everything that had happened, he was hours away and there was nothing he could do besides worry and pray. “Just pray for me and Melinda. There’s kind of a mess here.”

“You’re not helping ease my mind, babe.”

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