“In the evening in the middle of winter?” He gave her a skeptical look.
“Your eyes look too honest.”
“Does this help?” Richard furrowed his brow, narrowed his eyes, and glanced around furtively.
“A huge improvement. Oh, well, hopefully, it’ll be over fast.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Richard muttered. “For the record, I did portray bad guys before.”
Brianna refrained from a comment.
Hmmm. Even in disguise, he looked handsome.
“Are you seeing anyone?” Brianna blurted out. She almost bit her tongue. Where did that come from?
“No.” Richard studied her. “Are you?”
She shook her head. A warm feeling spread inside her at the news of him being available, probably for the first time in a decade.
“Brianna…” He stepped closer to her.
Awareness thickened in the air.
“I need to do some more Internet research.” She scooted to the chair and fished out her cell phone from her pocket.
His brown eyes darkened, he nodded and left, making the emptiness inside her bigger than ever.
There were so many reasons why she shouldn’t want Richard to be more than a friend.
First and foremost, Richard wasn’t a Christian, and she wanted to share her life with a Christian.
Second, they’d always argued about Brianna’s protectiveness of her younger brother, and Brianna wouldn’t want to choose between her sibling and a man she was falling for. Third, Richard’s history proved he’d lost interest in women quickly. And fourth…
Richard had been right to get a little offended when she’d said Liam had been her only family. In a way, Richard had become her family, too, only her feelings toward him had become far from sisterly.
Maybe if she allowed herself to admit that spark between them, he’d date her for a month—two at the most—then break up with her. This was with his MO. She’d be left without Richard and his friendship, and it was too precious for her to lose. She’d get over a broken heart. She’d done it before. But she couldn’t imagine her life without Richard’s understanding, support, and willingness to just be there whenever she needed it…
So, she’d kept that attraction hidden deep inside her heart, in the places she hadn’t allowed even herself to visit.
✽ ✽ ✽
An hour later at the billiards, Brianna sipped her ginger ale and munched on a slice of pizza as she watched the entrance. So far, no sign of Rosalie. Several times, guys had offered to buy Brianna a drink, and she’d politely declined. She didn’t drink alcohol and wasn’t interested in any of them.
There was only one guy she wanted to date.
Richard.
Well, dating Richard wasn’t on the agenda, but finding Porter’s killer was. Brianna took another bite of pizza. She’d enjoy its gooey cheesy taste if she hadn’t so many things to worry about.
Door opened again.
Rosalie!
For the next hour, Brianna threw darts, ate enough pizza not to want another slice for the rest of her life, or at least until tomorrow, and kept an eye on Rosalie. An attractive willowy blonde, Rosalie fended off drink offers and proved herself a skillful billiards player. She clearly knew some people there, and a smile was plastered on her face, but a deep sadness shadowed her eyes.
Compassion squeezed Brianna’s rib cage. She felt like a lowlife for taking advantage of Rosalie in a vulnerable state. But Brianna needed to do it for Liam.
When Brianna couldn’t even look at pizza or darts anymore, Rosalie told good-byes and headed to the exit.
Brianna’s heartrate picked up. She paid her bill and scooted to the exit.
As she stepped outside, snowflakes whirled around her. The air was crispy, fresh, and not nearly as cold as on the day of her arrival.
Brianna glanced around, and her heart fell. She was almost too late. A dark figure dragged Rosalie to the car with one hand, another one clasped over the poor woman’s mouth.
Couldn’t Richard wait for Brianna’s arrival?
Brianna sprinted to them.
The guy glanced in her direction, shoved Rosalie into a dark car, barked something to her, then turned to Brianna.
A gun appeared in his hands.
Wait a minute!
There was no talk about guns with Richard.
Brianna ducked behind an SUV, then crouched forward, the realization hitting her.
As she looked carefully from around the SUV, her fears were confirmed.
The guy was close in built and height to Richard and wore dark clothes and sunglasses, but he wasn’t Richard.
Well, whoever it was, Brianna couldn’t let him kidnap Rosalie.
Her heart pounding in her chest, Brianna drew her gun.
“Let her go!” she shouted. She wondered whether Rosalie would attempt to escape during the standoff, or was too scared to do it.
“If you move, I’ll shoot her!” the man yelled back.
That was a valid argument.
CHAPTER SIX
Brianna didn’t have time to reply. Richard appeared from behind one of the cars and hit the guy. The gun flew away. The man slammed Richard into a solar plexus, then jumped into a car and took off.
Oh, no!
Brianna sprinted to the place where the perp’s vehicle had been. Richard was helping Rosalie up. Thankfully, she’d scrambled out of the car just in time.
“Are you okay?” Brianna picked up the guy’s gun with extreme care, though, considering the man wore gloves, she didn’t hope for the police to find his fingerprints there.
Rosalie’s eyes were wide from fear, but she nodded. “I need to report this to the police.”
“We’ll take you to the police station.” Richard walked Rosalie to his vehicle and helped her inside.
Brianna trotted after them and took the backseat, stifling her disappointment as Richard took off. So much for becoming Rosalie’s best friend and finding out more about Porter. But Richard taking Rosalie to the police was the right thing to do.
For a moment, Brianna’s thoughts drifted off. It couldn’t matter that Richard was a great guy, and she had to stifle hope that started to blossom in her heart. As she watched his handsome profile, she reminded herself that he wasn’t a Christian.
No matter how much she wanted to lead him to God, she couldn’t push him in that direction.
Brianna said a silent prayer.
By the time they made it to the police station, Brianna’s plan worked, but in an unexpected way. Rosalie seemed to consider Richard her knight in shining armor and poured her heart out to him.
As Brianna kept quiet in the back seat, Rosalie seemed to forget about her. So, while Richard drove and listened, Brianna took mental notes and tried not to announce her presence.
Porter hadn’t talked about his work much, but he indeed was following up on the lead in auto thefts. The lead had taken him to San Angelo.
The rest of the conversation concerned Rosalie’s personal relationship with Porter. She seemed to be devastated by his death, and Richard… Never once had he overstepped the boundaries, but she was glad when they finally pulled up in front of the police station.
After they had given their statements to the police, returned the perp’s gun, and Richard put Rosalie in a taxi, Richard and Brianna returned to the hotel.
Her phone rang.
Karen.
Brianna swiped the screen to accept the call. “Hi, Karen.”
Her friend sobbed into the phone. “My father confessed to Porter’s murder.”
✽ ✽ ✽
It took about forty minutes for Brianna to calm Karen down. Brianna’s heart squeezed from concern about her friend.
Brianna allowed herself a selfish thought. The crime was solved. Hopefully, Liam could come out of hiding. But instead of a feeling of relief, doubt crawled inside Brianna’s stomach and settled there, slimy and worrisome.
“Some things don’t add up,�
�� she told Karen. “I think your father confessed to the crime to protect somebody else.”
Karen kept quiet for a moment, as if shocked. “Who?”
His child.
“I need to think about it. I’ll be back in San Angelo as soon as I can. Hang in there. Call me anytime.” Brianna disconnected.
Richard had left to give her privacy, and Brianna started for the connecting door to share her suspicions with him. Her phone rang again. She glanced at the screen, and her heart almost leaped out of her chest.
Her brother’s phone number!
Quickly, she swiped the phone to accept the call. “Liam!”
“I have your brother. If you don’t appear at this address in fifteen minutes, he’ll die. Come alone. No police.” The familiar voice rattled off the address.
Then the line went dead.
Brianna’s hands shook as she put the phone into her pocket. She should call the police. Instead, she wrote a note, left it on the table, grabbed the gun, and slipped outside stealthily. She dashed to the car. The moment she was inside, she looked up the directions on the Internet on her phone. It took several precious moments to memorize them. Her heart hammered in her chest as she gunned the engine and peeled out of the parking lot, burning rubber.
Only fifteen minutes… She was in an unfamiliar city, but she couldn’t afford to take the wrong turn, the wrong exit.
Was this a trap? Possibly.
Should she turn back? Certainly.
But she floored the gas pedal. Tires squealed as she made a sharp turn. Her hands still shook, so she grabbed the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles became white. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead, but she didn’t bother to wipe it away.
Liam…
She had to make it in time.
Her eyes narrowed, she glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Only seven minutes left. She passed several cars, cut off a white sedan, slid into the right lane between an SUV and a van. Furious honking only spurred her own. Every second was like a stab into her heart.
Brianna peered at the exit signs. Her teeth chattered, but she firmly squeezed her lips closed.
She. Had. To. Make. It.
Yes! This should be the exit!
She shot around another SUV so fast she barely avoided scraping paint off it. More honking. No matter. Another glance at the dashboard. Five minutes left. Not enough.
She was on the outskirts of Arlington now. What street did she need to turn on to? She couldn’t remember. Panic hit her like a punch into a solar plexus. She fumbled for her phone, but her hands shook so badly she dropped it.
No!
Her own scream assaulted her ears.
Calm down. Think. Recall.
Brianna said a prayer.
The next moment, she felt calmer and saw the map in her memory. This was the street! She took the sharp turn again and winced from more honking. Another turn to the right. Now to the left.
How much was left? One minute!
She had to make it.
Peering out the window intently, she passed several rundown buildings. A large field. Where could it be? Had she taken a wrong turn? Tears burned behind her eyes, but she couldn’t allow herself to cry.
There it is! An old, gray house with boarded up windows and part of the roof missing.
Brianna pulled up to the house, slammed the car in Park, and darted inside. She was either leaving this building with Liam, or not at all.
Once inside, she finally took a deep breath and looked inside. The place was filled with boxes and broken furniture, and there was no sign of Liam. Her heart sank.
She sent up a prayer again.
Catching a movement to her left, she dropped to the floor the exact moment a shot was fired. She fired back and rolled to the right. A bullet could go easily through the old sofa or boxes, but at least she could hide behind them. Another bullet grazed the dusty surface of the place where she’d just been. She shot in the direction the bullet came from, then rolled to her left.
She silently prayed again.
Brianna needed to stall until hopefully Richard would come through. She sent him a text with one word, Help!
“I know it’s you, Jack!” She shouted out.
Three shots were Jack’s. Brianna shot back and crouched to her right to get behind a rusty filing cabinet. Adrenaline surged through her blood.
She’d push Jack’s buttons, but carefully. “You participated in auto thefts in Arlington. You hightailed back to your hometown when you felt it became too dangerous. But Porter tracked you down.”
“It was all Porter’s fault!” Jack cried out. “He should’ve left it alone!”
Brianna inched closer to the door. Should she try to escape? “So, Porter watched your parents’ house from the woods, waiting for your arrival. How did Liam get involved?” She should’ve guessed Liam had taught his friend how to hotwire a car.
Jack and Brianna exchanged gunfire again.
How many bullets did she have left? Oh, no. She only had one gun. What if Jack had several weapons?
“Who knew your brother would take a walk in the woods?” Jack’s voice came from somewhere closer to her. Not good. “I hid behind the trees, hoping he’d leave. Instead, he stole the car!” Jack said it with such indignation as if it all hadn’t started with him stealing cars.
Brianna moved to the door and hid behind a ripped-up couch. “Liam had no clue Porter’s body was in the trunk, right?”
“Nope. I knew he’d bring the car back. He always did. Stupid Liam never profited from his thefts. He should’ve just left the car. But no, he had to look in the trunk!”
And had gotten the shock of his life. Brianna squeezed her teeth. “You didn’t have to shoot at him. He didn’t know it was you who killed Porter.”
“I… didn’t think about that.”
No, bolting out the door wouldn’t work. She’d be out in the open there. Back to stalling. “You shot after Liam. But you missed. You used Karen’s uniform, wig, and your sunglasses to try to pass for a cop. When that didn’t work, you went crazy and started shooting at the house.”
“I didn’t go crazy!” Jack’s voice sounded closer to her.
Several shots thundered in her ears.
Brianna tried to fire back, but no shots rang out.
Oh, no.
She was out of bullets.
Her breath caught in her throat as she eyed the distance to the door. “And then you let your father take the blame for what you’ve done.”
“That was his choice.” There was a note of indifference in his voice. And Jack sounded like he was…
Right in front of her!
“I guess you ran out of bullets.” He pointed the gun at her.
Brianna flinched and grappled for a way out. “So did you. You shot as much as I did.”
Jack scowled. “I also came here before you had. With several guns. Bye, Brianna.”
Was this her day to die?
She didn’t have fear, only regret. About failing Liam. Leaving Richard. Never finding her family. So much regret. But she didn’t regret trying to help her brother. Brianna stared into Jack’s cold eyes.
The next moment, the door busted open, and Richard stormed in. “Drop your weapon. Put your hands up where I can see them.”
Jack pulled the trigger. Richard fired a split second later.
Brianna ducked, but not fast enough. Pain ricocheted through her body, and a crimson stain began spreading through her sweater.
✽ ✽ ✽
“How are you feeling?” Richard stood in the door frame of her hospital room.
Something was wrong with this picture. Brianna squinted, her vision blurry.
Oh, yes, he was holding a bouquet of red roses, their aroma a pleasant contrast to the scents of medications and industrial cleaner, their color a welcome juxtaposition to gray walls.
Red roses.
Her heartrate increased.
“How do you feel, Brianna?” he asked again as he walked to he
r hospital bed.
“I hope to be released today.” She drew a deep breath, feeling vulnerable without makeup, her hair tousled, her nightgown a far cry from a flattering outfit. “The doctor said the bullet just grazed the skin on my shoulder. No vital organs, no arteries were damaged.”
Something flickered in his eyes. “You scared me a lot.”
“Thank God you made it there in time.” Brianna said a silent prayer of gratitude.
He sat in a chair near her and put flowers on the nightstand. “Tomorrow is Christmas.”
“Yes.” She’d waited impatiently for Christmas the entire year.
“Your favorite time of the year. Are you flying back to San Angelo tomorrow?”
Brianna shrugged. “Probably not. Karen doesn’t want to talk to me. Liam turned himself in to the police here. I’ll stay in Arlington to see how I can help him. What are you doing for Christmas?”
He paused, his expression guarded. “I’d like to spend it with you.”
Brianna’s heart lurched. “I’d love to. I hope to go to church tomorrow. Would you like to go with me?”
She didn’t hold much hope for it, so her jaw dropped when he said, “Yes.”
Joy filled her. Visiting church didn’t mean he’d become a believer overnight, but it was a step in the right direction.
“I… prayed for you,” he said slowly.
Her eyebrows shot up. “You did?”
“When you were… shot. I was terrified… I’d lose you.”
Brianna attempted for a lighter tone while more joy filled her entire being. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Then she remembered about Karen, Jack, Mr. Bergmann, and Liam.
Richard leaned forward. “It’s not your fault Karen’s brother turned out a criminal.”
“I know.” She sighed. “But if I hadn’t kept digging—”
A muscle twitched in Richard’s jaw. “Then Jack could’ve killed somebody else. You did the right thing. How did you figure out it was Jack and not his father who’d killed Porter and shot at Liam?”
“I guessed that the person whom Porter watched lived either in our or Bergmann’s house and most likely was connected to auto thefts in Arlington. I knew I didn’t steal any cars, so at first, I was terrified Liam had. But I’m a light sleeper. I’d have woken up if he sneaked out at night. And at days, he either worked at the restaurant, and I confirmed his alibi, or worked on the old convertible in the garage or played video games. I’m a paranoid sister, so I checked on him often. He wouldn’t have time to drive to Arlington and back, and he’s afraid of flying.
Holly, Ivy, & Intrigue Page 10