She eased along the wall, keeping the man in sight, then slipped inside the store behind her. The plate glass on two sides helped her see, the racks of dresses provided cover.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m just looking,” Dani told the clerk with perfect honesty. She moved around to one side, stopped when Dark Lord propped a shoulder against a pillar. Her nerve endings jumped in time with the question playing repeatedly in her head.
How did he know I would be here?
There was something, some realization hovering at the edges of her mind that she wanted to flinch away from. Why had it made Dark Lord so angry to find out she was Willow? Why hadn’t he killed her either of the times he could have? If only Kelly and Spook knew she would be here, then…
Dark Lord must be Spook.
There was no other explanation. Kelly sure wasn’t. Cyberspace brought her and her killer together in some bizarre joke. One doomed from the beginning, with the punch line to be played out in a real, killing time.
Stupid. I’ve been so stupid.
“You looking for a size?” the clerk tried again.
Dani looked at her as the full enormity of what she had done crashed over her. “No one can help me.”
* * * *
Matt slowed as the cookie counter came into sight. Cookie counter. He couldn’t believe he was about to stake one out.
On the radio, he heard Alice deploying their resources and mentally placed them in his head. The exits were covered and men were moving his way. The evacuation of the mall had begun.
* * * *
Dark Lord straightened, his head up, his body tense like an animal sensing something. Dani could feel him reaching out toward her. Knew that he knew she was here somewhere. She wanted to run. She wanted to cower. Wanted to postpone the moment of discovery.
“You all right, ma’am? You’re kinda pale,” the clerk said, her young voice uneasy.
She would never be all right again. He turned in a circle, his piercing gaze following where his senses led, both on a collision course with her. Everything slowed, even her heartbeat, its frantic pounding echoing in her head. Her life didn’t flash before her eyes. Instead, she heard Kelly saying, “You’re not the type to do it yourself, but if someone did it for you, no guilt, right?”
Had she brought this on herself? Had she chosen without choosing? Had she drawn Dark Lord to her? Had she felt death and invited it in? Had others died protecting someone who didn’t want to live? Because if the answer was yes, then she deserved whatever happened.
He turned away from her, several long strides taking him out of sight. Why—the answer to that question strode into view bare seconds after Dark Lord disappeared.
Her hound dog hunter, Matt Kirby, looking big and angry with his body all coiled tension.
How did he know she would be here?
It was almost annoying. She was going to die. Now she wasn’t. Somebody needed to make up their mind. She didn’t want to mess with this anymore. She wanted to whine. Loud and long. To sleep without nightmares. To go home. Instead she walked forward until the plate glass got in her way. She leaned her head against it because it was there.
At least the view was good. His jeans were inspiring.
She was too tired to flip a coin. Let him decide. If he wanted her, she would go with him. If he wanted Dark Lord, well, there was still Kelly waiting outside.
“Wow, wonder what’s happening,” the clerk said, behind her, snapping her gum with noisy enthusiasm.
Dani ignored her, waiting for Matt to see her. The killer or the romance writer? Who did he want to find the most? Maybe it wasn’t fair, but she didn’t have to be fair. She was a woman. He was a man with the power to hurt her. He wouldn’t mean to, but he would.
Even knowing this didn’t stop her wanting him to choose her over the killer. There was no law that said she had to be logical. No rhyme or reason to explain why one man made her burn, another chilled to the bone. She should leave. She stayed, waiting for him to see her. Waiting to see what he’d do when he did.
* * * *
Matt was in the zone. The place where it all came together. Training. Experience. Instinct. This was what it was for, what made it—the paperwork, the waiting, the politics, the lawyer crap—worthwhile. This was why he did it. To catch bad guys.
It was too simple for some people. He liked it simple. Liked it straightforward. A to Z. Making the world safe for the people who had no idea how bad it could get. For his mother. For Dani.
He stopped in his tracks. There she was. Looking at him through a store window like she’d just come to shop and was surprised to see him.
His gaze narrowed, zooming in to absorb the small signs she wasn’t shopping. Her pale face. Trembling mouth. Eyes wide and shocked. She had seen Hayes. He was here somewhere. Where? Matt scanned the area. Found nothing. He turned back. Now her eyes had a question for him. What, he wanted to ask, but there wasn’t time. They could still get Hayes. He had to move now.
“Hayes?” he mouthed. She hesitated, then pointed down one of the wings. Matt pivoted, searching the shadows for his quarry. Still nothing.
He turned back toward Dani. He needed to find out how long Hayes had been gone. She wasn’t there. Had he been smoked? Had Hayes made her? No. There she was, walking away from him like she had the right. Matt turned, lifting his radio as he headed the direction she had pointed.
“Alice, Hayes is heading your way. Be very careful. Alert the DPD and let’s try to cut him off. Oh, and Henry, Gwynne’s walking your way. Pick her up. When we’re through here, we’ll take her to the trial.”
* * * *
Harold Dent sat in his car, tapping the steering wheel. Only slightly less wide than he was tall, he had a misshapen head, created by nature, and misshapen fingers because of his nature. He had started life as a boxer, but had taken the path of least resistance and big money by hitching his wagon to Bates’ dark star. He was not a bright man or a particularly brave one. He didn’t need to be. He was very strong. His only instinct besides killing was survival. It was as strong as he was and it kicked in as he studied with narrowed gaze the lights flashing on the top of police cars positioned crookedly in front of the doors of the mall.
He had left his broad in bed for this? The snitch at the PD shoulda told him how hot it was gonna be here. This wasn’t a hit, it was a short trip to stir and dating guys again.
Even if he could find her, he couldn’t take her out with the joint crawling with cops and Feds. He was too bright to be that stupid. He reached out to restart his truck. He was getting out of here. Not like he was gonna get the rest of his scratch for this hit with Bates and David biting the big one. Unless Orsini came through with the dough.
Dent frowned. Hard to see what could be in it for Orsini. Sure couldn’t figure out why Bates was so set on toasting the romance writer. Maybe he didn’t like her books or something.
Take that broad over there in the white car. Couldn’t park straight to save her life. And the way she kept popping out to look around, like she was looking for someone or something. Then ducking like she don’t want the cops to see her? Totally weird.
He straightened. It was more than weird. Why wouldn’t she want the cops to see her? She was demonstrating what the cops called suspicious behavior. He oughta know. Been shook down for doing it too many times to count. His snitch had said something about the writing broad hanging with some other writing broad. Blonde. Built. She could be a writing broad. Kinda looked like she had an active imagination. Sure enough got his imagination going.
Maybe he’d just hang tight. See who she was watching for. If he got the chance, introduce himself.
He pulled his gun out from under his jacket and checked the clip, then screwed on the silencer. With a little luck, he could do Gwynne fast. Do her friend slow.
* * * *
Stupid to be angry with Matt. She should be angry with herself. She knew the score. Had seen where his priorities were by the rock hard
ness of his face that day in Boomer’s office. She didn’t have the right to be disappointed. He never promised anything. Not even to be kind.
She looked at her watch. She had ten minutes to get around to where Kelly waited. Ahead of her she saw people being ushered out the doors by cops in uniform and a man wearing a US Marshals jacket. He hadn’t noticed her yet. Without missing a beat, she turned into a department store, weaving through the almost empty aisles toward the outside exit, but stopped short when she found it.
More police. Fight or flight, Dani. What’s it going to be? They weren’t the enemy. It just felt like they were. I can’t do this yet. I need time—as if they heard her, they scrambled into their cars and roared away with multiple squeals of tires.
The hunting hound dog whistled and the rest of his pack came running. She was glad they were about to catch Spook.
She was. Really.
A man opened the door and she slipped out ahead of him, his exclamation of annoyance following after. It was irrelevant. She was irrelevant. A detail among a multitude of details.
She emerged from shadow into sunshine, but the chill from the mall stayed with her as she crossed to the curb and stopped, trying to decide which direction was the fastest route to Kelly.
* * * *
Dent couldn’t believe his luck. It wasn’t just good. It was great. Not only had the cops pulled out. The mark was delivering herself to him on a platter. Dent smiled, thin lips spreading to reveal perfectly capped teeth.
He pushed open the door and climbed out. Pulled down his jacket and adjusted his belt over his belly, then strolled forward like he was taking one of them walks in the park.
FIFTEEN
Dani didn’t have much time before Kelly was due to leave. She had to get around the mall—a horn honked out in the parking lot. It took her a minute to find Kelly’s arm waving out the open window of her white rental car. She smiled. Good old Kel. Trust her to size up a million cops and come to the right conclusion. She was a devious person. No wonder they were friends. She was parked part way down the row and Dani started toward her, but stopped when a man stepped in front of her. No reason to worry. No reason to be scared.
Until she saw the gun in his hand.
How hard it was to drag her gaze off the large, very steady hand pointing it straight at her heart. She had to tip her head way back. A big man, his shoulders were just getting started where her height ended, with a face that was coarse and puffy. Small cruel eyes were shoved in on either side of a bulbous red nose.
“This way…” He punctuated the order with a flood of filthy language.
If she had thought nothing could be worse than Dark Lord, she had thought wrong. Instinctively she looked back over her shoulder where the cops had been.
“Gone. Can get you and your friend before anyone can stop me. Some of them, too, if I have to. I like killing.” He smiled. It wasn’t a pretty smile. It lacked charm and good teeth. Kelly’s dentist would have had a field day inside his mouth—an odd thing to think when she was about to die.
“Let’s go join your friend. I like blondes.” He stepped toward her, reaching for her arm.
Maybe it was the mention of Kelly, the implied threat in his evil satisfaction. Maybe it was instinct. Maybe she just couldn’t stand the thought of his meaty hand on her. The why didn’t matter. There was barely time to act.
With a distant awe, Dani saw her leg kick out. Saw the pointed toe of one of her new boots thud home where it would do the most damage. The guy’s tiny eyes got larger as they bulged out of their sockets. Air hissed into his lungs between his clenched, misaligned canines. The eyes sank back almost out of sight. His breath gushed out in a low, foul smelling moan.
His massive fists clenched. The gun he held coughed a bullet that shattered the window next to Dani. She jumped, but stayed cool—no cold. Like ice. She waited until his fingers twitched and the gun dropped free, then she kicked it away. He didn’t try to stop her. Just stood hunched over, his hands tucked protectively over his manhood, while he moaned and muttered an impressive array of swear words.
Kelly edged cautiously around him. “You all right?”
“Yeah.” Dani rubbed her forehead, not surprised her hand was shaking. Her nerve endings were jumping with enough adrenaline to run Chicago for a week.
Side by side, they studied her handiwork. Kelly looked at her and said in an “I told you so” voice, “And you were afraid you wouldn’t get your money’s worth out of those new boots.”
Dani made a sound halfway between a gasp and a laugh. “Let’s get out of here.”
Kelly lifted her hands in mock terror. “I ain’t gonna argue with you.” She gave a last admiring look at the preoccupied goon. “You sure do good work, girl.”
When they reached the car, Dani sagged into the seat. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
“You don’t have the time. You gotta be in court in less than an hour.”
She closed her eyes. “Now I know I’m gonna be sick.”
* * * *
Hayes pulled on the dead cop’s black flak jacket and helmet, adjusted the brim, then his gun belt. With the radio in his ear to keep him apprised of his adversaries’ movement, he ran around the corner and merged with the other cops waiting for him to come out and be gunned down. He loved the irony of it. Irony was one reason he loved Willow. She had a nice way with it.
The disguise would be perfect for his appointment at the courthouse. He looked at his watch. Richard Hastings would be arriving in just over twenty minutes. Time to haul over there. It’s where Willow would be heading. If the fates were kind, she would be in time to see his next gift to her.
* * * *
Matt rubbed his face. His arm felt like it was on fire and his head had a determined drummer playing taps on the inside of his skull. No Hayes. No Dani. A dead cop and a shooter nursing his equipment.
“Dani do it?”
Alice looked up from her notebook. “That’d be my guess. He isn’t talking yet.”
“No, I don’t suppose he is.” Matt tried to remember how long it took, but was too tired. He wasn’t in the zone anymore. He hadn’t stopped the main bad guy. He hadn’t even stopped this bad guy. The romance writer had. The world wasn’t a slightly better place. There would still be a boat load of paper work to fill out. There was no justice in this world for the just. Maybe this was a sign he should retire. He was too old to be staking out a mall. A mall. Made him twitch just thinking about it. It was all Dani’s fault. He didn’t belong here. He shouldn’t be here, trying to figure out how he was gonna explain what went wrong. He should be hunkered down waiting for a fugitive to visit his girlfriend or tracking whacked out drug dealers. Anything but the mall. There was a lesson to be learned here, but he didn’t know what it was.
“Word on the street is, Hayes has put out the no trespassing sign on Gwynne,” Alice said. “Wonder who Dent thought he’d collect from if he did do it? Had to know Bates has bitten the big one. That Hayes probably helped him do it. Why risk pissing off a fruitcake like Hayes?”
Henry shrugged. “Maybe he thought Orsini would make good on the contract. Bates was his man.”
“Probably just too stupid to know better.” Matt did not care. He talked so he wouldn’t have to think about all he had to do before he could crawl into bed. A cop beckoned Alice. Matt watched her walk away. Her back was still straight, but he could see the effort it took to keep it that way. They were all too tired. No surprise they were making mistakes. This should never have gone on this long. If Dani did not show up in court this afternoon—
Alice finished her confab with the cop and came back. Bet she was wishing she hadn’t chosen heels today, he thought.
“What now?” he asked.
“Looks like she’s still with Kerwin. Someone noted down their license plate number after they saw her kick him.” Alice grinned tiredly. “The bad guys are oh for two. Not bad for a romance writer.”
“Would you try not to enjoy this? You’re
supposed to be on our side.” He stared off in the distance, trying to look like he was thinking. “The courthouse?”
Alice shrugged. “If she’s keeping track of the trial, it’s the obvious place. Sheridan was keeping things going until they’d hammered out a plea, but now that Bates is dead, Sheridan’s gonna want to get his full pound of flesh out of Richard Hastings—”
“Matt?” Henry leaned out from their car. Matt hadn’t even noticed him leave. Hadn’t heard the telephone. “You’d better get over here.”
Matt sighed. “What now?”
“All hell just broke loose at the courthouse.”
“What?” he barked.
“Don’t know. Sounds like a real mess though.”
The wail of sirens bit into his aching head. Worry ate at his insides. The ride a slow motion nightmare that took too long. When they arrived, information was sketchy, somewhat less than satisfying, though it could have been worse. As far as they could tell, only Richard Hastings and his lawyer were dead. They had been bumped out of protective custody, their deal with Sheridan rendered null and void the minute Bates and David turned up dead. At twelve-forty-five, just as they were pulling up in front of the courthouse, a bomb in their car ended the trial and their lives.
At least, Matt thought grimly, he wasn’t the only one who would be making explanations to superiors later today.
It was almost, Matt decided, looking at what the bomb had done to the vehicle, like coming full circle. The smoky smell of fire and death was a familiar reminder of what had begun at the safe house five days earlier. It was hard to feel sorry for Hastings. His end had been quick and probably painless, if a bit messy. Better than what he had arranged for Dani.
Better than he deserved.
Two explosions in one day. It made him wonder. What reason could Hayes have to kill Hastings? Bates had put Copeland on the job before he died. Someone must have forgot to tell Copeland the party was over. He waited for Alice to pick her way to his side. “Any sign of her?”
“Coherent witnesses are a little hard to come by.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his face. “I’ve been trying to calculate the time.”
The Lonesome Lawmen Trilogy Page 17