He shouldn’t have bought into assumptions the FBI agents had made. He’d seen Lina’s hesitation when he asked if she recognized the man who had killed her friend. He remembered what she’d said, word for word.
He might just have had an ordinary face, but it’s like, oh, if you see someone out of context and can’t place them. They’re a stranger, but not. You know?
But the FBI didn’t believe the two were local, so he’d gone with the ordinary-face explanation—and left Lina unprotected.
This was his fault.
He pulled in behind the ambulance, where a cluster of people stood. Lina sat on the tailgate. As he got out of his county car, he heard her protesting.
“Really, I’m fine. I can clean up at home—” Her gaze fastened desperately on his and she broke off. It was as if no one else was there. He saw no one but her. Completely unaware of people stepping aside, Bran went straight to her, taking in the sight of the thick gauze wrapping her upper arm and both her hands, the grit and blood mixed with tattered fabric at her knees. Her hair was falling out of whatever she’d used to confine it.
“No,” he said softly, tipping her chin up with one hand.
“No what?”
“No, you’re not cleaning up at home. You’re going to the hospital.” When her jaw set mulishly, he shook his head. “For my sake.” Then he played dirty. “For the baby’s sake.”
“Oh.” Bending her head, she touched her stomach with one bandaged hand. “I didn’t fall that hard. I’ve felt her moving since.” Lina met his eyes again. Whatever she saw must have been persuasive, because she nodded. “Yes. Okay. Only...”
“Only what?”
“Will you come?”
“I’ll follow you there as soon as I get things started here.”
She tried to smile and to thank him.
“Damn it, Lina!” The fear kept swelling inside him, stinging his throat and sinuses. He bent forward and gently wrapped his arms around her.
With a funny little sound, she rested her forehead on his chest. He breathed in her scent and began to believe she was all right.
But she might not have been, a voice in his head persisted in reminding him. A few inches one way or the other and she’d be dead.
Even thinking that way was like stepping off a cliff. He couldn’t let himself. Not now. He had a job to do.
“Okay, sweetheart,” he murmured. “You need to go get checked out. I have to interview witnesses and start a search for the bullets.”
Her head bobbed against him. She straightened and they looked into each other’s eyes for one naked moment. Then Bran stepped back and let the pair of paramedics settle her in the back of the ambulance.
He was turning away when she suddenly called in alarm, “Wait!” Hand moving to his weapon, he spun in place to give the surroundings a swift, hard look. What had she seen?
But nothing had changed. A few more people were coming out of the gym, all gaping at the police cars and ambulance. He focused on the ambulance where she sat up on a gurney. “What?”
“My necklace!” She sounded on the verge of tears. “It slipped out of my hand. That’s why I stooped in the first place. Please find it. Please. Oh, and my bag and my keys must be on the ground, too.” Those were obviously an afterthought.
Jesus, this latest spike of adrenaline had him dangerously on edge. Without a word, he walked around the back of her car and saw a brightly colored, rubberized tote bag lying on its side. When he picked it up, he found the keys under it. The necklace took him longer. He scanned the ground until a glint of gold almost beneath her back tire caught his eye. An unfamiliar emotion gripping him, he picked it up, his gaze on the pendant.
When he returned her possessions to her, Lina had tears in her eyes. She snatched the necklace out of his hand, fumbling with the clasp until the female paramedic said kindly, “I’ll put it on for you. That way you can’t lose it.”
“Okay now?” Bran asked hoarsely.
“Yes. Thank you.” Lina’s lips trembled before she managed to firm them. Her shimmering eyes were enormous. He wasn’t sure he could have looked away.
The male paramedic slammed the back doors, cutting off Bran’s sight of her, then went around to hop in behind the wheel.
Not until the ambulance pulled away was he able to make himself move.
Then at last he focused on the uniformed deputy and the two men who had saved Lina’s life by their courageous decision to run toward the shots instead of away.
* * *
LINA HUDDLED BENEATH two thin blankets in the small exam room. She was freezing. Probably she was in shock, but did they have to keep it so cold in here? And what had happened to her coat?
The wound on her upper arm really was more of a burn. The doctor doubted it would even leave a scar. She had been unbelievably lucky.
Earlier, her hands had actually hurt the most, but they had been numbed so the nurse could clean them, picking out grit, before applying a salve and rewrapping them. Her knees stung, too, but she’d scraped them worse plenty of times as a kid on the playground.
She was waiting for the release papers and a prescription for a painkiller she doubted she’d take even if the doctor insisted it was safe for the baby.
Through the sliding glass doors of her cubicle, she could see the nurses’ station and the tops of heads behind computer monitors. As she watched, the doctor who had taken care of her walked into a cubicle across the way and pulled a curtain for privacy.
Where was Bran? She couldn’t leave until he got here. With no car, she was kind of stuck unless she called a friend. Maybe she should check with him. She’d bet Isabel or Sara, another teacher from her school, would come for her. Her phone should be in her tote bag. She turned her head until she spotted it, on the floor out of the way.
But at that moment her door slid open and Bran walked in, shrinking the small space in that way he had. She didn’t know how he did it. At not much over six feet, he was a big man but not massive. What he had was presence. She didn’t think she was the only person who’d look first at him in a crowd. Maybe it was a dominance thing, or that grim air.
His blue eyes homed in on her. “Lina.”
“Hi.” For the first time, she gave thought to her appearance. She could not possibly be at her best. “I think they’re ready to release me,” she said brightly. “Will you take me back to my car?”
He shook his head. “One of the bullets—we presume the one that grazed your arm—went into the front tire.”
“You mean, I have a flat?”
“You do. But it’s a little more than that. We jacked up your car and took the entire wheel. We’re hoping that bullet is in better shape than the one that dinged the SUV. We found it, but it suffered some damage.”
“But...when can I have my car back?” she asked in dismay.
He stood right beside the narrow bed, looking down at her, his eyes unsettlingly intense. Lina wasn’t sure what his expression meant.
“Probably tomorrow, but you won’t be driving it anyway until we catch these sons of bitches.”
“You think...?” She couldn’t make herself finish.
“We don’t have a lot of drive-by shootings around here, Lina. I don’t buy this was a coincidence.”
She hadn’t wanted to know, because if today’s shooter was the man she’d seen kill Maya, that meant he had recognized her. He knew her name and where she lived. He must, because if he hadn’t followed her to the high school, how had he found her?
“Then...when he looked familiar...”
“He was.” He clenched his jaw so hard, it was a wonder his molars weren’t cracking. “And I was stupid enough to disregard your gut feeling because the feds were so damn sure Pierce County was home ground for those two.”
“But I don’t really k
now him!” she cried. “At most, I’ve seen him somewhere. So how does he know who I am?”
Bran stepped even closer. She guessed he might have taken one of her hands in his if she hadn’t had the blankets pulled up to her chin. “I’m going to walk you through your daily routines. We’ll think about where you shop for groceries, prescription medications, shoes. Do you always go to the same gas station? You need to be thinking about parents of your students. School employees. He could be something like a janitor or bus driver. Those are the kind of people whose faces are familiar to you, even though you don’t give much conscious thought to them. As a teacher, you’re more visible. Once they let you out of here, that’s what you and I are going to do if you feel up to it.”
“I’m fine. Just...”
“Shaken up?”
“Cold,” she snapped. “What did they do with my coat?”
“It was probably taken into evidence.”
“Oh, wonderful.” Her sudden grumpiness, Lina felt sure, was mere window-covering for the fear beneath. “It’s keeping my car company.”
Bran’s grin took her breath away. “You should be glad neither of them are lonely.”
The nurse returned then with the prescription and a couple pages of instructions for Lina to take with her. Once she’d clumsily signed her name with her gauze-wrapped hand, she was free to go.
Bran asked if they could take the blankets. He promised to return them. So it was that Lina walked out swaddled like a newborn, not much more than her nose and feet showing. It was a good thing, because the day felt a lot colder now than it had earlier. The temperature might have dropped—but she suspected shock was taking a toll, too.
Expecting a hike across the parking lot, she discovered a benefit of wearing a badge: his Camaro was parked only a few feet from the Emergency Room entrance in a spot marked For Official Vehicles Only.
“You changed cars,” she said in surprise.
“I stopped by the station so I don’t have to go back later.”
She waited until he’d helped her ease into the passenger seat and gone around to get in himself before she asked if he was taking her home.
He paused in the act of buckling her seat belt. Of course his too-piercing blue eyes saw her every fear. “No. Lina, I’m putting you into hiding.”
“But...” She stared at him. “What if you don’t catch them right away? I have to go back to work a week from Monday.”
“That’s, what, nine days? We’ll worry about it when it gets closer.” He started the car, looked over his shoulder and backed out.
“Does the sheriff’s department have a, well, a safe house? Or—oh, it would be the FBI, wouldn’t it?” She couldn’t imagine.
“Not the FBI. My call to Novinski was a waste of time. They want to believe this shooting was random, because if it’s not, that blows all their elaborate theories to shit.” He sounded like he might be grinding his teeth. “Right now, we’re going to my apartment so we can talk.”
She felt...odd at the idea of encroaching on his personal space. Except, of course, eventually, if he chose to have visitation, she’d undoubtedly see where he lived.
She felt his occasional sidelong glance during the drive, but didn’t meet it. He undermined her. Made her want something she doubted he could give. It was safer to remember that damn wedding invitation and wonder about the woman he had wanted to marry. How hurt had he been? Had he seen her since? Begged her to reconsider?
No, not that, Lina thought—it was impossible to imagine Bran Murphy begging for anything.
His apartment complex was about a mile from hers, but remarkably similar. It might even have the same owners. His unit was fourth floor, accessed via an elevator from the lobby. As soon as he let them into his apartment, she saw that the only personality in the living room came from the pair of bookcases that flanked a large-screen television. The leather sofa and recliner had to be expensive. But the plain white walls were undecorated, and being a man he hadn’t bothered with knickknacks or throw pillows. Decor was probably not a word in his vocabulary. The living area had no windows. She’d noticed balconies; his must be accessed from one of the bedrooms.
She couldn’t help noticing how spotlessly clean and orderly his place was, too. The kitchen counters were bare except for a coffee machine and a toaster. The small table was equally bare—no place mats for him. The spines of the books were perfectly aligned. Horrible man, he probably even dusted them.
“Have a seat,” he said, turning the dead bolt and going straight to the thermostat, which he nudged upward. “I’ll get you a sweater or something.”
He disappeared down the short hall that led, she presumed, to one or maybe two bedrooms and a bathroom. He returned carrying a navy blue, hooded sweatshirt that zipped up the front.
Lina thanked him and shed the blankets. Of course she had to roll up the sleeves several times and the hem hung to midthigh, but it was cozy. She might be imagining it, but she was comforted to think his smell clung to the fabric. She heard a drawer open and close, and he came back from the kitchen with a notepad and pen. She couldn’t decide whether she was relieved or sorry that he sat in the recliner instead of at the other end of the sofa.
“Damn,” he said suddenly. “We forgot to fill your prescription.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” she admitted. “Tylenol would be the best, if you have any.”
He frowned, but nodded after a minute. “If you change your mind, I’ll go out.”
“I’ll need clothes and stuff from home.”
“Give me a list. That’s the last place I want you to go.”
“I’d really like to keep swimming every day.” She sounded timid because she knew he was going to say no. “It’s...really important I keep exercising.”
The frown deepened. He hadn’t liked the reminder that her health—and the baby’s—was at risk. His “We’ll see” was terse.
How could she not bow to his judgment? After seeing Maya killed and coming so close herself today, she’d be an idiot to insist on doing whatever she wanted. Except...what were her alternatives? An aerobics video? The ones aimed at pregnant women wouldn’t give her anywhere near the workout she got from swimming half a mile.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Not yet.”
“You ready to start, then?”
“Yes.” She really needed to feel proactive to combat the helplessness.
They discussed grocery stores. She most often went to Safeway because it was closest, but also shopped at Fred Meyer because of a few products only they sold. She couldn’t absolutely swear the man she’d seen didn’t work in the produce section or behind the customer service counter or in the pharmacy—she didn’t fill prescriptions at either store—but shook her head decisively at the idea he was a checker.
“If all he’s done is see me go by pushing a cart,” she argued, “how did he find out my name? I might look familiar to him, but that’s all.”
“He could have asked around.”
“But why would he?”
“You’re a beautiful woman, Lina.”
She only shook her head. “Then why didn’t he ever call to ask me out?”
“This might have been a while ago,” Bran reminded her. “Maybe he found out you were married.”
She shook her head. “I only moved here a year ago, after my divorce.”
“Why here?” He sounded genuinely curious.
“I wanted to get away. Finding a new job halfway through the school year wasn’t easy. The opening here was perfect.” She smiled a little. “Ironically, my predecessor quit because she’d just had a baby and decided not to come back to work.”
“So you’d only been here six months when we—”
Her cheeks warmed. “Yes.”
“Had you been dating?
”
“No. I guess a few guys asked—” she had to think back “—but I wasn’t ready.”
“This guy wasn’t one of them?”
“No. It was a couple of the male teachers, and a guy I got talking to one day at the library.”
Bran gazed at her for a long minute. Finally, he said, “I have to ask you this. It doesn’t have anything to do with the bank robbery or shooting.”
Warily, she waited.
“I doubt you were ever much of a drinker. You know why I was at the tavern that night. Why were you?”
Of course he’d want to know. She looked down at her gauze-wrapped hands. “My ex-husband still lives in the same town as my parents. Every so often, my mother feels compelled to give me an update on him.”
Bran didn’t say anything.
“I really wanted to start a family. He didn’t.” She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “That should have been a clue, I guess. I mean, we’d talked about it before we got married. He’d wanted kids, too, eventually. Five years later, I thought the time had come. We started fighting about it.” She still felt ashamed she’d been so oblivious. “I’m sure you can guess what happened.”
“He was screwing around on you.”
The kindness in his voice gave her the courage to lift her head and meet his eyes. “Yep. With a friend of mine, no less. A fellow teacher.”
“I can see why staying on at the same school didn’t sound very appealing.”
“Yes.” There was a point to this. “Um, the day you and I met? Mom had let me know Madison was pregnant. His new wife. Really pregnant. Due any minute.” She grimaced. “He wanted kids. He just didn’t want them with me. All those excuses he gave were bull. While I was dreaming about starting a family, he was already sleeping with her. Somehow, hearing that—”
Bran moved faster than she’d believed possible. He stepped right over the coffee table and sat on the cushion next to her. When she tried to hide her face, he turned it back so she had to look at him.
“Be glad you didn’t have a kid with him,” he said, his voice hard. “A guy like that doesn’t have it in him to be any more committed to his children than he does to his wife.”
Harlequin Superromance May 2016 Box Set Page 9