Page 2 of Sutton and the CEO's Baby

“Well, get in here,” Martha hissed. “What happened?”

Earl came into the light and ambled his way over, looking spryer than a man of eighty ought to. Martha ushered him in and then looked both ways, thankful to only encounter the darkness and nothing worse.

With a finger pressed to her lips, she and Earl crept back into the manager’s office at Abberly’s. Once the door was shut and the lock was turned, Martha sank into Earl’s arms.

“I didn’t think you were coming back this time.” She shuddered at the thought of never holding him again.

Earl held her tight, or as tight as an elderly man could. “I can’t protect her anymore. We need to tell Mark. We can trust him.”

Martha stilled.

Never once in all of the years they worked together had Earl mentioned giving up. They were so firmly entranced in their covers that it had become second nature. Hell, they had been working on the same case for over twenty-five years. At some point, they had fallen in love. Through thick and thin, right and wrong, Martha and Earl protected Sutton and her mother to the best of their abilities.

They knew all those years ago when Judith approached them with bruises on her face and a broken arm that things might not end well. Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined they would get wrapped up in hiding Judith, and then later her daughter, for the length of time that they had.

Martha and Earl had fallen so deeply into their roles that it was hard to remember that those weren’t even their real names. Earl had been a driver for the Coswell family and Martha the housekeeper. It was obvious that something wasn’t right between the master and his new wife.

Forrest Coswell was a multibillionaire tech genius with a handsome face and a way with the ladies. When Judith first met him, she had been head-over-heels in love. Running away at eighteen, they were married in Vegas and whisked off to live in Silicon Valley with all of the other insta-millionaires well on their way to being billionaires.

When the abuse first started, Judith blamed it on the stresses of their fast-paced life and the pressures of work. Forrest was always dreadfully sorry and swore it wouldn’t happen again. But it did happen, frequently. It wasn’t until he broke her arm that Judith finally realized if she didn’t leave, he would eventually kill her.

But how does one escape someone richer than God?

How does one lose themselves so completely that no one or nothing could ever find them again?

Martha didn’t hesitate when Judith approached her with an escape plan. With the help of Earl, the Coswell’s chauffeur, they waited until a little after two in the morning. When Forrest had long since drunk himself unconscious. Then the three of them crept into the garage and picked the least conspicuous car.

They ditched the car as soon as they could, hitchhiking under different assumed names and running as far and as fast as they could go.

Judith changed her name to Jo and tried to convince Martha and Earl that they could return to their lives. But they wouldn’t leave her, not for all the money in the world.

It was heartbreaking to watch as Judith dissolved into Jo and then merely another druggie in a backwater town. Her daughter—a beautiful, inquisitive sprite—, deserved every bit as much loyalty as Judith had, and so they stayed on.

Earl spent many nights at the trailer pretending to be drunk or in a fight with his wife.

Martha got a kick out of being the bitchy wife and made sure that nobody could ever question their cover.

Then Mark Williams showed up talking about inheritance and changing Sutton’s entire life.

Earl and Martha watched in dismay as Sutton packed her bags and moved to the city. Not knowing what to do from there, they almost left Otterville Falls.

That was, until Gabe called Earl into his bar late one night, after hours, and showed him a bunch of old articles about a missing woman who had disappeared with two staff members. The pictures were faded and worn, but Judith’s resemblance to Sutton was uncanny.

Thinking to blackmail Sutton, Gabe pressed the issue with Earl.

That was when Martha had taken Sutton’s gun. She wasn’t about to let that scumbag Gabe ruin everything they had risked their lives for.

But before she could threaten him, Gabe turned up dead. Sutton returned to Otterville Falls, and Mad Max was doing some crazy shit.

Earl had a hunch that Alice and Reena might know more than they were letting on. They spent every day at the bar. Earl took the opportunity to cozy up to them. The girls were more than happy to spill all they knew, which wasn’t much. And when Earl asked them to fake a runaway with him, they hooted and laughed at the fun they would have. Alice had a sister in Nevada that was more than willing to let them stay while Earl researched what had happened with Forrest Coswell.

Martha was reluctant to play the jilted wife, but knew it was the only way she could explain his absence, particularly when there was a murderer on the loose. It touched her the way that Sutton took her in, especially after all of the years Martha had pretended to hate her.

“Is there any news from Alice and Reena?” Martha asked as they broke apart.

Earl shook his head. “Max is still there protecting them.”

Martha’s lips twitched. “The entire town is in an uproar about the sex scandal of the century.”

---