Her feet dangled. She pushed one against the side of the house to give herself some leverage.
She got lucky. Her foot landed on the top of the window sill below. It was enough. Just enough.
The woman screamed, and Kelly got distracted. She missed her handhold and started to fall.
She grabbed again, feeling some of her nails rip off from the force. A foot hit her in the head and she lost her grip as some of the wooden lattice crumbled beneath her fingers, from rot and force.
In that moment she knew she was going to fall. It was just a matter of seconds. She reached again. If that woman kicked her again, she wouldn’t have any handhold at all.
She looked up.
Her eyes met his, just as he reached for the other woman.
Autumn fought his hold.
Josh tried to reach around her—for Kelly.
But there was no way he’d be able to reach. Kelly knew it.
And if he kept trying he would fall himself.
Terror filled her at the thought. “Hold on, Josh. I’m ok. I promise.”
“I’m going to get to you. I promise, baby. I promise.”
“No! Let me worry about me, will you?” Her broken arm was protesting, the bones nowhere near strong enough for what she was forcing them to do.
“Kelly! I’m behind you! Reach for me!”
Ken. Dear God, she’d forgotten Ken, hadn’t she?
Autumn reached out again. This time Kelly saw her hands go toward Josh. But not to hold on to him.
To push him from the roof.
No!
Kelly stretched out, ignoring the hand Ken was holding out toward her. She could have reached Ken now.
The man had climbed further on the second-floor roof and thanks to his height was probably able to reach the bottoms of her shoes. He could catch her.
If she was willing to let him.
Instead she wrapped her injured arm through the wooden lattice, jamming it in as tightly as she could, though the carving in the wood was too small for her arm and the remnants of that damned cast. She made it fit, ignoring the pain.
And she reached out with her right hand and grabbed Autumn’s pants.
Just as the bitch yanked at Josh’s arm, unsettling him.
Kelly pulled the woman as hard as she could. Josh caught himself just in time.
Kelly let go.
Autumn went down, missing the second floor roof by six inches. Kelly’s already broken arm cracked again, this time higher up on the bones where she was using them as leverage in the wood trim. She screamed.
Others cried out. But Autumn’s was the worst.
Her wail was one Kelly would never forget.
Less than a second or two later she felt Josh above her. His hand grabbed for her uninjured one. “I’m stuck! My left arm!”
“I know. I’m going to get you out. And lower you to Ken. We’ll go to the hospital and get you taken care of. God, Kelly, I love you.”
“Is that woman dead?”
“I don’t fucking care. My only worry is for you.”
Kelly looked up at him. “I love you, too.”
Chapter 60
Someone put a hand out and forced the one holding Cody’s weapon at the ready down. She looked over.
It was Sin. She thought. It could have been Sebastian.
She was shaking and crying too much to tell if it was her ex-husband or his asshole brother. She had always hated field work. She wasn’t cut out for this at all.
Watching a woman die was too much.
Knowing that woman had almost killed one of her closest friends was almost as bad.
She holstered her weapon. She would have used it if she’d had to, but she was grateful that she hadn’t. “Is she safe?”
She couldn’t look at the roof. Not after what she had just witnessed.
Kelly’s father was there before she finished speaking. He ran right past the two of them.
“What happened, Merrick?” Sin asked, in his dark, imposing answer me voice. She’d always hated that voice.
But right then she didn’t care. Not if it meant he would handle things so that she didn’t have to.
And she knew he would. One thing about him—he handled things. “That woman died here today. That’s just about all I know. Anything else you want to know—ask them. I’m sure they can explain all of it.”
She sat down on the curb, her eyes trained on the scene across from them. Cars were pulling in everywhere. Bureau, locals, Ally…Cody just watched the roof.
Josh was lowering Kelly to Ken. And Ken was holding her close. Kelly was injured.
But thank God she and Josh were both still alive.
That was what mattered most.
Epilogue
He waited in the hospital waiting room for what seemed like an eternity.
Kelly’s arm fractures required surgery to set this time. Her arm was in pretty bad shape, between the old breaks, the new break, and being shot.
She’d wanted him with her until the sedatives had started to work, and the doctors had kicked him out of the room and to the waiting room where the rest of her family waited.
They both had some questions to answer. He took care of his part while he waited.
While he tried not to worry; to tell himself that Kelly was damned strong, and could get through anything.
But Hell and Ed Dennis seemed satisfied with the answers he could give them. And with the evidence found at Autumn Miles’ home.
The Ghost was dead.
Now it was up to him and Kelly to figure out what happened next.
He was looking forward to it.
There would be hurdles—he didn’t doubt that. But he loved her. More than anything else, he loved that woman.
Seeing her dangling from the edge of the roof had made it crystal clear just exactly how much and in what way he loved her.
Completely. Irrevocably. Forever.
Dan patted him on the shoulder. “She’ll be ok.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I should have figured it out sooner.”
“How could you? No one did. But you saved her. You and Ken. Don’t forget that.”
Had he?
“It’s more like she saved me.” And she had. They’d both known the only way they’d both survive was if Autumn Miles was the one who died. “I love her, Dan. My world just stopped seeing her up there and vulnerable.”
“I know exactly how that feels. And I can’t think of a better man for my daughter. Think about why I feel that way for a while. See if you can see what I do. What Kelly does. Before she wakes.”
***
When Kelly woke she knew several hours had passed, she was in a hospital—and she had killed a woman.
It was a lot to process, wasn’t it?
She’d seen dead bodies before. Many of which were women.
But never had she been directly responsible. But Josh was ok, wasn’t he?
She looked around the room—and there he was. Watching her sleep. “Hey.”
“Hey. How do you feel?”
“Loopy. Sad. But thankful we’re both ok. She was the Ghost, wasn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Did the fall kill her? No one actually said…”
“Yes. She landed on the fence, Kel. It wasn’t pretty.”
“I’m sorry it had to be that way.” She’d have to find a way to process, wouldn’t she?
“You’ll need to talk to a counselor. I think we both will.”
“Probably a good idea. Let’s not talk about it now, though.”
“Can’t hide from it. But we can deal with it later.”
“For now, I just want to hear you say it before I go back to sleep.”
“Say what?”
“What you said on the roof.”
“I love you.”
“That works for me. How could you not? I’m so loveable.”
“If I recall correctly, you said it, too.”
“You better believe I did. I lo
ve you. Nothing’s going to change that. I told Ally before they gave me a loony shot to pack up my stuff for me. Best get prepared; I’m moving in with you.”
“The house is still a crime scene.”
“The big one. But you have another. We’ll stay there until ours is finished being remodeled.”
“You want to stay in the one by your father’s?”
The Ghost had taken enough from them. She wasn’t getting anything else. “Hell, yes I do. It’s ours. No ghost allowed.”
She wrapped her free hand around his and held it until she fell asleep again.
With him right next to her—right where she wanted him.
Forever.
About Calle J. Brookes
Calle J. Brookes is first and foremost a fiction writer. She enjoys crafting paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She reads almost every genre except horror. She spends most of her time juggling family life and writing, while reminding herself that she can’t spend all of her time in the worlds found within books. Calle J. loves to be contacted by her readers via email and at www.CalleJBrookes.com.
Ghosting (PAVAD: FBI Romantic Suspense Book 10) Page 17
