“I know that I told you before it had to be all or nothing,” Hayley said. “But I’m through thinking that way. I’m changing the pattern. I’ll be happy with whatever you’re willing to give as long as we can build a future together.”
He stroked the hair from her temple, his fingers unsteady. “Unless I pay back Tony, I won’t have a future.”
“No, you’re wrong. We’ll be fine. Once we quit we can leave all the ugliness of Sproule and his crimes behind us and get on with our lives.”
“We can’t do that by walking away.”
“Yes, we can! It’s the best solution.”
“Keeping the Long Shot isn’t about the building or the money, it’s what you talked about yesterday. It’s about honor.”
“You are honorable, Cooper. The way you’ve turned your life around is amazing.”
“I haven’t turned it around yet. I’ve told you where I came from and what I did. I’ve worked at getting clean for seven years, but I won’t be able to wash off the last of the dirt until I fulfill my bargain with Tony.”
“Cooper—”
“If I break my word, I won’t be the man you say I am.”
She tipped her face into his hand. “You don’t have to prove anything to me.”
“But I have to prove it to myself.” He felt a pressure in the back of his throat. He didn’t know where the words were coming from. It was as if a wall inside him was starting to crumble and feelings he’d done his best to contain were pouring out.
He had to swallow hard before he could go on. “You once said that I want people to think the worst of me. It’s not deliberate, Hayley. It’s because in my heart I’m still Donny’s brat, just a troublemaking thief who got suckered into doing time. Don’t you see? That kid would have walked. And that’s why I have to see this through.”
She closed her eyes. Her lashes gleamed with tears. “Oh, Cooper,” she whispered. “You don’t realize what a good man you are.”
He brushed his fingertip beneath her eyes. “Don’t ask me to give up now, Hayley. I can’t.”
She kissed his palm, her breath hitching on a sob.
He leaned toward her and pressed his forehead to hers. “More than anything, I want to feel that I’ve earned the right to your faith in me. And I want to earn the right to say those words back to you—”
The distant crack of a gunshot split the air. It was followed by three more shots in quick succession. Headlights appeared at the bend in the road.
Even as his mind struggled to switch tracks, his body was reacting. Cooper yanked Hayley down on the seat, threw himself on top of her and reached into the glove compartment for his gun.
Chapter 14
The door of the Long Shot stood wide open as people streamed from the barroom. Some joined the circle that had formed in the parking lot, but most were heading for their vehicles. There were so many leaving that Cooper couldn’t pull in. He drove over the curb, bumped along the border of the lot and stopped in the long grass at the edge of the overgrown orchard.
Pete spotted him immediately and jogged over to meet him. He spoke through the driver’s window. “One shooter,” he said. “No one saw who it was.”
“Where is he now?”
“Gone. Took off heading south. He was alone.”
“Must have been him that passed by us,” Cooper said. “We were just around the bend and heard the shots. Anyone hurt?”
“Only one. The cue ball.”
“Bad?”
“Yeah. Theresa’s giving him first aid, but it doesn’t look good.”
Cooper tucked his gun into the back of his waistband and tugged his T-shirt out of his jeans to cover it. He glanced at Hayley.
Her face was pale and her cheeks still damp. Her hair was a wild tangle around her head from the way he had shoved her beneath him. The seconds that had passed before Cooper had realized that no one was shooting at them had been the longest seconds of his life, but in those instants he’d known he would gladly have given his life to save hers.
Damn, the feelings kept pouring out. This wasn’t the time or the place, but now that they had started, he couldn’t stop them. She’d said that she loved him.
He grasped Hayley’s wrist and returned his gaze to Pete. “Take Hayley upstairs. Check the place out to make sure it’s clear, then—”
“No!” Hayley wrenched her wrist free, grabbed her purse from the floor and pushed open her door. “I want to know what happened.”
Cooper threw his door open and jumped to the ground. He caught her arm as she rounded the hood. He would prefer to have her safely out of sight, but he didn’t have time to argue. He looked around the parking lot for the rest of his men, but it was hard to make out faces in the commotion of the departing vehicles.
The exodus didn’t surprise him. Out of habit, most of the bar’s patrons wouldn’t want to stick around to get interrogated as eyewitnesses. “Where’s Hank?” he asked Pete.
“He’s the one who saw it go down.” Pete gestured toward the road. “He took a few shots at the car but he missed. He’s picking up his casings before the cops get here so he doesn’t get busted for breaking his parole.”
“Damn, I told him not to shoot unless he had to.”
“Yeah, that’s Hank. He hasn’t changed. Ken’s calling it in now.”
“Good.” Cooper pulled Hayley securely to his side and surveyed the area once more. “If Hank’s busy picking up shell casings, who’s watching the back door?” Cooper demanded.
“Aw, hell.” Pete pivoted and ran toward the rear of the building.
Cooper whistled to get the attention of the men who were supposed to be keeping track of the front entrance. He pointed to the open door emphatically, waited until the men had returned to their posts, then started for the circle where the remaining crowd was the thickest.
The floodlight that was fixed to the side wall bathed the scene in a stark glare. Cooper saw the gleam of Izzy’s shaved head first. The man was lying on his back on the pavement at the side of the building about halfway between the front and rear entrances. Theresa was on her knees beside him, a stack of towels from the bar on her lap. She was holding one to his chest with the heel of her hand. As Cooper moved closer, he could see the towel was soaked with crimson.
Hayley gasped and made a choking noise in her throat.
Cooper turned and stepped in front of her to block her view. “You don’t need to see this,” he said.
She kept her gaze on Cooper’s chest. “Who is it?”
“Izzy Pressman.”
“The man who brought those drugs to the bar?”
“Yeah.”
She breathed hard a few times. “Who do you think did this?”
“My money would be on Sproule. Izzy was stealing from him.” Cooper continued to scan the crowd, watching for anyone who looked as if they didn’t belong or might cause trouble. “Sproule would take it personally if he thought someone on his payroll was cheating him. He’s a control freak and would want to do the job himself.”
“The way he killed my brother.”
He felt another tremor go through her shoulders. He looked at her face. Her skin was turning a sickly shade of white. There was a sheen of perspiration on her upper lip. “Hayley?”
“I don’t do that well with blood. I threw up the last time my father took me hunting.” She pushed her hair from her forehead, her hand unsteady. “I’m sorry. I—”
“It’s all right.” He drew her away from the crowd. A siren sounded in the distance just as he saw Pete returning. Cooper waved him over.
“Sorry, Coop,” Pete said. He braced his hands on his knees and inhaled noisily to catch his breath before he continued. “The guys didn’t think before they took off. Everything’s secure now.”
Cooper gave Hayley a quick, closed-mouth kiss and guided her toward Pete. “Wait for me upstairs,” he told her. “Lock the door behind you. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She didn’t argue this time. Cooper
watched until Pete got her safely inside, then pushed through the circle of bystanders and knelt beside Theresa. “Want me to take over?” he asked.
Theresa nodded. Her hands and wrists were streaked with blood, her arms trembling from the strain. “There’s nothing we can do except keep pressure on it.”
Cooper took a fresh towel from her lap and placed it over the soaked one as she withdrew her hands and got to her feet. It was impossible to see the extent of the damage, but judging by all the blood, Pete was right. It was bad. Izzy’s chest was hardly moving. Cooper shifted his gaze to Izzy’s face.
His eyes were open and he was staring right at Cooper. His lips moved.
Cooper leaned closer. “You want to tell me something, Izzy?”
“Sproule,” he grated out. “Sproule did this.”
“That’s what I figured. He found out you were dipping into the merchandise.”
“Didn’t take…that much. No cause…t’ shoot me.”
“Hang on. The ambulance should be here any minute.”
Izzy’s eyelids fluttered. He coughed on a bubble of blood. “’S she here?”
Careful to maintain a steady pressure on Izzy’s chest, Cooper took another towel from Theresa with his free hand and gently wiped Izzy’s chin. “Who?”
“Th’ hot li’l bitch. Nina.”
Cooper had never liked Izzy. The man was a pig. He had wanted to give heroin to an underage girl.
Yet it still moved him to see how gravely the man had been wounded. Whatever Izzy’s mistakes, he was still human. He didn’t deserve to end up like this. How much more blood was going to be on Sproule’s hands before he was finally stopped?
“No, she’s not here,” Cooper replied. “Save your strength, Izzy.”
“Sh—” He wheezed in a breath. “She tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“’Bout th’ cop. She…said…sh’ would.”
Izzy’s speech was no more than a whisper, his words slurring. The siren grew louder. Cooper saw more of the people who circled them melt away. “What cop?” he asked.
“Sproule’s pet cop.” Izzy coughed again. This time the blood that came up was thicker. He blinked as Cooper cleaned it off his mouth. “Am I…gonna die, Webb?”
“Probably, Izzy. Feel like confessing your sins?”
His upper lip curled back from his teeth. “Screw…you. Wheresnina. Gotta see’r.”
“She isn’t here.”
“Tell’er…keep’r mouth shut…’bout Adam Tavistock.”
Cooper stiffened. “What do you know about Adam Tavistock?”
“He was dirtier th’n us, Webb.” His eyelids lowered. “Ain’t that…somethin’?” His head rolled to the side and he slipped into unconsciousness.
There was a loud whoop of siren from the road. Red lights flashed across the people who remained as the ambulance pulled into the parking lot. Cooper stayed where he was until the paramedics took over, his mind still trying to register what he had learned. He straightened up, wiping his hands on the last clean towel, then dropped it with the others on the foot of the stretcher as Izzy was loaded into the ambulance.
Theresa moved beside him. “What was he telling you? I couldn’t hear.”
Cooper looked around quickly. Theresa had been standing the closest to him. If she hadn’t heard, no one else would have, either. “He said Sproule was the one who shot him.”
“That figures, but what was he doing here?”
“Izzy was looking for his girlfriend and he thought she was at the Long Shot again,” Cooper said. “Pete told me she was here this morning.”
Cooper watched as a pair of police cars entered the parking lot. All except a handful of the customers had departed. Several cops started to question the ones who were left. Evidently Hank had managed to dispose of his gun and his casings—he voluntarily walked over to speak with a tall uniformed woman.
“Mr. Webb?” A short balding man strode toward him. He was wearing a suit, so he was probably the one in charge. “I have some questions. Are you the owner of this place?”
“Yes,” Cooper said. “The Long Shot is mine.”
And the stakes for keeping it had just gone up. One way or another he was going to nail Sproule. The bastard was getting bolder to do a hit on Cooper’s turf. It had been a mistake to ease back on the harassment. Sproule must have viewed it as a weakness. The hell with what Nathan wanted, Cooper was going to tell his men to get back in Sproule’s face.
“I’m Detective Ford,” the cop said. He flipped open a spiral-bound notebook and clicked his pen. “Did you see what happened?”
“No, I was on my way here. I heard the shots and saw a black sedan go by but I didn’t get a licence number or see who was in it.”
Ford scribbled something in his notebook. “I understand the victim is a man by the name of Isaac Pressman. Do you know him?”
Cooper answered the cop’s questions honestly, but he didn’t offer any extra information. There was no way he was going to repeat what Izzy had said, not until he’d had the chance to think this through.
Yet it wasn’t that big a leap in reasoning. As a matter of fact, it fit. Cooper knew first hand that Adam Tavistock wasn’t a man of his word. He hadn’t had a high opinion of Adam’s character or his ability as a cop. If Adam had been dirty, it put a whole different spin on his murder. It could be why Sproule had been brazen enough to do the job himself. It also might have been why even the honest cops hadn’t wanted to help Hayley nail his killer.
It was lucky that Hayley had gone inside when she did and hadn’t heard any of this. She had already been upset. She would be devastated if she learned…
A thought floated through Cooper’s consciousness. He didn’t want to look at it. He tried to keep his attention on Ford, but he couldn’t stop the facts from clicking in his head.
Nina had come here this morning to talk about Adam. She had spoken with Hayley. Hayley had been upset, and she never had given him a straight answer when he’d asked her what Nina had said.
Was this what had triggered Hayley’s talk about quitting?
By the time Ford and his colleagues had finished taking statements and photographing the scene, it was too late for Cooper to consider reopening the bar. He sent Ken and Theresa home, dimmed the lights and walked behind the bar to pour himself a shot of whiskey. He downed it in one swallow and wrapped his fist around the glass.
Pete came through the swinging door at the back of the room and walked over to join him. “The back end’s locked up tight so the guys left. They’re going to cruise around Sproule’s turf for a while and make sure everyone’s behaving.”
“Okay.”
“Hell of a night, eh boss?”
“Yeah.” Cooper took the gun from his belt and secured it in the strong box under the bar. “How’s Hayley?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since I took her upstairs.”
“How was she when you brought her inside?”
“She didn’t say much. Just watched me check the loft and then locked the door behind me like you told her to.” Pete sat on a stool across from Cooper and propped his elbow on the bar. “She looked upset. Man, I thought she might pass out when she saw the blood.”
“How was she this morning after Nina left?”
“She looked kind of sick then, too. It was some turnaround from before the kid got here. Hayley had been going around all morning with this sappy smile on her face. Whatever you two did last night—”
“Did she tell you what Nina talked about?” Cooper interrupted.
“No. She was in a big hurry to get to the bank.”
Cooper set the glass down and poured another shot. Some of the liquid splashed onto the bar. Moving mechanically, he reached for a towel, but there weren’t any left. He swiped at the drops with his hand, doing his best to anchor his mind on the small task while reality continued to shift around him.
It all made sense now. Nina must have told Hayley that Adam had been on S
proule’s payroll. That was why Hayley had gone to the bank. She was a forensic accountant and would want to verify the information by following the money trail. She had power of attorney for her father and was the executor of her brother’s will, so she wouldn’t need a warrant to look at her family’s accounts.
What had she found?
If we keep chasing Sproule, we’re going to stir up more trouble than we bargained for. People are going to get hurt.
That was what she had said. He had assumed she had meant the two of them. She had obviously been talking about someone else.
“What’s going on, Coop?” Pete asked. “You don’t look so good.”
People are going to get hurt.
Cooper concentrated on keeping his hands steady as he replaced the cap and put away the bottle. He left his drink on the bar and moved to the front door. “I’m fine. Go home, Pete. I’ll finish locking up.”
As soon as Pete left, Cooper set the bolt, activated the alarm and returned to the bar. Instead of moving behind it, he sank down on a stool, dropped his head in his hands and stared at the whiskey in his glass. It was good stuff, triple malt. He didn’t pad his profits by watering it down or pouring cheap brands into good bottles. He ran a clean place. He was proud of what he’d built here.
Hayley wanted him to give up the Long Shot because that would be the price of letting Sproule go. It was obvious now why she had been so desperate to convince him. If Sproule was arrested by authorities who weren’t part of a coverup, and if there was a genuine investigation into Sproule’s criminal dealings, then the truth about all of those dealings was bound to come out.
Cooper remembered how frail her father had seemed when he’d lifted him into bed. Hayley would think she had no choice—learning the truth about Saint Adam would set back Ernie’s recovery. It might even kill him.
Just because my brother wasn’t perfect doesn’t mean that I don’t love him.
Hayley’s feelings for her brother and her father ran deep. Her loyalty was only one of the things Cooper admired about her. This must be tearing her apart. No wonder she had been so close to tears all day. She would do anything for her family.
The Angel and the Outlaw Page 19
