Despite their earlier threats to the contrary, both Gage and Tripp treated her with great care. Gage had the EMTs check her over before he and the various other police agencies asked her a single question. None of them were overly happy with her answers, but they were unrelentingly polite through the whole process. She suspected that had something to do with Tripp standing beside her, glaring at anyone who pushed her a little harder than he liked.
Their next stop was police headquarters for more of the same kind of discussion. The owner of the trucking company was there to make her statement, too. According to her, Troy had been difficult to deal with from the moment she’d bought the company from her male predecessor. From everything they’d learned about him, no one was surprised to learn Troy had resented taking orders from a woman. Gage figured that might have been the final straw that resulted in Troy killing his wife and her elderly defender.
Hours later, Tripp finally drove Abby home. After escorting her inside, he pointed her toward her favorite chair in the living room and tossed her one of Aunt Sybil’s quilts to cover up with.
“I’ll feed Zeke, order a pizza for each of us for dinner, and make tea. Stay right where you are.”
She considered saluting, but there was no use in throwing gas on his temper. He’d held it in this long, and she wasn’t quite ready to face the lecture that was coming. She could hear him muttering to Zeke. She wasn’t sure, but she thought he was pointing out to the dog that he had questionable taste in owners.
He had no room to talk. After all, didn’t that mean he also had the same bad taste in landladies? Not that she had any urge to say that out loud. Who knows, maybe her common sense was finally putting in a belated appearance. The more she thought about her decision to chase down a murderer, the more scared she got.
Tripp returned with her tea. “Take it easy with that. It’s not just hot, it’s mostly brandy.”
Bless the man. As she sipped the hot liquid, its slow burn immediately made some serious inroads into the chill that had settled deeply into her bones. The cold shakes had started when the full impact had hit her about everything that had happened, and what Troy had done.
“You doing all right now?”
She braced herself and nodded. The explosion wasn’t long in coming. Tripp paced back and forth across the living room several times before launching into his lecture.
“We told you to stay away from the man. You knew he was dangerous if for no other reason than Zeke didn’t like him. I swear, woman, you don’t have the sense God gave a goat.” He stopped to glare at her. “Do you have any idea what it was like for Gage and me trying to catch up with you before that jerk could get his hands on you? How were we supposed to live with the guilt if we hadn’t gotten there in time to stop him?”
An apology wasn’t enough. Not this time. She set her teacup on the table and tossed the quilt aside. It took two attempts to stand up, but she finally made it. When she was sure she wouldn’t fall, she took three steps forward straight into Tripp’s waiting arms.
His arms clamped around her like iron bands, holding her close and letting the warmth of his big body chase away the last vestiges of fear and cold. She pushed back enough to look up at him, meaning to offer a long overdue thank you and maybe toss in an apology or two for good measure. Before she could say a word, he kissed her hard, stealing her breath and curling her toes.
Then he took an unsteady step backward and stared down at her with his dark chocolate eyes. “Don’t ever—EVER—scare me like that again.”
Without giving her a chance to respond, he stalked out of the room. A few seconds later the back door slammed shut. Abby considered going after him but decided the man might need his space for a bit. She traced her lips with a fingertip, savoring the last tingle of that kiss.
At a loss as to what to do next, she sat back down to wait for dinner to arrive. After a bit, she realized she was smiling. Considering the day she’d had, how was that even possible? Well, maybe it could be the lingering effects of the brandy, but she didn’t think so.
Then it hit her. Maybe Troy had been right about good things coming in threes. First up, Aunt Sybil’s name and reputation had been cleared. Even more important, Dolly and Julie would finally get justice. And last but not least, she was alive and a handsome man had just kissed her senseless.
She picked up her tea and held it up in a silent toast to the cosmos. Yep, things were definitely looking up.
Death by Committee Page 26
