The Color of Love + Giveaway
He might be winning her heart before she even knows who he is…
Welcome to Blessings, Georgia, the small town with a big heart! Anyone from a small town can tell you that gossip never stays quiet for long. The biggest news lately is Ruby Dye: she's been receiving gifts from a secret admirer. But Ruby isn't sure she can trust this newfound happiness. Nobody knows the dark secrets she keeps about her life before she arrived in Blessings. Is this the beginning of a would-be romance, or is she the target of something more sinister?
Everyone admires Ruby and her determination to do the right thing, especially local lawyer "Peanut" Butterman. He's finally ready to tell her how he feels. But when trouble arrives on Ruby's doorstep and their little town is threatened, Peanut may have to prove himself in ways he never imagined.
Chief
Pittman drove through town with lights flashing, then pulled into the alley
behind the bar to the small, clapboard house.
There was no smoke coming out
of the fireplace, no lights on anywhere inside, and when he saw the front door
open and a tall, gangly boy and a huge bloodhound emerging, he jumped out to
open the back door of his cruiser.
As he did, a woman followed
them out. She was blue from cold and shivering. She coughed, then couldn’t
stop. Then the boy approached and held out his hand.
“I’m Charlie Conroy, Sir. Thank
you for calling.”
Lon wondered how desperate they
were and then decided to deal with that later.
“You can put your dog in the
back and ride up front with me.”
“Yes sir,” Charlie said, loaded
up Booger, then got into the front seat.
Lon turned around.
“Mrs. Conroy, I’m Chief
Pittman. Thank you for allowing your boy to help us. I’ll have him back as soon
as possible, okay?”
“Yes, it’s okay,” she said.
And then another little voice
piped up, and Lon saw a tiny little girl standing in the doorway, also wearing
her coat over her clothes. She was crying.
“Mommy, Mommy, I’m cold.”
“I have to go,” Alice said, and
ran back to the doorway, picked up the little girl and disappeared into the
house, shutting the door behind her as she went.
Lon got in. The boy was already
buckled up.
“We’re going straight to the
nursing home.”
“Yes, sir,” Charlie said, his
heartbeat jumping as the Chief drove away.
“So what’s going on at your
house? Don’t you have any heat?”
“We don’t have any utilities,
sir. We got cut off.”
“When was this?” Lon asked.
“Oh, a few days ago, but I’ll
get the money earned to get them back on.”
“Is this why you put out the
fliers?” Lon asked.
Charlie nodded.
“That was very industrious. How
old are you?” Lon said.
“I’m twelve, but I am the man
of the family now,” Charlie said, and then turned his head as they passed the
school, looking at it with a mixture of longing and despair.
Another two blocks and he
pulled up in front of the nursing home. One of his deputies was already there
gathering info, while the other one on duty was back at the station. People
were gathering here as the news had spread, ready to help search.
“Here we go,” Lon said, as he
pulled up and parked. “You get your hound and follow me.”
“Yes sir,” Charlie said, and leaped
out, grabbed Booger’s leash, and took off after the Chief.
Nathan Rose, the nursing home
administrator, was trying not to panic as he explained what he knew to the
Deputy, Ralph Herman.
“We’ve never had this happen
before,” Nathan said. “We lock the doors at night and everything. Wanda is the
one who discovered her absence.”
Ralph eyed the aide in purple
scrubs. She looked to be in her late twenties, and she also looked scared to
death, like someone was going to lay the blame of this on her.
“So, Wanda, how did you know
she was missing?” Ralph asked.
“She wasn’t in her bed when I
came on duty at six a.m., so I went looking for her, assuming she’d just fallen
asleep somewhere else inside the building. They do that sometimes, but I couldn’t
find her. That’s when we all began to search. She’s not here.”
“Were there any unlocked doors?”
Ralph asked.
Willa’s shoulders slumped.
“The one from the kitchen
leading out into the back alley. There’s an extra lock up high. She’s so
little, I don’t know how she reached to open it.”
“Either someone helped her, or
it was unintentionally left unlocked,” Nathan said. “It’s the only explanation.”
“Have you notified her next of
kin?” the deputy asked.
“She doesn’t have any,” Nathan
said. “She brought herself here three years back and hasn’t had a visitor from
outside Blessings, since.”
At that point, the Chief walked
up and didn’t waste time explaining.
“Nathan, I need something that
belongs to Gertie...something that would have her scent on it...like her
shoes... of a piece of her clothing...something that hasn’t yet been washed.”
Nathan saw the boy and the
bloodhound and didn’t ask questions.
“Wanda, you heard him. Bring
something that will have Gertie’s scent on it.”
Wanda turned and ran into the
building as the deputy recognized the boy.
“Hey, that’s the kid from the
flyer,” he said, then glanced at Lon. “Good call, Chief.”
“If it works, we can all thank
Peanut Butterman. It was his suggestion.”
Charlie had outgrown his coat
months ago, and had been wearing his Daddy’s clothes all winter, but he didn’t
have a coat. It had burned up in the explosion. He shivered slightly as he
waited, thinking nothing of the discomfort because it had become the norm, but
Lon saw it.
“Be right back,” he said, and
jogged toward his cruiser, popped the trunk and then came back with a heavy,
fleece-lined flannel jacket. “Put this on,” he said, as he handed it to
Charlie.
Charlie’s eyes widened.
“I might get it dirty.”
“Son, it’ll wash,” Lon said. “Put
it on.”
Charlie didn’t argue. The
warmth that enveloped him was so welcome it brought tears to his eyes.
“I thank you,” Charlie
whispered.
Lon patted the boy’s shoulder
as Wanda came running back holding a pair of cotton socks.
“Gertie wore these yesterday.
They were still in her shoes. Will this work?”
Lon glanced at Charlie, who
nodded.
“They’ll do just fine,” Charlie
said, then glanced at Lon. “Are you ready, Chief?”
Lon glanced around at the small
crowd of people who’d gathered to help search.
“We’re going to try this first
before we send everyone out in differing directions. If some of you want to go
home, you’re welcome. But if there are any who want to follow us and the hound,
then fan out in a grid behind him and do your best to keep up.”
A few waved and headed back to
their cars, but a good dozen of them stayed.
Lon heard one searcher call
out.
“That hound won’t track. I
reckon the rain has washed out her tracks and scent.”
“We’ll see,” Lon said, and
watched as Charlie Conroy got down on one knee and shoved the socks up under
Booger’s nose.
As he did, the hound began to
whine, as if sensing he’d just be given a task.
“Hunt, Booger! Hunt!” Charlie
said.
The massive bloodhound lifted
his head, sniffing the air, then put nose to ground and moved toward the back
of the building with Charlie hanging onto the leash. The moment they reached
the back door, Booger bayed.
“He’s on the scent,” Charlie
cried, and off they went, through two blocks of housing, across the baseball
field and then up into the woods, with the cops and the searchers behind them.
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