Small-Town Face-Off

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “Caleb Richards is dead. The second shot hit him in the head.”

  “But how?” Mara was shocked. “He was in the interrogation room. There’s definitely no windows in there.”

  “The poor SOB had to use the bathroom. He got his lawyer to let him go as soon as he walked in. He was shot in the hallway, right in front of the door.”

  A chill ran up Mara’s spine and then invaded every inch of her. The one place she’d thought was completely safe hadn’t been able to prevent a death.

  “We think the first shot was meant for Caleb,” Suzy continued, not stopping for Mara’s thoughts. She looked out the windshield, directing her car through traffic. They’d decided that leaving Mara’s car in the department parking lot was a good idea. They’d only paused to put Alexa’s car seat in Suzy’s. “He meant to shoot through the conference room windows once at Caleb, I’m assuming, but—” Suzy paused and seemed to rethink what she’d been about to say.

  “But Cassie had the bad luck to walk by the window when he shot,” Mara guessed. She looked in the rearview mirror to the back seat, where Alexa was nodding off. She’d been able to calm the toddler down during the half hour or so they’d been in the break room. Pure white rage streamed through Mara at the thought that someone could have...

  Mara stopped her thoughts before they went to the darkest what if she could imagine. Alexa had had a terrifying day, but at the end of it she was safe.

  “How is Cassie?” Mara had heard when the first responders had carted the woman out but hadn’t stepped out from the break room to see firsthand. She hadn’t wanted Alexa to see any more blood than she already had.

  “She went into surgery as soon as she got to the hospital. Her sister met her there. Beyond that, I don’t know.”

  Mara felt tears prick behind her eyes. She fisted her hand against her thigh.

  “Any idea who the shooter is?”

  Suzy’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the steering wheel.

  “No,” she admitted. “But believe you me, the sheriff is sure going to find out.”

  “Good.”

  They didn’t talk the rest of the way to Billy’s and Mara couldn’t imagine it another way. When she’d started to work with Billy to help bring down her father they’d kept Mara’s involvement a well-guarded secret. Suzy had been the only person in the department who had known from the start. At first, Mara had wondered if Billy’s insistence on including the woman was born from a relationship that was more than professional. Now Mara knew Suzy was his best friend.

  Suzy is good people, Billy had told her, simply. I trust her more than anyone. And you should, too. She’ll never steer you wrong and will always have your back.

  And that’s how Mara knew Suzy knew about Alexa.

  “You haven’t asked why I left,” Mara said when the car rolled to a stop in Billy’s driveway. Suzy cut the engine. She’d be staying with the two of them until Billy was back, just in case.

  “I assume you had your reasons.” Suzy turned to face her for the first time, keys in the palm of her hand. “And to leave a man that in love with you, they better have been really good reasons.”

  “I used to think they were,” Mara admitted, more honestly than she’d meant. Her cheeks flushed in response.

  “And now?” Suzy asked. Her expression softened.

  Mara didn’t know how to answer that. Luckily, she didn’t have to.

  “Mama,” Alexa fussed. “Mama!”

  Suzy smiled. The tension in the air dissipated. Now Mara could see the mother in the woman next to her coming to the helm.

  “Now that’s a sound I have to admit I miss,” she said. “There might be some uncertainty you’re feeling in your life right now but I can promise you this. Enjoy this time of her life because babies surely don’t keep.”

  For the first time since coming to town, Mara forgot about her troubles. The three of them went into the sheriff’s house, talking about the joys of motherhood, and the Alabama heat and humidity, and the rising price of gasoline.

  Anything other than the current dangers of Riker County.

  * * *

  SOMETIME LATER THAT NIGHT, Suzy left. Mara woke up from her spot on Billy’s bed with a start, heart racing and breath coming out in gasps. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and tried to get her bearings. The sound of glass breaking faded away as full consciousness replaced the nightmare she’d been having. That’s when she saw the note on the nightstand.

  I have to run. Two deputies are outside and I’m locking you in. I set the alarm so don’t try to leave because I don’t know the code to disarm it if you trip it.

  Suzy

  Mara put the note back down and looked over at her daughter. The sleeping child with her dark hair framing her face looked like a princess. Tranquil during sleep, unaware of the world around her.

  And those in that world who would use her mother’s love against her.

  Mara leaned over and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek before getting out of bed carefully. Her bare feet touched the same hardwood Billy walked across daily. It made her wonder if any other women had been in his room—his bed—since she’d gone. Surely they had. Billy was a great catch by anyone’s standards. Why shouldn’t he have taken a lover since? With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Mara realized Billy could indeed still be in a relationship with someone. It wasn’t like either one of them had asked about the other’s love life. Maybe showing up with his daughter had shocked him enough that he’d forgotten to mention his relationship status.

  Mara exhaled until her body sagged. She followed the once-familiar trail that she’d walked during the five months they’d been together from the bed to the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the sink.

  Suzy had grabbed her things from the guesthouse, both of them deciding that it would be easier for everyone to be under one roof. No matter the fact that close proximity and Billy Reed were an almost irresistible combination. Suzy had eaten in the kitchen with them before Mara had been able to go through the task of giving Alexa a bath. After that she’d played with her child until both had fallen asleep. That had been welcome yet unintentional. And Mara knew the sleep that had been easy before would now elude her until she heard from Billy.

  The water felt great against her skin, warm and soothing. If she wasn’t going to go close her eyes again, she might as well use Alexa’s being asleep to freshen up. Mara turned off the faucet and went to the shower. Standing under the water she’d still be able to see Alexa, asleep on the bed in the other room. So, more than ready to wash the day off, Mara opened the door as wide as it would go and quickly undressed.

  When she stepped into the water stream, she sighed. Then, just to make sure, she moved the shower curtain to the side enough to peek at Alexa. The little girl hadn’t moved from her spot. Not even an inch.

  Satisfied, Mara stepped directly under the water. It drenched her hair and skimmed down her back while the warmth wrapped around the rest of her. She tried to clear her mind, but all it wanted was to go back to earlier that day.

  And to Billy.

  Thoughts alone conjured up feelings of pleasure and desire she’d thought would never come again. They weren’t complicated feelings, but when they had to do with their past, how could those feelings be anything but complicated?

  Then, as if just thinking about the man gave her the power to conjure him up, Mara heard the sheriff call out her name. Guilt flooded through her as she tried to erase where her mind had just taken her. She stepped back and quickly wiped at her eyes.

  “In here,” she answered, reflexively taking a step back so she couldn’t be seen through the gap between the shower curtain and the tub. Billy’s heavy shoes sounded outside the door.

  “Can I come in?” he asked. Something in his voice snagged on a branch of her con
cern but she answered all the same.

  “Yeah. Just please leave the door open for Alexa.” Mara reached out, ready to move the curtain to look at the man, but hesitated. “Is she still asleep?”

  There was a pause as he checked.

  “Yeah, she’s snoring a little.”

  “Good,” she said, glad Billy’s entrance hadn’t woken the little girl.

  They both grew silent, only the sound of water hitting Mara’s chest filling the small room.

  “I’m sorry for being in your space. I would have asked but you were busy and, well, the guesthouse didn’t feel as safe,” Mara finally said, unable to keep the quiet going any longer. Every part of her body was on alert. Even more so when Billy didn’t answer. “You there?” she ventured.

  “Can we talk?” He asked it overlapping her question. Something definitely was wrong. Billy’s voice was low and ragged.

  Raw.

  “Of course.”

  The sound of plastic running along metal made Mara turn to face the other end of the shower. Billy pushed the shower curtain open enough for him to step over the lip and into the tub.

  Mara froze, watching as the sheriff, completely clothed, stood in front of a very naked her.

  Billy had seen her naked on several different occasions while they had been together. What was beneath her clothes wasn’t a mystery to the man. However, she expected him to at least give her a once-over. Even if she was utterly confused as to why he was standing in front of her in the first place.

  Yet Billy’s gaze never left her own.

  He closed the space between them so fast that she didn’t have time to question it. He grabbed her face in his hands and crashed his lips into hers. Heat and pressure and an almost dream-like softness all pulsed between their lips. Mara, too stunned to react, let alone speak, stood stock-still as he pulled back, breaking the kiss. He pressed his forehead against hers and spoke with such a strong sound of relief, Mara felt her heart skip a beat.

  “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  Chapter Ten

  The first time Billy ever kissed Mara they’d been in the dining room of his house. It had been a long night of trying to track down a dealer who would decide to flip on Bryan, and Billy could tell the world was weighing heavy on Mara. As he had been bringing in their reheated coffee, he’d caught the woman in a moment she’d been trying to hide.

  Elbows on the table, head in her hands, shoulders hunched, and with what must have been a myriad of emotions running up her spine and filling her shoulders, Mara had looked beyond the definition of exhausted. And not just physically.

  Billy hadn’t known he had romantic feelings for the woman until that moment, though he supposed he’d suspected they were there all along. Seeing her so obviously hurting, he had wanted nothing more than to comfort her. To soothe her wounds. To assure her that, even though things were grim, it didn’t mean they always would be. And so Billy had pulled her up to him, kissed her full on the mouth and then, while resting his forehead against hers, told Mara that everything would be okay.

  How funny that over two years later, and two rooms over, he’d be doing almost the same thing. Yet this time he was the one who needed strength. Though, admittedly, he hadn’t planned on seeking it out fully clothed in the shower.

  He’d come into the house without any thoughts in his head of kissing Mara Copeland. But then she’d spoken to him through the shower curtain, just like old times, and everything in him had shifted. What if Caleb had taken her in the park? What if she’d been the one shot trying to protect Alexa? Then he’d looked at Alexa on the bed, snoring soundly, wrapped in a pink blanket with some Disney character or another on it.

  When Mara had asked if he was there, Billy hadn’t cared about the question. Just the voice asking it. In that moment, he’d only been certain of one thing.

  He needed to touch Mara, to feel her. To know that without a doubt she was real and alive and simply there.

  Now, though, Billy wasn’t so certain of himself.

  True, moments before he’d all but forgotten the world around them. But now?

  He raised his forehead off hers and let his arms fall down to his sides.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, more aware than ever that he was standing fully clothed in front of a naked Mara. “I shouldn’t have just—”

  Mara threw her arms around his neck, pushing her mouth back over his. Any hesitation on his part went down the drain with the hot water. Billy pulled her body against him while deepening the kiss and letting his tongue roam a familiar path. Their lips burned against each other, suddenly alive with a mutual attention that always flamed red hot.

  The rest of him began to wake as his hands pushed against her soft, wet skin. Unable to stay still, he turned and pushed her against the wall. Water cascaded down his sides as he deepened the kiss, pulling a moan from her. He suddenly wished he had taken his clothes off before entering the tub.

  And maybe Mara had the same thought.

  She broke the kiss long enough to grab the bottom of his shirt and pull up. It stuck halfway off. Billy moved away from her to do the deed himself. He yanked it off and shucked it somewhere over his shoulder. Mara openly looked over his chest before moving her lips right back to his. She let her hands linger at the buckle of his belt. Soon it, along with everything else Billy had been wearing, was kicked out of the tub until there was nothing but skin between them. Billy hoisted Mara up and against the wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist.

  They might have lived separate lives in the last two years, but in that moment, it felt like nothing had changed.

  * * *

  THE HOUSE HAD sounded the same for two years.

  Occasionally, it creaked, thanks to the wind, despite having long since settled. Sometimes the branches of the tree outside the guest bedroom scraped against the outside wall. An owl that lived somewhere in the trees away from the house would hoot every so often, while the frogs and insects had a constant rhythm that carried from dark until light. The refrigerator’s ice maker and the air conditioner both fussed a little when they came on, too. These were the noises Billy was used to, the ones he heard but never really thought too much about.

  However, lying awake in his bed, two new sounds began to mingle with the house.

  He turned his head to the right and looked at Mara.

  Dimly illuminated from the bathroom light that filtered under the door, Billy could see the woman’s face, relaxed in sleep. Her hair was splayed across her pillow like something wild and her lips were downturned. His gaze stayed on those lips for a moment.

  He hadn’t meant for anything to happen between them. But once Mara had kissed him, he’d known that he couldn’t resist her. They might have a complicated past but there was no denying the two of them were connected by something stronger than simple attraction. They’d started a relationship during an intense investigation because being together without being together had been too much for either one of them to resist. They needed skin against skin, mind to mind. They needed each other, even when it wasn’t what they needed separately. And it was that need that had given him something unexpected.

  His attention moved to the little girl between them. Mara had curved her body toward Alexa, protecting her even when sleeping, while Billy had taken up guard on the other side.

  After he and Mara had gotten dressed, Billy had been ready to sleep in the guest room or even on the couch. They both knew that their time together hadn’t fixed their time apart. Especially when it came down to the fact that Mara had kept Alexa a secret. However, Mara had been quick to ask him to stay.

  If only to make sure Alexa doesn’t roll off the bed, she had said with a little laugh. Billy didn’t know if she was joking or not, but he took the job seriously.

  It was the first one he’d been given, after all
.

  For the umpteenth time since their shower together, Billy couldn’t stop the blanket of questions that was being woven around him. Holding in every question he had for the mother of his child. The child she’d kept a secret. Why?

  And why hadn’t he asked her. Why hadn’t he gotten an answer before they’d kissed or before they’d gone further?

  Billy knew why.

  His body hadn’t cared that he didn’t have answers to why she kept Alexa a secret or why she’d left at all. All it had needed was to know that Mara was safe and then all it had needed was her.

  Still, lying there now, Billy knew he should have asked. Because, even if he didn’t like the answer—how could he?—he needed one. Just as badly as he needed to stop Beck.

  To protect Mara and his daughter.

  Billy’s cell phone started to vibrate just as thoughts of being a father picked back up in his mind. Both dark-haired ladies stirred. As quickly and quietly as he could, Billy got out of bed and took his phone into the hallway.

  “Reed,” he answered.

  “We found Bernie Lutz’s girlfriend,” Detective Walker said, not wasting time. “After we let her go the other night she apparently jackrabbited to the next county over and got stopped going forty over the speed limit. One of the officers knew we were looking for her so they called up and we got them the sketch of Beck and Caleb. She confirmed Beck was one of the two men who threatened Bernie before he died, but had never seen Caleb.”

  “At least that’s one mystery put to bed,” Billy admitted.

  “They are going to hold her for reckless driving until they can get the sketch artist back in tomorrow so we can try to figure out who this mystery friend of Beck’s is. She didn’t recognize any of the men she saw from the database. They warned me it probably wouldn’t be until the afternoon that they could get it going, though. Apparently Walden’s visit to help us was his last stop before his vacation kicked in.”