Page 56 of Counter Attack

“I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I guess he has. We went to Chatt State together before I transferred to UT, and then Iran into him occasionally when he came to Pearl Springs to visit his mother. Even back in school, J.R. liked to see how close he could get to the fire without getting burned. Why are you asking?”

“That night at the Lemon Tree when I was trying to lure the killer out, he was on my radar. Then he shows up here tonight...” She glanced toward the wooded area.

“You’re looking in the wrong direction. Both times he was meeting with me. Besides, I don’t think J.R. has the stomach for killing or scaring anyone, and he has helped me identify some of the drug dealers coming here from Chattanooga.”

Carson’s eyes narrowed. “They think that because we are a small town in a small county, we have a backwater sheriff and police department.”

“Absolutely. They start with the high school kids, get them to dealing to their friends, then go wide open. Back when J.R. first cooperated with us, the dealer found out pretty quick we wouldn’t tolerate dealers moving into our county.”

32

Alex peeled off the right Velcro tab on her body armor and slipped off the vest, tossing it on her bed. Nathan was right. She shouldn’t have taken it off until right now. It was a rookie mistake, one she wouldn’t make again.

What a day. She checked her watch. Two a.m. Had it only been seventeen hours since she was sworn in as chief deputy? And someone had tried to kill her twice. And had killed Gina Norman. Her stomach churned. Not the kind of day she’d expected at all, and if she didn’t get some rest, she wouldn’t be worth anything tomorrow. Make that today. She climbed into bed and didn’t fight the encroaching sleep.

At six, Alex’s alarm woke her from a troubled dream. In it she was driving the hairpin turns on Monteagle Mountain and couldn’t stop her car. Even though she was awake, her heart raced like she was still in the dream.

She sat on the side of her bed, trying to shake the dream, and looked up when there was a light tap at her door. “Come in.”

Gram opened the door and entered the room with a cup in one hand. “I heard your alarm go off and thought you might need this.”

“Bless you,” Alex said as she took the steaming cup andinhaled the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee. “Sorry if we woke you last night.”

“Your grandfather is the light sleeper, not me.” Gram chuckled. “I think a bomb could go off in the bed, and I wouldn’t wake up until I got my seven hours of sleep.”

“How is Gramps?”

“Fine. I told him to go back to sleep, that I’d wake him at seven.”

“And he did?”

“Yep, but only because he wanted to be fresh in case you need to discuss anything with him before you go in today. I assume you’ll have a briefing first thing?”

“At eight.” Alex definitely wanted to talk to her grandfather before she left for her office. He was one of the best detectives she’d ever known, and last night had shown that neither a heart attack nor age had diminished that. Tapping in to his experience would be the smartest thing she could do.

Gram nodded toward the Bible on Alex’s bedside table. “Be sure to take time there.”

“I will.” Yesterday she had been so slammed from the minute she woke that she’d skipped her morning devotions. Alex had found herself doing that more and more lately.

Lately?She’d struggled with believing God cared about her ever since her dad died. The only reason Alex attempted morning devotions was her promise to her grandmother just before she went off to college. She shuddered remembering why. She and Nathan had just broken up, and for some crazy reason, she thought alcohol would ease the pain. It hadn’t.

Her grandmother had been waiting in her bedroom when she came stumbling in. Someone had called her grandmother and tattled that her car was parked in front of the local beer joint.

Alex had been so sick, she’d made the promise just to gether grandmother out of the bedroom before she threw up. But once she gave her word, she wasn’t breaking it and had read her Bible most days. Today’s reading was in Isaiah.

As she hurried through the chapter, one verse stopped her.“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”She could certainly use all the help she could get to stop this killer.

So why hadn’t God helped her before now? Surely he didn’t want this person to kill anyone else. That opened the door to more questions. Why had he allowed it in the first place? If God was going to help her, why hadn’t he helped her before she came home to Pearl Springs? What was she missing?

Alex went in search of her grandmother and found her in the kitchen.

Gram held up the coffeepot. “More coffee?”

“Sure.”

Gram refilled her cup and settled at the kitchen table.

“Why does God let bad things happen?” Alexis asked.

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