Her Best Friend's Keeper (Finley Creek Book 1)

by Calle J. Brookes

  Something had changed in her in that rubble, and she knew it. No longer would she ever let fear or anxiety keep her from doing what had to be done. From living her life. Those bastards who’d taken Sara from her wouldn’t take another moment from her ever again.

  Jilly’s friend Lacy—Dr. McGareth, the same doctor who had sewn up Elliot when they’d been shot at—was at the admin desk. She looked up at Gabby. “So, here you are. We had word that a patient escaped. When I heard the name and description, I figured where you’d end up.”

  “Brynna? I need to know how Brynna is. Where are Jilly and Mel?” And Elliot? She had no doubt he was looking for her.

  “They are upstairs in the waiting room next to the surgical wing. I’ll walk up with you. I want to check on her myself. I had to let Dr. Jacobson take over once we had her stabilized.”

  “How is she doing?”

  “I can’t give you too many specifics, Gabby. But she’s going to be ok.” She grabbed a wheelchair and pointed at it. Gabby didn’t argue. Lacy pushed her toward the elevator. “Brynna’s tougher than people think.”

  “Yes she is.” Gabby thought of how hard Brynna had fought Benny. How if it had been for the two of them working together they never would have stopped him. “Today just proved it.”

  They’d kept each other safe.

  “I have a feeling you are, too, Gab.” Lacy wheeled her into the waiting room where the Becks were spread out. Chance was there, as well, and the look on his face was one of such torment Gabby almost felt his pain. He looked up at her and she knew he was blaming himself for not being there.

  Elliot called her name from just outside in the hall. Lacy stepped back and went to the surgical intake desk down the hall. He leaned over her.

  Gabby wrapped her arms around Elliot’s neck and hugged him for a moment, then she pulled away. She looked at Mel, who sat near the door. “Brynna?”

  “She’s in surgery. But she’s breathing on her own. Now.”

  Kevin came to Gabby and crouched down in front of her. His face was pale and his eyes ravaged by tears. She reached a hand out and touched his cheek. “I’m sorry, Kevin.”

  “Don’t be, honey. You saved her life in there.”

  “She saved mine, too.” Gabby’s voice cracked as the tears threatened. “Benny…”

  “What happened in there, Gab?” Mel asked. “What did he do?”

  Elliot’s hand was warm on her shoulder. “They’ve pulled Benny’s body out. The questions are starting. Do you feel up to telling us?”

  Gabby thought for a moment, then nodded. Best to get it over with, wasn’t it? “Yes.”

  “Benny was one of the men who killed Sara, and the others. He was a part of it. The fifth man…it was Benny. He didn’t tell us why. And he didn’t care at all that he was going to kill Brynna or me. I…I…shot him. He was going to kill us today because he said someone had his daughter Alyssia, and I killed him instead.”

  How could he be like that? She’d worked with him almost every workday for the past four years, Brynna just as long. They’d laughed together. She’d taken him dinner when his wife had been in the hospital six months earlier. Brynna had collected his mail for him when he’d taken his wife on a three week cruise two months after that. They’d thought he cared about them.

  But he hadn’t.

  His wife. Who was going to tell his wife what had happened? Tell her that Gabby had been the one to kill him. “I did it, Elliot. I did it. He was coming for Brynna and I stopped him. He said he cared about us and wanted it to be quick for us. To not make us feel the hurt. I pulled the trigger until the gun was empty. Just like Artie taught me to. And then Benny was there, dead. And Brynna was hurt and we were trapped and I didn’t know how to get her out.”

  “But you did. You kept her alive, sweetheart. Don’t forget that. Start at the beginning. When I dropped you and Brynna off this morning.”

  “We talked to Benny, but he was in one of his moods. Or so we thought. Theresa wasn’t supposed to come in until noon, so it was just the three of us in the conference room. We got set up, worked for a little while. Talked about the video between ourselves. We decided it had to be someone still in the department. There were nine possible. We narrowed them down in under a minute. We were scared and going to come tell you what we figured out. Then Benny came out of his office and we knew he’d been listening. Knew he was the only one who could have known what we were doing now and knew me back then. That’s when the…He pushed a button and—just like that—the room exploded around us.”

  Jilly gasped and shivered. Mel cursed. No one else made a sound.

  “I was knocked out, I think. And so was Brynna. When I opened my eyes I was near the back wall where I think I’d been thrown. Benny…Benny was leaning over Brynna. She was close to where we’d started out, but I wasn’t. I thought Benny was helping her at first. But he wasn’t. He was hurting her. Choking her.”

  She paused, then. “I yelled at him and he stopped. Came at me. I was trying to fight him, to keep him away from her. She woke up. He didn’t know which of us to come at first. So we used that to keep him distracted. We could hear you calling, digging. So we kept him split between us. Brynna started throwing things at him when he came at me. When he went after her, I stopped him. We kept doing that, hoping to buy us some time. And then he pulled the gun.”

  Gabby drew in a breath, tried to keep herself calm while she told them all. “He wanted us to just let him kill us. Because it served his purpose. Somehow the gun ended up on the ground. Brynna kicked it toward me. He had her cornered. She couldn’t get away from him. He hit her, then shoved her down hard. She cried out and I got the gun. He looked at me and he came at me. I aimed the gun. And I pulled the trigger. Until he was dead.”

  Brynna’s sisters were all crying. Gabby was too, but she was barely aware of it.

  She’d killed a man who was trying to kill her and her best friend. He was dead. They weren’t. That was what mattered. That was what mattered; not that she had killed a father of five.

  There were so many questions they still had to answer, weren’t there?

  “He was dead and Brynna was bleeding. We knew…we knew we couldn’t wait until Elliot got us out. There was too much blood. We knew Elliot was out there, though. Knew he and Jarrod and the others were trying to get to us, too. But Brynna couldn’t crawl out. She was hurt so bad. So we made our own stretcher. And…and we crawled out. We crawled out. I was afraid the tunnel wouldn’t be big enough, and it almost wasn’t. I had to crawl backwards and pull her. She’d stopped breathing. I knew she had.”

  She drew in another breath and forced herself to go on. “Benny’s dead and we aren’t. But…I still don’t know why he did it. Not really. He said…he said he hadn’t known Sara and Slade were going to be there that night. But he hurt them anyway. And he was going to kill us. He said his daughter was missing, someone will need to find her. Alyssia. The entire reason we were in his department was so he could watch us all this time, wasn’t it? Elliot, I just…don’t understand what we’re supposed to do now.”

  “Now, Gabby?” Mel’s tone was harsh as she knelt the best she could in front of the wheelchair. “Now you live. You keep going, you love. You be you. No matter what!”

  Gabby wrapped her arms around her and just held her, while they both cried.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX.

  ***

  SHE was holding herself together, but Elliot knew it was just a matter of time before she cracked. She was his Gabby, after all, and he knew her well. Stronger than she thought she was, but there was a core of goodness in her that would make something as horrific as a cold-blooded killer in her world more than she could ultimately process.

  He wasn’t too proud to admit that he was terrified of letting her out of his sight. He should never have assumed that just because she was inside the TSP building that she was safe.

  Bennett Russell was someone they’d thought they could trust.

  Hell, the man had eve
n gone to Elliot’s high school and college graduations. He had been almost a part of the family.

  The betrayal stung, and Elliot knew it. But nothing would ever compare to how terrified he had been in the moment a fucking explosion ripped through his building.

  He didn’t think he had breathed until he had seen her crawling through the rubble. He had been certain she was dead.

  Instead it was Brynna Beck fighting for her life, again. Because of what ever had happened ten years ago. Would it ever make any sense?

  Elliot stepped out into the hall and told Callum and Evers to get started hunting for Benny’s family, his daughter Alyssia in particular. If she was missing…she needed to be found. The two men left to get started. Elliot returned to Gabby’s side.

  Gabby’s attending physician arrived, looking for his lost patient. She didn’t want to leave the waiting room and she told him that. Elliot held up a hand to stave off the argument. “We’ll watch her closely, but she needs to be here with her family right now.”

  Dr. McGareth came up behind the other doctor. “I’m off the clock, Dr. Devall. I’m staying with the family. I’ll keep an eye on Gabby.”

  The older doctor didn’t approve, but he allowed it. Gabby needed to be there with Mel and the rest of the Becks. So Elliot would make it possible.

  She loved her friends and wanted to be there with Brynna’s sisters. With the people she loved. So he was going to make that possible.

  Elliot looked at his brother. Was Chance going to be able to make it, if Brynna didn’t?

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN.

  ***

  BENNY had tried to strangle her. She had bruising and damage to her throat. She’d hit her head hard enough to have a concussion. Her left arm was sprained, the right palm was raw and bruised. Her lungs were filled with dust from the explosion and debris. She had multiple contusions and lacerations, though none were too deep. Only four required sutures. She had scorch marks on her arms and about an inch of her hair had been burned. She’d have to get it cut eventually. There were some second-degree burns where sparks had landed against her skin while she’d been unconscious. She had a nasty scrape across her right arm where she’d run afoul of some broken drywall in the tunnel of Hell.

  It was all Gabby could do to stay sitting up in the wheelchair while they waited for word on Brynna.

  Word had gone out about what had happened. Cops were gathering at word that an officer was down. Brynna Beck may have only worked forensics, but she was still considered one of the TSP’s own. They had calls from all the TSP posts from Galveston up through Wichita Falls.

  And when one went down, they all came running.

  There would be questions. Elliot could only hold them off of Gabby for so long.

  Erickson was already waiting to take Gabby’s full statement about what had happened. Thankfully Elliot’s former partner was high up enough on the hierarchy that it would do them some good. He’d been in the waiting room, sticking close to Chance. Elliot appreciated Erickson’s unwavering support. He owed the man, didn’t he? Erickson had had the presence of mind to record Gabby’s explanation with his smartphone. To video her. It was a start. He wanted someone he could trust on Bennett Russell’s history.

  Officer Journey showed up with what seemed to be half of the Finley Creek TSP. “Everyone likes and respects the Beck family. With what they’ve been through recently...well, we’re here to help. However we can.”

  “Bennett Russell. Find out everything you can about him. Quietly. Don’t let anyone know I’ve put you on it. And watch your back. He might not have been the only one in the Finley Creek TSP that was involved.”

  “Understood.” Journey hesitated for a moment.

  “What is it?”

  “Benny...it was bad in there, sir. I went in after Gabby came out. Russell was serious about taking them all out himself included. It was divine intervention that one of his explosive devices was a dud. He used three. One in his office, one in what we’ve identified as Brynna’s work station and one in the conference room. The one near Brynna didn’t go off; if that one inside that computer had worked—both Brynna and Gabby would be gone. If there are others involved still inside the TSP, they’re serious about this. And I don’t think they’ll stop until everyone who can identify them is dead.”

  “Understood. Watch your back, Magda.” Elliot looked at the green uniforms surrounding them and at the plainclothes detectives trickling in. For all they knew, the rest of the men they were looking for were already right there in front of him. “It may only get worse from here.”

  Who the hell could they trust?

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT.

  ***

  GABBY leaned her shoulder against Mel’s, wanting to give her friend as much support as she could. Mel laid her temple against Gabby’s for a moment. She wasn’t alone.

  Neither of them were.

  This wasn’t over. Benny and the man Chance thought Brynna had killed and Handley Barratt—they were only some of the men who had killed Elliot’s family. They still had to figure out who the rest of them were.

  If they ever did.

  How were they supposed to keep digging into the past when they really didn’t know when to start? They were going to have to go over everything Benny had touched in more than thirty-five years with the Texas State Police.

  It was going to take time and effort and finding people that they could trust.

  Elliot would have to figure out a way to fix Finley Creek.

  Finally, after what seemed like about fifty lifetimes, the doctor came in the waiting room. Gabby did her best to hold Mel’s hand, even with the bandages wrapped around her fingers.

  “Doctor? My sister?” Mel asked, standing.

  It would always be Mel, wouldn’t it, who faced things head on? Did anyone else hear the fear in her friend’s voice? Gabby stood and slipped her arm around Mel’s waist. Mel’s father stood on her other side, Jilly and Syd beside him.

  How did Mel do it? Gabby knew the other woman felt just as deeply as anyone else. But whenever there was a storm, Melody was the calm. Somehow she always held herself together until after the trouble ended. Gabby knew the truth, though. Sometimes her friend used her control to deal with the fear.

  The doctor was the same who’d treated Brynna the week before. Gabby thought that was good—he’d know exactly what she’d been through recently.

  “Brynna is a remarkably strong young woman. I won’t lie—we did have to give her a hefty transfusion. And we almost lost her on the table once or twice. She’d lost a lot of blood, had been deprived of oxygen for a few minutes, her lungs were full of debris from the explosion, and with the infection last week, today was very tricky. If she’d been any later getting here, it would be a different story. There wasn’t a great chance she’d be strong enough to survive the damage, as it was. But she has. Thankfully the metal missed anything too vital. We did remove her appendix because it took the brunt of the injury. She’s still under sedation and will be at least until the morning. But barring any unforeseen complications, she should be just fine. However…she’s going to have to be watched closely for signs of infection and for pneumonia from the debris in her lungs and chemical burns. She did inhale a bit of insulation, as did anyone who was in there today.” He leveled a look at Gabby. She nodded. “In the meantime, we’re going to keep her quiet and let her body heal from all she’s been through in the last few weeks.”

  Mel practically wilted, until her head was resting near Gabby’s shoulder. Gabby tilted her head to rest on her friend’s. “She’s going to be fine.”

  The doctor nodded, then frowned at Gabby. “She’ll be fine. And I suggest you get back to your own room now, Ms. Kendall. We frown on patient escapees around here.”

  “Thanks, doctor,” Elliot said. “We’ll take care of her.”

  Gabby barely heard him. Mel and her father were hugging each other, and hugging her. And she was clinging just as hard to them.

  CHAPTER SEVE
NTY-NINE.

  ***

  ELLIOT waited until Gabby was back in her own hospital room and Brynna Beck was moved out of recovery before he looked at the one other man in the world he trusted besides his brother. He stood in the hall outside Gabby’s room, speaking as quietly as possible. “Russell was only one. Brynna Beck killed one last week and identified Handley Barratt as another. We have at least two more out there.”

  “Where’s that dumb brother of yours? He finally upstairs with his woman?”

  His brother. Who Elliot suspected had deep feelings for the woman who’d almost died today. “I’m not sure. I’m going to try to find him. He...cares for Brynna. This is probably eating him alive.”

  “Anyone know where Handley Barratt is? The son?”

  “Swears that he doesn’t. And nothing we’ve been able to find proves differently.”

  “So you have a few snakes in your midst.”

  “Who the hell knows? Apparently that’s all Finley Creek has.”

  “You going to take the time to clean house now?”

  “Damned right I will.” And on that he was certain. People—good people—were getting caught up in shit that they didn’t deserve to.

  Brynna Beck would have been all of fourteen when his family was killed. Fourteen. There was no damned reason she had been pulled into the past. No reason she had been threatened today.

  Yet she had been.

  Just like his Gabby.

  Elliot was going to end that as soon as he could. He looked at his former partner. “I want you to start going through every damned case that ever went through Finley Creek TSP, starting at least thirty-five years ago. Find me something. Anything.”