“I should have stayed with you. If I did, maybe you wouldn’t be this beat up,” he admitted, placing their coffee mugs down to help her. Right then, he needed to hold her in his arms, finding reassurance that she wouldn’t blame him for letting her get hurt. “I’m so sorry.”
Emma hugged him, despite the discomfort it caused her. “Greyson, I’m fine. It looks worse than it is. The only thing that really hurts is the hip.” She kissed him lightly. “I’m tough, and I can take a few bruises.”
It took all of his control to not demand she stay locked up and safe.
Emma pulled away, knowing she needed to find something in her closet to cover her body. Jeans were definitely out of the question. The only thing that appeared to fit her requirements was a pair of black cargo pants and a black sweater.
“Let me help you. It’s the least I can do if you’re too stubborn to stay home and recoup,” Croft said, kneeling before her to help her into her pants.
They loosely sat on her hips and didn’t rub. “Thank God, they feel okay.” Emma pulled her sweater over her head and glanced over at him. “Would it help if I promised to stick close to you?”
He stared at her suspiciously. “Why are you volunteering to stick by me?”
“Weren’t you going to tell me I had to? Or better yet have Briggs stick to me like glue when you weren’t able?” she asked, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.
“Yeah, I was planning on it.” He still looked suspicious. “But why are you volunteering?”
“I know that it’ll ease your mind to know that I’m safe.” She simply didn’t want to divide their focus and make him a target in the danger.
Croft followed behind her carrying her coffee. “It will. I’m glad you’re being accommodating.”
Emma smiled at him as she struggled into her shoulder holster. When he came to her aid, she kissed him on the cheek. “My hero.”
He was going to push the issue further until he heard the knock on the door. Greyson pulled his gun and went to the window, peeking out first.
“Call me crazy, but I don’t think the killer’s going to knock,” she said laughing at how over protective he was being.
“I’m not risking you.” There wasn’t anything else to say regarding it. He slipped his gun back into the harness and unlocked the door.
Briggs rushed in and directly to her side. “Are you ok?” he asked, taking her hand and observing all the scratches on her face.
“I’m fine, Curtis, but thank you for asking.”
“I was worried when I heard the news,” he stated, grinning at her.
Croft shook his head as his partner stared at Emma like a lovesick puppy. “If you don’t let go of her hand, you’ll be more than worried.”
Emma laughed as he pulled away fast. “What? A girl gets shot and no one thinks flowers?” she teased. “This is one hell of a birthday.”
Briggs had forgotten in all the chaos of last night. “And have that baboon beat me to a pulp?”
Greyson was glad his partner had the sense of self-preservation to know what would happen.
“Emma, I’m sorry I didn’t stick closer last night,” he muttered, wracked with guilt.
She didn’t miss how he looked miserable. “Agent Briggs, do I look like some helpless female to you? Or do I look like a sheriff with ten years of experience working in one of the roughest cities in the country?” She put some force behind her voice. It seemed to work. Briggs looked at her and tried not to smile.
He pretended to think about it. “I vote bad ass sheriff.”
Emma grinned. “There you go.”
Croft noticed something wasn’t quite right with his partner. Normally, the man was happy-go-lucky. Today, he looked to be weighed down, and Croft didn’t believe it was related to the previous night’s events. “What’s wrong?”
Briggs wasn’t quite sure. “I don’t know if I’m just being paranoid or what, but I’m worried.”
“About what?” Emma asked, as she sipped her coffee.
“Well, last night after you both left for your date, I drove back to the cabin to get some work done. After a while, Lila stopped to see me. It all happened about an hour before I got the call,” he said, glancing over at his partner.
“Go on, Curtis,” he urged.
He nodded. “I opened the door and she came into the cabin and started acting all crazy.”
“Crazy?” asked Croft. “Define crazy.”
“She was talking about us as a couple and being together. Then she wanted me to come back to her father’s house with her and stay the night.”
Emma urged the young man to continue.
“I tried to be as gentle as I could, explaining to her she was a nice girl, but I was all about the job and basically not interested in anything but work.” He looked at them both. “You know… married to the FBI.” Briggs pointed at Croft as a point of reference.
Emma shook her head and tried not to laugh. “Let me guess, she didn’t take it well that she was a one night stand.”
“She wasn’t a one night stand. I just had no intention of continuing our sleeping together back in Philadelphia.”
She rolled her eyes. “For the record, Curtis, that sounds worse than a one night stand.”
And this was why Greyson didn't randomly shack up with women. There were crazies out there. “Of course she was going to get mad, Curtis. Women don’t like to be considered easy lays and then ditched in the morning.”
He shook his head. “That’s not the bad part. I was feeling guilty about it, so this morning I figured I would call her when she got to work, and she wasn’t there yet.”
Emma sat up straight and winced in pain.
“What time did you call?” asked Greyson, eyeing Emma.
“Around seven thirty, maybe twenty minutes before I got here,” answered Briggs. He looked at Emma. “Please tell me that she was always erratic with her work schedule because I have that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
“She’s erratic with leaving, not getting to work.”
“I feel nauseous,” he admitted.
“You’re not the only one.” Emma tried to jump off the couch, and needed a hand from Croft. Together, they raced to the door. “We need to get to the office, and fast. I’m going to send a deputy to her father’s house to check on her,” she said, the men surrounding her.
“Let’s not get worked up, she could just be upset about Briggs rejecting her.” Croft pointed at his partner. “Let this be a lesson to you. Don’t sleep around indiscriminately.”
“I know! I know, Dad!” he muttered, getting in the back of the Jeep.
Emma didn’t like any of this. “Grey, this is really bad. Billy could be eliminating loose ends,” she stated, navigating the hills into town.
“Do you really think she was the next target?” asked Briggs.
“We put someone on her just for this reason,” answered Emma. “I don’t get how she shook the guard. My deputies don’t generally disobey direct orders.”
Croft thought about it. “No, I think Emma was the next target. He tried to kill her at ‘The Crossing’ last night. Maybe he got angry and went after Lila when he couldn’t get to her.”
They all sat in silence, thinking the same damn thing. Lila was too obvious a choice, and they didn't take it serious enough.
Emma pulled into the station parking lot and jumped out. Her hip was on fire, and she swore that if she found Lila inside, she was going to can her ass for stressing her out. Inside, Emma found Deputy Carlisle sitting behind his desk answering the phone.
He put the call on hold and looked up at his boss.
“Carlisle, where’s Lila?” she asked.
“You got me, but I've been here since six this morning, and she hasn’t shown yet. I wish Lila would hurry up. I’m not paid to answer the phone. I should be out on patrol.”
“Who did Reese assign to her last night?” she asked, feeling Greyson’s hand on her lower back. It was as if he was wil
ling away some of the tension.
“I think Mason was her escort.” He picked up the next ringing line.
Emma strode toward her office. “I’m going to call the mayor.” She tossed her jacket over an empty chair. Dialing the man’s office, she waited and no one answered the phone. Not even the ass-kissing lackey, Will Taylor.
“Call her house,” Croft suggested.
Emma was dialing the mayor’s number when there was a knock on the door. It opened and in walked the Ron Tate with Will Taylor bringing up the rear.
“Well ask and you shall receive,” Croft mumbled.
“Mayor, I was just trying to call you.” Emma stood up to greet him.
“Why? Were you trying to cancel our meeting?” asked the man.
What the hell were they talking about? “Meeting?” She looked at her calendar. They already missed their meeting, since it was Tuesday.
“Sheriff, our weekly meeting was supposed to be yesterday. We came by and you weren’t available. We left a note with Lila that today was the rescheduled day.”
She stared at him, unsure how to broach the topic.
Will Taylor kept going. “You remember that we require a weekly meeting don’t you? The mayor and I show up, you insult us, give us no respect, and then we go back to work.”
Croft was ready to ring the man’s neck for talking to Emma disrespectfully.
“Shut up, Will. I know what meetings are. I didn’t get the message from Lila. I’ve been going non-stop since the killing started. Cut me some slack.”
“I’ll handle this,” muttered Croft.
Emma waved him on. If he wanted to do the questioning, so be it.
“Mayor, please sit down. Mr. Taylor, get the hell out.” Croft pointed at the door.
As hoped, Will looked infuriated but he got up from the chair. He began sputtering nasty profanities as he strode from the room.
“Sheriff, you really should be a little more respectful of the people in my office.” The mayor grimaced, staring at Croft and Briggs. “Am I being interrogated for something else this morning? Do I need an attorney?”
“No sir, I have to ask you a few things, and I needed privacy.” She added. “Mayor, when did you last talk to Lila?”
“Well, let’s see. I saw her yesterday at lunchtime. She mentioned she had a hot date last night and not to wait up.”
Briggs blanched.
“Why?” Then you could see it as it dawned on his face. “Oh my God! Is my baby dead? Where is she, Sheriff?” He lurched forward, his chair flying backwards to crash to the floor.
Before Emma knew it, her office door was flung open and the weasel was back into the room.
Both FBI agents went for their guns.
“What are you doing to him in here!” he accused, as his gaze swept the room. “Mayor, is there police brutality going on?”
Ron Tate ignored him. “Oh my God! Oh my God! Lila!” wailed the mayor.
Emma jumped in before the man hyperventilated. “Mayor, we don’t know if the killer has her or not, she may simply be late for work and we were worried. Did you see her this morning?”
The mayor looked dazed, but managed to answer the sheriff. “Her car wasn’t in the garage. I assumed she left to come to work. She’s an early riser.”
Emma looked at Briggs. “Get the mayor some water please.” The man appeared to be heading into shock.
“Ron, remain calm. Maybe Lila had a doctor appointment or something,” added Will Taylor. “We need to look at all the possibilities before we panic.” He glanced up at the sheriff. “We should check her daily planner or computer. Maybe she had something scheduled, and you forgot that she was going to be late,” he admonished the woman.
“I’ll go look,” offered Croft. If he stayed, he might be forced to kill Will Taylor.
Emma went with him.
“Let’s take a look at her desk,” he stated, over his shoulder. Croft sat in Lila’s chair and began looking at the piles of papers and messages on her desk. He pulled out her planner and thumbed through it to today’s date. “There are no appointments written down. Here are a pile of phone memos for you though, honey.” He handed Emma her messages that Lila had taken the previous day.
“Maybe she’s mad about Briggs and is off sulking.”
Emma turned to walk back into her office when she heard Croft call her name.
“Emma, come here.” She immediately spun to face him, noticing he was holding a piece of paper by one corner.
Damn it! This was a bad sign.
Croft held it out for her to read.
Emma closed her eyes, releasing the breath she was holding. This was one of those moments, when they realized as a team that they’d screwed up big time. They knew there was a possibility that Lila was in danger. After all, she had an intimate relationship with Billy Barnes. Now, they had to deal with the ramifications.
“Shit,” muttered Croft.
Emma reread the sentence on the paper.
The whore is mine. Will you find her in time?
Emma lost her temper for the first time since Croft had known her. She’d been angry before with him, but this was a completely different side of her.
“Damn it!” When she kicked the desk, her deputies all glanced up at her. “How the hell did this happen? We put a deputy on her!” she shouted, throwing her messages. They floated in the air to the floor.
Greyson patted her on the arm.
“We need to tell her father and start looking for her before he kills her.”
“I know, honey,” he said, standing to drop his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go tell him the bad news,” he suggested, leading her back to her office.
“I can’t believe we bungled this up.”
“It’s not too late,” he answered, hoping he was right.
The scene that transpired in Emma’s office was far from a pretty one. She expected the mayor to be scared and upset, but what she wasn’t prepared for is the verbal assault that Will Taylor threw at her. Emma stood there and listened to the mayor sob, all the while his assistant tore her a new one.
As far as both men were concerned, this was all her fault, and she should have stayed in Philly where she couldn’t kill an innocent woman.
Croft moved protectively to her side as the man raged in anger. Before long, the mayor’s fear also turned to bitter hate and was spewing entirely at Emma. Greyson gave her credit. She stood there and took it a lot better than he would have in her situation. The few times he tried to jump in and come to her defense, she simply touched his wrist, silencing him.
His woman was tough, and he admired her a great deal.
Emma understood the pain the mayor was feeling and in a way, she pretty much agreed with them. It was her job to take care of the town, and so far, they had an idea of who the killer was, but no clue where he was hiding. Now another innocent woman was going to die and the blood was on her hands. She stood behind her desk and took the tirade without saying a word or letting either Briggs or Croft step in to save her. As much as she wanted to let him be her knight in shining armor, the truth remained. This was her job and mess to clean up.
When the mayor and his assistant left, Emma slid into her chair, closing her eyes.
“Honey…”
She shook her head, needing to stop him. “No, please. I just need to be alone for a few minutes, if you don’t mind.” Emma refused to cry, although she felt like it. Not because she was dressed down in front of the Feds, but because she believed everything they’d said. How she wished she’d done her job better.
When Emma heard the door shut, she kept her eyes closed. “I meant you too, Greyson.” She could feel him standing across the room, tracking her every move.
Greyson didn’t care.
He wasn’t going anywhere.
“They had no right to dump this all on you.” He crossed the room to her desk and rested his hand on her cheek. It burned with heat from the dressing down and the frustration she was feeling.
It took everything he had to not jump the desk and beat both men to a bloody pulp over their angry words. “Emma. It’ll be fine.” He knew it probably wouldn’t, but didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth.
“You don’t lie very well, babe. Keep that in mind.” Emma took a few deep breaths, trying to refocus on the situation at hand. “Okay, we have some work to do. Get Briggs, and I’ll meet you in the conference room.”
Croft nodded and walked to the door.
Emma was pretty sure the deputies had heard the screaming from her office too. It was surprising how they didn’t kick it in and come to her rescue. Someone must have warned them not do it.
Thank God.
Out in the bullpen, she pointed to Mason. “I need you to join us in the conference room. We need to have a little discussion.”
He didn't argue, but instead hustled across the room, trying to escape. He looked like a beaten dog. The deputy knew how deep of a mess he was in by her tone.
Emma cleared her throat and the room went silent. “We received a note and Lila Tate is the next victim. The killer has her, and we need to find her. I don’t think I need to reiterate that we need to do it fast. I need every available deputy out there looking in abandoned houses, barns, fields and any other place you can put a body.” Emma looked at her men. “We will be heading to ‘The Crossing’ to look around in the daylight. You can reach me there. Get moving.”
All the deputies jumped up and headed to the door.
“Reese, stop in the conference room before you head out, after I finish with Deputy Mason.”
Reese nodded, knowing the shit was about to hit the fan again.
Greyson, who was standing in the room doorway, barely had time to move out of her way as she reached behind her and slammed the door causing all three men to jump.
“Sheriff, I’m sorry!” Mason started.
Celestia is Falling (A Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 1) Page 45
