Smoking Hot (24 page)

“You thinking what I'm thinking?” Dillon asked.

“That they're making a withdrawal?” she asked as she climbed inside the truck.

“Exactly.”

She turned the key. The pickup did its usual ugga-ugga, but this time it didn't start. “Damn!” She slammed her palm against the steering wheel. She tried again but the motor refused to turn over. She jumped out and started toward the office but Dillon grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close. “Dillon, are you nuts? I need to get the keys to a cruiser before Ethan gets away.”

“Close your eyes.”

She did and immediately felt the ground disappear beneath her feet. “Why didn't you do this before?” she asked as she gripped him a little tighter.

“I'm not supposed to interfere with the investigation.”

“Then why are you?”

When her feet were on solid ground again, she moved back and looked up at him. “Will you get into trouble?”

“Probably, but I don't want you to go to prison for a crime you didn't commit, either.”

“What will they do?”

“Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You have some bank robbers to catch.”

She nodded and pulled her gun from the holster and looked around. They stood in the middle of the salvage yard. The area was dimly lit, only two lights working. She nervously glanced around. Dwayne used to have a mongrel guarding the place, but that was when they were still in high school. Surely the ugly, mean-assed beast was dead by now or at least too old to attack.

She didn't see the mutt.

There were so many junk cars it would be easy to hide the money here. Ethan had chosen a good spot. She cautiously moved forward. There was a noise to her right. She stopped and listened. She heard it again so she changed direction, moving toward the sound.

“Stay close,” she told Dillon, then realized she was talking to an immortal.

He grinned, then suddenly doubled over as if in pain. “Dillon, what's the matter,” she frantically whispered.

“Go, get your bank robbers,” he gasped.

“Not until I know what's happening.”

“I think I'm being called home,” he gasped.

Raine saw he was fighting against whatever force was pulling him away. “Tell me what I can do to help.” She holstered her gun and grabbed his shoulders.

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't be.” She shook her head, tears blurring her vision. “I don't want you to leave.”

“Don't ever be afraid to lose control.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

He began to fade. She pressed her lips to his. For a moment, she felt the warmth of his lips, then he was gone. She dropped to her knees. “Why?” she asked, looking up.

But no one answered. They never had before, so she didn't know why she expected an answer now. But the feeling of loss ran a lot deeper this time. When had she fallen in love with her angel?

She heard another noise and came to her feet. “I still have bank robbers to catch,” she said, then scrubbed her hands across her damp cheeks. She sniffed, then unholstered her gun. She moved steadily forward. The noise became voices, muffled at first, then more clear.

“Here it is,” Leo said, then laughed. “Jackpot!”

She peeked around the side of a rusted Chevy that would never run again. Leo held up a bag. The name of the bank was printed on it in bold black letters. They were guilty. The evidence was right in front of her. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and moved into the open.

“Drop your guns and put up your hands.”

Ethan whirled around, surprise on his face. “Raine?”

“Hands in the air,” she repeated.

“This isn't what it looks like.” Ethan took a step toward her.

“Don't.” Her voice cracked. “Don't come any closer.”

“Crap, don't shoot us,” Leo bellowed.

“Why the hell did you do it?” she asked. “Dammit, I might not have agreed with everything you did, but you were both damn good cops.”

“Put your gun away.” Ethan spoke slowly but firmly. “We're not the bad guys.”

“You are now,” she whispered.

Laughter sounded behind her. Raine froze.

“Now, isn't this nice. The gang is all here.”

She recognized Dwayne Freeman's voice and turned. He held a gun. Odd, but she never thought of him as the kind of person to even own one.

“Like he tried to tell you,” Dwayne said. “They're not the bad guys.”

Shock almost knocked the breath out of her. “You robbed the bank?”

“Don't sound so surprised.” His voice was hard and brittle. “Take her gun, Travis.”

“You got it, bro.” The boy was seventeen. She knew him as a troublemaker, and Dwayne's younger brother.

The other brother stepped into the open. “What do you want me to do, Dwayne?” His voice sounded just like his brother's, but with a little more whine. He was slightly bigger than his older brothers. She knew his name, George, and that he was a little slow.

The night of the robbery she remembered thinking she was hearing double, but thought it had something to do with her injury or the fact their voices were muffled behind the masks. She should've put two and two together and guessed they were brothers.

Travis took her gun. His hand lingered a little too long against hers. She thought it might have been accidental until he grinned and winked at her. Travis was a younger version of Dwayne when he was that age. Cocky little bastard.

She leaned in a little closer to him. “You're going to do really well in prison.” She eyed him and clicked her tongue. “Yep, some guy is going to latch onto you real fast, boy.”

Anger flared in his eyes.

“Travis, get your ass back over here!” Dwayne ordered.

“Did you hear what she said?” Travis whined.

Okay, now his voice sounded more like George.

“She said some guy would… would…” He glanced over his shoulder.

“Latch onto you,” she supplied.

Travis nodded his head. “Yeah, that's what she said!”

“Get your damn redneck ass over here and give me the gun before you blow your fucking foot off!”

Travis handed him the gun, barrel first. Dwayne jumped out of the way. “The other way! How many times do I have to tell you, the butt of the gun first?”

“I forgot.”

“I swear Momma dropped you two on your heads after you were born. Dumb sons of bitches.”

“You're the one who gambled all the money away,” George mumbled.

Dwayne rounded on him. “What did you say?”

George kicked a tire, except the rubber was rotten and his foot went through it and got stuck. Dwayne rubbed his forehead with a pained expression. “See what I have to put up with?” He looked up as if asking for guidance.

Raine scanned the area, but she knew Dillon wasn't there. An ache began to burn deep in her chest. She fought against it and tried to stay focused. She made one hell of a mistake when she thought Ethan and Leo were the bad guys. Now she had to fix her blunder or they would all die.

“Yes, I gambled a little too much, but only because I needed an outlet,” Dwayne complained. “No one can blame me for that.”

“Except you gambled away your brothers' inheritances as well,” Ethan commented.

Travis's expression said he hadn't figured that one out yet. “Did you blow our money, too?”

“Go up to the house and get the shovels.”

Cold dread filled her. Dwayne was going to kill them. Dillon once told her their powers could be blocked if they interfered too much. Was that what happened? Maybe she was really supposed to have died that night. She didn't want to die. There was too much living she wanted to do.

“Why do we need shovels?” Travis stared at them. He lost some of his earlier swagger as he figured out what Dwayne was really saying.

“Do as I say.”

Travis looked as though he was going to say something else but changed his mind at the last minute and began to jog toward the trail that would lead to their red brick house.

Dwayne's face was mottled with fury when he faced Ethan again. “It's your damn fault. You fucked up everything. I was going to buy that building and fix up some of these old cars. I almost have one running. All we had to do was get enough money together. When I talked to the owner, he said you already bought it. Then I found out that old biddy, Ms. Albright, was hooking you up with her customers up North. You're not even from around here. I was going to make more money than we got from the bank job. You stole my idea!”

“And he arrested us when we robbed the laundromat,” George pointed out.

Dwayne turned on him. “Shut up!”

George stumbled back a few steps. “Well, he did.”

“Now you're trying to turn my brothers against me,” Dwayne accused.

“That wouldn't be too hard once they find out you sold this place and bought a single one-way ticket to the Bahamas. Were you going to leave them behind to fend for themselves? No home, no money?”

“Dwayne?” George's eyes were round with fear. “Was you going to leave us here all alone? Who would've taken care of me and Travis?”

Dwayne muttered something under his breath. “Are you going to believe me or him? I'm your brother. Haven't I taken care of you two since Momma died?”

Raine knew Dwayne lied. Only an idiot would believe him.

“I didn't think you was going to do that,” George said.

She rested her case. There was one thing about it that puzzled her. “How did you get Grandpa's handkerchief?”

Dwayne stood a little taller. “The night I got that old clunker you drive to run, you tossed me a rag to wipe my hands. I stuck it in my pocket. When I changed clothes, I saw your grandpa's brand stitched on one corner so I kept it with me. Pretty smart of me to leave it at the scene. You and
Grandpa
took the heat.” He laughed.

“And it led us to you,” Ethan said.

Dwayne's laughter abruptly stopped. “What do you mean?” he snarled.

“You wiped your greasy hands on the rag.”

“So? Lots of people have greasy hands.”

“I knew there was only one other person trying to restore classic cars. You. The oil on the handkerchief is blue. I had it tested. There's a special blend of oil that keeps the pressure from dropping when you run a classic on the highway. You would know that. It just happens to be blue. The test came back positive for that blend.”

“You're going to be the first one I shoot.” Dwayne's words dripped ice.

“Hey, look who I found.” Travis came around the corner holding a shovel like a weapon. Tilly and Grandpa were holding hands walking in front of him.

“I told you to stay out of this,” Raine whispered. It felt as though her heart jumped to her throat.

“That's my dog!” Dwayne stomped his foot. “Why is my dog with you?”

“You hurt her. Me and Tilly saved her life,” Grandpa said. “She's a good dog.”

“She's worthless. She didn't guard a damn thing. She wouldn't attack a freaking bone!” He raised the gun toward Grandpa. “You dog thief!”

“No!” Raine ran toward Dwayne.

Grandpa yelled for her to stay back.

Dwayne didn't know who to shoot first. While he was still undecided, Lady launched herself at him. The dog got to him first, clamping her teeth down on his arm. Pandemonium followed as everyone moved at the same time. Raine knew she had to save her grandfather. Then she heard the gunshot and white fury filled her.

Dwayne screamed as he tried to shake off Lady, but her teeth were firmly latched onto his arm. Travis raised the shovel to hit the dog, but Ethan was already running toward him. Tilly began to scream and flap her arms, drawing Travis's attention. It was enough time for Ethan to tackle him. At the same time Raine came from below, driving her fist in a vicious slam to Dwayne's jaw. A strange flash lit the night. He stopped yelling and slowly crumpled to the ground.

Her fist throbbed, but the satisfaction she got from taking the son of a bitch out made it all worthwhile. As she straightened, she saw Leo, who'd been quiet up until then, slapping a pair of handcuffs on George's wrists. George was crying.

“You okay?” Grandpa asked.

“I'm okay. What about you?” There was no blood and they didn't look as though they were hurt. Ethan was putting handcuffs on Travis, but no blood there. She wondered if the past really did repeat itself and scanned the area, but Dillon wasn't lying on the ground bleeding from a gunshot wound. And who the hell was the young man with the camera who stepped from behind one of the junk cars?

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Reporter.”

She looked him over. “I've never seen you.”

“I'm new. Straight out of college, and I just got the shot of a lifetime.”

“Shot?” Ethan's eyes narrowed on the young man. “Did you fire the gun?”

He shook his head. “Oh, no, sir. That was the man Officer McCandless took out with a single punch. The bullet hit that tree over there.” He turned and pointed.

“Why are you here?” Ethan asked.

“Anonymous tip, sir.”

“It looks as though you don't need us,” Texas Ranger Emily Gearson said as she and Sheriff Barnes arrived.

How many more people are going to show up?
Raine wondered.

“Wait, I've seen you before,” Tilly said, looking straight at Emily Gearson.

“You know the Texas Ranger?” Raine asked.

“Ranger?” Grandpa asked. “Well, hell, we thought you were in cahoots with Ethan and Leo. We saw you that day at the dealership.”

“In cahoots with them?” Emily looked around at them as if someone could explain a little more.

“We thought you, Ethan, and Leo robbed the bank,” Tilly said, then smiled. “I suppose we got that one wrong. But wasn't this exciting?” She was practically jumping up and down.

“Dwayne planned to shoot us,” Raine said. “What's so exciting about that?”

“We're not dead, are we?” Grandpa asked.

“No, but we could've all been murdered.” He didn't understand the magnitude of the situation.

“When you get our age,” Tilly explained, “you'll take excitement any way you can get it.”

“A hell of a lot better than ending up in a hospital bed hooked up to all kinds of tubes and machines and choking on your own spit.”

“Grandpa, that's gross.”

“But it's the truth.”

“Get them to the station and book them,” Sheriff Barnes said. “I want a confession.”

“Got it,” the reporter said. When everyone turned to look at him, he blushed, then held up his cell phone. “I recorded everything, too.”

“Kid, you might have a hell of a career in front of you,” Sheriff Barnes said and took his phone.

“Thanks. Can I have my phone back?”

“As soon as we get a copy.”

Raine rode to the sheriff's office in one of the patrol cars. She kept looking around but she didn't see Dillon anywhere. Was he okay?

When they were at the sheriff's office, she answered questions and wrote down her statement to be added to all the others. Sheriff Barnes let her borrow one of the older patrol cars until she could get her pickup fixed.

“Grandpa, you coming home tonight?” she asked when he joined her in the lobby.

“I was thinking Tilly might need me. She's still pinging off the walls and I don't want her to have a spell of some kind.”

“You sweet on her?” Raine was surprised to see him shuffle his feet like a teenager discovering love for the first time.

He met her eyes. His were old and tired but they shined with a light she hadn't seen in a long time. “Would you be mad if I was?”

She slowly shook her head, smiling. “You know I like Tilly. I'm happy for the both of you.”

He reached out and patted her hand. “Good. I best be getting back to her. She worries about me if I'm away from her too long.” He winked. “I'm a catch, what can I say. It's the McCandless charm.”

“I love you, Grandpa.”

“I love you too.” He wasn't quite as stooped when he walked toward Tilly. Tilly smiled and took his hand when he moved next to her.

“Did you really think I robbed the bank?” Ethan asked as he came up behind her.

She knew she would have to face him sooner or later. “Not at first, but the evidence against you kept mounting.” She studied him. He still looked the same as he had the other day, but there was something different, too. “You don't have an uncle,” she blurted.

His eyes widened. “What?”

“I sort of read your file,” she admitted. “All in the name of justice. You were raised in an orphanage. How could you inherit enough money from a mysterious uncle if you have no relatives? Did you find some?”

“I don't have any relatives.”

Was he guilty of another crime? No, she didn't think so. “Forget I said anything. I don't believe you stole anything from anyone.”

“Ever hear of Arthur Winspur?” he asked.

“I heard something on the news.” She couldn't remember exactly what was said about the man.

“He donated huge sums of money to the homeless, the needy, orphanages…”

“Okay, now I remember.” Understanding dawned. “He's the uncle?”

“We called him Uncle Arthur. He thought it was important for us kids to have family. He donated a lot of money to the orphanage where I grew up. He did more than that, though. He gave of himself. He was an orphan, too. I hadn't heard from him in a long time, but I guess he kept up with his kids. When he died, he left me money. Enough to pay a good down payment on the dealership building so I can work on my vehicles and…” He stopped talking and cleared his throat.

“Your artwork,” she finished.

“Yeah.” His face turned red.

“I think that's great.”

“I hope other people do too.”

Sheriff Barnes came up to them, patting her on the back and shaking Ethan's hand. “Good job catching the bank robbers.” Ethan excused himself and joined the others. “Your father would be proud.”