Page 35 of Vanishing Point
“It doesn’t color who you are to me.”
“I know. But that postal inspector…”
Thomas stiffened. “What about her?”
Vi shrugged. She didn’t have the words for it. “I don’t know. I don’t like the way she talked to me. The questions she had to ask. I know that’s not fair, but it just… I’m tired of having to dredge it all back up. When I was living at the ranch, I only talked to Audra, Rosalie and Franny. I barely left. I felt…safe.”
He inhaled. “Do you feel safe here, Vi?”
She didn’t even have to think about the answer. “I do.”
“All right then.”
Mags chose that moment to throw her sippy cup halfway across the room, knocking over Vi’s half-full glass of milk. They all jumped to action to clean everything up, and then comfort Mags when she started crying.
They put Mags to bed. They didn’t make out on the couch. Maybe they’d both had a rough enough day. But when they crawled into bed, he pulled her against him and held her close and tight.
“I love you, Vi.”
“I love you too.” And she fell asleep fast enough, or must have, because the next thing she knew a trilling phone woke her up. Panic immediately slammed through her.
Eric was calling.
Eric…
“Hello,” Thomas’s deep voice said into the quiet room.
For a moment, addled by sleep, she thought he’d answered her phone. But her hand was on her phone on the nightstand. And the screen was black. No call coming through.
It had beenhisphone ringing.
“And it can’t wait until morning?” he said in low tones as Mags made some whimpering noises.
He grunted some kind of assent, then put his phone down on the nightstand again. “I’ve got to get down to the station,” he whispered. “A break on an old case we can’t wait on.” He pushed out of the bed. He was only a shadow in the dark. Then he cursed. “Hell, Vi. I can’t leave you here alone.”
“It’s okay,” she said, her mind whirling a bit. Still hung up on Eric. Weird threatening calls from robotic voices were usually the only phone calls that woke her up in the middle of the night.
He slid out of the room, and she could see the light come on under the crack of the door. Mags had fussed, but had quieted back down, so Vi snuck out of the room, letting in the least amount of light.
He’d brought his clothes out here and was putting them on. “I’m sorry.” And he looked genuinely worried, genuinely conflicted as he pulled on his county polo. “I don’t usually get called in in the middle of the night, but I should have thought this possibility through when I had you guys come stay here.”
“We’ll be all right. You said it yourself, the postal inspector talked to Eric at work today. In Virginia. He’s just trying to scare me. Not hurt me. You can’t watch me 24/7, Thomas. It’s just not possible.”
“I’m going to see if I can get a deputy to drive by, maybe park outside for a bit.” He strode over to the closet. She usually didn’t watch him do this part, because she hated knowing there was a gun in the house.
But tonight, she did. Watched him reach up to the gun safe on the top shelf in the closet, unlock it with the key on his keychain, and then pull out the gun and shove it into the holster attached to his belt.
As their marriage had gone on, seeing Eric in his uniform, with his guns, had made her more and more nervous. Always wondering when he’d turn it on her.
But tonight, she worried about what Thomas might have to face that would force him to pull his gun. Because that was the only way she knew he’d use it.
He crossed back to her, pressed a kiss to her mouth. “All the back doors are locked. Just make sure the security is all set up once I lock the front door behind me. Okay?”
“I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. I promise.” She managed a smile.
He definitely didn’t smile back. He was going off to do dangerous work in the middle of the night. That was his job. A job she was very familiar with, because Eric had done the same.
Of course, even in the beginning of their relationship, before he’d started hitting her, she’d never minded. It had always been nice to get a little time alone. And he usually came back from an actual emergency call in a good mood.
