Returning Tides

by Radclyffe

  “Stop, police! Down on the ground. Down on the ground!”

  Without breaking stride, he half turned in her direction and fired. The air around her vibrated with heat and her ears rang with the report of the shot. She couldn’t return fire because now he was directly between her and the civilian. If she missed him, she could hit the woman or someone in the house. Hoping to draw his fire again, anything to distract him from the woman, who was now crouched next to her car and trying to scramble away, Allie ran toward him. Carter and Bri materialized at the end of the block and raced up the street, weapons out. Reese bolted from between two houses and grabbed the civilian, dragging the young woman behind the front of the Accord. Then Reese just stood up, tall and solid, and aimed her weapon at Everly.

  “You’re done, Everly,” Reese shouted. “It’s over, drop the weapon.”

  Everly’s head swiveled between Allie, who was blocking the street in one direction, and Bri and Carter, who cut off his retreat in the other direction. Smith and Chang vaulted out into the street from between two houses and took up a position behind him. Reese walked forward slowly, her face completely impassive, her weapon never wavering from his center mass. After another quick look around, Everly raised his free hand, knelt, and slowly placed his weapon on the ground. Then everyone converged on him. Bri got to him first and jammed her knee into the middle of his back while she cuffed him.

  Allie couldn’t hear what Bri was shouting at him. She was still running, but she didn’t seem able to reach them. Her weapon was shaking in her hand, but when she tried to holster it, she couldn’t seem to do it. Then she saw the blood running down her left arm. That probably explained why she was moving in slow motion. In fact, she wasn’t really moving at all. She was kneeling in the middle of the street. That wasn’t what she wanted to do, but she was having trouble getting up.

  “Officer down, officer down! Medics. We need medics, now,” Reese shouted into her radio as she knelt next to Allie. “Take it easy, Allie. The medics will be here in a minute.”

  “I don’t know why I’m bleeding,” Allie said quietly, confused. “He didn’t hit me.”

  Reese holstered her weapon and put an arm around Allie’s shoulders. She eased Allie back against her chest and, using her fingers, pressed closed the wound in Allie’s upper arm that pumped blood at a steady cadence. “Looks like he winged you. You’ll be fine. Medics will be here in a second.”

  Allie tilted her head back on Reese’s shoulder. “You have the most gorgeous eyes. I mean, like smoking sexy hot eyes.”

  “Thank you,” Reese murmured.

  “Is Bri okay?” Allie wondered why she sounded drunk.

  “She’s good. Everybody’s good. You did fine today, Tremont.”

  “I didn’t. I so didn’t,” Allie slurred. “I really fucked things up with Ash.”

  “You can sort that out later,” Reese said.

  “You think?” Allie whispered.

  “Yeah, I’m sure of it. Just take it easy now.”

  “That’s good. That’s good because I really…” Allie sighed and closed her eyes. “You’ll tell her, won’t you?”

  “You bet.”

  With Reese to keep her safe, Allie drifted off.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tory heard the approaching sirens and hurried out the clinic door. When she saw Reese climb out of the patrol car ahead of the EMS vehicle in the clinic parking lot, she faltered, her legs suddenly weak. Reese’s shirt was soaked with blood. “Oh my God! Reese!”

  “I’m okay,” Reese called, “it’s Allie’s. GSW—left arm.”

  The back doors of the EMS rig flew open and two medics jumped out with Allie on a gurney. One held an IV bag in the air as he ran alongside the stretcher.

  “Vital signs?” Tory asked as she stepped aside for them to get through the clinic door.

  “Pulse ninety, BP one thirty. She’s in and out. Better since we got some fluid into her.”

  Allie turned her head and her eyes fluttered open. “I want to go home.”

  “Oh, I love cops,” Tory muttered, assessing the bandage on Allie’s arm as she followed the medics into the clinic. A three-inch splotch of bright red marked the center of the white gauze. Fresh bleeding. “Treatment room two.” She glanced at Reese as they went back together. “You’re all right?”

  “Fine.”

  “Everyone else?”

  “All good.” Reese grasped Tory’s arm to slow her down as they approached the treatment room. “I have to get to the station to take care of booking Everly. Let me know as soon as you’ve checked her out, okay?”

  “I will. Has anyone called her mother?”

  “Sorry. Not yet.”

  “I’ll do it after I evaluate her. We may need to send her to Hyannis for a surgical evaluation.”

  Reese nodded, her jaw tightening. “Call me. I’ll arrange an escort.”

  “You’re sure you’re all right?”

  “I’d rather it was me than one of mine on that stretcher.”

  Tory skimmed her fingers along Reese’s jaw. “I know that. So do they. And that’s what matters.”

  Reese smiled wryly. “Thanks for the reminder.”

  “Happy to do it.” Tory kissed her cheek. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you as soon as I know.”

  *

  Reese crossed to the small knot of officers congregated in one corner of the reception area. “She’s stable. Dr. King’s evaluating her now. It will be a while before we know anything, but I need volunteers to drive escort if she has to go to Hyannis.”

  Three men and a woman immediately stepped forward. Reese smiled. “Two of you will be enough.” She pointed to two of the officers who were supposed to be off duty but who had answered the All Units call. She knew none of the officers were going to leave until Allie’s condition was known. “You two, stand by.”

  “Yes ma’am,” they said in unison.

  “I’m headed back to the station. Good job today, all of you.”

  Ash Walker intercepted Reese just as she reached the door.

  “Is it bad?” Ash asked quietly.

  “I don’t know,” Reese said truthfully. Ash looked like hell—pale, hollow-eyed, shaky. Recalling Allie’s somewhat incoherent conversation about Ash after she’d been shot, Reese surmised their relationship was in some kind of flux. She wasn’t absolutely certain that Allie really wanted her to say anything to Ash, and thinking back to Allie’s disjointed ramblings, she thought Allie might change her mind when she was awake. Just the same, Allie had wanted her to send some kind of message. “It looked to me like a flesh wound, but it was bleeding pretty good.”

  Ash raked a hand through her hair and cast a wild look toward the doors leading to the rear of the clinic and the treatment areas. “Jesus. I wouldn’t ordinarily ask, but is there any way you can get me back there?” She let out a shaky breath and fixed Reese with tortured eyes. “I’m pretty much going crazy out here.”

  Reese took her arm and pulled her farther away from the officers, some of whom were regarding them quizzically. “I can’t right now. Tory’s working on her. You know Tory won’t let anything happen to her. When Tory calls me with an update, I’ll tell her that you’re out here. If Allie is ready to see you and Tory clears it, I’m sure Tory will take you back.”

  “Okay. Yeah. I get it.” Ash looked away. “I don’t even have the right to be here.”

  “Look,” Reese said quietly. “Allie wanted me to tell you that…well, I don’t know what she wanted me to say, really. She was rambling a little. But she asked for you.”

  Ash jerked her gaze back to Reese’s. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. So just try to hang in there, okay?”

  “I fucked things up, Reese.”

  “Funny, that’s exactly what Allie said.” Reese squeezed Ash’s arm. “Look, I’ve got to go. And I’m not the best person to be giving relationship advice. But if Allie’s got a hold of you, inside where it counts, don’t let her go easy. Not unless she t
ells you straight out you’re done.”

  “Okay,” Ash whispered, looking as if Reese had just thrown her a lifeline. “Okay.”

  *

  Ash followed Reese outside and sat down on the top step of the small landing in front of the clinic. She really needed to get some air and clear her head. Reese said it didn’t look too bad. Her arm. Thank God it hadn’t been a body shot. Christ, she hadn’t even been wearing a vest. What was she thinking? Young and crazy and brave. Ash tried to put the thought of losing Allie out of her mind as she half focused on an EMS vehicle pulling into the gravel parking lot. At this rate, Tory was going to need more doctors to staff this place. She stiffened when the blonde from the bar—no, Allie’s girlfriend, not just some bar pickup—jumped down from the driver’s side and sprinted toward the clinic.

  “Tory’s with her now,” Ash said as she shifted over to make room when the blonde vaulted up the steps. “She’s stable. It’s an arm wound. Not sure how bad. Everyone’s waiting for word from Tory.”

  “Thanks.” The blonde pushed open the door, perused the crowd inside, and stepped back out. She extended her hand. “I’m Flynn. We met briefly the other day, but never got introduced. You’re Ash, Allie’s friend.”

  “Yes,” Ash said tightly, shaking the offered hand.

  “Someone’s going to let us know?”

  “Tory will be out as soon as she knows anything.”

  “I can’t believe Allie is back here again, after what happened yesterday. She was supposed to be home resting.” Flynn sat down next to her. “She was really worried about you when that building collapsed. You doing okay now?”

  “Nothing a few days and some aspirin won’t cure. Doesn’t even register compared to what Allie’s going through right now.” Ash wondered if Flynn was as torn up inside as she was right now—as helpless and sick at heart.

  Flynn glanced back at the clinic door, looking as if she wanted to storm the place too. “Arm wound, you said?”

  “That’s what Reese told me. I couldn’t get to her to see for myself.” Ash’s throat felt gravelly as she relived the panic of hearing the shot, hearing officer down, hearing Reese shouting for a medic. She rubbed her face. Her hands were shaking. Her whole body was trembling. “Christ. I wish Tory would tell us something. If anything happens to her, I don’t know…” She clamped her jaws together, remembering who she was talking to.

  “She was frantic about you yesterday. Couldn’t rest until she knew you were okay.” Flynn regarded Ash pensively. “There’s something more than friendship going on, isn’t there?”

  Ash held her gaze. “I don’t know. That’s for Allie to say.”

  “You’re right.” Flynn paused. “We’ve had a couple of dates. I like her a lot.”

  “There’s a lot to like.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “We used to be involved,” Ash said quietly. “I’m still crazy about her, but I…ah…I don’t think she…” She shook her head. “I don’t know anything right now.”

  “Well, now probably isn’t the time to expect her to make choices.”

  “I think she already has.” Ash closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then faced Flynn head-on. “But you’re right, now’s not the time. So I’m just going to wait, because I care about her and I can’t do anything else.”

  “Same here.”

  “You want some coffee?” Ash stood up. “There’s a pot going in the reception area.”

  Flynn rose to join her. “Yeah, I could use some. I’ll come with you.”

  *

  “Everything okay?” Carter asked when Bri got off the phone with Caroline.

  Bri slid down in her desk chair and stretched her lanky legs out in front of her. Her expression was studied casual. “Carre’s good. So is Rica. Everything should get back to normal now.”

  “Uh-huh.” Carter couldn’t really disagree, even though something kept tugging at her gut. Telling her something wasn’t right.

  “Everly says it wasn’t him, you know,” Bri said. “At our house last night. He says he never followed Caroline. Never went near her.”

  “I heard him.” Carter shrugged. “You didn’t really expect him to confess, did you?”

  “I don’t know. He seems pretty much the same as he was back in school. He called me a fucking dyke. Told me if he’d had a shot at Carre, she’d never be with me.” Bri’s blue eyes turned winter cold. “If he’d gone after her again yesterday, I think he would have wanted to taunt me with it. Maybe get me to take a shot at him.”

  “Yeah. I heard him baiting you.” Carter had seen Bri practically vibrating with rage when she was escorting Everly to the cruiser. Everly had been going on about how if he’d had a chance to fuck Caroline, Caroline would never have turned out to be a pervert. She had to give Bri credit for keeping her temper. She wasn’t sure she could’ve done the same if someone had been talking about Rica that way. “You handled yourself fine out there.”

  “I wanted to kill him.”

  “I don’t blame you.”

  “I’m not just saying that. I really really wanted to do it. He was talking about raping my girlfriend.” Bri looked hard at Carter. “You don’t think that’s bad, me feeling that way and being a cop?”

  “You’re a human being first,” Carter said gently. “Family comes before everything, and you protected your family today. What you’re feeling—I’d be feeling the same. Exactly the same.”

  “Thanks,” Bri whispered.

  Reese returned from the holding area and motioned them toward her office. When they were inside, she closed the door.

  “Any word on Allie?” Bri asked immediately.

  “Not yet,” Reese said.

  “What about the scumbag who shot her?” Carter added.

  “The state boys are on their way down to pick him up. His parole violation is small time now. He shot a cop. He’s going away for a long time.”

  “What’s your take on his claim he didn’t try to break into our place last night?” Bri asked.

  “He swears he was with Randy Thompson, his old football buddy, all night.” Reese shrugged. “Thompson corroborates it, but I don’t put a lot of stock in his word.”

  “There’s still the issue of the dead FBI agent,” Carter said. “Do you see any way he’d be involved in that?”

  “I can’t see him for that,” Reese said. “The feds would have no reason to be looking for him. And he would have no reason to take out a federal agent. It doesn’t play.”

  “What about the break-ins at your place and mine? And Rica’s car?” Carter added.

  “Everly admits to being in town for the last three days, so the timeline works for him being good for all of them. Of course, he denies that he did anything other than hide out at his buddy’s place.” Reese rested her hip against her desk and thought back over the sequence of events—the intruder at her home, Rica’s car being vandalized, the burglary at Rica and Carter’s, the attempted break-in at Caroline and Bri’s. Everly was directly tied to her and Bri and Caroline, and Rica was Caroline’s close friend. In a town this small it wasn’t difficult to track anyone’s movements, and Everly could easily have seen Caroline with Rica. Perps didn’t always follow a logic that made sense to others, and a pretty solid case could be made for him being responsible for everything. It was tempting to tie it all up in a neat package because more often than not, the simplest explanation was the right one. William Everly, like so many criminals, was not particularly smart, and with the instincts of a homing pigeon, he’d simply returned to familiar ground. Once here, he’d wanted to exact a little revenge on the people who had sent him to prison and those close to them. And most of all, he’d wanted another chance to prove to Caroline Clarke that all she needed was a good man.

  “We’re not going to be able to prove it was him,” Reese finally said. “One thing that bothers me is that Everly is a hometown boy. My house is all the way out at the East End, your place is at the far West End, and Caroline and Bri’s is right in t
he middle. He had to cover a lot of distance getting from one place to the other, and we’ve been asking about him around town for several days. But no one has admitted seeing him anywhere.”

  “Yeah,” Carter said broodingly. “I don’t like that much myself.”

  Bri looked from Carter to Reese. “Why would anyone except Everly go after Caroline?”

  “I don’t know.” Reese blew out a breath. “And we’ve still got the murdered FBI agent, who doesn’t seem related to any of it.” She glanced at Carter. “I think we need to have a sit-down with Supervisory Special Agent Allen, don’t you?”

  “Unfortunately, I agree.” Carter grimaced. “I’ve got history with her, and I think she’s still got an ax to grind with Rica. Maybe I can piss her off enough that she’ll actually tell us something useful.”

  “Give it your best shot,” Reese said with a wry grin. “In the meantime, make sure everyone keeps their eyes open. Just in case we’ve missed something.”

  *

  He wasn’t sure what was happening at the far end of town, but he’d heard sirens racing back and forth for close to an hour. All the extra police activity on the streets suddenly disappeared, and he took that as a sign to make his move. He had gotten used to working at night, but he didn’t want to wait until nightfall. He’d been waiting for so long already. He kept thinking back to the night before, to the surge of excitement when the knife had parted flesh, to the rush of blood in his head and his groin. He craved the sensation. Nightfall wasn’t for hours, and he needed to satisfy his craving now. He felt for the knife in his pants pocket, and let his fingers drift over its smooth surface onto the hard ridge of his cock. She’d be alone now. And all his.