Gingerbread Man

her little sister.
    Holly had looked up right into his eyes. She remembered it clearly, as if it were yesterday. She'd screamed. He shouted at her to shut up, but for the life of her she couldn't recall the sound of his voice. The eyes, though. There was something about his eyes....
    She had twisted and fallen to the ground, forcing him to let go. He looked at her. Just looked at her. As if to say, fine, if that's the way you want it. Then he hurled Ivy roughly into the van, and clambered in behind her. He sped away. Holly ran after him, screaming her sister's name.
    "Ivy," she whispered. Tears were hot in her eyes, on her cheeks. "Ivy ..."
    A horn blasted. Holly blinked out of the memory and she jerked her wheel to correct the car. She'd lost control over the memories for just a moment. The past had nearly pulled her in again. Swallowing hard, she lifted her chin. "I'm not a little girl any more. He can't hurt me now."
    But in her mind, she kept feeling his cold hands on her arm, and hearing her sister crying her name.
    The howl of a siren made its way into her awareness, and she glanced up into the rearview mirror, saw the police car with its flashing lights behind her, and muttered a string of cuss words under her breath. She slowed down, moved to the side so he could go around. He didn't. He pulled off behind her. Great. A ticket would just put the topper on her day.
    She stopped the car, rolled her window down, and waited. The cop took his sweet time about getting out. Didn't they always? She fished in her wallet for her license, popped open the glove compartment and rummaged inside it for the registration, then sat waiting with them in her hand.
    Finally, the officer, a solid-looking man, came striding up to her car, sunglasses stereotypically mirroring her own reflection back at her as he stopped and leaned down. "Ms. Newman?"
    Obviously he'd already run her plates. He knew her name. "Yes, officer?" She held up her license and registration. "I wasn't speeding. I'm sure I wasn't"
    "No ma'am."
    "Well, then, why did you stop me?"
    He took the papers from her hand, and paused to look them over, then handed them back to her. "I'm going to have to ask you to wait here a moment."
    Sighing, Holly leaned forward until her forehead touched the steering wheel. He turned to walk back to his car, and she sat up straight as an idea came to her. "Wait a minute. Don't I know you? I mean, I've probably seen you on business, being that I work at the Dilmun Police Department." She waited for his reaction. Hell, her mother was always telling her to use her connections to greater advantage. It was supposed to work. He stood there, looking at her, not responding. "You know, Dilmun?" she went on. "That little town about twenty miles back that way?"
    "You're a police officer, ma'am?" he asked, monotone.
    "No. No, I work at the department, but I'm not a cop. I'm ... well, I'm the chief's right hand, to be honest. Why don't you call him and verify—?"
    "That won't be necessary, ma'am. Just wait right there, a moment, all right?"
    He turned and walked the rest of the way to his patrol car, lights still flashing. Other traffic blew by, and she sat there, waiting for the cop to finish writing her a ticket for whatever she'd done. Mentioning her ties to the Dilmun police hadn't seemed to faze him in the least. Wasn't he supposed to give her a smile, a wink, and send her on her way?
    He didn't come back, and minutes ticked by. Five, then ten. She drummed her fingers and waited. What on earth was taking him so long?
    A red Jeep Wrangler pulled up behind the police cruiser and came to a stop. A man got out, waved to the cop. The cop waved back, got into his car, and then drove away.
    Blinking in disbelief, she looked again.
    Vince. Vince O'Mally.
He'd
been behind this.
    She opened her car door, got out and slammed it shut again. Traffic buzzed past, sending her hair blowing in its wake as she strode toward him. "What are you doing here, Vince?"
    "What, you thought I was going to let you go to Auburn alone?"
    "How did you know where I was going?"
    He shrugged. "Did you really think I wouldn't guess?"
    "And you had that cop pull me over?"
    "How else was I going to catch up?"
    "Will you stop answering questions with questions?"
    "Will you stop giving me a hard time?"
    She pursed her lips and glared at him. He met her glare with one of his own. "Look, in the first place, Welles is a lowlife bastard. You shouldn't be anywhere near him, much less