Take a Risk (Risk #1)

by Scarlett Finn

  ‘I didn’t want her involved,’ Pete said. ‘She didn’t need to be involved. But now that she is… it’s her own fault.’

  ‘What is her own fault?’ Lyssa asked, trying to help Suzette to sit in a more upright position.

  ‘If only she had listened,’ he said and the barrel of the gun moved aim, swinging from Lyssa to Suzette, who was still doing her best to cry from behind the gag.

  ‘No,’ Lyssa said, jumping forward on the bed to put her body between Suzette and the gun. ‘You don’t want to hurt her. You don’t want to hurt anyone. Please, Pete, tell me what this is about. How could you do this? I don’t understand why—‘

  ‘You just don’t get it,’ he said, but the gun fell to his side.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t. Please explain it to me. Did I hurt you in some way? Or do you want to have a relationship with me? Please, tell me why you would—‘

  ‘He left me!’

  The blatant rage startled her, but she tried not to let her fear show because she wanted to try and bond with him, to break through the pathology and get to breaking down the reasons for his behaviour.

  ‘A person you cared about,’ she said.

  ‘The man I was supposed to be with,’ he said and raised the gun again. ‘Don’t pretend that you don’t know. I showed you what it took to help someone. I’ve protected you so that you could help me, and you’re going to help me.’

  ‘How would you like me to do that?’

  ‘First, you’re going to call off Warner. Tell him to get the cops off my tail.’

  Colt wasn’t all-powerful, but she wouldn’t miss out on a chance to talk to him and tell him what was going on, or at least hint at it. So she nodded and for now at least that placated Pete, but she had no idea what he’d want her to do next.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Colt was tired, but he wasn’t at the end of his rope yet. He just wished he could call Lyssa to hear her consoling voice, except he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t do that, not until he had news. Hoburn had been keeping him unofficially in the loop all night. Colt had his brothers, Chavez, and this Rushe guy with his chick doing all they could all night and so far Pete Harding had evaded them.

  ‘The guy isn’t that smart,’ Colt said when Ruger swung into the central, circular booth of the diner they’d all agreed to meet in at lunchtime.

  ‘He’s obsessed,’ Ruger said. ‘That makes the difference. It doesn’t matter how smart he is, this is all he’s thought about, all day, every day, for god knows how long.’

  ‘So he’s considered all the contingencies,’ Colt muttered.

  ‘Planned for them,’ Blaser said, coming up behind Colt then sliding into the booth beside him. ‘If he thought about going on the run, planned for it, then he could be half a world away.’

  ‘What he wants is your woman.’

  The female voice came from the direction that Blaser’s had and when he turned Colt saw Flick, whose hand was tucked into Rushe’s front jeans pocket.

  ‘Lyssa is safe,’ Colt said. ‘I left her with her ex-husband. If anything goes wrong, he’ll look after her.’

  ‘Sure about that?’ Flick asked and Colt didn’t immediately answer. ‘Rushe wouldn’t leave me with anyone he wasn’t sure would stand in front of a bullet for me… the list of who he’d trust to look after me is rather short. You should have that same conviction… if you love her.’

  ‘Lyssa is strong,’ Blaser said. ‘She’s the type of girl who can look after herself.’

  ‘You remember the stories I told you about that one?’ Ruger asked indicating Flick with a shift of his chin, then he began to seek out a waitress.

  Rushe sat down opposite Blaser, taking Flick onto his lap, like the two couldn’t be physically separated more than was necessary, or maybe he was trying to put his mark on the woman in front of the group of males. Except there was no doubting who she belonged to, the adoration in her eyes whenever she looked at Rushe was enough to prove that.

  ‘The stories are almost always exaggerated,’ Flick said.

  ‘Not by much,’ Rushe muttered, taking a laminated menu from the centre of the table.

  Blaser worked his shoulder in a circle, pushing a hand to it and working out the kinks. Colt was about to check if he was taking his meds, because Lyssa would ask if he did, but Flick spoke first.

  ‘What happened to your arm?’ Flick asked.

  ‘We don’t care,’ Rushe grumbled.

  ‘I’m guessing that no one here has any updates,’ Colt said. ‘I’m waiting for Hoburn to call me. I left him a voicemail.’

  ‘How long do we wait?’ Ruger asked. ‘Have you checked in with Lyssa?’

  ‘She’ll want to know about any progress, and right now we haven’t made any.’

  His phone rang and he was glad to see the detective’s name flash up on the screen. ‘Hoburn?’ he answered.

  ‘We’ve got news.’

  ‘Great,’ Colt said, trying not to whoop with joy in present company, maintaining his cool was better for his street rep. ‘Where did you find him?’

  ‘No,’ Hoburn said. ‘We haven’t found Harding yet. We’re trying to locate his fiancée too, you said that she came to yours because she and Harding split up, but left your place yesterday morning and she went to her sister’s?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘According to the sister, she left there yesterday. No one has seen her since last night,’ Hoburn said. ‘She went back over to your place looking for Doctor Cutler.’

  ‘My place?’ Colt said. ‘How did you—‘

  ‘Spoke to Gus,’ Hoburn said, though the two weren’t best of friends he did know the Warner family. They were related to a lot of people in this neighbourhood, so it was hardly unusual. ‘He said he told her that you’d sent Lyssa home to hang out with her ex-husband.’

  ‘That’s the news you have?’ Colt asked, wondering why Suzette was seeking out Lyssa when she was supposed to be staying with her sister.

  ‘No,’ Hoburn said, his voice taking a harder line. ‘I just heard through the grapevine that a guy was arrested, I thought it might interest you.’

  ‘Connected to Lyssa’s stalker?’

  ‘No, connected to your brother being shot,’ Hoburn said and Colt’s eyes jumped to Blaser who was now sharing a menu with Ruger. ‘Would you know anything about that?’

  ‘The arrest,’ Colt said, being deliberately evasive. ‘I don’t know anything about that. I’ve been hunting down Harding all night.’

  ‘Whatever. Apparently the guy was ranting about shooting your brother and phoning the tip in about drugs at Risqué.’

  ‘Ranting?’

  ‘Yeah, boasting, ‘cept the guy he was talking to happened to be an undercover cop.’

  Gary had never been known for being discreet and he’d be quite happy to try and show people just how tough he was, because street cred was important to him. Not that his credibility would improve by ratting on himself to an undercover cop. That was as good as turning himself in.

  ‘He’s at the station now. Waiting for his lawyer… I heard the detective is trying to track Blaser down. You wouldn’t know where he is, would you?’

  The question was asked with full knowledge that even if Colt didn’t know where his twin was he could track him down. It just so happened that he currently had an eyeball on the person the cops were looking for.

  ‘You want a statement?’ Colt asked. ‘I can pass the message along, but I don’t know how cooperative he will be.’

  ‘Blaser Warner, cooperative?’ Hoburn laughed. ‘I don’t think there’s a cop in the county who would ever make the mistake of believing that Blaser would cooperate with an investigation.’

  ‘He’s straightened out,’ Colt said, filled with the need to defend his brother, though he knew that he often jumped to similar conclusions where his brother was concerned. ‘I’m sure he’ll let you know what happened.’

  ‘The question is, why wouldn’t Blaser report a shooting
? And if he was busted up, who treated him? Do you know any doctors, Colt? Anyone who would be able to patch up a gunshot wound without taking the victim to the emergency room?’

  ‘I’ll pass the message on,’ Colt said. ‘What is Gary looking at?’ His brothers stopped talking and he knew they’d heard his side of the conversation.

  ‘They’ve got him on at least wasting police time and knowingly providing false information. With his priors…’

  ‘So why do you care about my brother?’

  ‘You don’t have to ask that,’ Hoburn said. ‘You’re not that long out of the job.’

  Colt knew that they would want to throw the book at Gary, his record was as long as all of his limbs, but most of it was petty. Now they had the chance to get him on something big, especially if they tried to sell it as attempted murder.

  ‘I’m going to call Lys,’ Colt said. ‘I want to find out if Suzette found her.’

  ‘We’re heading over that way soon. We were tracking down another lead with the best friend, Keith, we thought it would pan out, but it fell through. We’ll have to question Suzette to find out if she can provide us with any further ideas. Keep me updated if you get anything?’

  ‘Sure,’ Colt said and hung up the phone.

  ‘What was that about?’ Blaser asked. ‘You were talking about Gary?’

  ‘He’s been arrested.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘Shooting you and calling in the false tip.’

  Blaser was out of the booth in a heartbeat. ‘I’ve got to find Bri.’

  ‘Who’s Bri?’ Flick asked, pushing down the menu that she and Rushe had been hiding behind.

  ‘We don’t care,’ Rushe said.

  ‘Bri will already know he’s been arrested,’ Ruger said to Blaser.

  ‘Yeah, but she won’t know what to do about it. I have to go to her or she’ll…’

  ‘Think the arrest was your fault,’ Colt said. ‘Ok, go, just get in touch when you’ve seen her, ok?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Blaser said, shuffling toward the door. ‘Call me if… you know!’

  He shouted back at the group but was already heading out. As much as Blaser might want to help Lyssa and his own brother, Colt knew that Bri meant more to him than he was ready to confess publicly. If the situation was reversed and Lyssa was the one in need then Colt would want to be freed from other responsibilities too. Colt had Ruger, Rushe, and the police department on his side; Blaser and Bri had only each other.

  ‘I’m going outside to call Lyssa,’ Colt said, shoving Ruger to get him out of the way.

  ‘Are you going to ditch us?’ Flick asked.

  ‘He won’t ditch,’ Ruger said, sliding back into the booth once Colt was out of it. ‘I’ll stay here and keep you guys’ company. We have things to catch up on.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Rushe said, locking eyes with Ruger. ‘We do.’

  Colt had never worried too much about what Ruger did when he left them because he knew that his brother could handle himself. He knew more than anyone else about how Ruger made his money, but he hadn’t known that he dealt with people like Rushe and his companion. Knowing that now made Colt wonder if he should have been paying more attention to his little brother, and if Ruger should be out there on his own without back up.

  The phone rang and Lyssa got up from the bed, holding both hands up to show Pete that she was no threat. ‘I should check who that is,’ she said.

  ‘If it’s Warner you tell him that you’re fine and that you want him to call off the cops,’ Pete ordered.

  ‘Ok,’ she said, edging toward the handset on her nightstand. Glancing down, she saw Colt’s name flash up.

  ‘Put it on speaker,’ Pete demanded, still waving the gun around.

  Lyssa nodded once, and reached down to press the speaker button. Colt would know that he was on speaker, the echoing tone would be impossible to ignore, and that would be his first clue that something was wrong. If she was alone in the house with Archie then she would never put a call between her and her lover on loudspeaker for everyone to hear.

  ‘Hello,’ she said, remaining calm.

  ‘Hey,’ Colt said, his tone was concise, so she assumed there was no good news. Though with the stalker here in front of her she could be sure that the police hadn’t caught him. ‘How are you doing?’

  ‘I’m ok,’ she said, just as Pete had instructed her to do.

  Their eyes burned into each other and she felt the determination in him. If he needed her help then he wouldn’t shoot her, at least not first, but Suzette was still on the bed, crying. Her vulnerable friend could be a target and Lyssa wouldn’t let her be hurt.

  ‘Just ok?’ he asked. ‘I’m sorry that I haven’t been in touch. Things have been busy, I want to get this whack-job off the streets.’

  ‘I know,’ Lyssa said, hoping that Pete wouldn’t be offended. ‘But you don’t have to.’

  ‘Excuse me?’

  She wasn’t entirely sure how she was supposed to call off the cops, without alerting them that the stalker was here. Obviously, she wanted them to know, but Pete couldn’t, and when he shook the gun at her, she nodded.

  ‘You need to call off the cops. I mean, I don’t think that it’s necessary to go to all of this effort for one little stalker.’

  ‘One little stalker?’ Colt repeated. ‘Are you forgetting what this guy did to Bobby and to Lee?’

  ‘No, but I mean, there’s not really any evidence that he was involved with the murders at all. It’s possible that he was just trying to protect me, or that he’s really a man in need, a man who just needs a little help from a doctor, and that’s not a crime. If a patient comes to me for treatment, if he comes here to my home, then I need to treat him, don’t I?

  Colt didn’t speak but she knew that the line was still connected because she heard the breeze and the occasional sound of passing traffic. ‘Ok,’ Colt said. ‘I understand. I’ll see what I can do.’

  ‘Ok, thank you, babe,’ she said. ‘I love you.’

  ‘I love you too,’ he said. ‘Ok. Everything’s going to be ok.’

  ‘I know.’

  Pete marched over and prodded his finger onto the device to disconnect the line. ‘He better get them off my tail,’ Pete said, backing away from her again. ‘This will be over soon and I don’t want them on me forever.’

  ‘You said that you needed help, what do you need me to do?’

  ‘You have to apologise, apologise to me for what you did… then you’re going to call him.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Brett! Brett Wilkes!’

  It took her a few seconds to process what that name meant to her. ‘He was a patient,’ she said. ‘I haven’t seen him for months.’

  ‘No, because you made him leave me and then he moved away. He moved away from me!’

  Brett’s partner was closeted and didn’t want the wider world to know that they were in a relationship. Brett had never revealed his partner’s identity to her, even despite their doctor patient confidentiality. Concealing the truth of who they were took a toll on Brett and as such her advice had been communication, she would never tell a patient to leave a partner in explicit terms. Doing so could often alienate a patient if they weren’t ready to hear that a relationship could be toxic to them.

  ‘Brett made his own decision about your relationship,’ Lyssa said. ‘He loved you, but he believed that you weren’t ready to be with him. Brett was comfortable with who he was—‘

  ‘So was I! I was comfortable.’

  ‘I haven’t seen Brett for several months,’ Lyssa said. ‘I don’t know where he is. I know that he left his partner because he couldn’t live the lie anymore. He wanted to be free of the deception and let the world know how he loved you. By denying him that right he felt that he was suppressing a part of himself. You weren’t comfortable with who you were, with being in a same sex relationship, and he felt that you didn’t love him like he loved you. Your unwillingness to be open hurt—‘

  ‘It wa
sn’t like that!’

  ‘Forgive me,’ Lyssa said, seating herself on the bed in front of Suzette, whose volume was increasing. ‘But you have been in a relationship with a woman, a relationship that was supposed to culminate in marriage. How do you identify your sexuality?’

  ‘I heard what Brett said when he left me. I heard it when he told me that he didn’t believe I was ready to be in a relationship with him… I thought maybe he was right and I… I knew that being gay would hurt everyone in my life and…’

  Now that the shouting had stopped she began to feel that she was getting through to him. ‘Being in that position must have been very difficult.’

  ‘I knew that if I couldn’t be with Brett that I couldn’t be with any man…’

  ‘So you sought out Suzette?’

  Shaking his head, he maintained his aim with the gun, but lowered his focus. ‘No, I didn’t look for her.’

  ‘If you were conflicted, you could have sought out professional help yourself. Losing someone you love is a—‘

  ‘I did! I… I went to a pastor.’

  ‘A pastor,’ she repeated, that hadn’t been the kind of help that she had meant.

  ‘Yes, he gave me advice and he… I went to a doctor that he recommended. The pastor promised that this doctor could cure me and I did everything that he told me to.’

  ‘Cure you,’ she said. ‘You thought that if you couldn’t work out your relationship with Brett, if you couldn’t have him, then you couldn’t be gay? Is that what you thought?’

  ‘I did everything the doctor said,’ Pete murmured, his shoulders sagged but when he lifted his attention she saw tears in his eyes. ‘He gave me drugs, they made me really sick, and he gave me injections, and I had to watch movies…’ Rubbing his eyes with a free hand, she didn’t know if he was trying to erase the tears or the images the so-called doctor had put in his mind.

  She’d heard of these conversion camps and had done limited research on them. Everything that she had learned of them made her sick. These places should be outlawed as far as she was concerned because there was no use in a person denying who they were. Often the camps did severe, long-term psychological damage to people who had no pre-existing conditions other than their aversion, or anxiety, about admitting who they really were.