Shielded by the Lawman

by Dana Nussio

  Chapter 21

  Jamie slammed the door on his SUV and sprinted across the parking lot to the diner. He had so much to tell her and little time to do it before the others arrived. If he hadn’t been ready go public with their relationship before, he couldn’t do it now, at least until he convinced Sarah to go to the police.

  He rushed through the door just as Sarah slipped out of the kitchen, carrying a tray of food. Something looked different about her as she hesitated when she caught sight of him, but she only gave a tiny nod and continued to a table where four guests were waiting to be served.

  “Is everything okay, Officer?” Ted asked as he stepped in front of him, blocking his view of Sarah. “Yeah. Sure.” He forced himself to lower his hands to his sides, as if a casual stance alone would help him look calmer. “I just need to talk to her.”

  He didn’t need to identify who he meant, as Ted’s gaze automatically went to Sarah. At the restaurant owner’s cautious look, Jamie frowned.

  “It’s important. Really.”

  “I’m sure it is.” The older man cleared his throat as he guided Jamie to the side of the dining room closest to the cash register. “Look, we don’t want any trouble.”

  “Trouble?” He followed Ted’s gaze to the smattering of customers around the room. A few were sneaking glances their way, while a few more weren’t even trying to hide their curiosity. He lowered his voice so that only Ted could hear. “There won’t be any. Has there ever been?”

  Ted gestured with his thumb toward Sarah, who peeked their way and then continued distributing the plates on her tray.

  “I don’t know what it is about that young lady that makes you guys so crazy.”

  Ted didn’t know the half of it. He also was right about how Sarah affected Jamie, at least, but he would worry about that later, when he was sure she was safe.

  “Look, I need to talk to her before the others get here, and they’ll be here any minute.”

  “Sure. Nobody’s business, right?” He pointed down the hall. “Head to the office, and I’ll send her back there.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  He was few steps away when Ted called his name.

  “That wasn’t you on the phone earlier, was it? Because if it was, I don’t want you to upset her again.”

  Upset her? “It wasn’t me.”

  But since the news he was about to share with her was sure to distress her, he didn’t respond to Ted’s second comment. No reason to make promises he couldn’t keep.

  Inside the office, he considered the leather executive chair behind the desk and the two upholstered visitor chairs, but he didn’t bother trying to sit in any of them. How could he relax when he had to tell Sarah that her biggest nightmare was now her reality?

  He was still pacing around the cramped office, nervous energy making it impossible to stop his forward motion, when Sarah pushed open the door, slipped inside and closed it behind her.

  “What’s going on, Jamie? You rushed in here like you were being chased.”

  “I’m not. But you might be soon.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

  “He’s out, Sarah.” He crossed to her and rested his hands on her forearms. “I looked him up on the inmate locator. He was paroled on April 3.”

  “I know.” She slowly stepped back until his hands fell away.

  “You know?” He looked closer at her. His earlier impression had been right. She did look different. Red rims ringed her eyes, and pink blotches dotted her cheeks, both indications that she’d been crying.

  “Are you okay? Have you heard from him?” He longed to pull her into his arms, but she looked as if she would come out of her skin if he tried.

  “I didn’t need to hear it from him. The Lisbon police told me.” She shoved her hands back through her hair. “They effectively did.”

  “Why would you hear that from them? That’s who called earlier?” His head shifted. “Wait. The police called you, and they told you about Brooks?”

  She shook her head. “They told me about Tonya.”

  “What does Tonya have to do with—”

  “Jamie, she’s...dead.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”

  His heartbeat pounded in his ears as he struggled to order the disjointed and unspoken pieces of her message. A body. A suspect. A motive. But some of her words crowded out the rest and replayed in an ominous loop. She’s dead...she’s dead...she’s dead.

  He pushed away the words and the rising panic that linked to them. But this time he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her to him. She didn’t resist, but her arms remained at her sides, her spine straight, unrelenting.

  Jamie needed to release her, should give her the distance she seemed to crave. And he would, as soon as he could peel his arms away. As soon as the message could filter from his brain to his limbs that Sarah was right there with him. Solid. Safe. He was an awful person. A woman was dead, someone who loved Sarah, possibly as much as he did, and all he could do was feel grateful that it hadn’t been her.

  “I’m sorry,” he repeated, this time for many reasons.

  Instead of pulling away as she would have if she’d known what he’d been thinking, Sarah slumped against him as if the pain was too great for her to bear it alone. Her arms slipped around his waist, her hands gripping fistfuls of the back of his shirt. The front of it was already damp with her tears.

  “She was my best friend, and she’s dead...because of me.”

  Her anguish touched him in a place he’d barred anyone access to since Mark’s death. A place of guilt and shame. A place where public absolution and the pointing finger of self-blame could never be fully reconciled. But he couldn’t let her torture herself with the belief that it was all her fault.

  He rubbed slow circles on her back. “Come on, you know that isn’t true.”

  “And you know it is.” She shook her head against his chest.

  “We don’t even know for certain that Brooks is a suspect.”

  Sarah pushed him away and then crossed her arms. “She died the same day she was trying to reach me. Maybe even at the same time she was calling me. Isn’t that suspicious enough for you?”

  He pressed his lips into a thin line. Okay, the guy was at the top of his suspect list, too, but then he’d been given more information than the other police agency might have had. And there were no coincidences in law enforcement.

  As Sarah shared more details from the detective, each added another layer to the lump of dread building in Jamie’s gut.

  “And the police knew to call you because...?”

  “They pulled Tonya’s phone records.”

  “They know who you are?”

  “Only that I’m Sarah Cline. I made up the address.”

  He swallowed. False reporting. Just another string added to the tangled web of her lies, and another legal liability. Anyway, if those detectives were worth their salt, they would already be tracking Sarah through pings to cell phone towers, but she didn’t need one more thing to worry about.

  “If an arrest hasn’t been made or if the case hasn’t been closed, we don’t know anything for sure.”

  Did he really believe that would somehow keep her from being frightened? He was scared enough for them both.

  Sarah paced across the room and turned back to him, leaning against the filing cabinet. “Believe what you want, but I know the truth. If Tonya didn’t know me, and hadn’t helped me to get away from Michael, she would be...alive...right now.”

  He nodded, his eyes finally filling on behalf of a woman he would never meet. He could never repay Tonya for her sacrifice, but he intended to honor it by helping to ensure that Sarah stayed alive.

  “So, let’s say that Tonya really was trying to warn you when she called that day and th
at the suspect who attacked her was Brooks.” He took a breath and then voiced the questions that were swirling in his mind. “Do you think he’s figured out where you are? Who you are?”

  “He’s smart. If he hasn’t yet, he will soon.”

  “Then we have to assume he already has.”

  She let her head fall forward. “If he overheard Tonya calling me, and it went to voicemail, then he already knows—”

  “That you’re Sarah,” he finished for her, a chill climbing his arms.

  “And he has Tonya’s planner—”

  “Where, I’m guessing, there’s a listing for Sarah in it.”

  She covered her face with her hands, her fingers splayed so nothing hid the fear in her eyes. Finally, she lowered her hands, but only to grip them together.

  “He’s coming for Aiden and me. And he’s had six days to find me. Do you think he’s already in Brighton?”

  Jamie didn’t want to give an opinion on that.

  “Well, I can’t stay here like some sitting duck, just waiting for him to come after us. I can’t let him get to Aiden. I won’t.”

  She was already rushing for the office door when Jamie rested his hand on her shoulder. She tried to shake it off, but he held on as gently as he could until she stilled.

  “Wait, Sarah. We need to think this through. We need to plan.”

  Reluctantly, he lowered his hand. Instead of rushing out the door as he’d expected she would, away from him and his offer of support, she turned back to him.

  “We?”

  She’d dismissed that word so easily that morning. He couldn’t allow himself to read too much into the fact that she hadn’t pushed him away now. Desperate people did and said all kinds of things.

  “Of course, we.” He guided her to one of the guest chairs and sat in the other one.

  “You said Brooks is smart. Do you think he would show up here without a plan?” Jamie shook his head. “I don’t think so. Besides, he’s on parole. He can’t even leave the state without special permission from his parole officer.”

  “You think that would stop him?”

  “Maybe not, but I do think he would work out as many details as he could beforehand, since he can’t afford to get caught and have his parole revoked. He probably thinks he has a lot of time, too. He has no reason to expect that you were made aware he’d been paroled. And he had to figure it would take a while before the news of Tonya’s death would reach you.”

  “Do you think he had a plan when he went to... Tonya’s?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. The murder could have been premeditated. Maybe not. But then that situation is different, too. There isn’t anything obvious that the police could use to connect him to Tonya.” He held his hands wide. “On the other hand, he was married to you.”

  “If the police figure that part out.”

  “They will eventually.”

  “Well, Aiden and I just need to disappear again. I have to pack. Exchange coins in my jar for paper money. Throw a dart at the map.”

  With each item Sarah ticked off on her list, Jamie’s panic built.

  “Are you ever going to stop running?”

  She blinked. “What do you want me to do? Wait for him to kill me and take Aiden? Because it’s what he will do when I refuse to go back to him. And I won’t go back.”

  She clasped her locket and twisted it, as if the fragile piece of metal could somehow keep her grounded.

  “If you run, I can’t help you.”

  He hated the plea in his voice, but he’d never stated the truth so plainly. Yet she said nothing for so long that he wondered if she’d heard him.

  “You could go with us.”

  She’d whispered the words but might as well have shouted them, as they shook him so forcefully. His sternum felt as if someone was standing on it. He tried to make eye contact with her, but she stared at her necklace, continuing to twist it.

  “It’s a lovely invitation. A few days ago, I might have jumped at the chance to just be with you and Aiden. Even if it meant walking away from everything else that mattered to me. Even if it meant that I would always have to run, too.”

  He lowered his chin to his chest. “But everything is different now.”

  “How is it different?”

  “You know how. Tonya’s dead. We now know that Brooks has no qualms about killing to get what he wants. He’s desperate. He has nothing to lose.”

  Jamie pushed his shoulders back and set his jaw. “I can’t take a chance that you’ll be next. Or Aiden, if he gets in the way.”

  She lowered her forehead into the cradle of her cupped hands. “What do you expect me to do then?”

  “Stay.”

  That one simple word was both an offer and a plea. It was proof that he was all in, though he could admit now that he had been since the first day. That piece of pie. The note that changed everything. Even before.

  This time she looked right at him and lifted her chin. “Why would you ask me to do that? You know I can’t. It would be like giving up, and I owe Aiden more than that.”

  “It wouldn’t be giving up. It would be fighting back.” At her dubious look, he pressed on. “I know it’s hard for you, but you said you trust me, and now I need you to really do it. I’ll be right there with you, but I need you to turn yourself in. You can tell the whole truth and then ask the court for leniency. There are mitigating circumstances, and you’ll be helping the police to solve a murder. Those things have to count for something.”

  She’d shot him down the first time he’d suggested it, so it didn’t surprise him that she started shaking her head before he could even finish his argument.

  “Look, Sarah, if you run now, you’ll never be able to stop. Because he’ll never give up trying to find you. He’ll always be waiting in the shadows around the next corner or watching you from outside the window at night.”

  “But I can’t risk losing my son. What if a judge decides my reasons for doing what I did weren’t good enough? What would happen to Aiden if I had to go to jail?”

  “It’s the only way. Shouldn’t Brooks have to pay for his crimes? For what he did to Tonya? And doesn’t she deserve justice?”

  Again, she shook her head. “Tonya would understand. She went to great lengths to protect us.”

  “But she couldn’t keep Brooks from figuring out how to find you. The truth is I can’t protect you, either. At least not on my own.”

  “Why do you feel like you have to?”

  For a few seconds, Jamie could only stare at her. She still didn’t know. How could she not after he’d worked tirelessly to win her trust, he’d sheltered her secrets though it had cost him, and he’d loved her with the desperation of a man who’d touched heaven, only to learn that he wasn’t allowed in?

  “You still don’t get it, do you? I’m in love with you.” He cleared his throat, his heart beating frantically in his chest. “What happens to you is critically important to me.”

  Sarah was the one staring this time, as if she couldn’t quite believe what he’d said. Why was she surprised? Didn’t she know how amazing she was? How precious?

  This wasn’t the way he would have preferred to tell her. In a moment of crisis. But at least now she knew, and he wasn’t sorry he’d told her.

  If she left tonight, he might never get another chance. He tried to tell himself it didn’t matter how she responded to his plea and his confession, but the stakes were high. Her choices tonight went beyond whether she would have a future with him. If she chose wrong, she might have no future at all.

  “Okay.”

  His mind swam as he tried to find a context for her simple response. “Okay?”

  She nodded. “I’ll go to the police tomorrow while Aiden’s at school.”

  “Did you agree because of what I said?”

 
“Does it matter?”

  Hell, yes, it mattered. But did it really? He didn’t care why she was doing the right thing if it improved her chance of survival.

  “But you promise to go with me, right?”

  “I’m off tomorrow. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

  “Then could you kiss me now?”

  Because he could deny her nothing, especially when his heart cried out for her, he turned his chair so that it faced hers. Fitting her knees between his, he leaned forward and rested his fingertips behind her elbows, drawing her forward.

  Their lips met for what felt like the first time...then again. He couldn’t help it; he tightened his grip on her arms and crushed his lips to hers in a kiss filled with pain and fear and the scariest emotion of all...hope.

  Sarah returned his kiss with a similar desperation that went beyond the physical to something spiritual and undefined. She hadn’t said she loved him. She might not even feel that way about him. He had to remember that. But for now, this was enough. It had to be.

  He was so caught up in the moment with the woman he loved, that the world faded around them. Until someone cleared his throat.

  Ted stood in the doorway, grinning and misunderstanding what he’d just interrupted. Jamie pushed his chair back and leaped up as if that could erase what the man had already seen. Sarah’s face was crimson, and she was trying to fix her ponytail, but it appeared to be a lost cause.

  “Well, I guess the two of you made up.” He paused, chuckling. “And to think that I was worried.”

  Sarah opened her mouth to explain, but Jamie caught her attention and shook his head. The less others knew before tomorrow, the better. He could only hope her boss didn’t have a big mouth.

  Again, Ted cleared his throat. “Sarah, I was going to tell you that Marilyn was covering your two tables. She owes you. But the Brighton Post folks are here now, and they’re asking for you.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  “You might want to get out there soon, but I would suggest a stop by the ladies’ room first.”

  Ted gestured first toward his hair and then his lips.