Colton's Killer Pursuit

by Tara Taylor Quinn

  Even then, Everleigh was taking the high road. Trying to reason with a woman who’d pretended to be a friend while Larissa had been robbing her of her entire life. “There’s no proof you killed Fritz, maybe it was in self-defense, but if you do this...you’re done...”

  She was purposely trying to take control of her life and get them out alive, or just doing a damn fine job of winging it. Either way, Clarke was glad she was on his team. She was playing right into his need to take another step or two before Larissa’s hand tightened on the trigger for the shot. He’d have to move at the first sign of tightening. Any later would be too late.

  “Maybe it will, maybe it won’t,” Larissa hissed. “But I’m damn sure not going to be the only one losing everything here,” she said. “I didn’t kill him so you could get rich and live the good life...”

  The muscle in her hand twitched and Clarke shoved Everleigh...just as a bullet flew from the chamber.

  Chapter 19

  Everleigh saw the gun jerk, heard the shot, felt a deep pain and fell sideways, stumbling, tripping over her own boots, righting herself, knowing she had to stay upright or die. She heard movement, knew Clarke was there, but before she could process anything else, there was an arm around her throat and a piece of cold round steel pressed to her temple.

  She wasn’t burning. Didn’t feel like she’d been shot. But she’d heard that sometimes you didn’t feel it. Sometimes the site where the bullet hit the body went numb. So, was this what it felt like to die?

  She didn’t feel dead, either. Not yet.

  “Come any closer and she dies.” Larissa spit in her eye as she said the words. Everleigh saw Clarke then, still slightly behind the desk, his gaze cold, calculating, and his gun pointed right at Larissa. Her former friend wasn’t going to make it out of this situation. As soon as she shot Everleigh, he’d shoot her.

  His gun went off, or Larissa’s did again. Everleigh fell to the floor, heart pounding blood through her—and out of her?—at a ferocious pace. She still didn’t feel any deep wounds. Any burning or searing pain. Her leg hurt where she’d fallen against something, but she could hardly think. Loud noise came then, close by, within inches, and she opened her eyes in time to see Clarke with one arm around Larissa’s upper body, and the other holding her hands behind her back.

  She saw his gun on the floor, inches from her head. And realized that her skull—and the rest of her body—was still completely intact. That was when she started to shake. To shiver.

  And to lie there, afraid to get to her feet.

  * * *

  She hadn’t been hit. He knew she hadn’t been hit. He hadn’t waited for Larissa’s hand to clench; instead, Clarke had taken his shot at the wall just above her head and dived in while she ducked, using his gun to knock hers away and then dropping his own to get her in a grasp she would not escape from. Larissa’s weapon had not gone off a second time. And yet, as Clarke secured his perp, he wasn’t seeing Everleigh get up. He needed to see her get up.

  Oh, God. What if she was hurt? If he’d failed to protect her...

  He heard a scuffle and then the front door burst open, followed by a flurry of armed officers entering the room. He’d known they wouldn’t be far away. He wouldn’t have had Everleigh there without them close by.

  But the morning had almost been a disaster anyway. Of the worst kind. Way too close for comfort.

  Grace was immediately on task as she surveyed the room, heading straight to Everleigh; and as a couple of uniforms relieved him of his hostage, Clarke saw Everleigh sit up.

  He took a deep breath. Let it out slowly. Started to shake. Blinked back moisture.

  And went outside to meet Troy to give his report.

  * * *

  Everleigh assured Grace Colton she was fine. She hadn’t been shot after all. Wasn’t bleeding. And the shock was already passing. She didn’t want to go to the hospital, to have anyone poking around. No examinations.

  She didn’t want anyone to know she’d recently had sex. And if she needed counseling, she knew where to find it.

  She didn’t really know what she wanted, other than to see her grandmother. To let her know that the murder part of their ordeal was over.

  To tell her that she’d been duped by her own friend.

  And, mostly, to beg her to tell her attorney to go to the DA for a plea deal.

  She wanted to go home...and realized how crazy the thought was, since she was standing in her own front yard, coat on, arms wrapped around herself, still shivering, while law-enforcement vehicles arrived and various personnel did what they had to do. Her house was once again a crime scene and being taped off.

  CSI had arrived.

  Clarke was talking to Troy.

  His job—protecting her—was done.

  One and done. That was what they’d said.

  She hadn’t realized how horribly, horribly empty being “done” felt. On every level.

  Where did she go now?

  Funny, such a short time ago, Larissa had offered her house as a safe place for Everleigh to stay. And she’d actually considered taking her friend up on the offer. Betrayal bit into an already opened wound. She’d trusted so blindly...

  Grace or someone would take her to Clarke’s to pick up her things. Or she could have them sent over. Except, no, she wanted them sooner than that.

  But sent over where?

  Her parents’ would be the obvious answer. No way she was going there. She just couldn’t. Not yet. Not then.

  And Gram’s house... The thought of that was suffocating, too...being there alone, knowing Gram was locked up in prison because of her...

  So...she could get a hotel room. The idea seemed so frivolous, but she wouldn’t be short on money after Tuesday. Not that she’d waste it. She’d never be that far away from the wrong side of the tracks.

  Her heart rate quickened as Clarke walked toward her.

  “You ready to go?” He asked the question like they’d planned to be somewhere together.

  “I’m... I can’t really leave until I can get my car out of the garage.” At the moment, there were several police cruisers blocking it. “I already gave my statement to Grace,” she added, in case he thought she needed a ride to the station. She was assuming he’d have more official business to conduct.

  “I know. I’m done for now, too. I thought I’d take you back to my place.” He gestured around them. “They’re going to be busy here for a while, collecting any evidence they can find of Larissa in Fritz’s office the day he was killed. Going over the couch. Getting evidence from today. Proving that she used a key to get in your home multiple times. All of the things she told us are only hearsay in court. The cops know what happened, but they still have to prove it, or she could walk.”

  She nodded, having assumed most of what he’d said. “I thought I’d stay in a hotel tonight.”

  He frowned. “I’d feel better once we know that Larissa is locked in a cell, that she doesn’t get out on bail...”

  “Will that be sometime today?” She had to go back to his place anyway, to get her stuff. And if he wanted to bring her back to retrieve her car...

  “Should be. They’ll be interviewing her soon. She’ll be booked on formal charges, get a court-appointed attorney if she can’t afford one...”

  Yeah, she knew the drill. Everleigh had been denied bail. Would Larissa be?

  “If she asks for her attorney before she talks, the process could take longer.”

  That had been Everleigh’s mistake, she knew now. She’d been so sure that all she had to do was explain and she’d be let go. By the time she’d been done talking, it had been too late to get an attorney that night. She’d been charged and put in a cell.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” he added, his gaze intent but warm. “You’re out of danger. You’re safe. I’m just being extra cautious and would like
to know that she’s locked up, having been denied bail, rather than say goodbye and hear that she got out and has you cornered someplace. The woman is a bit too deranged for me to relax just yet.”

  He was the one who lived in a world of crime. He knew it a lot better than she did.

  He wanted her to stay at his place one more night?

  She couldn’t do that. One and done.

  “I’ll come with you now,” she told him, figuring a few hours would give them the information they needed for her to be able to get on with her life. She didn’t have her car. Couldn’t ask him to take her to his place and then to a hotel and then back to her car. Wasn’t happy about the idea of trusting a ride share at the moment, but she was pretty much feeling distrustful of everything.

  “You’ve been through a lot of stress, Everleigh,” he said. “More than most people could endure standing up. All I’m suggesting is that you take one more day in my safe home, a place where you have your things, your room with a door that locks, and let the GGPD do their jobs, both here and at the station with Larissa, before you tackle the world again.”

  She liked the sound of that so much.

  Too much.

  Worried about the new danger she’d be introducing to her life if she followed him to the long, black shadowed loaner car.

  But she took a step in that direction anyway. And then another.

  Truth was, she wanted to go with him.

  “I told Melissa I was planning to keep you at my place for now, so she’ll be calling if they need anything else from either of us in the course of the investigation.”

  Did he know she’d been battling with herself? Looking for legitimate justification to go with him? Something told her he did. Which somehow made him more of a threat...despite the fact he’d just saved both their lives.

  She brushed the thought aside as she fell into step beside him.

  She’d just had a gun to her head. Held by a woman she’d thought was a friend. She was estranged from her family. Her husband had been murdered in their home by his adulterous lover, all while he’d been divorcing her. Her grandmother was in prison. She’d been in prison. Had no job. Her home was a crime scene. And the man who’d sent her to prison was still on the loose.

  A few more hours to hide from the world wasn’t too much to ask.

  Was it?

  * * *

  The immediate danger was gone, but Clarke had never been one to walk away from a job until the loose ends were tied up. It wasn’t done until it was done.

  “Do you have work to get back to?” Everleigh’s question came softly, about the time they’d turned off from her road. She’d been silent up to that point.

  Nothing about the near-death experience she’d just had. Or any of the events that had transpired that morning. Where, in his family, it seemed to him that everyone talked things to death, analyzing situations, regurgitating them until every fact had been dissected. She just...took it all in and moved forward.

  He’d never thought he’d find himself admitting it, but he preferred the Colton way.

  She’d almost died. He’d almost lost her. They should talk about that.

  “It’s Sunday,” he answered. “I’ll spend time poring over whatever I can find on the internet that can help the GGPD with the two manhunts they’re engaged in, but other than that, no.” If she’d been anyone else, he’d have asked what she had in mind.

  With Everleigh...everything was different.

  “I’d like to visit with Gram. I’d asked for permission when I called this morning, with her still not feeling well, and if you need me to go back for my car, I’ll either wait for the police to finish and move their vehicles out of the way, or I’ll ask them to move. But I’m allowed eight visits per month and the deputy director is allowing me special circumstances to visit outside visiting hours and...”

  If she’d wanted to go alone, wouldn’t she have suggested she get her own car two minutes ago, when they’d still been at her house? Maybe?

  He liked thinking that she wanted to be with him.

  Just had to not think about the horror he’d just come through, thinking he could see her shot. That beautiful body, hurt in any way...

  She wasn’t his to ponder over.

  Her agitation, her need to see her grandmother, was something he could help fix.

  “I’ll take you,” he said. And added, because he felt the truth strongly, “I wasn’t kidding about keeping you under protection until Larissa is officially locked up and arraigned. You never know what a lawyer can argue, what a judge will do...”

  “It’s Sunday,” she shot back at him. “Court isn’t in session.”

  He didn’t see the issue. Hadn’t they already decided she’d be at his place at least one more night? In that room? With a door that locked?

  He’d said those things to let her know, without opening any doors to conversation about what was done between them, that she’d merely be sleeping at his place. That he wasn’t, in any way, insinuating, hoping or wanting that door to be unlocked that night.

  One and done. Because otherwise he was going to disappoint her, and she was going to get hurt.

  But...to her point...

  “Michigan’s code of criminal procedure allows for judges to conduct business on weekends through use of two-way interactive video technology. That includes criminal arraignments and setting bail.”

  She turned to look at him then, those hazel eyes clouded with so many emotions she wasn’t sharing with him. “She could be arraigned today? Locked up until trial?”

  She knew the ropes intimately.

  “Yes.”

  Her entire being seemed to settle at that point. Relaxing against the seat of his rented town car as though, finally, something had gone her way.

  * * *

  Everleigh’s mind wouldn’t settle. While the tension in her body eased at the thought of Larissa locked up, Everleigh’s imploded life continued to stare her in the face.

  So many things...

  Too much to process.

  Rationally, she knew she was probably still in the throes of shock. That her mind was caring for her by wrapping itself in a shield of cotton. But one after another, facts sprang on her. Over and over. Just facts. No understanding. Nowhere to go with any of them.

  “I just wanted to let Gram know this part’s over,” she said. “I want to tell her in person.” She needed to see her, to see that her cold really wasn’t getting worse, wasn’t turning into pneumonia. And to beg her to please put in a request to speak with her attorney.

  His phone rang, and he answered over the car’s system. Melissa. Letting them know that Larissa would be arraigned later that afternoon. She’d been in a private residence uninvited, with a loaded and cocked gun. They had solid evidence to prove that much, and it was enough for the DA to request holding her without bail. If the judge agreed, they’d be home free on that one.

  And when Melissa heard where they were headed, she said, “That’s the other reason I was calling, to suggest that Everleigh would want to head to the prison. Hannah McPherson decided to accept a plea agreement. A judge will take the agreement by video conferencing from the prison this afternoon. In light of the fact that she’s not feeling well, the DA is recommending that she be released from prison, on home arrest, at least until sentencing...”

  Everleigh laughed out loud. “Hallelujah!” she cried because it just burst out of her. But she quickly sobered, forcing herself to tend to the logistics. “When is the hearing?”

  “It could be going on now.” Melissa’s voice filled the car. “Or soon. With everything going on, I missed the DA’s original call on the matter. With all of the protesters outside and the bad GGPD press, the DA thought I’d want to know ahead of time.”

  Gram free? There was so much Everleigh needed to do. Get transportation. Take Gram to a clin
ic. Get groceries for her and...

  “Your parents have been notified that she could be released as early as tonight and are on standby,” Melissa added.

  Everleigh wasn’t going to stand by.

  She was going to be at the prison...in the hearing, if she could make that happen.

  The killer caught and Gram sleeping at home? All in the same day?

  And Clarke right there, supporting her through it? The man who’d just saved her from a deranged killer. His timing down to the second. She wasn’t going to ever forget those moments when the gun went off, she’d toppled to her side and no one had been hit.

  He was also the teacher of a sexual lesson she would never forget. The man who’d shown her that life held the possibility of unbounding physical joy.

  With everything good happening, she could even wonder if maybe, by some chance of good fortune, she and Clarke could remain friends.

  See each other every now and then.

  Grab a beer.

  They could meet in public places. Talk. And have no danger of ending up in bed.

  Yeah...life had all kinds of possibilities.

  And it was up to her to find them.

  Chapter 20

  Melissa’s call was like a floodgate opening where Everleigh seemed concerned. After his sister had disconnected, Everleigh had thanked him profusely, multiple times, for the chat he’d had with her grandmother.

  She’d talked about groceries, about staying with her grandmother that night...

  “It sounds like your father is planning to come get her,” he butted in, not wanting to put a damper on her joy, but wanting her prepared. “She’ll be under house arrest until sentencing. Most likely with a tether...an ankle bracelet.”

  She nodded, still fidgeting, as though she couldn’t keep herself contained.

  This woman is almost killed, and she maintains a seemingly perfect calm, he thought. She gets good news about her grandparent and she can hardly sit still.