This time, though, was different.
This time she’d broken away from her attacker with enough room to make it out onto the sidewalk.
It was only too bad that Willa finally understood why those characters in her mom’s favorite movies seldom survived. For all the smarts that she believed she possessed, instead of heading to the very same pet store across the street, Willa seemed to lose all semblance of direction. Not only did she turn and run away from the store, she was also headed in the opposite direction of where her car was parked.
It was a disappointing self-discovery. A mistake she hadn’t realized she’d made until the rain soaked her through and she was a good block from the alley.
Maybe he was gone.
Maybe she’d put up too much of a fuss and he’d decided she wasn’t worth robbing.
A storefront was alight another block down. It belonged to a graphic artist who designed billboards for businesses in the county. Willa had met her once though she doubted the woman would remember her.
She definitely would after Willa barged in. “Lock the doors” is what Willa would yell first, followed by “Call 9-1-1.”
But just as the rest of her life this past week hadn’t gone to plan, that one, too, didn’t last long.
Once again Willa was abruptly yanked backward. She didn’t have time to scream. The rain pounded around her, along with her heart, as she tried to replicate the same defense she had used with the attacker the first time.
But instead of him tugging and pulling her deeper into the alleyway, the movement stopped altogether.
“Willa, it’s me,” came a deep voice. It was unlike the last.
Willa turned and wiped at the rain collecting on her eyelashes. The man was wearing dark jeans and a gray shirt that was just as soaked as hers. More important, he wasn’t wearing a mask.
He was also Kenneth.
A fact that should have put her at ease. But Willa was starting to go numb. Fear or shock? Disbelief that within two days she been attacked by two different men?
Overwhelmed and afraid.
That’s what she decided as Kenneth pulled her to him before pushing her up against the brick wall of one of the buildings. There was no overhang to this alley and it was hard to make out his face as the rain picked up. But then he bent over her and angled his chin down, and Willa understood what he was doing.
He was hiding her.
And he wasn’t alone. A weight pressed against Willa’s leg. Delilah was leaning against her.
Willa felt the comfort of both though it didn’t last long.
The unmistakable sound of someone frustrated and running was coming upon them from the sidewalk Willa had just been pulled from. Heavy footfalls pounded the pavement, the sound much louder than it would have normally been thanks to the gathering water.
The man had followed her.
Kenneth leaned in closer, making a cage out of his body around Willa. From the sidewalk, she would be hard to see.
“Does he have a gun or a knife?” Kenneth’s breath brushed against her ear. Had it been a different situation, she would’ve shivered at the contact.
She placed her cheek against his and whispered back to him. “I—I don’t know.”
Kenneth nodded, moving her head as he did so, to let her know he’d heard her.
The pounding footsteps passed their alleyway.
Then Kenneth pushed something into her hand.
“Keep each other safe.”
He was off and running before Willa saw that she was holding Delilah’s leash.
* * *
IT HAD BEEN a long time since Kenneth had made his rounds downtown in Kelby Creek, but he didn’t need to know the exact layout or where he was on the map to do what needed to be done next. Not when he had his sights on a man running full-speed away from him, donning a white mask.
“Stop! Sheriff’s department!”
Kenneth’s warnings did nothing. Not that he thought they would.
It had only been by chance that, while walking Delilah from the small dog park to his car, he’d seen Willa running on the opposite side of the street.
The rain had made it difficult to decipher what, exactly, had been going on until he’d noticed the way she’d been running. It hadn’t been the jog of a woman who’d forgotten her umbrella or was trying to find shelter from the weather. It had been the sprint of a frightened woman. Then he’d seen the man exit the alleyway and hesitate, looking both ways.
That’s all Kenneth had needed. He’d run after Willa and cut through another alley on the next block so he could grab her. He didn’t know if she was hurt, or if the man who was interested in her had a weapon, or where she was going.
But he hadn’t wanted to chance that she would disappear into the rainfall. Catching her had become his main priority.
Catching her attacker became his second.
Kenneth ran through the rain in the direction Willa had been headed, noting, in the distance, the lighted storefront of a local business. His leg muscles burned as he tilted forward.
The moment he’d seen Willa, he’d wished he had his gun. Just as he now wished he had his badge. But he’d been taking Delilah out for a run at the park and hadn’t thought to take either. If he ran into the man, he’d have to get creative.
And physical.
Thunder clapped overhead. The small chance of rain had turned into an active thunderstorm. The booming rattled the window of the lighted graphic artist business as he slowed to look around. A short awning gave him a small respite from the rain. Through the window, two desks could be seen at the back of the front room. The lights might have been on but there was no one at either.
Kenneth ran a hand over his face, shucking off water as he tried to figure out what to do next.
If he hadn’t caught up to the man, there was a good chance he wouldn’t now. The rain was only falling harder, the world around him getting darker. He was unarmed and, even though he had faith in Willa and her ability to find a safe place with Delilah to call the department, Kenneth couldn’t get past the thought that if he didn’t know where the man was in front of him, who was to say he hadn’t doubled back and gotten behind him?
Kenneth didn’t like that idea.
He made up his mind.
He would get back to Willa and wait for backup.
A man materialized out of the blanket of rain beyond the awning’s cover and rammed into Kenneth like a defensive tackle going for the quarterback. A power move that gave neither man the chance to stay upright. Kenneth felt the air leave his lungs just as their combined weight propelled them right into the storefront window.
The best thing Kenneth could do in between the hit and the crash was to tuck his face into his biceps and hope the glass held.
It didn’t.
Kenneth felt only the smallest resistance before momentum carried them right on through the window.
A woman screamed in the background.
Pain and adrenaline pulsed through Kenneth as he slid a few feet across tile and glass. Later, he’d marvel at how hard the hit had had to be for them to travel so far into the store, but when everything stopped moving, he knew it wasn’t going to be good for him if he didn’t get up quickly.
The man had the same idea.
Kenneth clocked his attacker as the man got to his feet while Kenneth tried to do the same.
The hit, the glass, the floor... It had done a number on him. Rising wasn’t such an easy task.
“Dawn County Sheriff’s Department,” Kenneth yelled, pushing himself up and around so he was facing his attacker. He didn’t mind the blood on the floor. It was most likely from both of them.
The man was wearing a hockey mask. White. It was wet and gleamed beneath the fluorescent lights of the room they were in.
Kenneth didn’t like masks. Ski mask
s he had dealt with in his career. Protective masks for roadwork or yardwork, he could reason out.
But hockey masks? Halloween masks? Faceless things made to hide an identity in no memorable or extraordinary way?
Kenneth didn’t like those.
Not since a witness had seen a man in a mask running away from Ally’s body.
A nondescript mask the witness had said looked like it came from a costume, though which one, she didn’t know.
It wasn’t the same as the hockey mask in front of him, but to Kenneth’s heart, it didn’t matter.
The mask was hiding malice and violence.
Malice and violence intended for Willa and now him.
The attacker got to his feet before Kenneth could steady himself. Instead of trying to brace for another tackle or to ready his own attack, Kenneth decided if the man was going to play dirty, so was he.
He dove to the right, knee smashing into the tiled floor, and grabbed something they’d bowled over when they’d come through the window.
It was only after it was in his hand that Kenneth realized he was wielding an oversize closed umbrella.
Perfect.
The man missed hitting Kenneth after the dive and both turned back to each other at the same time. Kenneth couldn’t help but smirk at his new weapon, brandishing it like a baseball bat.
Since this wasn’t a gentleman’s duel, he wasn’t about to wait for a countdown to strike.
Kenneth stood to his full height and wound the umbrella in an arc behind him before swinging it at the man with all his might.
Now it was he who wasn’t ready.
The umbrella hit the man’s shoulder so hard that he stumbled. Kenneth brought it up and was about to go for another wind-up to strike again when the masked man showed his own weapon of choice.
Kenneth hated to admit it was a good one.
He flashed the gun’s muzzle and Kenneth jumped to the side as a shot went off. Another scream sounded in the distance. Thunder backing it up a second later.
Kenneth slung his body into his attacker’s, ready to keep the distance so close that the man couldn’t get a good shot off again.
He’d miscalculated the man’s true brazenness.
The next shot was so close to Kenneth’s head, he howled, certain his eardrum exploded at the sound.
On reflex, one hand went to cup his ear while the other grabbed for the shooter’s wrist. He connected with both.
Then Kenneth was in a game of pure strength. He’d put every ounce of it into crushing the man’s arm so he’d release the gun. If he could do that, he could turn the tables on the fight.
Because he didn’t want to die here.
He didn’t want to die at all.
Kenneth thought of Ally, his parents, the cold cases unsolved in his office.
He thought of Willa in the rain, terrified, Delilah at her side.
Kenneth pushed his other hand against the man while the one around his wrist became an unforgiving vise.
His ears were ringing but Kenneth knew the man had to let out a yell of pain.
Because right after, the gun fell to the ground.
Kenneth wasted no time. He kicked the weapon with his heel far away from both of them. Then he closed the distance between them. Using his grip, he half slung, half pushed the man to the side.
Then Kenneth turned on his heel and ran toward the gun he’d kicked away. He managed to scoop it up before it stopped moving.
He knew it was loaded due to its weight and turned around to face the man to let him know he meant business.
The man, however, wasn’t just standing around. He was at the door, about to head back out into the rain.
“Stop or I’ll shoot!” Kenneth commanded. His voice sounded distorted. Maybe his eardrum had ruptured after all.
The man in the mask moved his head, as if to look at someone behind Kenneth.
It could have been a trick but Kenneth heard footsteps.
Did his attacker have a friend?
Kenneth moved with a speed he knew was only draining away and readied to defend himself against the new threat.
And it was in that moment that Kenneth knew the man in the mask would get away. That he would let him run out into the rain and disappear.
And the man in the mask knew that, too.
Because it wasn’t a friend or a partner who had shuffled up to their fight.
It was a woman in tears.
A woman holding her stomach as a gunshot wound bled out into her blouse.
Kenneth got to her just as she fell to the ground, softening the blow before she hit the tile. He kept the gun in his hand and readjusted his aim toward the door again.
It was open, the sound of rain uncaring and loud.
The man was gone.
Chapter Twelve
Haven Hospital was small and the only hospital within the town limits. It was privately owned and therefore impeccably kept. It was also surprisingly modern. White, clean hallways. Private rooms that looked like they could belong in a hotel. A cafeteria with food that wasn’t just convenient for the staff but actually desired.
It was all a nice picture.
Professional. Reliable. Comforting.
It didn’t at all match with how Kenneth looked when Willa finally found him.
“He’s okay, right?” she’d asked the nurse, a friend of her sister’s named Janelle.
“Physically, yes. He had some wicked cuts but nothing some cleaning and bandaging couldn’t fix. He also is going to need to take some pain pills for his shoulder I suspect, but the doctor will run that down for him when he gets back.”
Willa hadn’t questioned the emphasis on physically or the need to specify until she was standing on the other side of a hospital bed from the man.
He was in a chair next to it, elbows resting on the sheets, hands held together. His eyes took their time rising from them up to her.
Willa’s heart squeezed and then squeezed even tighter.
“Oh, Kenneth.”
Blood stained his shirt in an awful pattern and bandages covered spots on his arms.
But it was his red eyes and empty hands that made Willa nearly weep.
“Oh, Kenneth,” she repeated, hurrying to his side. “I’m so sorry, honey.”
Willa knelt beside his chair and didn’t for a moment think about personal space. She slipped between his knees and the hospital bed and put her body against his until he molded around her, accepting her embrace. There wasn’t enough room for her to hug him at such an awkward angle so she settled on his lap. The side of her body was flush against him. If they had been standing he would have been holding her like a husband taking his bride over the threshold. But that wasn’t the case now. Willa put her arms around him and her face into the crook of his neck.
She would have never embraced someone so intimately in any other situation but, for now, it was simple.
She wanted Kenneth to know she was there.
For him.
With him.
And he didn’t seem to mind. It took a moment but his arms wound around her waist as he supported her against him. Then his head went down into her hair.
The last time they’d been close—but not this close—Willa had been sobbing while Kenneth had remained still.
This time, neither said or did a thing.
Kenneth let her hold him and that was enough.
They stayed like that for several minutes until finally he let out a long, ragged breath.
Willa pulled back and knew their time was done. She took his chin in her hand, looked him square in the eye and knew he’d cried. Or had tried hard not to. It was all so heartbreaking, but there wasn’t anything Willa could do to assuage that break. Instead, she tilted his chin so she could kiss his cheek.
Then she
untangled herself from the man and stood.
Because she wasn’t a fan of hospitals—who was in this town?—and Kenneth made no indication he was going to move, Willa took a small chair from the corner and positioned it on the other side of the hospital bed. It gave her a clear view of the detective and his brilliant eyes of dark, deep water staring right at her.
She wanted to give him space—because wasn’t that what you were supposed to do in situations like this?—but that wasn’t who she was.
And what had happened wasn’t something silence could heal.
Plus, Willa hadn’t seen him since their run-in in the alleyway in the rain. After that she’d gone to the Pet Market with Delilah and called in the department. She’d waited there until sirens filled downtown.
The rain hadn’t let up but Willa had been readying to venture out when a firetruck and ambulance flew past. But Deputy Carlos Park had showed up for her first.
“Detective Gray sent me,” he’d said. There was such a mass hesitation that Willa knew something had happened. That something was wrong. Even when the deputy had assured her that Kenneth was all right.
It had been a few hours since she’d had that conversation with Deputy Park and those hours had felt excruciating not being able to see Kenneth or to talk to him. Though she understood why.
Kenneth had resumed placing his hands on the bed between them. He gave them another long look before meeting her gaze again. For the first time since everything had happened, Willa thought he seemed to acknowledge that a significant passage of time had indeed passed. At least, it felt significant to her.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call...” he started. His voice was a little hoarse. He’d been yelling. But why and at who, she could only guess for the moment. “Deputy Park said he had you and you were okay.”
“I was,” Willa confirmed. “Delilah, too.”
That stirred him a bit more. “Is she here?”
Willa shook her head.
“She’s with Martha and Kimball at the house. Don’t worry, though, they’re great with dogs and said they’re more than happy to watch her until you’re ready. I also remembered seeing the bag of dog food at your house when I was there this morning, so we went ahead and got her a bag at the store. So don’t you worry, she’s really okay.”
Surviving the Truth Page 10