Always a Lawman

by Delores Fossen

  Jameson and Jodi went after him, and that sent Gabriel hurrying, as well. He didn’t go down the ladder because that would have made him an easy target in case the intruder was armed. Instead, he barreled down the hall and stairs and hurried out the back door.

  Jameson and Jodi had gotten way ahead of him by now and had disappeared into the woods. With any luck, they were on the intruder’s heels. Well, hopefully Jameson was. Gabriel didn’t like it that a civilian was in the mix of things. Especially this civilian. Despite Jodi’s attempt at trying to keep her composure when she saw the knife, Gabriel knew it caused her to have a slam of bad memories.

  Once he was in the backyard, he had to hurdle over some of the underbrush, and it took him several long moments of hard running before he spotted Jameson and Jodi again. He’d hardly gotten a glimpse of them before Gabriel heard something else that caused his heart to jump into overdrive.

  A cracking sound.

  A shot being fired through a silencer.

  Gabriel cursed again because neither Jodi’s nor Jameson’s guns were rigged that way. That meant the shot had come from the intruder. Well, that blew his theory that this was all some kind of sick prank. If the idiot had come here armed, then he meant business.

  But what kind of business exactly?

  If he’d wanted to kill them, he could have done that when Jodi and he had been talking earlier.

  Jameson and Jodi thankfully ducked behind some trees, and using massive oaks as cover, Gabriel darted behind them as he made his way to Jodi. Jameson was only several yards away, and both of them had their guns and attention directed at a thick cluster of bushes and weeds.

  Jodi was breathing through her mouth, but other than that, she was holding it together. And she looked like the trained security specialist that she was.

  “Did you get a look at his face?” Gabriel wanted to know.

  She shook her head and spared him a glance. Gabriel saw it then. The fear. But he also saw the determination to get her hands on this guy.

  “Do you see him?” Jameson asked.

  Gabriel peered around the tree for a glance. But he didn’t get much of a look. That’s because a bullet smacked into the bark just inches from his head. A second shot quickly followed.

  He cursed and pulled Jodi to the ground. Gabriel hadn’t intended to land on her, but that’s what happened. The front of his body right on her back. They’d never been lovers, but being pressed against her gave Gabriel a jolt of attraction. A jolt he quickly shoved aside so he could adjust his position in case he got a chance to return fire.

  The intruder fired again, and Gabriel tried to pinpoint the shot. Hard to do with the silencer, but he was pretty sure he knew the guy’s general area.

  “Stop shooting and come out with your hands up,” Gabriel shouted out to him.

  He didn’t expect the intruder to do that.

  And was stunned when he did.

  “I’m coming out,” the man said.

  Jodi went stiff and practically shoved Gabriel off her so that she could get to her feet. Gabriel did the same, and he muscled her behind him just in case this was some kind of trick.

  But it wasn’t.

  The man stood, his hands raised in the air. In addition to the black clothes, he was also wearing a ski mask and gloves.

  “Where’s your gun?” Gabriel snapped.

  “On the ground near my feet.”

  Gabriel didn’t want it anywhere near this fool. “Walk toward us. Slowly. Don’t make any sudden moves, and remember that part about keeping your hands in the air.”

  The guy gave a shaky nod, and he started toward them. Jameson came out from cover, his gun trained on the guy. Gabriel and Jodi did the same, and the moment he was close enough to Jameson, his brother hurried to the man, put him facedown on the ground and frisked him.

  “Keep watch around us,” Gabriel told Jodi.

  Her eyes widened a moment, and she must have realized that this man might have brought a friend or two with him.

  Gabriel went closer to the guy, too, and handed Jameson a pair of plastic cuffs that he took from his pocket. Jameson immediately put them on him.

  “Who the hell are you?” Gabriel asked the man.

  Gabriel stooped down and yanked off the ski mask. His head was shaved, and there were several homemade tattoos on his forehead and neck. Definitely not someone Gabriel recognized, and judging from the way Jameson shook his head, neither did his brother.

  “I’m not saying nothing until I talk to my lawyer,” the guy answered. He sounded pretty defiant for someone who’d just surrendered.

  But Jodi had some defiance of her own. She got right in the guy’s face. “Where did you get that knife?”

  He smiled. A sick kind of smile that had Gabriel’s insides twisting. He wasn’t sure what the heck this was all about, but he intended to find out.

  “I’ll take him to the sheriff’s office,” Gabriel said. “He can call his lawyer, and I’ll question him.” Then, he turned to the guy and hoped he could change his mind about clamming up. “Just so you know, you’re looking at three counts of attempted murder.”

  The guy smiled again. Gabriel sure didn’t. He silently cursed. Because they could be dealing with someone who was mentally unstable. If so, they might never get answers. But Jodi clearly wasn’t giving up on that just yet.

  She was right at the goon’s side as Jameson started leading him back to the house. “Tell me where you got the knife.”

  Gabriel doubted the guy was about to blurt out anything, but just in case, he went ahead and read him his rights. Jodi waited, the impatience all over her face, and the moment Gabriel finished, she repeated her demand.

  Nothing. Well, she got nothing other than the smile that Gabriel wished he could knock off the idiot’s face.

  “He’s too young to have been part of your attack,” Gabriel reminded Jodi. This guy was barely twenty, maybe still in his teens. He would have been just a kid a decade ago.

  “He could still know something about it,” she pointed out just as quickly.

  “Yeah,” Gabriel admitted. “That’s why I’ll handle this. You should go home, and I’ll let you know if he says anything.”

  That earned him a glare. He’d expected it. She wasn’t about to back away from this, but Gabriel had to keep her at bay because he didn’t want her compromising his investigation.

  “Need some help?” someone called out.

  Cameron. The deputy was hurrying around the side of the house toward them. He, too, had his weapon drawn.

  “Did you come here in your cruiser?” Gabriel asked him.

  Cameron nodded. “Who is this guy? And why is the knife on the porch?”

  Good questions. “I’m hoping he’ll tell me once we’ve booked him.” Gabriel tipped his head to the woods. “This clown left a gun out there. Keep an eye on it until the CSIs get here to collect it, and then I’ll need Jameson and you to drive him to the sheriff’s office. I’ll be right behind you as soon as I’ve talked to the CSIs.”

  And after he’d had a look around.

  Something more than the obvious wasn’t right.

  Jameson headed to the cruiser with the prisoner, and Cameron started for the woods. Jodi didn’t budge.

  “I want to be there when you question him,” she insisted.

  “No.” And he wasn’t going to compromise on that. At best he would allow her to watch from the observation room, but Gabriel was sure even that wasn’t a good idea.

  Gabriel looked at her, and that’s when he saw that she was trembling. Jodi realized he’d noticed, too, and she cursed under her breath.

  “I’m fine,” she snapped. Her blond hair was damp with sweat, and she pushed it from her face. Her face was beaded with sweat, as well.

  They stare
d at each other, until Jodi glanced away. “Sometimes, I have panic attacks,” she said.

  He figured she had to be close to one now to admit something like that. It didn’t go well with her tough Sentry employee image.

  “The water is still on in the house since it comes from a well. I wouldn’t drink it because there might be rust in the pipes, but it might help if you splash some on your face.”

  But the moment he made the offer, it occurred to him why he still had that niggling feeling in his gut. Gabriel’s attention zoomed to the back door.

  “What?” Jodi asked when she followed his gaze.

  “The ladder’s there, but the back door was open when I went into the house.”

  She made a sound to indicate she was giving that some thought. “Well, the guy used the ladder to escape. Jameson and I saw him running from it when we got to the backyard.”

  Yeah. So, maybe the open back door had nothing to do with their perp. Still, Gabriel intended to check it out. When he’d run through the house to go in pursuit, he hadn’t looked around to see if anything else had been...disturbed.

  Gabriel started toward the porch with Jodi following along behind him. Part of him wanted to tell her to stay put while he checked it out, but it might not be safe for her to be out here alone. Of course, she would believe she could take care of herself, but if that idiot had indeed brought help, there could be more gunfire.

  He didn’t slow down until he reached the back door, and then Gabriel paused just to take in the room. The gray tile didn’t show the dust, which meant it didn’t show any footprints, either. That didn’t mean some weren’t there, though, so he used his elbow to open the door as wide as it would go, and he stepped to the side.

  Jodi stayed in the doorway, but they seemed to spot something at the same time. She made a slight gasping sound.

  Because the thing they spotted appeared to be drops of blood.

  Gabriel reminded himself that it could be fake. Just like the blood on the knife. But that didn’t stop the tightness in his chest.

  “Come inside but stay back,” he told her. He definitely didn’t want her following what appeared to be a trail of blood drops. Drops that led right to the pantry.

  The door to the pantry was ajar but not open enough for Gabriel to see if there was anyone or anything inside. With his gun ready, he went closer, and behind him he could hear Jodi shifting her position, as well. No doubt getting ready in case they were about to be attacked again.

  As soon as he was close enough, Gabriel gave the door a kick with the toe of his boot. He took aim.

  Then he cursed.

  Hell.

  There was more blood here, pooled on the floor amid the toppled cans. And in the middle of all that blood was what appeared to be a dead body.

  Chapter Three

  Breathe.

  Jodi kept repeating that reminder to herself.

  She couldn’t keep taking in those short bursts of air that could cause her to hyperventilate. She needed normal breaths because that was her best bet right now at staving off a panic attack.

  Gabriel certainly wasn’t doing anything to put her at ease. He was seated at his desk at the sheriff’s office building on Main Street in Blue River, and he was on his umpteenth phone call since they’d arrived two hours earlier. Jameson and Cameron were in the squad room, and they were doing the same thing.

  Obviously there was lots to do now that this was a murder investigation. In addition to the calls and fielding questions from his deputies, Gabriel also kept glancing up at her.

  Not that he had to glance far.

  Jodi was pacing across his office while she tried to keep herself together.

  What Gabriel wasn’t doing was questioning their suspect. The bald kid who’d fired shots at them. Maybe a kid who had committed the murder, too. And had also left the knife on the porch. But Gabriel wouldn’t have a chance of confirming any of that until the kid’s lawyer arrived. Whenever that would be.

  Gabriel finally finished his latest call, and immediately started making some notes on his computer. “You should go home,” he said. And since Jodi was the only other person in the room, that order was obviously meant for her. “I can have one of the reserve deputies drive you and stay with you until this is all sorted out.”

  “I’m staying here,” she insisted.

  Then, she huffed, a little insulted that Gabriel had thought she couldn’t take care of herself and needed a deputy. His doubt about her abilities probably had to do with that look that kept crossing her face, the one indicating she was about to have a panic attack. Jodi hated that it was there. Hated that it felt as if she might lose it at any moment, but that wouldn’t stop her from defending herself if someone came after her again.

  “What did the ME have to say about the body?” she asked.

  His eyebrow came up, maybe to show her that he was surprised that she’d known he was talking to the ME. She hadn’t heard anything the ME said, but she had been able to tell from Gabriel’s questions who’d been on the other end of the phone line.

  “He’s a white male in his mid-to late thirties,” Gabriel answered after a short hesitation. “There was no ID on him. Cause of death appears to be exsanguination from multiple stab wounds to the torso.”

  Breathe.

  That felt like a punch to the chest. Because just hearing the words caused the memories to come. Memories of her own blood loss from stab wounds.

  Mercy.

  She’d lost so much blood that night that her heart had stopped for a couple of seconds. The medics had brought her back, but it could have gone either way. She could have ended up like the dead man in the Becketts’ house. Or like Gabriel’s parents who had died on their kitchen floor.

  “Is this never going to end?” Jodi said before she could stop herself.

  Gabriel cursed, got up from his desk and took hold of her arm. Good thing, too, because she suddenly wasn’t too steady on her feet. He put her in the chair and got her a bottle of water from the small fridge in the corner.

  “This is why you shouldn’t be here,” he insisted. “This is too much for you.”

  “It’s too much for all of us.”

  He certainly didn’t argue with that, but he did sit on the armrest and stare down at her. She saw it all in his eyes. His own battle with the nightmarish memories. His unease at her being there.

  Except it was more than unease.

  Oh, no. It was that attraction again. Anytime they were within breathing distance of each other, the heat returned. Thankfully, they were both in a place to shove it away. It wouldn’t stay gone. But for now, they could keep it at bay.

  “How do you think he got the knife?” Jodi pressed.

  Gabriel lifted his shoulder. “Maybe he found it. I would say it’s a duplicate, but there’s the problem with only a handful of people knowing about the broken tip. Of course, a handful is more than enough for the info to leak and get to the wrong person. If so, he could be just some nutjob copycat.”

  All of that made sense, but it didn’t exactly soothe her raw nerves. Too bad Gabriel didn’t have a theory that would clear her father’s name.

  Gabriel gave a heavy sigh. “Look, I don’t know what happened, but if this guy confesses to sending the threatening emails and committing the murder, then maybe this will put an end to it.” He added another shrug when she stared at him. “Well, for everyone but your father.”

  Yes. Her father would get a different kind of ending. This wouldn’t do a thing to get Travis out of jail.

  Jodi looked away from him at the exact moment she felt Gabriel’s hand on her shoulder. She didn’t jump out of her skin as she usually did from an unexpected touch. In fact, it felt far more comforting than it should.

  And that’s the reason she stood and moved away from
him.

  That got his attention. Something she hadn’t particularly wanted to get right now. Gabriel was giving her the once-over with those lawman’s eyes, and he was obviously waiting for an explanation.

  “I just have trouble being touched sometimes,” she settled for saying.

  A lie. She had trouble with it all the time.

  He drew his eyebrows together. “Uh, have you gotten help for it?”

  She nodded. That wasn’t a lie. She’d attempted to get help by seeing a string of therapists. “In my case, help didn’t work.”

  He kept staring at her, clearly still wanting more. She’d already told him far more than she’d spilled to anyone else, and Jodi didn’t want to get any deeper into it. He probably wouldn’t understand that the only thing that eased the demons was the knowledge that she could now defend herself.

  Thankfully, she didn’t have to add more because there was movement in the doorway. Jodi automatically reached for her gun, but it was just Cameron.

  Cameron had lawman’s eyes, too, and he slid a glance between Gabriel and her. The corner of his mouth lifted a fraction and for just a second. A dimple flashed in his cheek.

  “You two always did have a thing for each other,” he drawled.

  Heaven knew what Cameron had seen or sensed to make him say that or to make him give that half smile, but it caused Gabriel to scowl. Unlike most people, Cameron didn’t seem to be affected by that particular expression from the king of scowls. Probably because he’d had a lifetime of scowls tossed at him. After all, Gabriel wasn’t just his boss, but they’d been friends since childhood.

  “Do you have a reason to be here?” Gabriel snapped.

  Cameron gave them that lazy smile again, and he handed her a cup of coffee and a small white bag. “It’s some doughnuts from the diner. Thought you might need a sugar fix right about now.”

  She wasn’t hungry in the least. In fact, Jodi wasn’t sure she’d be able to hold anything down, but Cameron’s gesture touched her. “You remembered I have a sweet tooth,” she said.