Small-Town Face-Off

by Tyler Anne Snell

Chapter Eight

  No sooner had Mara slipped into the interrogation room than Caleb tried to tell her to leave. He was more than surprised when she shushed him.

  “Be quiet, you idiot,” she said in a harsh whisper. She shut the door quietly behind her but paused to listen for anyone who might have heard. At least Caleb was good at following some instructions. He didn’t make a peep.

  “I suggest you don’t raise your voice,” she said, taking a seat in the chair opposite the man. He watched her through a shade of confusion and an even darker shade of mistrust, both apparent in his widened eyes and pursed lips. He hadn’t expected to see her, she suspected. Certainly not alone. That was just fine by Mara. She didn’t need his trust. She just needed to avoid his suspicion. “The sheriff just stepped out on a call and the rest of them are otherwise distracted, but I wouldn’t push our luck by wasting any time.”

  Mara leaned back in the chair, crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin enough to show that she was above the business she was about to discuss. And, by proxy, above Caleb. His round eyes took on more of a slit as he, in turn, tried to size her up. Criminal background or not, Mara knew she was smarter than he was.

  “I told you all that I’m not talking until I get a lawyer.” He said it slowly, testing her.

  “Well, good thing I don’t care about all of that,” Mara said dismissively. “What I do care about is this.” She dropped her arms from her chest and jabbed one finger on the tabletop. Not dropping her fixed stare into his beady little eyes, Mara kept her voice clear, yet low. “How did Beck find out about my father’s stash when we spent so much time trying to keep it a secret?”

  Caleb’s reaction was almost laughable. His eyebrows floated up so high they nearly disappeared into his hairline.

  “You’re saying you do know about the stash, then,” he said with notable excitement.

  Mara shushed him again for his volume.

  “Yes. What do you think I am? An idiot like you? Of course I know about the stash. I’m Bryan Copeland’s only child. Do you really think he’d build his own drug empire and not tell me? We always knew he might get caught, so he came up with a backup plan. Me.”

  Caleb’s look of surprise morphed into a smugness. He leaned toward her.

  “I wasn’t buying you not knowing anything,” he said, matter-of-factly.

  “Glad to know you’ve got some brains in that head of yours,” Mara replied with a little too much salt.

  “Hey, you better watch that mouth of yours,” Caleb warned.

  Mara snorted.

  “Or what? You going to magically uncuff yourself and beat me while in the middle of the sheriff’s department? Honey, you can’t honestly think that’s a good idea.”

  Whatever smart retort, or at least his version of one, was about to tumble from between Caleb’s crooked teeth stalled on his tongue. Like she’d suspected, Caleb was a small fish in a big pond. If he had been prepared to kidnap a woman and her child for Beck then he was either a very loyal lackey or just one who responded to the confidence of the man in charge.

  Or, in her case, the woman.

  “Now, here’s the deal,” Mara continued, lowering her voice but not enough to lose its strength. “I want to know how Beck found out about the stash and, for that matter, who this Beck person is. Because I’ve heard of a lot of people—a lot of big players—and I promise you I haven’t heard his name even once.”

  There it was.

  Clear behind his damp straw-colored eyes. An internal struggle while he weighed his options. To help her image Mara tapped her fingers on the tabletop.

  “Don’t let my mom jeans fool you,” she added. “I’m not this soft, compassionate creature you think I am. And more than the same goes for my father. So answer me. Now.”

  “Or what?” Caleb shot back with more bite than Mara had anticipated. If she couldn’t sway him to see her, or her father, as more threatening than Beck, then he wouldn’t give her any of the information they needed.

  “Or what?” she repeated, stalling. “I’ll tell you what.”

  And then it was Mara’s turn to have a terrible idea.

  * * *

  BILLY WATCHED THROUGH the two-way mirror in absolute awe as the woman he thought he knew completely and intimately grabbed the front of Caleb Richards’s shirt and, in one quick, smooth motion, pulled him down hard. The man was so caught off guard that he didn’t even try to shield his face. It connected with the top of the table, making a whack so loud it was nearly comical.

  “If you don’t tell me, my father will figure it out soon anyways and then he’ll tell everyone it was you who snitched on Beck,” Mara said, sitting back in her seat like she wasn’t the cause of Caleb’s current pain. He put his elbows on the table so he could cradle his nose. There was no blood that Billy could see, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t hurting. “Then you’ll have not only Bryan Copeland and his associates gunning for your head, you’ll also have this Beck fellow and whoever it is he deals with waiting for you to show up. Jail or not, you’ll become a target. And I don’t have to spell out what will happen when your boss finally catches up to you.” Even from Billy’s angle he could see the corner of her lips pull up. “Or do I?”

  Caleb let out a volley of muttered curse words but he didn’t outright try to fight Mara.

  “Damn, she’s good,” Suzy whispered from Billy’s side.

  He had to agree.

  Caleb took a beat to calm his anger.

  “I’m screwed either way, then,” he finally said.

  Mara held up her finger and waved it.

  “You tell me what you know and us Copelands will take that as a sign of good faith,” she said, diplomatically. “We’ll forget your indiscretion of working for a competitor and may even reward you for being helpful. That is, if you can be helpful.”

  A smarter man would have pointed out that Bryan Copeland was no longer competing for anything. That even though some hardened criminals still had a network outside of their prison cells, Bryan’s operation had been thoroughly dismantled. Largely thanks to the woman sitting opposite him, promising him a fictional safe haven. However, Caleb Richards didn’t appear to be the brightest of men. Mara had found a spot to put pressure on, and after one more long look at her, he cracked.

  “I’ve only heard him go by the name Beck,” Caleb started, not looking at all pleased at what he was doing, but doing it all the same. “He found me in a bar, knew my name and asked if I liked money.” Caleb shrugged. “I said hell, yeah, I do, and he said I could make a lot of it if I came and worked for him.”

  “Doing what, specifically?” Mara interjected. “Grabbing me?”

  Caleb nodded and scrunched up his face in pain. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

  “He said he’d already done the hard part of getting you to town. All I had to do was get you to tell me where the stash was and grab you if you didn’t. Then let him get the rest out of you.”

  “Wait, Beck said he got me to come to town?” Mara asked, picking up on Billy’s own question.

  “Yeah, he said he knew if he let you know he was trying to find the money that you’d probably freak out and want to check on it.” A grin split his lips. “He tried to follow you last night but got a flat tire. By the time he changed it he couldn’t find where you’d gone so bam he tells me to keep checking all of your favorite spots in town to wait you out.”

  Billy felt his anger start to ooze up through his pores and turn into a second skin. His hands fisted at his sides.

  “And how would he know my favorite spots? Is he from Carpenter or Kipsy, or is he just blowing smoke and guessing?” Mara’s relaxed facade was starting to harden. She was uncomfortable.

  “No, I don’t think he’s from here. He was complaining about the GPS on his phone the other day.”


  “Then he just got lucky today with guessing I’d go to the park,” Mara offered. Caleb shook his head.

  “He told me you used to go running there a lot and probably wanted to show your kid the playground since the sun was shining and all. Though, I guess that was a leap of faith on his part.”

  “But how did he know that?” Billy asked aloud.

  “If he’s not from here then how did he know I used to go to the park?” Mara asked a split second later.

  “He said his friend knows you. And before you ask, no, I don’t know his friend or anyone else he works with, really. I only ever met him at the hotel he’s staying at.”

  “And what hotel is that?”

  By God, if Caleb didn’t tell her.

  * * *

  A KNOCK ON the door stopped Mara from asking any more questions. Expecting to see Billy or Suzy, she was surprised to find a squat man, sweating in his suit.

  The lawyer.

  “May I ask what you’re doing in here with my client?” the man asked, already bolstering himself up. Mara stood too fast, but recovered with a smile that started with a look at Caleb and ended with the new man.

  “Oh, I’m just a friend trying to keep him company until you arrived” was all she said. The lawyer opened his mouth, to protest, most likely, but she was already moving past him into the hallway. It was one thing to pull the wool over Caleb’s eyes. It was another to try it with a lawyer.

  Mara didn’t look back as she walked straight toward Billy’s office. The closer she came the more she realized that, while she was happy with the outcome of what she’d just done, something felt off. A lot of Riker County’s residents hadn’t believed that Mara had been oblivious to her father’s dealings. Since it had never been made public that Mara was integral in providing evidence against him, a good number of the general public had assumed she was just clever in how she’d gotten away with avoiding any charge by association. Even though Mara knew the truth, she realized now that maybe a part of her didn’t.

  Maybe there was some side of her that had always known the kind of man her father was. Maybe the person she’d just pretended to be in the interrogation room was the woman she really was, deep down.

  Maybe the sweet, compassionate person she portrayed to everyone was the cover.

  Just like her father.

  Mara walked into Billy’s office and stopped in the middle. Her heart was galloping and her breathing had gone slightly erratic. She pushed her hands together and twisted them around, trying to physically remove herself from whatever hole she was falling into.

  “You did great,” Billy exclaimed from behind her. Mara jumped but didn’t turn around until she heard the soft click of the door shutting. “I mean, he just opened up and—Mara?”

  The warmth and weight of Billy’s hand pressed down on her shoulder. Even though she couldn’t see his face, she felt his concern through that touch.

  When she turned to him, she could feel tears sliding down her cheeks.

  “Oh, Billy,” she cried.

  Billy’s expression skirted around deeper concern and hardened. His hands moved to the sides of her shoulders, steadying her. Still, she could feel the warmth of his skin through her shirt. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, lowering his head to meet her gaze straight on. His eyes, a wild green that constantly changed their hue and mesmerized whoever was in their sights, pulled the reluctant truth straight from Mara’s heart.

  “What if I am like my father?”

  Mara didn’t know if she was looking for an answer from the sheriff or, really, if she even deserved one from him, of all people. But, bless Billy’s heart, he gave her one.

  Though not the one she expected.

  He took a step closer until her breasts were pressed against his chest. The closeness brought on a new reminder. One of her body naked against his. Sharing his warmth until it became their heat.

  “You are not like your father,” he said. His voice had dropped an octave. Its rich new volume surrounded Mara, trailing across every inch of her body like a silk ribbon. She resisted the urge to let her eyelids flutter closed. It had been too long since she’d heard Billy talk to her like that, and it wasn’t helping the images already starting to pop up in her mind. The fear of being like her father started to chip away. But not from his words. It was because the man himself was less than a breath away. If she moved her head up enough she’d be able to meet his lips with hers. Would it be the worst idea she’d had?

  No. It wouldn’t.

  “Mara,” Billy whispered, though to her ears, it sounded more like a plea. Mara couldn’t find the words to respond, if that’s what it really was.

  A warm flush started to spread through her body as Billy loosened his hold. Instead of backing away, his fingers trailed down her arms and then made the jump to her hips. The air between them went from fear and concern to something else entirely, charged enough that Mara was left speechless.

  That was how it went with the two of them. They only needed an instant for their fire to ignite.

  “Mara,” Billy repeated. He dropped his head but not his gaze. He angled his lips toward hers and Mara, God help her, finally closed her eyes, ready to feel Billy’s lips on hers after two years without him.

  But Beck wasn’t done with them yet.

  The sound of glass shattering ripped away whatever moment they were about to have. But it was the sound of Alexa’s high-pitched cry that had them running out the door.

  Chapter Nine

  The possibility that the sound was something as simple as a cup falling off a table and breaking was quickly dismissed when another crash of glass sounded. This time it was followed by Billy throwing his body into Mara’s and pulling her down to the floor. He made a cage around her, his hand flying to the gun at his hip in the process.

  “Shooter outside,” he yelled. On the end of his words were other shouts from the rest of the department. The empty hallway filled as everyone tried to find the source.

  “Shots through the conference room,” Billy yelled as a thunk split the air.

  “Alexa,” Mara cried. She nearly broke Billy’s hold to go the couple of feet to the conference room door. The room where Alexa had been playing with Cassie. The half wall of glass that made up the interior wall of the room crashed to the hallway floor. Billy’s hold was concrete around her. Alexa’s continued crying was physically pulling Mara but the sheriff was having none of it.

  “Stay here, Mara.”

  “Alexa—” she tried, but Billy wasn’t budging.

  “I’ll get her.”

  Mara willed her body to stay still long enough to convince the man she wasn’t going to run into the line of fire. The hallway around them was filled with noise as Billy and Suzy barked out orders and relayed information back and forth.

  Then Billy was calling out to Cassie, the only person watching Alexa.

  She didn’t answer.

  Billy pulled his gun up high and moved in a crouch until he was in the conference room.

  “We need a medic,” he yelled as soon as he disappeared from view.

  In that moment Mara knew that nothing on earth or in heaven could have kept her from going into that conference room. She mimicked Billy’s crouch and was about to rush in when someone grabbed her shoulder.

  “Let me go first,” Suzy said, brandishing her own firearm.

  Mara had enough sense to pause, but no sooner had the chief deputy cleared the door than Mara was in the room.

  “Oh, my God!”

  The window that looked out onto the street was broken, glass sprinkled on the floor in front of it and on the conference table. However, it was what she saw on the other side of that table that had Mara’s stomach dropping to the ground.
>
  Among the scattered LEGOs and books was a blood trail that led to the opposite side of the room, just out of view of the window. There, tucked in the corner, was Cassie, sitting up and bracing herself against the wall with Alexa pushed into the corner behind her.

  Even though Billy was at Cassie’s side, the injured woman found Mara’s gaze and spoke to her.

  “She-she-she’s o-okay,” she gasped.

  “Don’t talk, Cassie. Save your strength,” Billy ordered, tone sharp. He put his hand to the side of Cassie’s neck. Blood ran between his fingers.

  Mara kept her crouch low as she hurried to their side.

  “Get Alexa,” Billy ordered. His voice was cold. No doubt helped by the blood he was trying to keep staunched by holding the trainee’s neck. Cassie started to move but he stopped her. “Mara can grab her. Don’t move.”

  “Thank you, Cassie,” Mara said. She touched the woman’s shoulder and focused on her daughter. It was clear Cassie had been shot, yet she still had been trying to protect Alexa. Mara reached over her and grabbed for her daughter. Once the little girl realized who she was, her crying only became more pronounced and large tears slid down her cheeks.

  “You’re okay,” Mara whispered, trying to soothe them both. “You’re okay.”

  “Suzy, take them out of here,” Billy ordered as soon as Alexa was pressed against Mara’s chest. “Somewhere with no windows. Don’t come back until you have a medic with you.”

  Billy didn’t meet Mara’s eyes. Instead, he started to talk to Cassie in low, reassuring tones. The whole scene squeezed at her heart.

  There was so much blood.

  Suzy led them to the dispatcher’s small break room, separate from the one law enforcement used, and set down Mara’s bag by the door. She hadn’t realized Suzy had grabbed it in the first place.

  “Stay here until we know everything’s alright,” Suzy said.

  Mara nodded.

  Alexa continued to sob into her shirt.

  * * *

  IT WAS SUZY who came to get Mara and Alexa when everything calmed down. The department was filling with people and Suzy had to take them out the back to her car to avoid most of them. She wouldn’t explain what was happening until they were driving out of the lot. All Mara knew was that Billy was on the search to find the gunman, along with Chief Hawser and some of his officers. It wasn’t every day that someone was brazen enough to attack a law enforcement department. Even more rare was the reality that the shooter had managed to kill, which was the first bit of news Suzy relayed.