“How are plans coming for the big day, Mace?”

She’d been great about arranging my shifts to accommodate my obligations to The Wedding of the Century.

“Don’t get me started,” I said. “Suffice to say the ring-bearer’s a yappy dog in a top hat, my dress makes me look like a lime pop with a parasol, and Mama can’t serve enough booze to make anybody forget this is the fifth time she’s tied the sacred knot of matrimony.”

“That bad, huh?” Rhonda chuckled. “Listen, no pressure, but I just wanted to check if you’re still doing that sunset nature walk tomorrow. I’ve had a few calls about it, so I know there’s some interest. I can handle it if you can’t.”

Damn. I’d completely forgotten. I was about to beg off, but I didn’t want to take advantage of Rhonda. She wasn’t really the nature-loving type; and I might need another favor before the week was out.

“Absolutely,” I said. “I’ll be there early enough to feed the critters and then do the walk.”

There was a pause from Rhonda’s end. “About the animals, Mace … Ollie nearly ate a raccoon that found its way to the bank of the gator pond today. Some church school kids who were at the park on a field trip were awfully upset. Their teacher complained about nightmares.”

As Rhonda spoke, I watched a big truck gaining on me in the rearview mirror. It always surprises me how fast people drive on this narrow stretch of the road that rings Lake Okeechobee.

“Did you hear me, Mace? Can’t you do something to make sure none of the other animals have access to Ollie’s pond?”

“Gators eat raccoons, Rhonda. That’s nature. We’re a nature park.” I glanced at the mirror again. The driver’s face was shadowed by the brim of a beat-up straw hat. Was the truck going to pass me or run me over?

“I’m aware it’s nature, Mace. But it may be just a little too much reality for young kids to witness. And suppose there was a toddler down there on the bank instead of that raccoon? Oh my god, that would be horrible. Not to mention the liability.”

I didn’t answer. Now the truck was right on my bumper, flashing its lights.

“We might have to talk about getting rid of Ollie, Mace.”

The truck’s horn blasted. I couldn’t hold this conversation right now with Rhonda, not with some moron about to race up my tailpipe. “I hear what you’re saying, Boss. Let’s talk about it when I get in, okay?”

I rang off quickly, dropped the phone on the seat, and gave my full attention to the truck behind me. I’d had a bad experience last summer, when I was run off the highway into a roadside canal. That night, I’d been caught by surprise. Now, I wasn’t about to let the same thing happen again. I began tapping my brakes, signaling to the driver to back the hell off.

Slowing, he leaned out the window and gestured for me to pull over. When he did, a slant of sunlight revealed his face. It was the big man in overalls from the fish camp. A knot of fear formed in my chest. I sped up; he did, too. I slowed to a crawl; so did he. We were miles from anything. A deep canal ran close by my side of the road. Huge trucks rumbled past in the other lane, hauling sugarcane or sod.

I could keep going, and take the chance he’d bump me off the highway. Maybe I wouldn’t be as lucky this time. Or, I could stop and see what he wanted. I eased off on the gas and reached for the tire iron I learned to keep hidden under the seat.

He slowed as I did, pulling off on the narrow, grassy shoulder. The water was so near, I could smell the mud and the grassy scent of hydrilla floating on the canal’s surface. Easing open my door, I kept my eyes on the rearview as he hefted his bulk out of the truck. His hands hung by his sides; no weapons. Then again, those overall pockets were so big, he might be carrying a cannon and I wouldn’t see it. My fist clenched around the metal rod, which I’d brought to a ready position on the seat.

As he approached, I flew out of the Jeep, waving my tire iron. A look of utter surprise flitted across his face.

“Don’t come another step closer. My other hand’s on the phone in my pocket, ready to speed dial 911.” I cursed the fact I’d actually left my cell on the seat where it fell. I prayed my voice didn’t sound as shaky as I felt.

He raised his hands, palms showing in a gesture of submission. “Whoa, ma’am. I don’t mean you no harm. I just want to talk to you.”

I lowered the tire iron a half-inch. “You weren’t exactly chatty earlier.”

“I couldn’t talk at the camp. That bastard Darryl keeps an eye on everything that goes on there. He’s my stepfather.”

I immediately felt a surge of sympathy for Overalls. Looking at him now, I realized he was no older than Maddie’s college-girl daughter. “What’s your name?”

“Rabe, ma’am,” he said.

“Dietz?” I asked.

He spit on the ground. “Hell, no. Darryl married my mama, but I still have my daddy’s name. Adams. All Darryl ever gave me was black-and-blue beatings.”

I dropped the tire iron a bit lower, feeling faintly ridiculous.

“Sorry I scared you,” Rabe said. “I was just trying to get your attention. I heard you asking Darryl about that woman, C’ndee.”

Now I realized why Rabe had been at the boat dock: He was watching; listening. Kids who grow up in a home with alcoholism and abuse learn those skills early.

“What about C’ndee?” I said.

“I heard the two of them fighting before she cleared out of camp. If you’re worried about her, you might have cause. Darryl’s a real violent man. I watched him beat Mama for years, and she’d always go back to him. He used to do me the same way, until I finally got big enough to knock him stupid.”

I thought about Rabe as a boy, cowering on a narrow bed in one of those rundown little cabins. It about broke my heart.

“Thanks for coming after me,” I told him. “I hope it doesn’t get you in trouble with Darryl.”

“Naw,” he said. “Him and me give each other a wide berth these days. And Mama says she’s finally done with him, too. I just wanted you to know he gets crazy jealous. If that C’ndee is your friend, you should keep an eye out for her. No telling what Darryl will do.”

He jiggled the keys to the truck in his hand, looking thoughtful. “I once saw him take after Mama with his belt, just because he thought she looked at another man. And he did even worse one time in a bar. Some guy bought Mama a drink, friendly-like, and Darryl just about beat in his skull for his trouble. The ambulance came and everything.”

His face got a distant look, like he was replaying those events from the past. I thought of one more thing I wanted to know about the present.

“You said you heard Darryl and C’ndee fighting. What about?”

“She was breaking it off. She told him it’d been fun, but she found somebody new.”

Fun? I shuddered at the thought. “How’d he take it?”

“’Bout like you’d expect. He cussed a blue streak and kicked one of the cabin doors right off its hinges. Slash lit out and hid under one of the cars for a full day. Darryl never touched C’ndee, though.” Rabe’s eyes looked far away again. “He would have, given time.”

“Did C’ndee tell Darryl who she was dating?”

He rubbed a hand through the sparse beard on his chin. “Not by name, no. But she did throw it in Darryl’s face that the guy was a successful businessman in Himmarshee. She said he owned a catering business.”