by Sharon Dunn
“Well, folks, I think we’ve seen enough. You startled a burglar. Good thing no one was shot.” Clemmons’s tone had turned more serious as he held her gaze. He studied Katelyn. “You saw his face.”
“Yeah. I got a good look.”
“What about you?” Clemmons asked Beck.
“No.”
Clemmons acted like he questioned Beck’s response, but then focused on Katelyn. “Can you come in tomorrow to look at mug shots? Maybe he has a record.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“See you tomorrow then. I’m sure Mr. Goodwin here is grateful to have such a skilled neighbor, but... Katelyn, please wait for us to arrive next time.” His last words held a scolding tone.
Of course he would say that. Maybe she deserved that reprimand, but what about Beck’s life? Plus, in her mind things weren’t adding up. If the attacker had only been a burglar, why had he stayed until the moment the deputies arrived? Why fight Beck and then Katelyn? Why not flee the scene as soon as his presence was discovered in the home?
The deputies cleared out, and Katelyn turned to look at Beck. She should leave, too, but she wanted to make sure he was truly okay. Her heart had beat a little faster the few times she’d interacted with him, which hadn’t been many. She lived two houses down from him—on the other side of Clara.
His gray eyes took her in. “I would thank you for barging into my home to play the hero but you could have been hurt. I had it under control. I almost had the burglar.”
Seriously? She stifled a laugh. Well, of all the ungrateful attitudes. “You were on the floor when I found you.”
“You could have been killed.”
A knot grew in her throat. Rather than continue the conversation, she turned and marched home. Two county vehicles were still parked at the curb. One deputy stood at his vehicle and talked on the radio. Were they out looking for the burglar? Or lingering only to make sure he’d fled the neighborhood for good?
Whatever. She didn’t have to stick around and listen to Beck’s criticism when he should have been thanking her instead. That’s what she got for trying to help. The man didn’t appreciate it. If she hadn’t intervened he could have been killed. He could be dead right now.
She took a shortcut and crossed Clara’s lawn rather than using the sidewalk. The woman was nowhere to be seen. Good. Katelyn would be hard-pressed to produce a smile at the moment. Ryan would hear about her involvement tonight sooner or later. Detective Ryan Bradley was her twin, but could be annoyingly overprotective, which was especially true after what he’d been through months ago when he’d almost lost Tori Peterson, the woman of his dreams, now his fiancée. Tori had become Katelyn’s partner in her private investigations and security services business—Peterson Bradley Investigations.
Let them find out in good time. She wouldn’t bother either of them at this hour. Her brother and Tori were getting married this coming weekend and Katelyn wouldn’t throw a wrench into that event, especially since it seemed that some obstacle was always getting in the way. She was happy they had both found each other. She’d thought she’d found love once but had been betrayed. Katelyn wouldn’t give away her heart again.
Home and in bed, Katelyn tossed and turned, fearing that she would fall asleep and dream again of her failure to protect her partner when she’d been a cop on the Shasta PD. Then she finally gave in to exhaustion...
This was it. She was going to drown in the lake if she didn’t do something. But what could she do? Death loomed large and much too near. Her lungs burned as she gasped for oxygen. For air. She had to get to the surface, away from the darkness. Away from the death.
She kicked and...
Katelyn flung her arms, her lungs screaming. She was wide-awake now. This wasn’t a dream. Someone was pressing a pillow over her face.
* * *
With both hands, Beck gripped the shoulders of the big man and yanked him from where he was hovering over Katelyn and smothering her with a pillow. Beck had broken the man’s hold. The formidable attacker cursed, and before Beck could tackle him, the man whipped out a gun and aimed at Beck’s head.
Katelyn screamed, “No!”
Beck knocked away the weapon as it fired, the shot deafening. The attacker kicked him in the gut. Pain ignited as Beck fell against the dresser and landed in the corner.
The guy fled the room, just as he’d left the library earlier that evening.
Beck scrambled up and started after him. He chased him through the dimly lit home, knocking items from a table as he moved past.
“Wait. Come back. Who are you? What do you want?” Beck called after him.
In the laundry room, the man escaped out an open window.
Beck caught himself and bent over his thighs. What was he thinking? Like he really wanted the man to come back and shoot him in the head. But Beck was desperate for answers.
Still, as desperate as he was, he wouldn’t chase the guy down. Not when Katelyn could be injured.
He needed to go back and check on her, but first he peered through the window and watched the man disappear across the back alley and into the shadows. Even if he tried, he would never find him now. If the man had any brains, he would leave the vicinity. Should have already left with the recent police presence in the neighborhood.
Dawn would be breaking soon and there would be more eyes to witness his crimes. Beck shut the window and locked it. Had she left her alarm system disarmed? The window unlocked?
Beck left the laundry room and headed into the kitchen to get back to Katelyn. Before he crossed the space, he spotted her. She stood at the hall entrance, staring at him with wide eyes—those big blue-green eyes that had caught his attention the first time he’d met her.
Katelyn trembled—with rage or fear, he couldn’t tell.
Though he’d wanted to chase after the man and get the answers he sought, he’d been right to stay behind.
He closed the distance and reached a hand out to touch her, but held back. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She turned her back to him.
He followed as she marched down the hallway to her bedroom, where she flipped on the lights. She stared at her bed and the pillow her attacker had used.
An ache coursed through Beck. “No, you’re not. You’re in shock.”
“Go after him. Go get him,” she shouted, tears in her eyes.
“No.” Beck stood his ground. He wanted to take her in his arms, but he instinctively knew that would be a big mistake. He was attracted to this woman without even fully knowing her and should steer clear. “You’re not all right.”
He owed her. He’d been too harsh on her earlier—she’d probably saved his life. But he wished she hadn’t gotten involved. “Sit down and I’ll get you some water.”
He guided her to a plush chair in the corner of her room. He flipped on the small table-side lamp next to the chair and noticed the Bible was open. Before he got the water, he did another check around the home to make sure their attacker hadn’t decided to come back. Beck double-checked that all the doors and windows had been locked. Sure, he should probably wait in case investigators wanted to dust for prints. But while he hoped they would look for evidence, he thought it more important to ensure Katelyn’s safety. The man had tried to kill her. Even though he’d worn a mask, Beck was sure it was the same guy. Same big shoulders he’d encountered in his own home. He’d locked horns with him twice in one night.
The house secured, he got the water from the kitchen sink, and when he turned Katelyn was standing in his path again. Only this time she held a gun at her side.
“I want to know what’s going on right now. Why were you here and able to...?” She choked on the words.
Beck handed her the glass. She set it on the counter. Fine. He took it and gulped it down, aware of every second her eyes remained on him. Then he finished and set d
own the glass. Her eyes had never left him.
“I was watching your home tonight,” he said.
“Why?”
See, this was why he wished she hadn’t tried to save him tonight. “I was afraid he would try to kill you.”
Copyright © 2020 by Elizabeth Goddard
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ISBN-13: 9781488061332
Scene of the Crime
Copyright © 2020 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Sharon Dunn for her contribution to the True Blue K-9 Unit: Brooklyn miniseries.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book, please contact us at [email protected].
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