Stand In The Rain

Twenty Four

Emily and Spencer found the mall that Sandy had been talking about. It was about fifteen minutes away from the hotel, and two stories tall, but since the parking lot was mostly empty because of the late hour, they were able to park fairly close to the building. The coffee shop Sandy had mentioned was in a bookstore on the first floor, but they still found her, sitting at a table in the corner, staring at a half-empty paper coffee cup.

Beside her on another chair, baby Annalynn was fast asleep in her carseat. Sandy had brought Annalynn along because she'd been unbelievably fussy and nobody, not even DeLilah, could calm her. Annalynn was asleep by the time they got to the dry cleaners, and she'd even slept through the encounter with Oscar Lee. Hopefully, she'd sleep through the rest of the night.

The wheels in Sandy's brain were turning, though, as she tried to figure out what was happening. She was just a simple person from the country who had never laid a hand to anyone else in her life; this kind of thing wasn't supposed to happen to someone like her.

"Thank you so much for coming." she said when Emily and Spencer joined her, sitting in the table's empty seats. "Do either of you want anything?"

The other two knew that that was just her southern hospitality kicking in, so they politely declined.

"Why is Annalynn with you?" Emily asked, nodding towards the sleeping infant.

"The poor thing hasn't been able to sleep, so I figured a nighttime ride would do the trick. It worked." she explained. "And yes, DeLilah knows we're here because I called her, but I haven't told her about Oscar Lee."

Satisfied by this, Emily asked the first question.

"What happened?"

"I was coming out of the dry cleaners because I'd brought some things in for DeLilah and my parents... Oscar Lee surprised me in the parking lot."

"You recognized him, then?" Spencer inquired.

"Yes, and that's the part that surprised me because I hadn't seen him since he was at least in his early twenties; I recognized him because he has a big scar above his right eye."

"How did he get it?"

"In a tussle with my kids when they were all younger."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Is this the tussle where Oscar jumped JJ, and Archer and Rosaline jumped him in retaliation?"

"That's the one." Sandy smiled briefly at the memory, but it faltered almost immediately. "Oscar told me to say that you all have to stop investigating the case and just let the sleeping dogs lie, or else..."

"Or else what?"

Sandy shivered. "Or else he'll make it harder for you all to put the pieces together, and he'll take someone else. I'm sure you can understand why I hightailed it to a public place with Annalynn."

"Indeed," Spencer confirmed. "And it was a smart move."

Emily nodded in agreement. "Do you think Oscar Lee will follow through on his threat?"

"That is the million dollar question, dear Emily."

"How so?" Emily asked.

"Oscar seemed like he'd been on the run because he's completely filthy and quite frankly, he reeks."

"You got that close?"

"Unfortunately, yes. He also seemed like he wasn't all there, if you catch my drift."