No One But You (Silver Springs #2)(96)

As extreme as that sounded, it was plausible. After what she’d seen this morning—the state of the house and the way Sly had been living—she thought he was coming completely undone. “I remember the rain.”

“Not only that, but I found a back window that looks like it’s been tampered with. I’m afraid he’s been inside the house. That’s what really concerns me.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

She’d thought she was relatively safe, living with Dawson. But instead of causing Sly to back off, it’d provoked him further. He had a weapon—issued by the city, no less—and he knew how to use it. He could hurt, even kill, both of them. Maybe Jayden, too.

“You’ve been confident that the pride he takes in being a police officer would hold him in check—”

“Chief Thomas has an eye on him and he knows it,” she said, hoping to justify that confidence.

“But he doesn’t seem to be respecting his boundaries even still.”

“He isn’t doing well,” she confided.

There was a slight pause. “What do you mean? You’ve talked to him?”

“Chief Thomas and I went over there this morning.”

“What for?”

She’d done it for a lot of reasons. Dawson was one of those reasons. But so was Jayden. “He still has partial custody of my son. Legally, I have to let Jayden spend the weekend at his place. But with the way things stand between us, it’s going to be terrifying for me to see that happen.”

“You told me Sly hasn’t taken much interest in Jayden since you left him.”

“That’s true—so far. He rarely exercised his visitation rights. Even when he did, he kept Jayden for only a few hours or, once in a great while, overnight. He didn’t want to make my life any easier, didn’t want to allow me the chance to have some fun or date. Making sure I always had Jayden was another way he could control me. But now that he knows I’m sleeping with you, that having Jayden isn’t standing in the way, I’m afraid he’ll take him just to show he can. In other words, he’ll do whatever I’d rather he didn’t. That’s all I can rely on where he’s concerned. So, in an effort to get ahead of that, I tried to calm him down, to call a truce.”

“How’d that go?”

“Not so good,” she admitted. “Sly has always been fastidious when it comes to his personal hygiene and belongings. But the house must’ve been a wreck, because he wouldn’t let us in. He had us meet him around back. Even the patio was nothing like I’ve ever seen it before. He’s partying a lot, and not cleaning up. And he’s not limiting that kind of behavior to the weekend. He reeked of alcohol when he opened the door, gave me the impression he was up drinking until very late.”

“Probably because he didn’t start until he got back from spying on us,” Dawson said with a dose of sarcasm. “Anyway, how’d he treat you?”

“Very coolly. He’s blaming me for everything that’s going wrong in his life, can’t see how he’s contributing to his own downfall. I told him I’ll accept his latest offer on child support and forgo any alimony, and that I’d stop pushing for a restraining order, which would take some of the pressure off him at work, if he’ll just stop trying to cause trouble and leave us alone. But I don’t think it’ll do any good. He demanded that I also call off the arson investigator.”

“I hope you refused. You must have, since the investigator is there.”

“Yes.”

“What’d Sly say then?”

“He got belligerent again.”

Dawson made no reply.

“Hello?” Sadie said into the silence. “You still there?”

“Yeah.”

She brushed a few fallen leaves off the patio table. “What are you thinking?”

“That I hope he comes back to the farm tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because the next time he sets foot on my property, I’ll be waiting for him.”

Sadie gripped the phone tighter. This was not going the way she wanted. “Don’t even talk like that. Don’t you see how dangerous a private, late-night encounter with him could be?” Dawson was beginning to feel some of the frustration and desperation she’d felt for a long time, which was only making the situation more volatile.

“I can’t allow him to skulk around the house,” he said. “If he’s trespassing, I’m going to do something about it.”

Sadie pulled her sleeve down over her free hand. It was colder out than she’d expected. “And what happens if it comes to an altercation?”

“I guess he’ll learn that I’m not going to tolerate his bullshit.”

“No. Don’t you see? He’s willing to go further than you are. He proved that when he almost drew his gun the night of the fire—which means you could get hurt instead. And even if you don’t, you could be arrested if you hurt him.”

“Chief Thomas knows Sly’s been out of line.”

“So? He also thinks you killed your parents! He won’t protect you. If, in making sure Sly gets what’s coming to him, you go back behind bars, Thomas will think justice has been served all the way around. Two problems solved at once.”