by Dale Mayer
“I’m tired,” she admitted. “If you want to, that would be fine with me.” She walked around the car, handed the keys to him and got into the passenger side of her small car.
He walked around, got into the driver’s side and turned on the engine. When they were both buckled in, he drove the car out onto the road. Behind them, Logan followed in one of the big company trucks.
“How many trucks does Levi actually have at the compound?”
“Half a dozen by now, I think. Also a Suburban or two and a couple cars.”
“I gather business is good.”
Flynn laughed. “It is, but one never really knows how good.”
“Can’t blame him for that,” Anna said. “He probably doesn’t even know. With so many jobs coming and going, you’re really only gonna have facts and figures after a few months. As long as the cash is flowing inward, and you’re covering everything, then you’re doing fine. To know if there’s anything left at the end of the day, well, that’ll take a couple quarters to get an idea.”
“What was that about Logan having a ladylove who dumped him?”
She shrugged. “He was razzing me about how you and I interact, so I returned it about him being dumped. Got quite a rise out of him too. I think something must have happened between him and a woman he was looking after in California.”
“I’ll have to ask about that,” Flynn said. “Logan doesn’t get involved easily.”
“Yeah, I got that impression. He said the same thing about you. And that when you do, it’s generally for a long-term relationship.”
“I try hard. If one is worth starting, I’ll give it my all and see how we do.” He glanced at her. “How about you? You go into relationships in a lighthearted manner?”
“No.” She stared out into the darkness on the other side of the windshield. “But then I haven’t had the number of relationships you have.”
“It doesn’t matter how many we have.” His voice deepened. “When you’re in a relationship, you give it your all. There are no guarantees in life, or the future. There certainly aren’t any in happiness. All we can do is our best.”
She turned to look at him and smiled. “How very true.”
He made a couple right-hand turns, then headed out onto the highway. This was one way to get back to her place, probably the fastest. The turnoff was just a mile down the road. Just as they approached it, he put on the signal and slowed down.
Anna glanced behind to see if Logan was there. A big truck was following them, but it wasn’t Logan’s. “Uhm …”
“I see it.” Flynn’s voice turned grim and hard. “Hold on.”
The truck came whipping right up against the back bumper of her car. Flynn hit the gas, and instead of taking the right turn to get off the highway, he darted between two cars in the second lane, and they moved over to the turning lane on the far side as well. She twisted to look at the truck. It was cutting across too. “Oh, my God, it’s following us.”
“I think he was running us off the road.”
Flynn took a hard corner too fast in front of oncoming traffic, then jumped through the lanes to take the turn on the far side. She gave a small cry.
“Sorry, but I had to get out of there.” He whipped onto the first right and took a series of turns, shaking off the tail. Finally, he pulled into a small residential block and parked. The two of them sat there, staring at each other for a long moment. Then both at the same time turned to look behind them. There was no sign of the truck.
“Did I just imagine that?”
He shook his head. “I sure as hell didn’t.”
“What about Logan?”
Flynn pulled out his phone and called Logan. There was no answer. “Damn it. Best case scenario, Logan followed the truck and is right now tracking it down. Worst, Logan missed the whole thing.”
No, that would be that the truck took out Logan first. But he hadn’t heard or seen anything happening behind him, so he presumed Logan’s luck was still holding. That guy seemed to walk through a fire and come out smiling and smelling fresh as roses on the other side. Flynn had never known anybody else like Logan.
Into the eerie silence she whispered, “What do we do?”
Chapter 12
She had the answer to that question a few minutes later. Somehow, from a completely different direction, they arrived at the shelter. Everything looked the same from outside. She had literally grabbed her purse as she’d bolted after Flynn and the police. Now she stared at the house, wondering if the asshole who’d followed them had been here first.
She had to check on her animals. She hopped out of the car and approached the front door. Everything looked the same as she’d left it. She unlocked the door and walked inside with Flynn right at her heels.
She knew he was still phoning Logan. The fact that there was no answer really bothered him. Her too. She’d hate for somebody else to get hurt. She didn’t care who this guy was after, he had no business taking out anyone.
She’d left the dogs in the dog run. The house appeared to be fine. Keeping close to Flynn, they walked out to check the animals.
The cats were sleeping, not even noticing she’d been gone, she suspected. The dogs barked as soon as they heard them approach. Once they saw it was Flynn and Anna, they barked in joy, jumping and whining. She opened the pen and walked inside, bending down to give both a cuddle, still missing the little ones she’d found a good home for earlier. She still had her evening work to do. The rabbit and hamster needed pellets and new hay for their cages. And the snake–maybe Flynn would feed him.
“Let’s get this dealt with,” she said quietly. “Hopefully by that time, Logan will show up.”
“I’m calling Levi first.” He walked a few steps away and connected with somebody from the compound.
She turned her attention back to the animals. She had so few here right now. She quickly changed the hamster’s sawdust, gave it fresh water and food, did the same for the rabbit and walked into the cat house.
She sat down on the floor, and the cats came over for attention. As much she liked to believe they were fine on their own, they needed human contact just as much as any other animal. She wondered if she were up to having them all in the house. There were four here though. She could consider keeping them, the two dogs, hamster, and rabbit and be done with the shelter. No way would she keep the snake.
Her attitude to the place had changed. Since finding Jonas in the shed, it just wasn’t the same anymore. Maybe what she needed was a different location, though that cost money. Not something she had a whole lot of. Her property was worth a lot more now than when she’d first bought it, and the area had grown up around her. It was also a large lot, and the developers would be all over her for it. If she moved out of town though, would it impact how many animals were adopted? She had no idea. It would certainly be a longer trip to the vet, but she didn’t have to move that far.
That’s when she first realized she was actually thinking of a place between here and the compound. The small towns around it were a lot cheaper. She could sell this parcel and buy something larger and better suited. Plus, set money aside. A lot could be said for being more financially stable. Of course all the cages would have to be rebuilt at the other end. Although a lot of them could be moved too. She could also add a few new pens, bigger and easily accessible.
For the first time she stood back and studied what she’d built here—the pens and dog runs. Replacing the building was one of the biggest concerns, because it had all the cages built inside, plus, she had an examination room in the back and several others for animals recovering from surgeries. To set up something like this all over again would be brutal.
She didn’t know if she could do it.
On the other hand, if it was just the property keeping her here, that wasn’t a good enough reason. There were better locations elsewhere. She had no place for visitors to come and see the animals; there was no parking out front, which was always an issue. The dogs could
use a larger run. If she actually had a property upgrade, she could take in other animals when asked. She was one of the few with a lot of this size. But it certainly wasn’t big enough for anything like goats or horses.
She shook her head. This was kind of a crossroad. And all because of Jonas.
Poor Jonas.
On that note she put the dogs on leashes. Flynn was still talking on the phone. She said in a low voice, “I’m taking the dogs for a walk.”
She let herself out into the back alley and let the dogs roam. They loved this time of night. She didn’t usually take them for too long a walk, not like the exercise they needed being the size they were. But the alleyway ran the full length of several properties on either side. All kinds of interesting smells were here for the dogs to follow.
She walked to the far end, giving them a chance to lift their legs and sniff around, with as much freedom as a dog could have on a leash.
As she walked back toward her property, Jimbo walked along the ditch in the alley on the far side. His head down, that little bit of hound in him had picked up the scent of something. Probably a rabbit or an owl, although Anna wouldn’t be surprised at anything. She lived on the edge of the city, and though the properties were big, their owners weren’t wealthy. Lots of people dumped their garbage in this alley. She never understood it. There was trash pickup every week. Why throw your shit in the back alley where it would never get collected?
As they approached the back gate, Jimbo refused to budge. She walked over to see what he’d found. If it was a skunk, she really didn’t want him to come close to it. A flashlight in its eyes wasn’t enough to get it moving. Oddly enough there was something on the ground. It looked like an old rag. She kicked it with her foot, and it flipped and moved over several inches to the side. Something gleamed in the night, but she couldn’t see what it was.
She turned to look at Flynn. He stood at the gate, still talking on his phone. She gave a sharp whistle, which caused him to spin and look at her. She pointed at the ground. “Can you bring a light? I need to see what this is.”
He unhitched some kind of a tool from his belt, clicked a button and there was a beam of light. He walked closer to her, stooped down on the side of the ditch in front of her. And swore.
“Shit,” she said.
On the ground, mostly buried in the dirt and mud, was a gun. And she had no doubt in her mind it was the gun that had been used to shoot Jonas.
*
Flynn stared down at the handgun and said into the phone, “Levi, one of the dogs just found a gun in the alley behind Anna’s place.”
“Call the cops. Chances are it’s planted evidence, but we have to follow this through the legal way.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
He ended the call, looked at her and said, “I’ll be calling the cops next.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Great. Like I haven’t had enough of them yet.” Anna took Jimbo and Duggy back into the dog pen.
He watched as she walked through the gate. Then he bent down to study the handgun. He didn’t recognize it, thankfully. Although he could have potentially touched this one—several years ago—if it was Brendan’s.
On their days off while in the military, they’d often go shooting. As he stared down at the small handgun, he realized it sat in a shitty spot with gasoline, mud, and dirt all around it, so who knew if any fingerprints were left to be found. But if this was Brendan’s, then it could be one Flynn had held. Still, the cops knew he hadn’t been in the country at the time of the killing.
He quickly called the cops and explained what he’d found.
“We’ll send somebody out there within the hour,” the dispatcher said. “Please stay with the object.”
Right. Like he had nothing else to do. For his own sake, he took several photos and sent them to Levi for backup, and leaned against the fence on the far side. He stared at Anna’s house for a long time. And then realized this position gave him a great insight into her life. Because he could see her as she left the kitchen, walked to the office, then into the other room where the dining table was, which meant anyone else could have stood exactly where he was and watched her—and him. He glanced down at his flashlight and checked the surrounding area.
Besides his own footprints, he could tell somebody had stood on the far side. The imprints were deep in the mud. They were also much bigger than his. And there were several cigarette butts around the immediate area.
Brendan wouldn’t have been that sloppy. Not unless he thought it was a slam dunk that Flynn would get arrested for this murder.
Still, Flynn would point it out to the cops. And therefore, since he didn’t want to trample through it, he waited.
Anna came out the back door. “You coming in?”
He shook his head. “The cops are on the way. I’ll wait for them.”
She frowned, then nodded. She returned a few minutes later with a hot cup of coffee.
He smiled at her. “Thank you for thinking of me.”
As she walked away, she muttered, “I wish I could stop.”
“I’d really rather you didn’t.”
She froze and spun around to see him. “Seriously?”
He nodded his head. “It’s why I asked how you felt about relationships,” he said, his voice low, deep. “Because I definitely want to take this further and see where we can go with it.”
She took several steps toward him and whispered, “So do I. But I just didn’t know if you were serious.”
He reached out his free hand and gently brushed the stray strands of hair off her face. He tugged her a little bit closer and whispered, “When it comes to you, I’m always serious.”
With the coffee cup in one hand, he wrapped his other arm around her. He dropped a kiss on her nose and forehead, then unable to help himself, he tilted her chin and gave her a slow, mind-drugging kiss to let her know just how serious he really was. When he lifted his head, she let out a happy sigh and snuggled up against his chest.
He held her close. “We’ll get through this,” he whispered. “Don’t ever worry about that.”
“I’m worried about a lot of things right now. And the fact that somebody wants you in jail for life is just one of them. What if he actually comes back and tries to hurt you?” She leaned back to look up at his face in the darkness. “Or worse, kill you.”
“I’m not that easy to kill,” he whispered, touched that she was so concerned.
“Nobody is invincible, nor can they argue with bullets all the time and get away with it.”
She was so serious and sad. He just wanted to wrap her up and carry her upstairs and into bed, show her how good life could be. She’d been through a lot these last few weeks. Months. But there’d been good things too, and she needed to keep that in the forefront of her mind.
“True enough. And I know the danger right now. But my concern is keeping you safe.”
She chuckled. “So I’ll look after you, and you’ll do the same for me.”
He barked a laugh. “Sounds good to me.”
With her holding him close, the two of them stood in the alleyway for several long moments. Just as she was about to pull away, a vehicle arrived, headlights shining toward them.
She stiffened. “Are we assuming that’s the cops?”
“I’m not sure yet. However, we are expecting them.”
They pressed back against the fence. Some shrubbery stood between the two of them and the vehicle, but not enough to hide them if those lights were to shine in their direction.
As they waited for the vehicle to approach, another turned into the other end of the alleyway. This one was a bigger and higher, like a truck.
Anna gasped. “You think that’s the one?”
“No idea.” Now crouching down very low, pulling her down beside him, he said, “Get to your yard and inside the fence.”
She did as he instructed. The truck appeared to be idling at the entrance to the alleyway. And that made it
suspicious as hell. The car, on the other hand, was almost where Flynn waited.
But since he didn’t know yet who the hell the killer was, he couldn’t guarantee the car was anybody they wanted to see either. When it drove closer, he saw it was a cop car. The engine shut off; as were the lights, and two men got out. One was holding a big flashlight.
He shone the light on Flynn. “There you are. I was wondering what the hell you’re hiding from.”
Flynn motioned to the truck still sitting at the far end. “A truck almost ran us off the road earlier tonight on our way home from the police station. I managed to shake it, but now I’m wondering if that’s it again.”
The cops turned and studied the truck. The first quietly said, “I’ll go through the backyard and see if I can come up behind it.”
He’d already slipped up against the fence. The second got into the driver seat of the car and backed it away. Around the front of the house, he turned as if to take the main part of the road, but instead he pulled a U-turn and went the other way. In the meantime, the first one rounded back to Flynn.
Flynn figured the truck would back out, make a run and disappear before the police car got there.
There was no way to tell how far the cop car would go. Flynn watched its headlights shining in the dark. Then it disappeared. Suddenly, it was up behind the truck which quickly hit the gas and raced forward; the cop was behind it.
The truck blasted past where Flynn and the other cop stood. No way to stop it. However, it slowed as it approached. The driver turned and stared directly at Flynn. And he knew him. It was Brendan. “Shit.” He glared as Brendan disappeared in front of him.
“Did you recognize the truck?”
“Yes, it’s the same one that tried to run us off the road earlier. And I recognized the driver. Brendan McAllister. He’s the man I told the detectives about.”
“Good. You let us handle this. We’ll get this asshole off the road. And we have more than a few questions to ask, so don’t leave.”
He didn’t know how they would handle it, but the cop car was right on Brendan’s ass, sirens going. No way in hell would Brendan slow down or stop. “Even if you have a roadblock somewhere up ahead, this guy will crash through anything in his path.”
