Small-Town Face-Off

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “Like I told you on the way over here, it’s been confirmed that Bryan’s stash isn’t at the school,” Matt started, taking a seat on the doctor’s stool. He pulled out his pad to look at the notes he’d written. “After hearing what happened, Chief Hawser offered up a few of his off-duty officers to comb the school again, just in case. He said if that’s stepping on your toes to let him know, but he didn’t sound like he cared either way.”

  “I reckon he probably doesn’t mind about stepping on anyone’s toes,” Billy said. “But that’s not a bad idea.”

  “He also said his communications head suggests you hold a press conference to try and let the public know to look out for Beck, his associate and any suspicious activity.” Matt cut him a grin. “I told him you already contacted the news station, right after you yelled at the EMTs to turn off the damn sirens because you couldn’t hear yourself think.”

  Billy knew there was humor in what he’d done, but when he’d woken in the ambulance on a stretcher, Mara peering down at him through her long, dark lashes, he’d been feeling anything but humorous. Part of him knew he needed to take it easy but the other part, the sheriff side of him, knew that time was wasting. Beck and his friend weren’t going to take a break just because he needed one.

  “Was Hawser the only chief in the county that called in so far?” Matt nodded. Billy bet Chief Calloway, from the city of Kipsy, would be on him soon. They were usually a bit busier than the rest of Riker, but Alexandria Calloway was not the kind of chief to sit back and twiddle her thumbs about any case.

  Billy figured he might as well beat her to the punch. “I’ll get Dane to talk to Chief Calloway and see if she can make sure all of her officers stay in the loop.” His head thrummed with a dull ache. Like putting a shell up to his ear and hearing the ocean but, in Billy’s case, he couldn’t seem to put the shell down. The doctor had given him something for the pain and nausea but he’d refused to get the really good stuff. He had a job to do. He needed to stay sharp.

  “While all of this posturing is going on, I need you to keep on trying to figure out who this Beck person is and who’s helping him,” Billy said. “Use Caleb as a start since he’s the only person we actually know the identity of. Once I get out of here I’m going to call in a few reserve deputies to see if we can’t narrow down a possibility as to where our friends are at least staying since we burned their hotel bridge.”

  Matt nodded. He wrote something down and closed the pad. He looked a bit alarmed when Billy swung his legs over the bed and stood. Billy pointed at him.

  “If you tell me to rest, I’ll fire you on the spot,” he threatened.

  Matt’s grin was back.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Good, now get to work. I’m going to go upstairs and then head back to the office.”

  It hadn’t been until a little after he’d come to in the ambulance that Billy had learned Suzy had been shot. Luckily she’d been wearing her bulletproof vest beneath her uniform. The impact, however, had caused her to fall, shattering her radio and pushing her away from her cell phone. Robert, in terror, had started to run, and she’d had her hands full wrangling him back inside the gym. He had been so frenzied that he’d hyperventilated and passed out. Which no one blamed him for. He’d expected to simply show them around the school, maybe find something interesting in the process. Not almost get killed by an unknown shooter.

  Suzy was standing in the hallway on the second floor in the east wing. She had a scowl on her face and her vest in her hand. Instead of her Riker County Sheriff’s Department shirt, she was wearing a plain white T-shirt. When she saw Billy, her scowl deepened.

  “He ruined my shirt,” she greeted. “The bullet tore right through it.”

  “I’m sure we could order you a new one.”

  “Good.”

  Billy was next to her now and could tell she was holding back. But that’s who Suzy was. She held her emotions close to her chest. Sometimes she didn’t even let Billy in, and he was her closest friend.

  “Besides the shirt, how’s everything else?” he asked. Suzy brought her eyes up quick, her mouth stretching into a thin line. Defensive. Billy amended his question. “I mean with the vest. How’s the vest doing?”

  Suzy started to say something but paused. She let out a breath and played along.

  “Okay,” she admitted, face softening for a moment. “Glad it wasn’t shot more than once, though. It’s going to bruise something wicked.”

  Billy smiled.

  “Won’t we all.”

  Suzy nodded, gave her own little smirk and motioned to the room behind her. The door was shut but Billy knew who was behind it.

  “How’s Cassie doing?” He nodded to the room.

  Suzy glanced over her shoulder.

  “To be honest, I don’t know. All I got is that she hasn’t woken up since the surgery, but she’s on some pretty intense meds so that’s normal.”

  Billy tensed. For several reasons. One was that he hadn’t seen Mara since she’d left him to go with Suzy to check on the trainee. Surely Suzy wouldn’t just let her wander off.

  “So, Mara’s not in there?” he had to ask. It made Suzy’s lip quirk up for a second. She pointed down to the other end of the hall.

  “Don’t worry, Sheriff. Your gal’s right there.”

  Billy ignored the comment but was glad to see the dark-haired woman a few yards away. She stood talking to an older couple he recognized as Mr. and Mrs. Gates, Cassie’s parents. He hadn’t realized they had already flown in, probably relieving her sister who had a few kids at home. He’d meant to meet with them, but that intention had fallen through the cracks as their case had gone nowhere but south since Cassie had been hurt. Billy scrubbed his hand down his face and sighed. It sat heavy on his chest.

  “Buck up, partner,” Suzy whispered. “They’re coming over.”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Gates, it’s good to see you,” Billy greeted them when they stopped. He had no doubt in that moment that neither would leave the hospital until their daughter did. “I’m just sorry it had to be under these circumstances.”

  Mrs. Gates, a woman who probably exercised her laugh lines during happier times, gave him a weak smile. She looked exhausted and withdrawn. A shadow of the woman Billy had met at Cassie’s informal birthday gathering a handful of months before. Mr. Gates, who held the strain of his daughter’s near-death experience clearly on his shoulders, was faster with a verbal greeting and a handshake.

  “I’d have to agree with you there,” he said, pumping Billy’s hand once and letting it drop. His eyes dropped with it and focused on Suzy’s vest. The chief deputy had tried to angle it behind her as they’d walked up, but Mr. Gates had a sharp eye. Or maybe he was just suspicious of anything and everything. Billy didn’t blame him, considering. “The man who did that to Cassie shot you?” he asked Suzy.

  “We can’t say for certain,” she responded. “But it’s a possibility.”

  “Either way, both incidents are being investigated thoroughly by our entire department and other departments in the county,” Billy assured him. “And we’re about to go back out there and join them.” The words didn’t seem to offer Mrs. Gates any relief the way they did her husband. Mara must have sensed it. She lightly touched the woman’s arm.

  “These are good, smart people,” she said. “Everyone responsible will be caught and dealt with. Don’t you worry about that.”

  Mrs. Gates turned to look at Mara. She patted her hand and nodded.

  “How’s she doing, by the way?” Suzy asked. “We couldn’t find the doctor, and the nurse just said she was sleeping.”

  This was a question Mrs. Gates was quicker to answer. There was a noticeable tremble in her voice as she did.

  “She’s good. The surgery was quick and they say everything will heal.” She touched he
r neck. Her voice broke as she added, “She’ll, uh—she’ll have a scar, though.”

  “But a scar we’ll take,” Mr. Gates jumped in. He put his hands on his wife’s arms and squeezed. The pressure seemed to jog her out of the worry she’d been falling back into.

  She turned to him and smiled.

  “You’re right.” She took one of his hands and they seemed to get lost in their own silent conversation. They loved each other. That much was apparent. It made Billy want to look at Mara.

  He shouldn’t have done what he’d done earlier. But being that close to Mara—touching her—he’d just wanted more. His body had taken hold over his mind and reached out for her again.

  And she’d reached back.

  “Well, you let us know if there’s anything we can do for you, but it’s time for us to get back out there,” Billy said, eyes firm on the couple. He didn’t need to look at Mara.

  What had happened between them couldn’t happen again. Not now.

  * * *

  “THEY GAVE ME something for the pain and wrapped me up,” Mara said when she was riding shotgun in Billy’s car. “Like I said, it’s only a little bruising. No broken ribs. So I’m fine.”

  “I believe you.”

  His eyes flickered over to her but didn’t settle. It made the guilt of everything that had happened rise again within her.

  “Billy, I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought the money and drugs would be at the school. I was wrong and you got hurt and Suzy got shot. I just—I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault,” he said with force. “It was a good lead. One we had to chase down, one way or the other.” He slapped his hand on the steering wheel. It made Mara jump. “A lead I should have chased down. Not you. I shouldn’t have dropped my guard.” There appeared to be something else he wanted to say, but his original thought must have won out. “You got hurt, too.”

  Mara wanted to wave off his concern, but she realized he was right. In part. Her presence might have been the reason Beck and his lackey had shown up in the first place, thinking she knew where the stash was and following her to the school. If she’d stayed at Billy’s, then the sheriff and his chief deputy wouldn’t have had their lives put in danger. At least, no more than usual.

  That line of thinking was a straight shot to Alexa. She was still at the Reed family home with Claire, unaware that she’d come close to losing her father.

  “I’m sorry, Billy,” Mara whispered before she even realized what she was saying. The haze of medication wasn’t as thick as she wished it was. The kind of pain that couldn’t be seen was coming to the forefront. The present danger they were in was just salt in her past choices’ wounds. She wasn’t talking about what had happened at the school anymore. “I know you must hate me.”

  Billy was silent a moment, probably piecing together a polite way to agree with her, when something she hadn’t expected interrupted them.

  A truck slammed into the side of their car, right behind Billy. It happened so fast that Mara didn’t even have time to scream. The impact rocketed them off the road, past the shoulder and right into the ditch.

  Wham-bam-bam!

  It wasn’t until they settled that Mara realized with relief that they hadn’t flipped. She turned to look at Billy, ready to voice the thought, when she saw the sheriff’s eyes were closed.

  “Billy?” she heard herself screech.

  When he opened his eyes, she would have jumped for joy if it wasn’t for the seat belt that held her tight. He shook his head a little, dazed, and then seemed to snap out of it.

  “You okay?” he asked, already moving.

  “Yeah, I think so. What about who hit us?”

  Billy whipped his head around and looked back out at the road. The Tahoe was turned at an angle that blocked whoever had hit them from Mara’s view. So when Billy started cussing, she didn’t understand. But then he said one name that put everything into terrifying perspective.

  “Beck.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Mara’s heartbeat was in her ears, thumping with unforgiving relentlessness. The spike in adrenaline wasn’t helping. Nor Billy’s warning for her to stay down.

  And it sure didn’t help matters that he’d pulled his gun out.

  “Call Suzy” was all Billy said before he opened his door and took aim past the back end of the vehicle.

  Mara undid her seat belt and tried to get as low as possible while fumbling for Billy’s phone. She found it in a cup holder and dialed Suzy, trying to get her panic under control.

  “Beck just hit us off the road,” Mara rushed to explain as soon as the call connected. She followed with their location before Billy yelled.

  “Come out with your hands up or I’ll shoot,” he warned. Mara couldn’t hear if Beck answered.

  “I’m a minute away,” Suzy said. “Keep me on the line.” Mara nodded to no one in particular and put the phone on speaker. She relayed the information to Billy.

  “Having a shoot-out with the sheriff isn’t a good idea,” Billy hollered.

  Mara wished she could see what was going on. Billy had half his body hanging out the open door and gun held high, but Mara couldn’t believe it was good cover.

  Would Beck really try to shoot him?

  She didn’t have to wonder for long.

  A shot rang out. Mara gasped as the vehicle rocked.

  “What happened?” Suzy yelled, but Billy had his own answer ready. He fired his gun once. It wasn’t long before Beck returned fire, causing Billy to retaliate. Soon all Mara could hear was gunfire slamming into metal and glass. She couldn’t tell who was hitting what. She kept her head covered and her body as low against the floorboards as she could, praying that Billy wasn’t getting hit. When she saw the driver’s side window spiderweb from a bullet, mere inches from Billy, Mara nearly cried.

  However, when the back windshield shattered, covering the interior in a hail of glass, Mara couldn’t help but scream. She closed her eyes tight and covered her head. Around the pounding of her own heart, she expected to hear the shots even more clearly without the back window, but then everything went silent.

  “What’s going on?” she whispered to Billy.

  The sheriff’s posture was rigid—a stance that said there was no way in hell he was moving until this was over—but he answered her after a moment.

  “Beck got back into the car,” he said. “The windows are tinted. I can’t see either one of them now.”

  So Beck had his friend with him.

  Maybe because that left him more vulnerable than he liked, Billy got back into the driver’s seat and shut his door. His head stayed turned, keeping an eye on the truck. It was still on the road, level with them, but at an angle that gave neither Billy nor Beck a good, clean shot.

  “They’re leaving,” Billy yelled, angry.

  “Let’s go after them!” Mara might not have liked the danger but, with a surge of anger herself, she knew then that the men weren’t going to stop.

  So they needed to be stopped.

  “They shot out a tire. I tried to do the same but my angle was off,” he growled. “Suzy, they’re moving down Meadows, southbound. Driving the same truck Mara described when she came to town. They’re missing some windows.”

  Suzy confirmed she heard while Billy got his radio. He gave an order for the deputies in the area to help Suzy. He also told dispatch to send a tow truck. She asked if they needed medical attention. It seemed to snap Billy out of sheriff mode. His eyes softened with concern. So much of it that Mara felt the sudden urge to wrap herself around him. To comfort him. To feel comfort from him. To feel him.

  “I’m okay,” she assured him instead. “Are you?”

  Billy nodded, but Mara still traced every inch of him she could with her eyes. He told dispatch to hold
off on the medic. When he was done with his orders, Billy scrubbed a hand down his face. A sigh as heavy as a boulder seemed to crush him.

  “I agree with that sigh,” Mara said, moving slowly, gingerly, back to a sitting position. She couldn’t help but wince, pain meds or not. Billy’s hand covered hers.

  Expecting his eyes to be as soft as they had been moments before, Mara was surprised again by the man. He looked like he was ready to kill.

  “We have to end this,” he said, voice hard as stone. Mara was about to agree, but then the sheriff said something that stopped her cold. “Mara, we have to talk to your father.”

  * * *

  THE DRIVE OUT to Walter Correctional Facility took them an hour out of Riker County. In that hour, Mara had barely spoken a word. As he sat across from her father now, Billy didn’t blame her one bit for needing the silence to collect her thoughts. She might have to face a man not even Billy wanted to deal with. But the fact of the matter was that Beck was escalating. Ambushing them at the school and then less than a few hours later attacking them again, this time on a well-traveled public road?

  It all reeked of desperation.

  Billy believed that if Mara hadn’t screamed, probably making Beck and his associate remember they needed her alive, that the outcome would have been different. But she had and they’d sped off, disappearing before Suzy or any deputies could catch up to them.

  Now here Billy was. In an interview room within the prison looking at a man he’d wished to never see again.

  Bryan Copeland had been balding for years but he had never let a thing like losing his hair conflict with his image. He was a confident man. Always had been. He’d always worn suits and expensive cologne, and had a quick wit about him that made people laugh. He was a people person, a schmoozer, a go-get-them type filled with determination and steeped in self-esteem.

  Bryan Copeland had been kind and cunning in his dealings with the general public and one hell of a dancer at parties. To his underlings, however, he had been cutthroat. Like night and day, when Bryan needed to get down to business he stripped off his disguise and showed his true face. His wit became a weapon, his charm a tool. Whatever compassion he exuded in his home life and within the community was replaced with menace and greed.