In the Line of Duty

by Carolyn Arnold

  “You’re lying!”

  “I’m not. I did it.”

  “Why?” Her grip on the gun was no longer steady. “Why do you have to take away everyone we love?”

  Madison made a note of her choice of words. We? Had Barry been involved in taking someone away from her and another person?

  “Tell me why,” Snyder screamed. Tears were streaming down her face now.

  The situation was getting out of control quickly.

  “Do you want to tell me what happened?” Madison offered.

  Defiance licked Snyder’s eyes. “You know.”

  “I don’t. Please…”

  “You’re lying.” Snyder choked on a sob, and Madison glanced between her and Palmer. The patrolman looked like he was going to pass out. His adrenal glands sure weren’t doing him any favors right now.

  “I’m not. I promise you,” Madison said softly.

  If SWAT didn’t establish communication soon, there would be a breach and that wouldn’t end in Snyder’s favor. As if the thought made it happen, her phone trilled on her hip.

  “What is that? Oh.” Snyder glared at Madison’s phone. “Give it to me.”

  “If you don’t talk to—”

  “Give it to me,” she shouted.

  “Here.” Madison handed it over. She thought Snyder was going to pull her battery, too, but she picked it up. She said nothing, just held the phone to her ear.

  “…Erica… Everyone is safe.” Snyder looked Madison in the eye. “…I’m not letting anyone go… Bring me the cop who killed Russ.” She hung up but gripped the phone tightly in her hand.

  “They’re looking for a sign of good faith,” Madison said, treading carefully.

  “Yeah? Well, they can take this.” Snyder spun, the gun aimed at Palmer’s head.

  “No!” Madison darted forward, knocking into Snyder’s side. The gun discharged, the bullet going wide and missing Palmer.

  The Glock slid across the floor, and Madison made a run for it at the same time Snyder did. Snyder reached it just before Madison and pointed it at her.

  She wondered again if it was Brown’s gun or if it was Palmer’s loaded service weapon.

  Shit, shit, shit.

  Troy’s voice came over Palmer’s radio. “Erica… Are you there? You want the cop who killed Russ? We have him.”

  Madison stopped moving. So did Snyder, her head turning in the direction of Palmer and the radio.

  Snyder went to the radio. She waved the gun from Madison to Palmer’s epaulet. “Tell me how to use it.”

  “We’ll need a sign of faith,” Troy continued. “Send out one hostage and I will send him in.”

  No! What is he doing?

  “You promise me?” Snyder asked into the radio once Madison showed her how to work it.

  “Yes. Send out the detective.”

  Madison met Palmer’s gaze.

  “No,” Snyder said.

  “Is she unharmed?”

  Madison’s heart melted at Troy’s concern. She sensed his love, his desperation.

  Snyder picked up on it, too. “She’s special to you.”

  “I have the cop who killed—”

  “Did you hear what I said?”

  “Did you hear what I said? Send her out and—”

  “You’ll get the uniform.”

  There was a silence on Troy’s end, as if he were considering her offer. “Send him out the front door.”

  “Five minutes.”

  No longer interested in the radio but seemingly more interested in meeting the cop who killed Russell Coleman, she turned to Madison. “Grab the scissors in the drawer and don’t even think of trying anything.”

  She followed the direction of Snyder’s pointing finger and pulled open a drawer. It was full of junk. “I don’t see any scissors.”

  “They’re in there.”

  Madison moved some things around and found a pair. She held them up.

  “Bring them over here. Now.”

  Madison handed them over. Bullets overpowered scissors as far as a weapon went.

  Snyder managed to cut the zip ties she’d used to cuff Palmer with one hand while continuing to hold the gun on him and Madison with the other. “Go. Out the front door.”

  Snyder didn’t have to ask Palmer twice. He was practically running to the front door.

  She looked at Madison. “Now sit.”

  -

  Chapter 48

  TROY WATCHED OFFICER PALMER OPEN the door and step out into the early-evening air. David, Derek, and Charlie lowered their weapons when it was clear only Palmer was coming out. They shuffled him into the command vehicle.

  “Tell me everything there is to know,” Troy said, directing Palmer to sit at the table.

  “I, uh…”

  “You’ve got to snap out of it. There’s another detective in there, and what you tell me could save her life.”

  “The woman’s been drinking,” Palmer started. “No drugs, though, I don’t think. She’s armed. You heard—”

  Troy nodded. He’d heard all right.

  “She’s got Madison’s gun and mine.”

  “Did she have one before she took yours?” Troy asked, thinking about the one used in Barry’s murder.

  “I think so, but I’m not sure. She came out to the car and told me she swore someone had broken into the house. The second I stepped into the house, she hit me with something hard.” Palmer gingerly touched his forehead.

  Troy’s phone rang, and the caller ID showed Madison’s name.

  “Hello,” he answered casually, not sure if it would be Madison or Snyder.

  “You’ve got the uniform,” Snyder said. “Where’s the cop who killed my Russ?”

  My Russ…

  “Send them in or the detective gets one to the head.”

  He grabbed a tiny earpiece and was on the move out of the vehicle. He’d been such a shit to Madison the last few days, obsessed and wallowing in his own pain, letting it distort his thinking, his better judgment, but he wasn’t going to let Madison lose her life. “He’s coming right now.”

  Troy stormed out of the trailer, and Derek yanked back on his arm. He shrugged him off and headed up to Snyder’s front door.

  “I’m here,” he said, banging on the wood.

  “You’re the cop who killed Russ?” Snyder said through the door.

  “I am.” Or as good as…

  Stupid. Exposed. Working from emotion, not logic.

  He pinched his eyes shut for a second.

  “Come in. Slowly,” Snyder told him.

  “All right. Coming in now.” He turned the handle on the door, wanting to look back but knowing better than to take his attention off what was before him. He was still armed, but Snyder hadn’t requested he rid himself of his weapons.

  “We’re in the back.”

  Troy heard Madison’s voice now. He saw the shadows casting through the doorway toward him.

  He held his hands up when he stepped into the room. His attention was on Snyder, but he also quickly assessed Madison’s state. Her ankles were zip-tied to a kitchen chair, and more zip ties were on the table in front of her.

  “You’re armed.” Snyder seemed startled at the sight of him, her eyes tracing from his tactical boots up to his eyes. “Hand over your weapons.”

  “Just on the table?” There was already a Glock sitting there.

  “Yeah.” She watched him move and he did so cautiously, first placing the phone on the table, and then took off his AR-15, followed by his Glock, followed by his Taser.

  Snyder looked to the table with each weapon he put down. He felt Madison’s gaze on him. Snyder was distracted and vulnerable, but if Madison risked reaching for a weapon, she risked being shot by Snyder.

  “I’m goi
ng to kill you, but first I’m going to take something precious away from you. Let you experience real pain.”

  “You already have.”

  Snyder didn’t seem to expect that. “What do you mean?” She picked up a zip tie and held it between her hands, her hold on the gun compromised.

  She was all of a hundred pounds, five foot four. He was over six feet and 200 pounds of lean muscle. Overpowering her wasn’t going to be a problem, but he had to make sure he could disarm her safely, which meant he needed a window when she was distracted.

  “I know what it’s like to lose someone you love,” Troy offered, hoping to create a ground for them to bond on, but instead he felt himself choking up, and he flicked a glance at Madison. He’d lost two people.

  Snyder kept trying to get a solid hold on the zip tie so she could secure Madison’s wrists without taking her gun off them. “Well, I’m so very sorry.” Snyder rolled her eyes.

  Troy had to act quickly. He made eye contact with Madison, and he hoped she was reading his mind right now. He pushed Madison’s shoulders, upending the chair and causing it—and her—to land on its back. He was across the room and had the Glock knocked out of Snyder’s hands before she could react.

  “No!” Snyder screamed.

  He pulled back on her arms and cuffed her wrists. “All secure,” he said into his comm.

  Madison was looking up at him from the floor, and he wasn’t sure if she was going to hurt him or hug him when she got free.

  -

  Chapter 49

  “YOU COULDN’T HAVE HANDLED THAT any other way?” Madison had asked a variation of the same question repeatedly since she’d been freed.

  She and Troy were inside the command vehicle, and he’d asked his team if they could have a few minutes alone.

  “I’m sorry, babe.” He held on to her arms, his huge hands wrapping around her biceps with room to spare.

  Did that say something about the size of his hands or her lack of muscle?

  She shook away the absurd thought. But she felt so good when he held her like this. It was inviting yet kept her at a distance. And right now a little distance wasn’t a bad idea. He had pushed her onto the floor, and her back was killing her. She’d need an ice pack. But he’d also saved her life.

  “You’re sorry? That’s all you have to say for yourself?” she asked, standing strong.

  “That’s not all.”

  She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to go on.

  “I’ve saved your life a couple times now.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Really? That’s what—”

  His mouth was on hers before she could finish her thought, and she sank into his kiss, into his embrace. Awhile later, when she was sufficiently heady, he pulled back.

  “If you think you can just kiss me and everything will be ok—”

  He took her mouth again and was the first to draw back, smiling at her.

  “Oh no. You’re not getting off that easy.”

  His gaze locked with hers, his green eyes doing what they did best—seeing through her.

  “Fine,” he consented. “I haven’t been the nicest person lately.”

  “You’ve taken Barry’s death hard,” she said softly.

  “There’s something I should have told you before. I’m his children’s godfather. I’ve known him all my life. We grew up together.”

  Madison nodded, not certain if she should let him know that Andrea had already told her. “Why didn’t you tell me before now?”

  He shrugged. “It never came up. And with what happened… I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. Barry was the best man at my wedding. I was his best man. We went to college together, then the academy.” He expelled a deep breath.

  To hear him finally opening up to her was touching her on a deep level.

  “I know I’ve been moody, even distant. I apologize for that. It’s just I’m…” He pressed his lips together. “I’m…hurting…so bad.”

  Madison flung her arms around him and squeezed, wishing to draw out all his pain and take it into her, for her to handle, for her to deal with, just so he didn’t have to suffer any longer.

  He put his hands on her arms. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I know you’re hurting, too. I didn’t want to pull you into all my drama, but it seems I did anyway.”

  “Sometimes you can be stubborn, too,” she stated it matter-of-factly, wishing that he had brought all of this up sooner.

  “Of the two of us, you should be able to identify the trait.”

  “Hey.” She playfully put a hand to his chest, and he took it and kissed her fingertips.

  He lifted his eyes to meet hers. “I love you, Maddy.”

  Of all the men who had ever said those words to her, she knew in her heart that Troy meant it from the depth of his being.

  “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  “Better.” She smiled at him.

  “I’d like to revisit the whole taking-a-break thing, too.”

  “Oh yeah?” Play hard to get…yes, that was the best thing to do right now.

  “In fact, I think we should take our relationship to the next level.”

  “The…the…next…?” She was stammering. She snapped her mouth shut. She couldn’t breathe. Was it hot in here or… Was he talking about marriage? No, he couldn’t be. It was one thing to think about it, fantasize about it, romanticize it, even, and quite another to…

  She stepped away from him, but he took her hand and drew her to him.

  “Move in with me?” he asked.

  She stared at him, certain that she looked like she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t be doing. The words weren’t coming.

  “Did you hear me?”

  “I…” She held up a finger, realization slamming into her. Love, being together… She remembered what Snyder had asked her. Why do you have to take away everyone we love?

  “Madison?”

  “I heard you.”

  “Then?” He smiled at her, again, and he rarely smiled—on a good day.

  “Snyder—”

  “Madison?”

  She stepped away from him and was at the door to leave. “I’m going back to the station. Follow me.”

  -

  Chapter 50

  MADISON MUST HAVE LOST HER MIND. What was she doing leaving Troy like that, his question hanging out in the open? But they still didn’t have their murderer or their motive. Based on Snyder’s deceit, she was definitely a player, but she wasn’t their shooter.

  Madison found Terry at his desk.

  “Nice of you to see how I was doing,” she said.

  He didn’t look up from a report he was reading.

  “I’m okay, just so you know.”

  “I see that.”

  “Actually, you haven’t looked at me, so you wouldn’t know.” And she wasn’t completely fine. She had a bit of a hobble to her right now. Something about being over thirty and crashing to the floor, her back slamming into the spindles of a chair…

  “I have Brown’s phone records,” he said, handing her a stack.

  She’d had other plans when she’d rushed out on Troy, but she took the printout Terry handed her and headed for her desk.

  “We have access to his social media, too,” he told her once she was seated, and he looked up. His eyes were focused and sharp.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “You can’t keep pulling stuff like that. One day you’re not going to be okay. And that’s fine, it’s your life.”

  “Nice…”

  “It’s just…you pull me into it.”

  “Ah, Ter—”

  “Don’t even start with the Aw-shucks routine. I mean it, Maddy.” His tone, his facial expression, all of it confirmed his seriousness.

&nbs
p; She nodded. “I promise.”

  “Good. Now get to work.”

  She smirked and glanced down at the paperwork. The words Snyder had said weren’t far from her mind. But there was one thing that made reports a little less tedious…

  She opened a side drawer in her desk and pulled out a Hershey’s bar. She flipped the pages on the cell phone history with one hand as she fished around for the chocolate. She found it and peeled the wrapper off without taking her eyes off the report. She had one bite of the heavenly indulgence when her eyes picked up a pattern.

  “Terr—” she started, her mouth full of chocolate.

  Terry looked around his monitor to see her. His eyes fell to the candy bar in her hand, and he smirked. But now wasn’t the time for him to bug her about her guilty pleasure. And really, since when had chocolate become a guilty pleasure? Society’s labeling system really needed to be reexamined.

  She got up, dangling the report in one hand, holding her chocolate in the other. “He calls this number a lot.” She nudged her head toward the sheet, as if that would narrow things down for him. “You see it? It repeats. Punch it into the database. Who’s it registered to?”

  He leaned back in his chair and looked up at her. “Yeah, sure, I wasn’t doing anything.” He took the report from her with an eye roll, his attitude all jest.

  Terry keyed in the number, and a few seconds later, they were looking at the person whom Brown had plenty of contact with.

  “Melody Ford?” Madison said and took another bite of her Hershey’s bar.

  “The manager from the gas station?”

  “That’s her.” Madison’s mind was spinning.

  “We did a basic background, but we had no reason to suspect her,” Terry said.

  She swallowed the mouthful of chocolate. “She wasn’t around when the shooting happened… She was supposed to be out of town.” She paused, thinking. “What about Brown’s social media? Is he friends with her online?”

  “Isn’t she a married woman?”

  “I don’t think that matters right now, Terry.”

  He changed screens and brought up a quick background. He pointed toward the screen. “Yep. Name’s Donnie Ford. I remember now. He doesn’t have a criminal history.”