Returning Tides

by Radclyffe

  “Why?” Ash asked, her breath catching in her throat.

  “Breakup sex is always a bad idea. Great while it’s happening but then it just confuses everything.”

  “Is that what this is?”

  “This is way past breakup sex.” Allie leaned up on her elbow, her thigh resting over Ash’s. Her breasts swayed gently and Ash’s stomach tightened.

  “Maybe it’s something else,” Ash whispered.

  “Like what? You left, remember? You said you didn’t want to get involved with someone so much younger. You told me I wasn’t ready for a serious relationship.”

  “I remember.”

  “So we’re over. We’ve been over for a long time.” Allie smiled wryly and cast her eyes over their joined bodies. “Except for this part, I guess. Or maybe this is really all there ever was.”

  “No. It was more than just this.” Ash needed Allie to know that. No matter what happened, she needed her to know that there had always been more than just this. That’s why she’d come that morning, not expecting anything at all. Just needing her to know. “We were always about more than this, baby.”

  “Really?” Allie asked, sorrow in her eyes. “Then explain to me what happened, Ash, because I just don’t get it.”

  “I was scared,” Ash said softly. “I knew I was falling for you in a big way, and I panicked.”

  “What?” Allie couldn’t believe she was just hearing this now. They’d argued. She’d cried. Ash had stonewalled. She’d sworn at Ash, railed at her, practically begged her for a chance to prove her wrong—all to no avail. Finally—to preserve her pride and her dignity—she’d done exactly what Ash had insisted she do. She’d let Ash walk away, she’d dated other women, she’d slept with other women. She tried to convince herself that she hadn’t been in love with Ash. If Ash had once said that it’d been about her fears, and not about Allie’s age or Allie’s lack of experience or something Allie was lacking, then everything might have been different. “What are you saying?”

  “I wanted you so much that I was afraid. Afraid that if I fell in love with you I wouldn’t make it if you left me.”

  Allie sat up abruptly, furious and confused. “You broke up with me—you broke my fucking heart—because you cared about me too much? Is that what you’re trying to tell me now?”

  “Something like that.”

  “You need to go.” Allie jumped up, snatched her tank top off the floor, and pulled it over her head. Her panties were nowhere to be found, but at least now she didn’t feel so vulnerable. She just felt mad. Raging mad, and she needed to stay that way—especially now, when Ash looked so fragile, so damn wounded. At least when she was angry at Ash, she could bear the pain of losing her. Ash’s confession had flayed her heart open, and if she lost her anger, she’d be left with nothing but tears. “You fucking coward. How could you have done this?”

  Ash sat up and reached for her pants. She pulled them on and found her boots and socks. “It wasn’t about you. It never was.” She finished dressing and finally met Allie’s eyes. “It was always me.”

  “That doesn’t help me right now,” Allie whispered.

  “I know.” Ash feathered her fingers over Allie’s cheek and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I love you, Allie. And I’m so sorry.”

  Ash walked to the door and Allie let her go. When she was sure she was alone, she sat on the sofa, rested her hand on the spot that was still warm from Ash’s body, and cried.

  *

  He slept well, despite his missed opportunity the night before. He hadn’t expected her to be awake, and definitely not so feisty. Most prey ran. They never confronted the hunter. She’d taken him by surprise when she’d appeared, a small shadowy figure through the glass. He’d barely had time to back into the shadows so she couldn’t see his face. He heard her scream, but she stood her ground. The suddenness of her confronting him, the shock, had been so exciting he’d almost been satisfied with that. Almost. But it hadn’t been her face or her scream he’d returned to over and over in his mind, lying in his rented room with his hard, throbbing cock in his hand. It had been the sensation of the blade severing tissue, the sound of life escaping on a wheeze, the convulsion of death that felt so much like coming. He knew the next time he hunted down his prey, he’d experience it all.

  So he was feeling confident, invincible, as he strolled casually to the coffee shop after awakening around noon. The midday crowds were thin, and after a few blocks he became aware of more officers on foot and in patrol cars then he’d noticed before. He slowed and moved closer to the buildings, studying the activity, ready to duck up one of the side streets if he needed to. Then he saw the two officers standing in the doorway of the bar he’d been in the night before, talking to someone who was probably the manager. One of them had a photo in her hand. He recognized her and she would recognize him, if she saw him.

  Quickly he slipped down a narrow passageway between two buildings, unnoticed. He almost laughed out loud. He’d always been so much better than her. Stronger. More clever. He’d remind her of that, before very long. When he took what belonged to him. When he took the woman she thought was hers and reminded her just how wrong she was.

  *

  Carter got into the passenger side of the cruiser and said to Bri, “So what do you think?”

  “I think Agent Lloyd was looking for someone last night,” Bri said carefully, thinking this might be a test. “So far we can put him at the Governor Bradford, the Gifford House, and the Atlantic House. Chronologically, it looks like his last stop was Good Times—that was only half an hour before the estimated time of death.”

  “The timeline works, I agree,” Carter said as Bri drove down Commercial Street. “So what do we do with this information?”

  “We go back tonight and talk to the night bartender and the regulars. Find out who else was there. Ask if anything unusual happened.” Bri shot Carter a glance. “Maybe someone noticed Lloyd leave with someone or right after someone?”

  Carter nodded her approval. “Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, let’s start on the B-and-Bs. We still don’t know where he was sta—”

  The radio crackled to life.

  “All units. Code five at Bayberry and Pilgrim Heights. Approach with caution, code two.”

  “Felony fugitive,” Bri exclaimed. “Everly!”

  “That’s right around the corner from my house!” Carter hit the lights but not the siren to avoid alerting the suspect to their arrival. “Go. Go!”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Allie zipped her jeans, pulled on a sleeveless dark blue tee, and debated flip-flops versus running shoes. She opted for running shoes because she was going to work. She might be on sick leave, but she could be “sick” at the station. Reese hadn’t actually told her to stay home. So she’d have to sit at her desk. That was a lot more appealing than what she was doing now—staring at the walls and replaying every word that Ash had said, being alternately angry and hurt. Trying not to replay every moment of making love with her—burning one second, shivering the next, switching from hot to cold so fast her skin ached. Even the idea of paperwork was looking good. If she sat around here thinking about Ash, or trying not to think about her—

  Her police scanner blared, “All units. Code five at Bayberry and Pilgrim Heights. Approach with caution, code two.”

  Allie shoved her badge into her back pocket, grabbed her weapon in one hand and her keys in the other, and raced out the door. “All Units” as far as she was concerned meant every able-bodied officer. She was not going to let the scumbag who’d almost raped Bri get away. She backed out of her parking space in a hail of gravel and sped toward Bradford. She made the turn right behind a cruiser and followed close on its tail as its flashing light bar cleared the road ahead of them. When the patrol car turned onto Pilgrim Heights and angled across the intersection, she pulled onto the shoulder next to it and jumped out.

  Reese climbed out of the cruiser, took one look at her, and waved her over. Allie
hurried forward and said quickly, “I know I’m supposed to be off—”

  “Rica and Caroline are in the house. We know where he is. I want you with them until we catch this guy.”

  Allie knew better than to protest, even though she wanted to be in on the pursuit. She wasn’t even supposed to be working, so she was grateful that Reese didn’t sideline her. And if Caroline was a target, she needed to be protected. “Yes ma’am.”

  Reese got on the radio and Allie ran across the street and sprinted up the hill toward Rica and Carter’s cliff-top home. Rica answered the door, looking worried. Caroline was right behind her.

  “What’s going on?” Rica asked.

  Allie glanced at Caroline, then realized there was no reason to keep anything from these women. “William Everly might be in the area. Reese wanted me to stay with you until they catch him.”

  “Is Bri with Reese?” Caroline asked quickly.

  “No, probably with Carter.” She smiled at Caroline. “Don’t worry. Bri can handle herself.”

  “Sure, I know.”

  Caroline still looked worried, probably afraid that Bri would go off on Everly if she caught him. Allie wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t, and couldn’t blame Bri if she did. No one could really blame Bri for exorcising her demons in her own way. Just like all of them.

  “There’s no reason to think he’s coming here, but until they clear the street or run him down, why don’t you two stay together, maybe in the kitchen.” Allie checked the front door to make sure it was locked and closed the drapes on the front windows. “I’m going to take a quick walk around outside. Do you have an extra key?”

  Rica found one in the desk drawer in the living room and handed it to Allie. “Let me give you my cell phone number.” Rica repeated it and Allie plugged it into her phone, then gave Rica her cell number.

  “Okay,” Allie said. “I’ll be right back. Any problems, call me or nine-one-one.”

  *

  Reese radioed Carter and Bri to confirm their locations, then did the same with Smith and his partner. All were on foot, scouring yards and footpaths around the area where Smith had apparently sighted Everly approaching the house of one of his old high school football buddies. Reese ordered the remaining officers in squad cars to block Bradford in case Everly tried to come down off the Heights in a vehicle. They had no description of what he might be driving, but he wouldn’t be difficult to spot. Then she set out on foot to triangulate with the two teams moving through the neighborhood. Hopefully, they could converge and force him out into the open.

  Every now and then she was aware of the cuff on her arm inflating, but she’d quickly become acclimated to it and now she just ignored it. It hadn’t beeped, and she wondered if it was working. Considering she was running uphill and charged with adrenaline, she suspected it was malfunctioning, because her blood pressure had to be elevated. Probably just as well. Tory was already worried enough.

  Then she heard a shout from somewhere up ahead, followed by a shot, and the only thing on her mind was securing the safety of her officers. She pulled her weapon and ran.

  *

  The sharp crack that rifled through the air might have been a tree falling. Allie had heard plenty of those during the storm. But the sun was shining and the sky was clear and she knew a gunshot when she heard it. Her heart leapt and she reflexively pulled her weapon. She couldn’t judge the distance of the shot, but suddenly the stakes had changed. She wanted to run toward the sound, to help protect her fellow officers. But she couldn’t leave Rica and Caroline unprotected. She moved carefully to the rear right corner of the house. The deck from the kitchen was cantilevered over her head, the brush- and scrub-covered hillside dropping away steeply below her. The nearest house was fifty yards away and separated from Rica’s by dense foliage. Anyone approaching the house from the rear was in for an arduous climb, and she doubted someone on the run would try it. Nevertheless, she waited a full minute, scanning the drop-off below the deck. Nothing moving. Skirting along the rear of the house, she climbed back up to the front. She didn’t see anyone in the street. She considered going back inside, but thought she’d have a better chance of spotting Everly if she took cover outside. She called Rica’s cell phone.

  “Hello,” Rica said.

  “Everything looks clear out here, but I’m going to stay outside. Don’t leave the house.”

  “We’re fine,” Rica said coolly. “You should also know that I’m armed.”

  “Ah…” Allie said. “Maybe you’d better leave that to me.”

  “It’s legal. And I know how to use it.”

  “All right. Be careful.”

  “Was that a shot?” Rica asked, lowering her voice to a whisper.

  “I think so.”

  There was a long silence, then Rica said, “You be careful too.”

  “Will do. Just sit tight.” Allie disconnected and took cover near the front of the house behind a dense, chest-high shrub that gave her a vantage point of the street. If he came this way, she’d see him.

  *

  “Can you turn up the scanner?” Ash asked Gladys Martin, the sheriff’s department dispatcher, as she got to her feet. After leaving Allie, she’d walked aimlessly for an hour, unaware of the throbbing pain in her shoulder and hip. The pain in her heart had been all-consuming. She couldn’t believe how many times she’d made the wrong decision where Allie was concerned. She’d let her fear of being hurt and, yes, her arrogance in thinking that she knew what Allie would do convince her that she and Allie had no future together. She’d pushed Allie away, pushed her at other women, just to prove that she was right. What an idiot. No, Allie had been right. What a coward.

  And then she tried some half-assed apology when it was way too late—she was lucky Allie had even let her in the door. And then…God, and then she just stopped thinking completely and went to bed with her. Being with Allie again had been like tasting cool clear water when she was dying of thirst—after she’d finally accepted that the arid wasteland in front of her stretched forever and she’d given up hoping for a drop of rain. Now, having tasted her again, her soul would never survive another drought. And she had no one to blame but herself.

  So she’d finally just walked to the station house and sat down at an empty desk with her files. Working. The only thing short of chemical oblivion that would blunt the pain for a while. When the call for All Units came in, the two officers in the station ran out, leaving her alone with Gladys and the intermittent radio chatter on the scanner.

  “Who is that? Is that Reese?” Ash asked again, working hard to quell her panic as she listened to the scattered reports from the officers in pursuit of William Everly. She stared at the scanner as if that would force it to divulge more news. When she glanced at the duty board behind Gladys and saw that Allie’s name wasn’t on it, some of her anxiety eased.

  “That’s the sheriff,” Gladys said with a worried frown. “Everybody’s out there. I imagine all our off duty people are headed that way too. They’ve all got scanners, and if they were anywhere near enough to hear that All Units call, they’ll respond.”

  Then Allie was probably out there. Ash had seen the scanner on the kitchen counter on her way out that morning. She told herself to relax. Allie was a trained officer and good at her job. But Everly had to know he was going back to jail if apprehended, and the very nature of his original crime suggested he was unstable. Who knew what he was likely to do when cornered.

  The scanner crackled and Reese’s voice filled the room.

  “Shots fired. Suspect is armed and dangerous. Do not approach without backup.”

  “Shit,” Ash muttered. She ran a hand through her hair for the hundredth time that morning, but this time she wasn’t frustrated or angry at herself, she was scared down to her toes. And she couldn’t just stand by waiting for word. She spun around and raced for the door.

  *

  “Jesus,” Bri yelled when a car window ten feet from her shattered, showering glass all over the s
treet. “That maniac is shooting at us!” She dove behind a shiny new Mercedes and peered around into the street, searching for some sign of Everly. Carter was crouched next to a dusty pickup truck just opposite her. “You okay?”

  “Yes. Did you see where he went?”

  “He ran behind a house up at the corner of Pilgrim.” Bri’s uniform shirt was stuck to her back with cold sweat. She was too pumped to be scared, but her skin was tingling like she was high, except her mind wasn’t cloudy. It was crystal sharp. The whole world stood out in 3-D relief, every angle and shape shimmering, almost vibrating. God, she hoped that was normal, because she didn’t want to make a mistake. Carter was depending on her. Caroline was depending on her. Reese trusted her to make the right call. She checked Carter again, and the calm resolve in Carter’s eyes steadied her. Carter trusted her, she could read it in her face. And that’s all it took to settle her down.

  “Let’s go get him, yeah?” Bri called to Carter.

  “Damn right. Keep your eye out for any civilians and make sure they get to cover.”

  “Roger that.”

  Bri rose and ran. The thud of Carter’s footsteps next to her was almost as good as Reese’s hand on her shoulder, reminding her she was not alone.

  *

  Allie caught a flicker of movement across the street. Reese was ducking cautiously from one yard to the next, checking up and down the street and scanning driveways. Allie wanted to go with her to cover her back, but she stayed at her post. She couldn’t see all the way down the street to the intersection with Bayberry, but that’s where Everly had first been spotted. The shot sounded like it came from down there—where Bri and Carter were. She didn’t let herself think about that. She just kept watch, waiting, preparing. Reese was out of sight now, and she suddenly felt very much alone. Every second felt like an hour. Her bare arms were covered with goose bumps even though she was sweating. Two houses up and diagonally across the street from her, a young woman with long blond hair and a short clingy dress came out her front door, beeped her car remote at a dark blue Honda Accord in the driveway, and hurried toward the driver’s side door. A second later, a bearded man in a dark T-shirt and blue jeans appeared out of nowhere and sprinted across the street on an intercept course with the blonde. Everly. He was going to carjack the young woman. Allie didn’t even question her next move. She couldn’t let him take a hostage. She bolted into the street, her arms extended in front of her, her weapon two-fisted and trained on Everly.