by L. L. Muir
Ten feet away from Loftus, he stopped and pointed where he wanted her to stand, off his left shoulder. “I don’t think you’re going to get those stains out,” he said calmly. “Keep your hands right where they are.”
Loftus froze, then turned his head slowly. “Why, Deputy Darro, what brings you back? I thought you were serving a warrant at Sinclair’s.”
“I decided to arrest Monica Whittaker’s killer instead.”
Loftus snorted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Tripp shined his light on the soil. “Looking for an earring?”
“Digging for worms.” The man pointed at the gardening tools on the grass. He wore black gloves and held a small hand fork in his right hand, his flashlight in his left. The black dirt looked freshly clawed. “Feeling all sentimental, you know? Thought maybe I’d go fishing.”
“We know you didn’t actually kill her,” Tripp said. “But we’ve got plenty to charge you with. Kidnapping, for starters.”
“Kidnapping? You’re crazy. If you’re looking for a confession, you’re not going to get one from me, whatever your little gypsy might have imagined. I’m sure you are recording this, but it won’t help you. I had nothing to do with Monica Whittaker’s death. Have you got that? Or would you like me to say it one more time? Slowly and clearly, for your audience?”
Tripp shined his light on the other tools. “See anything there that might help?”
Maddy squatted down and pulled off her gloves. The trowel was warm to the touch, so she picked it up, then concentrated. Loftus had used it to cover his tracks after he’d pulled out the crushed shrub in the middle of the night, cursing all the while. “He was mad. Thought she was stupid. It was all her fault. She should have trusted him.” She looked over at Loftus. “He thought she would have come around, eventually.”
The man’s mouth hung open, but he snapped it shut. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Vague mumbo-jumbo is all you have?” He forgot he was supposed to keep his hands still and got to his feet. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here, Darro. But you’d better get a warrant if you intend to spend another second on my property. And take your gypsy with you,” he sneered, pulled back his foot, and kicked dirt at her.
She tried to warn Tripp, with a look, right before she dragged her toe on the grass and fell.
“What did you do?” He sounded angry, but the question was aimed at Loftus. He’d understood. He was buying her time.
She spread her fingers and pushed her hands across the grass and the little clods of dirt that might hold all the secrets Loftus tried so hard to hide. Something was so warm, it heated her knee. She grasped what she could from the ground as she got to her feet. Besides blades of grass, a little ball of earth simmered in the palm of her hand.
“It would have been okay,” she said aloud, the stage of her mind filling with spurts and sputters of emotion. “Humiliation,” she said louder, just as that emotion was the loudest of all. She turned to Loftus. “She humiliated you?”
He growled, then stopped when Tripp lifted his gun. The dirt clod hummed and she watched as emotions came to life in her mind.
Loftus pulled up in his new car. She was on time too. The Park & Ride lot had only four other cars. Empty cars. They were alone.
Monica sauntered over to the window and finally bent, to see who her mystery man was. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened… And the meanest laughter poured out.
He tried to suck it up and wait. If she would calm down, he could make her understand. But she just kept laughing.
He got out of the car and walked around it. She backed away, still hysterical. Her red heel caught on the asphalt and she fell on her butt. He tried to help her up, but she wouldn’t take his hand. He told her to get in the car. She refused. He hadn’t intended to use it, but the gun was there, in his pocket. She doubted, just for a minute, then sobered and did as she was told.
By the time they got to the cabin, she was terrified. But he needed her terrified. He needed her submissive. If she would just give him a chance, he could show her how perfect they were for each other. But her terror made her incapable of listening.
Maddy cleared her throat and the dryness suggested she’d said it all aloud. Loftus lunged for her, grabbed her hair, and pulled her to him. The cold steely nozzle of a gun pressed into the flesh beneath her jaw.
“No!” Darro’s denial came too late. The angry man’s arm was locked around her neck. His back against the cabin wall. Tripp couldn’t get close. He kept his flashlight and gun trained on the man at her back, but it was a standoff.
Ten minutes. Tripp said backup was on its way, but how long did she have?
26
Tripp tried to set aside his feelings for Maddy and use all his skill and experience to defuse the situation. If that didn’t work, Loftus was dead where he stood.
“Come on, Julius,” he said. “You don’t want to hurt her. We already know you didn’t kill Monica. Don’t add murder to the list. You hurt this one, and it’s all over.”
Loftus’ nostrils flared. “It was all over a week ago.” He glanced down at his feet and Tripp assumed he was reliving the tragedy, when the woman he was obsessed with decided jumping out a window and breaking her neck was preferable to staying and listening to him.
“I know just how you feel.” He glanced at Maddy. “The woman I was obsessed with decided she’d rather leave the state than stay with me. I know it’s not the same, but…it tastes the same.”
Loftus shook his head. “She should have listened.”
“You’re right. It was her own fault,” he dragged his eyes from Maddy’s, “but still, you loved her, right? We’re the ones left behind.”
Even though Tripp was desperate for backup, if they arrived while the guy was freaking out, lights and sirens might put him over the edge. But there was one way he might warn them.
“Look, Loftus. I’m going to turn off my recorder and give you my phone, all right? You destroy it, and it’s my word against yours. No proof. Nothing that will stand up in court. You trade the girl for the phone and be on your way.”
He had the guy’s attention now. The wildness in his eyes was fading fast. It might be better to take him out before he was seeing too clearly…
“Look. I’m taking it out.” Tripp hooked the flashlight with the pinky of his gun hand, held up his free hand, then reached for his phone. With the beam of light directed at Maddy’s hair, the guy was blinded, briefly. Tripp reached over and switched on his shoulder radio, locked it, then slipped his hand back to the phone in his pocket. “I’ll just press this, and…it’s off. Okay? It’s off. So now, you trade the girl for the only recording of our conversation. Push her over here and I’ll toss you the phone.”
“I’m not an idiot, Darro. I can’t let you two live, and you know it.”
“Hey, Tripp?” Maddy let go of Loftus’ arm and waved her fingers. “I know this is not a good time, but I was supposed to give you a message from my sister.”
Loftus gave her a little shake. “Are you kidding me?”
“Well, I might be dead in a minute, right? What if it’s important?”
The gunman shook his head, but then it seemed like he was giving her time to deliver the message.
Tripp was grateful the guy was distracted while he geared up to take the shot. “Mac had a message for me?”
“Yeah. She said you’d understand when the time was right.”
“Oh? What would I understand?”
“An inch to the left.”
He knew just where to shoot, but if he trusted Mac as much as he trusted Maddy—
He took the shot. Loftus’ head spun to the left and the arm holding the gun followed. Maddy lunged to the right. The gun itself never fired. Tripp hurried forward, his weapon still trained on Loftus. He found the other gun with the flashlight and kicked it well out of the way. His fingers shook as he searched for a pulse. The man was dead.
He holstered his weapon and hur
ried to Maddy, who scrambled backward, away from the body. With a hand beneath her arm, he got her to her feet and steered her to the far end of the yard. She jumped when deputies appeared all around them, weapons drawn.
“It’s clear,” he told them. “Single gunman down.”
Maddy shook too. Her hands clenched the edges of his jacket. “He’s dead, right?”
“If he isn’t, he will be—just as soon as he sees what he’s done to his suit.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. That was irreverent of me. I shouldn’t speak ill of a man who taught me so much.”
Maddy frowned up at him and the blue light of the moon washed over her wrinkled brow. “Just what did he teach you?”
He looked into her eyes and waited a heartbeat or two, so she’d recognize how serious he was. “He taught me that Obsession and Love are completely different things.”
She looked back and forth, searching his eyes, for what he didn’t know. But when she physically pulled back, he knew she’d made her choice. Obsession and love were irrelevant. She wasn’t choosing him.
She stuck out her hand just as Farley Peterson reached them. Her smile was more of a grimace. “Thank you for everything, Deputy Darro. If you’ve got everything you need from me, I’ll see if one of these officers can get me home.”
Farley introduced himself. Maddy pretended not to notice his outstretched hand. That’s when Tripp realized she’d lost her gloves. Both he and the sheriff turned and watched her walk away.
Farley nudged him. “I don’t suppose you’d like to give me a summary of what happened here tonight?”
Tripp slapped him on the back. “Oh, no. I want to make sure the details are accurate.” He unholstered his weapon and waved another officer over to take possession. It would be tested before he could have it back, and the sooner the better.
Farley grinned at him. “You gonna see that woman again, when the dust settles?”
“Absolutely,” he said, without hesitation. He just didn’t know where.
THE END
I hope you liked this first book in the Witches of Falls County series. If you’d like to learn what happened the the missing friend of Sheriff Lance King, read A GOOD DAY FOR CRAZY, which you will find HERE.
The next book in this series will be BE FUDDLED, followed by BE SERIOUS. To sign up for the L.L. Muir newsletter to be notified when the next book is available, go to www.llmuir.weebly.com
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L.L. Muir lives on the Utah side of the Rocky Mountains with her husband and family. She appreciates funny friends, a well-fed campfire, and any excuse to go to Scotland.
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Copyright
Published by Lesli Muir Lytle
Be Witched © 2018 L.Lytle
Witches of Falls County Series © 2018 L.Lytle
All rights reserved
Cover Art by Kelli Ann Morgan
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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. The ebook contained herein constitutes a copyrighted work and may not be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or stored in or introduced into an information storage and retrieval system in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This ebook is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
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