by Barb Han
A moment later a man in a gray uniform shirt and black pants appeared in the doorway. His gun drawn.
Carter lifted his hands. “Unarmed.”
The man aimed his weapon. Carter didn’t have time to get shot.
“EMTs on the way?” he asked.
The man nodded, his face ashen.
“Come put pressure on this.”
He did, tucking away his weapon and kneeling beside Carter before placing a large hand on the folded fabric over the woman’s abdomen.
“You know a guy called Harvey Ibsen?” Carter asked.
“Yeah. He works here.”
“Where does he live?”
“I don’t know. In town, I guess. Who are you?”
“Friend of Amber Kitcheyan.” Friend? Once he had planned to make her his wife.
“Yeah?”
Carter was already on his feet. He pointed at the woman. “She wants her kids to know she’s sorry to leave them and that she loves them.”
The security officer blanched. Carter stepped away.
“Hey, you can’t leave.”
Carter ignored him. If the shooter was after Amber, he had to go. Now.
“She also said that the shooter was looking for Amber. Send police to Ibsen’s home. I think he’s heading there.”
The man’s eyes widened and he lifted his radio.
“Call Amber’s cell. Warn her,” said Carter.
“She doesn’t own a mobile. Or at least that’s what she told me.” The security officer’s eyes slid away.
Carter groaned. Of course she didn’t. That would have made the necessity of him delivering this message superfluous. He headed out, following the ghastly bloody footprints. His phone supplied an address for a Harvey Ibsen, and his maps program gave him the route.
Ibsen didn’t live in Lilac. According to Carter’s search engine, he lived in Epitaph, the tourist town fifteen miles north of here. The name, once a joke for the number of murders committed during the mining town’s heyday, now seemed a grim omen.
Carter swung up behind the wheel of his F-150 pickup. Amber’s boss was out the very day this happened. A coincidence that was just too perfect in timing. Luck. Fate. Or something else?
He didn’t know, but he had a sour taste in his mouth.
Copyright © 2016 by Jeannette H. Monaco
ISBN-13: 9781488012549
One Tough Texan
Copyright © 2016 by Barb Han
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