Not Without Her Family

by Beth Andrews

  “Besides your…relationship with this…woman being unacceptable, you stood up for her instead of one of the officers under your supervision.” The mayor pointed at Kelsey. “She threatened Ben while you stood by. I know all about it, just as I know you have no intention of arresting her brother so you can continue keeping this woman in your bed.”

  Jack stepped forward, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t overstep.”

  Mayor Michaels drew herself up. “It’s you who’ve over-stepped. And to think, I defended you to city council. Well, no more. Once the council members hear how you endangered the life of a subordinate, and how your mistake in New York got a man killed, it’s you who’ll pay the price.”

  She whirled and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Enraged, Jack clenched and unclenched his hands. He tipped his head back, breathing heavily, before looking at Kelsey.

  Her arms were crossed, she was chewing her lower lip. He saw worry. And guilt.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’m surprised you didn’t rip the mayor’s head off. Not that I don’t appreciate your restraint, but—”

  “This is all my fault.”

  He reached for her. “No, it’s—”

  “It is.” She moved away from him and he let his hands fall to his sides. Kelsey crossed to the door. “If you weren’t involved with me, you could do your job and no one would question your decisions. Your motives. Damn it, Jack. They’re going to fire you because of me.”

  “I’m not going to lose my job,” he assured her.

  “How can you say that? Didn’t you hear what she said? City council’s out for blood. Your blood. And thanks to the mayor finding me here, you’ve lost an ally.”

  He thought of telling her about his new lead, but something held him back. “Trust me,” he said as he reached out and stroked her cheek. “My job is safe.”

  She pulled away from him. “I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

  He went very still.

  She attempted to go around him but he grabbed her by the arm. “What’s the deal, Kelsey?”

  “Look, it’s been fun,” she said with a shrug, “but things are getting too complicated for me. You investigating Dillon, this whole thing with the mayor and city council, and now Emma…” She pressed her lips together.

  “What about Emma?”

  “She saw us kissing in the living room. Now she’s got some crazy idea in her head that you and I are getting married.”

  The panic in her voice made him feel queasy. “And you don’t want that.”

  She averted her gaze. “It’s just better for everyone if we end things now.”

  “That’s it?” He fought to keep his temper in check. “One innocent comment and you decide, hey, it’s been nice, but we’re through?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Because I’m not done with you. Not by a long shot.”

  “You wanted to see where things went between us, and now we’ve gone as far as we can go. It’s no big deal. We’re two unattached adults who had sex—”

  “Bullshit.” The curse, said quietly, was heated. Damn it, he wasn’t going to let her push him away. “Last night was a hell of a lot more than us screwing each other.”

  She flinched, her face losing color but when she spoke, it was with a sneer. “Get over yourself. We had great sex. But that’s all it was.”

  “And now you want it to end?”

  “Yes.”

  The phone rang but Jack ignored it. “What if I don’t?”

  Her startled gaze shot to his and she stumbled back a step. “Wha…what?”

  Another ring. “What if I don’t want it to end?”

  To his shock, she teared up. “Jack…don’t. It’s no use.”

  When the phone rang a third time, Jack cursed inwardly. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I have to take this.”

  Kelsey nodded once, relief flicking across her face before she looked out the dark window.

  Jack stalked to the phone. “Martin,” he barked into the receiver.

  “We’ve got it,” Flick said without preamble.

  “I’ll be there in five minutes.” He hung up and turned to Kelsey. “I have to go. Can you stay with Emma until I get back?”

  She stared at him incredulously, her eyes red rimmed. “You’re leaving? Now?”

  “I have to,” he said simply, though there was nothing simple about the situation. “Something’s come up.”

  She stepped forward. “About Shannon’s case? What is it?”

  “I can’t get into it right now, Kelsey. You’re going to have to trust me.”

  “I’m not sure I can.”

  Her answer was like a shot to the heart. “I’m trusting you.”

  “To babysit for you.”

  “I’m trusting you to watch my child while I go to work.” He searched her face. “And I’m trusting you to be here when I get back. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  “It does,” she admitted after a moment. “But I’m not sure I want it to.”

  Damn it. He didn’t have time to get into this now. And while he’d like to believe she’d simply been spooked by Emma and the mayor, that she didn’t want to end things between them any more than he did, he couldn’t be certain. “Allie’s number is by the phone. If you don’t want to stay, call her and explain I had an emergency. She’ll come over.”

  Kelsey didn’t say anything, but the look in her eyes said she was ready to run. With his heart on the line, he strode over to her and gave her a brief, hard kiss.

  “I hope you don’t call her,” he said, his voice husky with emotion. “I hope you’re still here when I get home.”

  But as he walked out into the cold, he couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t the last he’d ever see of Kelsey Reagan.

  KELSEY PICKED UP THE PHONE only to slam it down again. She pulled both hands through her hair and tugged. During the hour Jack had been gone, she’d checked on Emma twice, picked up the phone at least a dozen times—without ever making a call—and worried endlessly about why Jack had rushed off in the first place.

  Had he gone to arrest Dillon?She’d told Jack she could handle whatever happened, but the truth was, she couldn’t bear to see her brother arrested. In her heart, she couldn’t believe Dillon was capable of murder.

  And she couldn’t sit back and watch while Jack lost his job and reputation because of her. God. She’d messed up royally. Both Dillon and Jack would be better off without her.

  Which was why she needed to call Allie and tell her to come over. Then Kelsey would be free and clear to take off. She could be back in New York before morning. Back to her cramped apartment, her secondhand furniture and her dead-end job.

  The thought left a sour taste in her mouth. She paced the length of the short hallway. Besides, she didn’t have a dead-end job anymore. Damn it, she didn’t want to go back to New York.

  She slammed to a halt. Her palms grew clammy and the air backed up in her lungs. She struggled to breathe normally. Of course she wanted to go back. She loved the city. The excitement. The variety. The…the…

  Her mind blanked. Oh, man. She was so screwed. Because she really didn’t want to go back to her lonely, solitary existence. What she wanted was right here in Serenity Springs.

  A job at The Summit where she was appreciated and respected. An employer who wasn’t just her boss, but also a friend. A chance to get reacquainted with her brother, to make amends. She wanted to hang out with Emma, to play games with her and listen to her nonstop chatter.

  And she wanted Jack. More than she’d ever thought possible.

  She shook her head. She couldn’t stay. No matter how much it hurt, she had to do what was right. She couldn’t afford to be impulsive or reckless. Not this time. There was too much at stake.

  She took a deep, shaky breath and wiped her damp palms down the back of her jeans. Before she changed her mind, she dialed and waited impatiently for All
ie to pick up. The floor creaked behind her and she turned, expecting to find Emma, but the hall and stairway were both empty.

  “Hello?” Allie said.

  Trying to shake off the creepy feeling that she was being watched, she said, “It’s Kelsey. Jack wanted me to see if you could come to his house and sit with Emma for a while.”

  “Why didn’t Jack call?”

  Kelsey shifted the phone to her other ear. “He had to take off suddenly.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m here.” She rolled her eyes because obviously Allie didn’t know where “here” was. “I’m at Jack’s. But I need to leave.”

  “I’ll be right over,” Allie promised before disconnecting.

  The dial tone buzzed in Kelsey’s ear and she tightened her grip on the phone. Shortly, she’d be out of Jack’s life forever.

  The floor creaked again and this time, the nape of Kelsey’s neck prickled. Before her vague sense of unease could become full-fledged panic, pain exploded in the back of her head. She crumpled to the floor as blackness engulfed her.

  JACK WALKED INTO HIS OFFICE and picked up Shannon Crandall’s file. After Flick phoned Jack at home to let him know they had the warrants to search the Michaels’ house and barn, they’d gathered enough evidence to bring Ben Michaels in for Shannon’s murder. The D.A. was ready to press charges tonight. But Jack wasn’t so sure.

  He sat on the edge of his desk and began to go through the papers. They’d brought Ben in for questioning and Jack had laid out the evidence against him: the mud found on Shannon’s floor had horse grain in it—most likely from the Michaels’s barn, an eyewitness saw Ben’s cruiser at the Crandall residence three hours before Mark Crandall called 911. They had phone records that showed Ben received a call on his cell phone from an account set up in Tess Rennard’s name, an account Tess admitted Shannon set up so she could contact her lover without her husband finding out.Cornered, Ben had admitted that he and Shannon were involved until she’d ended things a few weeks ago. That, the night she died, she’d called him and he’d gone to her house. He admitted they had sex but claimed he hadn’t killed her. He’d broken down then, had sobbed that he’d loved her and could never hurt her. He’d wanted her to leave her husband. When Shannon refused, when she gave him the cell phone and told Ben she didn’t need it, or him, any longer, Ben claimed he’d been heartbroken. But not angry.

  And he swore that when he left, she was still alive.

  They’d found the cell phone tucked under Ben’s mattress. They’d also discovered that the night of Shannon’s murder, one of the Michaels’s horses was sick with colic and had needed to be checked on several times during the night. There was a clear view from the front of the Michaels’s barn to the Crandall house. It would’ve been easy enough for Ben to see Ward’s truck, to know that the woman he loved was with another man.

  They’d taken three pairs of tall rubber boots to the lab to be tested for evidence, along with a twitch—a tool used to restrain horses. It had a chain loop at the end of an eighteen-inch long wooden handle. A handle that was covered with dark specks that looked suspiciously like blood.

  Jack found the police log from that night. He scanned it quickly and shook his head. Ben and the other officer on duty that night had responded to a domestic disturbance at 2:10 a.m. and had brought the husband in on an unrelated outstanding warrant. By the time Ben had processed the guy, it was close to three.

  Phone records indicate Mark Crandall spoke to his wife at 1:38 a.m.

  Either Michaels went back to the Crandall residence between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m.—when her body was discovered—or someone else killed her.

  Perhaps someone close to Ben? Suddenly Jack was on his feet. Holy God. What if Ben was telling the truth?

  The door burst open. “Chief, come quick,” Flick said. “Dispatch is reporting a 911 phone call from your house.” The county didn’t have a 911 dispatch center, so all emergency calls in the area went straight to Serenity Springs’s police station. “It’s your daughter. She wants to talk to you.”

  Telling himself not to panic, Jack stalked down the hall and grabbed the headset from the officer manning the dispatch desk. “Emma? Are you there? It’s Daddy. Tell me what’s going on.”

  At the silence on the other end of the line he had to swallow back his fear. “Emma? Can you hear—”

  “Kelsey’s hurt,” Emma whimpered.

  His hand trembled and he closed it into a tight fist. “What do you mean she’s hurt? Is she there? Can I talk to her?”

  “I heard a noise and I went downstairs to get you but you weren’t there.”

  “I know, honey,” he soothed. “I had to come in to work but Kelsey’s there with you. Now, tell me how is Kelsey hurt? Did she fall?”

  “N-no. The bad lady hurt her.”

  Jack’s blood turned to ice. “Did the bad lady see you?” he asked, his heart in his throat.

  “I don’t think so.”

  He shut his eyes. “Good. Where are you right now?”

  “In your closet.”

  “Is the door shut?”

  “Yes,” she said in a little voice.

  “Stay there,” he ordered. “Don’t leave that spot. Curl up real tight in a ball in the corner and push the clothes in front of you like you did that time we played hide-and-seek. Remember, when I couldn’t find you and you fell asleep?”

  She sniffled. “Uh-huh.”

  “I’ll be there to get you in a few minutes. I’m going to give the phone back to Officer Coffman, he’ll talk to you until I get there.”

  “I want to talk to you,” Emma cried.

  His heart broke cleanly in two. “I know, but you have to be brave,” he told her, struggling to keep his voice even and reassuring. “I’m coming to get you, but you have to stay hidden. If you hear anyone come upstairs, stay as quiet and still as possible, okay? Don’t hang up the phone and don’t open the door to anyone but me.”

  “Not even Kelsey?”

  “No. Only me. Understand?”

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  “I love you, baby,” he said hoarsely. “I’ll be there soon.”

  Handing the headset over to Coffman was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. He flexed and straightened his fingers, wanting nothing more than to take his tangled feelings out on the nearest wall.

  Instead, he released a shaky breath. He wouldn’t lose control. Not now.

  Kelsey and Emma needed him.

  He just prayed like hell he wasn’t too late.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  KELSEY STRUGGLED AGAINST the need to slide into unconsciousness again. Something urgent, almost panic-like niggled at the edge of her brain. But it hurt to think, to remember why she couldn’t simply slip back into the dark.

  All she knew was that she had to get up. Emma needed her.Pain radiating through her body, she slit her eyes open and groaned as her head spun sickeningly. Gasoline fumes assaulted her. She squeezed her eyes shut. Swallowing the urge to throw up, she concentrated on breathing through her mouth until the feeling passed.

  “Get up,” somebody snarled, and Kelsey opened her eyes. Turning her head slightly, her vision wavered and then focused on the pointed toes of a pair of red cowboy boots.

  And that’s when she remembered. The mayor had hit her with something. More than likely the butt of the gun now pointed at Kelsey’s head.

  Her thoughts bounced around in her aching head like bumper cars. She grimaced at the smell of acrid fumes. What the hell was going on? And where was Emma? Was she safe?

  “I said, get up.” This time, the mayor compounded her command with a hard kick to Kelsey’s ribs.

  Pain exploded in her side, knocked her breath away. She rolled over slowly and managed to get to her hands and knees. That’s when her gaze caught on something red in the living-room doorway. A gas can lying on its side. And a puddle underneath the can’s open spout was trailing liquid across the hardwood floor to the sofa.

  A chill r
aced through her. The mayor was going to burn Jack’s house down.

  Kelsey couldn’t let that happen. And what about Emma? No way would she let anything happen to that little girl. Taking shallow breaths—each one causing a sharp, stabbing pain in her chest—she struggled to her feet.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Kelsey rasped. She swayed, regained her balance and lifted her hand to her head, wincing as she touched the large, tender bump. When she brought her hand down, her fingers were sticky with blood.

  “Protecting what’s mine,” the mayor said. She waved the gun toward the kitchen. “Let’s go.”

  When Kelsey remained frozen, the mayor raised both of her painted-on eyebrows. Using her free hand, she dug into the front pocket of her jeans and produced a Zippo lighter.

  “Unless you want me to burn this dump to the ground, Jack’s pretty little daughter with it, you’ll do what I say.”

  Fear, unlike any she’d ever known, gripped her. The look in the mayor’s eyes convinced her the woman wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Emma.

  “Why are you doing this?” Kelsey asked. She glanced around furtively but couldn’t see a way to make a run for it. No way for her to get to Emma.

  She needed to calm down. Allie would be there in a matter of minutes. All Kelsey had to do was stall the mayor and keep her occupied and away from that gasoline—away from Emma—until help arrived.

  She only prayed Emma didn’t wake up and come downstairs. Please, God, let her sleep through this. Keep her safe.

  “Why?” the mayor repeated, her expression cold. “If it weren’t for you, Jack would’ve done his job a week ago and your worthless brother would be behind bars. Now,” she said, aiming the gun at Kelsey’s head, “move.”

  “Look, I know you want the murderer found, but you don’t have to do this.” Kelsey placed a hand against the wall to keep from falling over as she edged down the hallway. “I’ll leave town. I’ll leave Jack. He’ll arrest the right person.”

  “It’s too late. Jack wants to try and pin this murder on my son, and I’m not about to let that happen.”

  “Jack arrested your son for the murder?”