Page 25 of Vanishing Point
She typed her response firmly, wanting to focus on Thomas and Thomas alone. And what’s in your underwear drawer?
Guess you’ll have to snoop and find out.
She didn’t. She wasn’t going to. She trailed after Franny while Franny went through his kitchen drawers, bathroom cabinets. While she complained about hownormalhis stuff was.
And then, when Franny had settled herself in Thomas’s office, Vi quietly left the room and went to Thomas’s bedroom with Magnolia on her hip.
“He basically told me to,” she said to Mags. She carefully opened the top drawer of his dresser. Maybe it was a joke. Maybe…
But there in the far corner was a little prayer book, of all things. When she opened it up, she saw the inscription.To Thomas, From Grandma.His Grandma Hart had been very religious. She’d passed away their senior year, and Thomas had been devastated. Vi remembered going to the funeral.
It was one of the few times she’d thought staying in Bent wouldn’t be so bad. To be part of a community that ralliedaround, that grieved together. Then she’d gone home that night to her mom, who was passed out drunk while one of her boyfriends rifled through her purse.
She’d only thought about getting out from there after that.
Magnolia reached out and swatted the book. “Gentle,” Vi said quietly.
She didn’t think this was what he’d been talking about in his text. Not when she flipped through the pages and a picture fell out.
Their senior prom picture. Her terrible eyeliner, his baby face. But so ridiculously in love. So happy.
“Ma,” Magnolia said, bouncing happily.
Tears filled Vi’s eyes, but she blinked them back. “Yes, that’s Mama. And Tata.”
Because Franny was right.
They all deserved a little too good to be true.
Chapter Eight
Maybe Thomas shouldn’t have come into the department today. Even after adjusting his hours for the late morning, he wanted to snap just about everyone’s head off.
The prints weren’t ready. There was no information from the Texas police precinct. No one had any answers, and no one seemed that keen on getting them.
Which he knew was not a fair characterization. Police work was slow, methodical, and rushing things didn’t help solve any cases.
But damn, he wanted to rush. He didn’t like this hanging over their heads for a lot of reasons, but doing slow, methodicalwaitingwhile Vi and Magnolia were back at his house, even with Franny, really grated.
Her ex-husband sending those pictures was an escalation. Likely there’d be a few more before he escalated far enough to actually threaten Vi’s physical well-being, but there was a lot of psychological well-being to threaten in the meantime.
Rosalie swanned into his office, clearly not having gone through the front desk. He might have scowled at her, but she dropped a folder on his desk in front of him. “All the emails, and a transcription of all the voicemails she gave me access to. I can email you the file too, but I thought this might be…safer.”
Thomas nodded and immediately flipped the folder open. While his email was on the county police server, with lots ofsecurity, he didn’t know about Rosalie’s. “Do you think there are ones she didn’t show you?”
Rosalie paused. He wasn’t sure if she was deciding on her answer, or on whether totellhim her answer, but in the end, she shrugged. “I don’t know why she’d let me see some, and not others. Maybe if she didn’t have Mags I’d think she was hiding the worst of it from me, but she’s going to protect Magnolia at all costs.”
Luckily, that lined up with what he thought, but he wanted to hear it from someone who’d been around Vi this past year. “Good.”
“I’m glad she’s staying with you, because the ranchistoo big to protect. But it’s hardly a long-term solution to have her and Mags at your place.”
He looked up, into Rosalie’s worried blue eyes. “Why not?”
“We don’t know how long this is going to take. That ex-husband has been pretty careful, and this still isn’t an actual threat. This could be an ongoing issue. She’s been here over a year. Who knows how long it continues. Are you just going to have them permanently move in with you?”
He looked at her evenly and tried not to let it show how much he wanted exactly that. Just not with Vi’s ex-husband’s threats hanging over their head. “Again,” he said, very calmly, “why not?”
She grinned at him. “Just testing you, Hart. She’s been through hell. She doesn’t need some stupid guy with good intentions stomping on her heart because he’s careless. I guess you’re not.”
