Page 95 of Break My Fall

“Yeah?” Glenda called back from her desk.

“You got one of those eraser things? Chief’s marked up the wall.”

Her laughter filtered down the hall. “Hang on.”

A minute later, Glenda had produced the requested item. Gray restored the wall to its previous pristine state, and they were finally able to return to work.

“I want to brainstorm who is after Meredith and why. Mostly why.” Gray tapped the pen on the board.

An hour later, the board looked like a toddler had attacked it. There were lines, circles, squares, a few triangles, and a lot of random question marks.

There were, however, no definitive answers.

“Meredith Quinn is a saint. She makes children like going to the dentist. I’m sorry, but no one likes to go to the dentist.” Brick stared into a coffee cup, his second of the hour, and took a sip. “I don’t like going either, but I go twice a year because Meredith makes it okay. Also because I’ve known her forever and she will hunt me down if I don’t show up.”

“Brick’s right, Chief. As Papa Quinn would say, ‘You picked a good ’un.’”

Gray wasn’t going to tell him that Meredith had picked him and that he had no idea how he’d gotten so lucky, but he wasn’t going to complain.

“But,” Donovan continued, “it’s obvious someone wants her. Based on what you told us about her sneaky activities in pursuit of sainthood, I’d say it’s either that someone wants that girl Meredith helped out of the arranged marriage or they want to scare her so bad she’ll stop going to Neeson.”

“You don’t think they want to kill her?” Brick asked the question before Gray could. “Because that whole thing where they nearly ran her and Bronwyn down sure seemed like they wanted her dead.”

“Too random. Too sloppy. Too likely not to work. They got lucky that they managed to catch them alone and in a place where they could do that. Plus, I’m not convinced Meredith was the target. I think Bronwyn has more to worry about when it comes to people who want her dead.”

“I want to come back to the Bronwyn situation,” Brick said, “but finish telling us why you’re leaning toward them wanting to grab her more than kill her.” Gray agreed, but he wanted to see if their reasoning was the same.

“The fuel line, the bug, the tracking, that’s the thing you do if you either want to catch someone talking about something, or you want to snatch them. And, I hate to be blunt like this, Chief, but if they really wanted her dead, they could have done it before now. You didn’t lock her down until the last few weeks. She’s been rambling all over the mountains for years.”

Donovan nodded. “I agree.”

“Is the girl from the arranged marriage safe? Has anyone checked lately?”

Gray had intentionally left her name off the board, but he’d shared it with the men. Even so, he appreciated that they weren’t using the name out loud now. “Mo knows how to find her. I don’t think he knows where she is.” Not because he couldn’t find her if he wanted to, but because he’d chosen not to. “But he knows thepeople who helped her. He confirmed her safety a few days ago and sent a warning to her to be on guard.”

“If we knew more about this girl, it might help.” Brick ran his hands over his face. “I hate to say this. I really do. But it might be time for me to bring in the gossip group.”

Gray groaned.

“I can be sly about it. But you know my mother knows all the dirt in a hundred-mile radius.”

“Fine. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but go have lunch with your mother.”

Donovan raised his hand. “Can I go? Please? His mama is a phenomenal cook.”

Gray tossed another marker at Donovan’s head. “You’re marrying a world-class chef!”

“I am aware.” Donovan caught the marker and tossed it back. “And even she says Brick’s mama makes the best chicken fried steak she’s ever put in her mouth. Also the best chow chow.”

“The best what?”

“Chow chow.” Brick nodded sagely. “It’s like a relish. Kind of. You can put it on anything. Mama cans it and gives it away. You haven’t tried it?”

And that was how Gray found himself at Brick’s childhood home two hours later, pulled up to the table as Lorraine Nolan showed him a small glass jar. “This is chow chow. You take this one on home with you later. We’ll have some with our meal.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When Brick called, she’d told him she had a pot of beans on, and they could come over for beans, country ham, and cornbread.

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