Page 43 of Spiritwarrior

“I remember driving here last night.”

“Cool. I’ll see you there.”

Relieved when Jody left, she got into her car, happy she could drop the poker face she had to maintain anytime he was near her; it was becoming harder to do. When she was near his vicinity, she felt as if there was an electrical charge coming off him. The closer she was to him, the stronger the charge she felt. Just thinking about it made her feel silly.

Following Jody’s directions, she drove into town without incident. The sheriff was already there with his squad car parked out front.

“Sophie.”

Shaking the hand he held out to her, she made a face at the apartment building. “I dread going inside,” she confessed.

“Don’t be. Baylin is in a holding cell until after you come to a decision.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. It’s been overwhelming to find out a neighbor could do this to me. At least you were able to get her to confess.”

“I had nothing to do with her confession. Jody figured it out and had a talk with her. Baylin probably confessed because it was safer to than getting on the bad side of the Coleman clan.”

Shocked at what the sheriff had said, it took a minute for her to respond. “Why would she be afraid of the Colemans? They’ve been very sweet to me.”

The way the sheriff stared at her, she didn’t think the Colemans and sweet had been used in the same sentence before.

“They aren’t nice?”

“Sweet? Nice? I wouldn’t use those terms to describe them. They stay to themselves, stay out of town, and don’t make trouble unless you go looking for it.”

“And if someone does?”

“Then I would advise them not to. There are two clans in this town who will shoot you dead if you hurt something that belongs to them. The Colemans is one.”

“Who’s the other?”

“The Porters.”

“Doesn’t Greer Porter work for you?”

The sheriff’s face twisted into a painful grimace. “Don’t remind me.”

“I’ve met him.” Sophie laughed. “I can’t say I blame you.”

“You ready to go inside?”

Sophie looked around. Jody wasn’t there yet. “Jody was supposed to meet me here.”

The sheriff nodded. “When I talked to him, he said he needed to drop some groceries off at the diner for Ginny and would come right over when he was finished.”

“All right, I guess we can go inside.”

Her breathing escalated as they started through the door.

“There’s Jody, parking.”

Looking to where the sheriff was pointing, she felt her breathing slow down. She put on her poker face as they waited for Jody and lowered her eyes when he came to stand with them at the elevator.

All three of them filed into the elevator when it opened. Jody and the sheriff discussed the weather as they rode upward. Then the sheriff walked ahead of them as they stepped off the elevator.

“Thank you for dropping the groceries off at the diner. I’m glad Ginny remembered they were in the refrigerator.”

“No problem.” Jody gave her a questioning glance as they neared her door. “Are you up for this?”

---