Love Inspired Suspense July 2015 #1 (51 page)

Gary pulled a small notebook from his pocket. “What happened?”

“I don't know. Hunter was leaving, and I had turned to go inside. So I didn't see anything.”

Gary asked several more questions that she couldn't answer. If she had had the presence of mind to look across the street when it happened, she might have seen someone run away. Maybe Hunter had.

Static sounded from Gary's radio, followed by a male voice. Her heart fell. The suspect was still at large. But they had found the weapon, a Parker crossbow. The suspect had dropped it in the bushes two doors down.

As Wade and Joe carried Hunter out on a stretcher, Meagan's heart twisted. He was on his way to the hospital because of her. He could have been killed.

Or she could have been with Darci when Edmund attacked. And Darci could have been killed, leaving her precious little boy without a mother
or
father.

Meagan had promised Hunter that she wouldn't run, no matter what happened. That was a promise she was going to have to break. Staying would endanger the lives of everyone she cared about.

So tomorrow morning, she would go see Darci. After all Darci had done for her, Meagan couldn't leave without saying goodbye. Then she would cash last week's paycheck and put it with the eight hundred dollars she had saved from selling her paintings. Finally, she would take a cab to the Greyhound station in Chiefland, thirty minutes away. From there, she would decide where to go. As far from Cedar Key as she could afford.

Maybe somewhere large this time, a big city where she could get lost in the throngs of people. Three months ago, Cedar Key had seemed like the perfect choice. She had wanted somewhere far from California, preferably warm and small enough to get around without a car. Though she had never been to Cedar Key before, a childhood friend used to vacation there, and listening to her stories, the place had seemed magical. Of course, at twelve years old, everything had seemed magical. By twenty-four, the knocks of life had pretty well destroyed the magic of childhood.

Now she wasn't going for magical. Or even warm. As far as getting around without a car, large cities had mass transit.

She would be starting over in a big metropolis with less than half the cash she'd had when she came to Cedar Key. The thought made her blood run cold. But there was one thought that scared her more.

Edmund had found her.

Tonight she would be safe. All night long, cops would be watching her house. Then tomorrow, she would run.

As she made her plans, something kept niggling at the back of her mind, the sense that something was off. She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. She wasn't hungry, but anything she didn't eat tonight would go to waste. The unopened things she would give to Darci.

Meagan popped a bowl of leftover spaghetti into the microwave, then stood watching it turn. Suddenly it hit her. Her mind had immediately gone to Edmund because of his love of archery. There was only one problem.

Edmund wouldn't have missed.

But maybe he hadn't been aiming for her. Maybe his target had been Hunter. Especially if he thought there was anything between the two of them.

She dismissed that thought also. If Edmund had wanted to hit Hunter, the shot wouldn't have been to his shoulder.

It would have been straight through his heart.

FIVE

A
familiar tune sounded in the distance. But Hunter didn't want to listen to music. Actually, he didn't want to hear anything. The silent darkness that enveloped him was soothing.

Except for the pain, an annoying throb in his shoulder. If he could just sink further into the darkness...

He reached for the spare pillow to throw it over his face. Searing pain shot through his left shoulder, bringing him fully awake. Memories of the prior night rushed back to him. Bringing Meagan home. Getting shot. With an arrow, of all things. It had grazed his left arm, its metal tip slicing a jagged path across his deltoid, laying the flesh wide-open.

He swiped his right hand down his face, trying to brush the sleep from his eyes. It had been a rough night. He had tried to remain on his back, but he was a side sleeper, alternating between his left and right throughout the night. More times than he could count, he had stopped midroll as pain jarred him awake.

The music sounded again. Now fully conscious, he recognized it instantly. Who was calling at that early hour? He turned on his good side and reached for the phone, his eyes falling on the window as he did. Light filtered in between the slats in the miniblinds.
Bright
light. Maybe it wasn't so early, after all.

He mumbled a tired “hello” into the phone.

Darci's cheery voice greeted him.

“What time is it?” He squinted at the alarm clock next to his bed. Nine-fourteen. That couldn't be right.

“It's a quarter after nine. Are you all right? Meagan told me what happened.”

“Yeah, I'm okay. They cleaned everything up and sewed me back together. But I'm going to be in a sling for a while.”

“Meagan's leaving.”

“What?” If there was any grogginess still lingering in his brain, it was gone now. “What do you mean, she's leaving?”

“She stopped by the store to tell me goodbye.”

An odd sadness pricked his heart. She hadn't bothered to tell
him
goodbye.

But why should she? They didn't have any kind of special relationship. Not even a real friendship. All his dealings with her were as a cop protecting a citizen. Nothing more than that. On either side.

Besides, she had a good reason for avoiding him. She had made him a promise. And now she was breaking it.

“Where is she going?”

“I don't know. Actually,
she
doesn't know. She was headed to the bus station in Chiefland and is going to pick a place and buy a ticket when she gets there.”

“How is she getting to Chiefland?”

“She called a cab.”

He struggled to a sitting position. Meagan was on her way out of Cedar Key, out of their lives. Relationship or not, he wasn't ready to let her go.

She needed him. She needed all of them. She was lost and alone. And Edmund was closing in. She didn't stand a chance if she left their protection. Edmund would get to her in no time.

If he hadn't already.

Hunter put Darci on speakerphone and laid down the phone to struggle into some shorts. “How long ago did she leave?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes. I tried calling you two other times.”

Two times?
He must have been dead to the world. It was probably the combination of the pain medication and the fact that he didn't get home until 3:00 a.m. And the six hours that he did spend in bed, he was either in a tense state of alertness, consciously trying to stay on his back, or falling into a deep enough sleep to roll onto his left side, which had jarred him awake.

He pulled out a T-shirt, then put it back in the drawer in favor of something he could don without lifting his left arm, another button-up shirt.

“Are you still there?” Darci's words cut into his thoughts, reminding him how long it had been since he had spoken.

“I'm here. But I'm going after her.”

“I thought you might.”

There was a smile in Darci's tone, almost an
I knew it
or an
I told you so.
He knew exactly what she was thinking. Darci was a hopeless romantic. At least where everyone else was concerned. She herself avoided relationships like the plague. In that way, she was a bit of a hypocrite.

Well, she could cling to whatever fantasies she wanted to have. Regardless of the attraction that sparked between him and Meagan, he wasn't in the market for love. And neither was Meagan. She had too many issues. In fact, she had
complicated
written all over her. And he didn't do complicated.

He ended the call and pulled out a pair of shoes that didn't involve laces. When he had finished wrestling with the last of his shirt buttons, he resecured the sling and dashed out the door. His friend Blake had ventured out in the middle of the night to bring him home. But this trip he would make by himself.

As he left Cedar Key and headed up the highway, he kept his eyes peeled for a cab. He probably wouldn't overtake her on 24. She'd had too much of a head start. Maybe 345.

He didn't overtake her there, either. But as he drove into the Greyhound bus station, a taxi was pulling out. He chose a parking space near the door and hurried inside. Meagan stood at the ticket counter, counting out bills. He charged up beside her and held up a hand. “Stop the sale.”

The customer service representative raised her brows and looked to Meagan for instruction.

Meagan spun toward him, eyes flashing. “You don't control my life.” She shifted her gaze back to the Greyhound employee. “Continue, please. I'm buying the ticket.”

Hunter mentally took a step back. He would have to treat her gently. At his initial show of force, her defenses had gone up and her claws had come out. She had a definite stubborn streak. “Meagan, wait.”

“Don't try to talk me out of it. My mind is made up.”

“Come on, Meagan. I don't want you to be alone.” He heaved a sigh. “Let me take you home. At least come outside with me where we can talk.”

Indecision flashed across her features, and her hand tightened around the stack of bills still on the counter. He sought the words to convince her to stay, without broadcasting her situation to everyone in the station. But before he could voice them, the Greyhound rep reached across the counter and patted her hand.

“Go on, sweetie, try to fix things with your man. If it doesn't work out, you can come back. We'll be here.”

Color crept up Meagan's cheeks. “He's not my—”

The rep continued as if she hadn't spoken. “In the meantime, I don't think you'll have any problem holding your own.” Her eyes went to his sling, and a knowing smile curved her lips. “It looks like he got the short end of the stick on this one.”

Meagan's face registered confusion. Then understanding dawned, and her eyes widened. “No, that's not— I mean, I didn't— That was—”

Hunter put his arm around her shoulders and led her away from the counter.

Once outside, she turned to face him. “She thought you and I were...” Her words trailed off.

“A couple.” He finished the thought for her. “And that we had a lover's spat, and you beat me up.”

“That's ridiculous.” The corners of her mouth quivered, as if she was trying to stifle a smile. It broke through, anyway, followed by a nervous giggle, then full-blown laughter.

He started laughing, too, just because she was, and because seeing her laugh brought him unexpected joy.

She put a hand over her mouth and snorted, which was somehow cute instead of unsophisticated. It only made her laugh harder. And he recognized the laughter for what it was—a much-needed release of months of pent-up emotion. All the hurt and fear and anger came rushing out, purged through the healing act of laughter.

Finally, it subsided, and she wiped tears from her face. “That felt good. That's the first time I've laughed in months.”

“Laughter does good, like a medicine.”

She smiled up at him. “Is that a wise old proverb?”

“Yeah, it's in the Bible. Actually it says ‘a merry heart,' but same difference.”

“I can see that.”

“There's a lot of wisdom in the Good Book.”

“So I've heard.” She looked down and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. When she once again met his gaze, her eyes held sadness. “I can't go back with you.”

His heart fell. “If you leave, he'll still find you. From what you've told me, he doesn't seem like the type to give up.”

Hunter had checked out her story, and everything she had said was true. There was just one thing she hadn't told him—that she looked so much like Edmund's ex-fiancée it was eerie.

“This wasn't Edmund. Edmund is still a very real threat, always will be. But if Edmund had shot that arrow, he wouldn't have missed. There are at least two people who want me dead. And I'm not putting anyone else in danger. You could have been killed last night.”

“But I wasn't. All I got was a flesh wound.”

She frowned. “You can't tell me that. I was there. I saw the blood.”

“Okay, it was a little deeper than a flesh wound. But it'll heal.”

“As long as I stay, no one is safe. Not you, not Darci, and not anyone else I get close to. Whether it's Edmund or someone else who has targeted me, it's my problem. If anything happened to any of you guys, I'd never forgive myself.”

And he would never forgive
himself
if she became a statistic—another sad story of a life snuffed out by a jealous ex-boyfriend. His chest tightened.

“Your staying in Cedar Key is the only chance we have of catching whoever is doing this. If you leave, you'll spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, living in fear. Stay here, and you'll eventually be free. Freedom, Meagan. Think of what that would feel like.”

She drew in a shaky breath and closed her eyes. But not before he saw the battle going on there—the appeal of her own safety warring with the desire to protect her friends.

He forged ahead, seizing the opportunity while she was wavering. “Give us a chance. It's only been a little over two weeks since the note was left at Darci's. Let me catch this guy.” He rested his hands on her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “I'm asking you to trust me.”

She finally opened her eyes. “All right. But I want security stepped up while I'm at the store. I don't want anyone to be able to get near me as long as Darci is around.”

“We can do that.” Actually, he wanted security stepped up around her house, too. A few inches either direction last night and one or the other of them could have been dead.

He walked her to the truck, and as he got into the driver's seat, his gaze fell on the door of the station. The clerk at the counter was watching them through the glass.

He nodded toward the building. “I think she's happy we're working it out.”

Meagan rolled her eyes.

He pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the highway.

Meagan looked over at him. “By the way, I told Darci.”

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

“What did she say?”

“Well, she didn't say whether I still had my job, because at that time it was a moot point. I was leaving.”

“I'm guessing you still have your job.”

He turned onto Highway 345, and within moments was stuck behind a truck and flatbed trailer loaded with construction supplies. He slowed and waited for an opportunity to pass.

“I'm assuming they never found who shot me.”

“Not that I heard. I think someone would have told me.”

“I'll call the station when we get back, just to check.”

Once traffic cleared, he stepped on the gas and eased into the other lane. As his front wheel passed the rear wheel of the trailer, a small bag fell in front of him. A fraction of a second later, there was a solid crunch under his right front tire.

Meagan frowned. “That didn't sound good.”

“24 is just ahead. I'm going to make the turn, then pull over.”

Two minutes later, he dropped his speed to a crawl, eased off the shoulder and killed the engine. As soon as he stepped out, a soft hiss reached him.
No, not a flat tire.
He would have to call for help. Changing a tire with one arm in a sling was beyond his capabilities.

He rounded the front bumper and found the source of the hiss. Three screw heads rested snugly against the rubber treads, their shafts buried in the tire. There were likely more.

Meagan opened the door. “Is the tire okay?”

“Depends on your definition of
okay
. I found out what I hit. A bag of screws. I'm losing air fast.”

“Do you have a spare?”

He shrugged, then winced. “I have one, but it's not going to do me a whole lot of good. Changing a tire with one arm in a sling isn't a skill I've mastered.”

“I can do it.”

He looked at her askance. “You?”

“Don't look so shocked. I've driven since I was sixteen. And with no man in the house, I learned pretty young how to do things for myself.” She climbed out of the truck. “Where is your jack and spare tire?”

“The jack is behind the rear seat. The spare is back there.” He pointed to the bed of the truck. But he would get them. No way was he going to let a woman change his tire while he stood idly by.

Once they had retrieved the items, she squatted down in front of the tire and set to work on the lug nuts, leveraging her body to break them loose. This was a side of Meagan he hadn't seen before, and it filled him with a new sense of respect. But he shouldn't be surprised. She had to be pretty self-sufficient to have done what she did to get away from Edmund. And lived to tell about it.

“What happened to your father?”

“When I was ten, he beat my mother so badly he almost killed her. It wasn't the first time, but it was the last.”

Hunter shook his head. From an abusive father to Edmund. Had she had any examples of how a man was supposed to treat a woman?