Chapter 5

5

Before stepping onto the street, Dev completed a call with Chief Gibson, who'd already heard the shots and was on his way back. Dev stowed his phone and took cover behind the first car, an old station wagon with wood-grain paneling on the side. Not drawing any fire, he bolted for the next vehicle, then the next.

A bullet ripped into the concrete behind him, sending up razor-sharp shards that peppered his arms like a barrage of pins and needles. He ignored the piercing pain and moved on to a shiny red Ford pickup where he hunkered down for just a second to wait for another bullet.

Silence.

Taking a deep breath, he advanced, racing to a small sedan. Another bullet went high and shattered the store window behind him.

No! It was one thing to ruin some vehicles or break up the sidewalk. Both were easily fixed, but another thing to fire into a store where customers could be located near the window.

Please don't let anyone inside take a bullet. Please don't let anyone be injured. Period. Kinsley. Jada. Anyone!

He scooted closer to the edge of the sedan and made eye contact with Jada crouching in front of his SUV.

He signaled his intentions and dove for his own vehicle, taking a moment to scan his sister from head to toe. "You hit anywhere?"

She shook her head, her eyes wide, but they didn't hold the terror he expected to find there. Could be her military training on how to react to a siege.

She held his gaze. "I'm fine, but your vehicle has sustained some damage."

"Don't worry about it. All that matters is you're okay." He took another good look at her but didn't see any blood.

"I'm good." Her cool tone confirmed her ability to handle the situation. "Guess he figured out I'm with Kinsley, and now he's upped his game since yesterday—willing to take out her associates."

Exactly what Dev feared, too. Kinsley wasn't safe, and he needed to go to her. Despite the way his sister handled the situation, he still worried about her safety, too.

"Stay down while I get a better look at what we're dealing with here." He scooted to the edge of his vehicle.

He was certain the last two bullets had come from up high, telling him the shots had to originate either from a roof or an upper window across the street. He scrutinized the far side of the street, searching high and low for the shooter's stand.

Searching. Seeking. Nothing.

With the naked eye he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. He needed binoculars or something to help him see more clearly at a distance. But what?

His phone. He could zoom in on the camera.

He dug it from his pocket and focused the lens across the street. He zoomed in. Scanned the area.

Two apartments sat above the drugstore. A third above a florist. Upper windows in both vintage buildings were closed tight. No rifle poking out. Zero weapons directed at them.

He shifted to the rooftops, then others nearby. All were clear of a sniper.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing at all.

What was going on? Had their shooter fled? Did he relocate to the back alley to wait for Kinsley's escape? Or was he planning to breach the building from the rear to find her and kill her?

Dev's brain froze. What did he do now? The shooter could still be across the street, and Dev wasn't seeing him. So did he stay here and protect his sister, or did he go to Kinsley's aid? Maybe he could safely move his sister back to the T-shirt shop. Not down Main Street, that was for sure. Not unless he had proof the shooter had moved.

Oh, man! Which one did he help? He couldn't choose between them. He needed to protect both. But how?

Time ticked away, sounding like a clock clicking in his head. Every second important, and he couldn't make a decision. He glanced around. Sirens split the air in the distance. The chief and his men were close, perhaps available to help bring the shooting to an end.

Great, but Dev couldn't wait and do nothing. One quick bullet could end either Jada or Kinsley's life.

Jada had been taught how to respond under sniper attack and could better defend herself, but she wasn't likely carrying off-duty. The safest route would be to move her into a nearby shop, take her out the back if the alley was clear, and approach the T-shirt shop from the back door.

He eased back to Jada and shared his plan. "I need you to go ahead of me. Stay down, and I'll be right behind you."

She took a few deep breaths and nodded. "Let's do this."

He squeezed her shoulder and waited for her to take the lead. She started out confidently, and he didn't leave even a foot's length between them as they quickly duck-walked to the door and got it open. Inside the sweet shop, the mouthwatering smells he'd recently enjoyed now seemed cloying and sickening. He swallowed and stayed low with Jada.

He found the store associate on her knees behind the counter filled with trays of colorful treats. "Do you have a back door?"

"Y-y-yes." Tears clung to the older woman's eyes.

"Stay down," he said. "The police are on their way and everything will be fine."

"What do you want me to do?" Jada asked.

"Call Colin and tell him we need a ride from the alley and to get over here like yesterday. I'll take a look out back. Depending on what I see, I'll have you come with me or stay here." Dev crept down a dark hallway to the rear of the shop. He flung the door open and took cover behind the solid metal.

He glanced up and down the short alley. Thankfully, the throat-irritating haze didn't obscure his view.

The back wall of stores on the adjacent street faced him, and a small dumpster sat outside each building. No sign of a shooter, but he couldn't be too careful.

He stepped out on the blacktop and jerked back behind the door, trying to take fire if their shooter had moved to this location. He was greeted with silence, save a couple of birds he'd scared into flight. He did it again and again, gradually lengthening the time out in the alley.

No gunfire. If the shooter hadn't moved back here, Dev and Jada could take cover behind the metal dumpsters to make their way to the T-shirt shop. He called out for her to join him.

Her footsteps moved rapidly down the hallway. "What do we have?"

"Seems to be all clear," Dev said. "I can't be one hundred percent positive, but if you're willing to risk it, we can move one dumpster at a time and take cover. If not, you can stay here to wait for the chief, and I'll go check on Kinsley alone."

"I'm in." Her shoulders lifted in a hard line. "I need to make sure my best friend is okay too."

One thing was for certain. The Graham family members were a fiercely loyal bunch. "Then I'll go first to take any fire. If I am fired on, you stay put at the dumpster you're behind at the time. Got it?"

"Got it."

He drew his weapon. "Then let's move."

He took off for the first dumpster next to the Chinese restaurant. The rusty metal oozed liquid onto the ground and emitted a fermenting cabbage odor. Dev wanted to hurl, but he forced himself to slide behind it and wait for Jada to join him.

He held his breath. No bullets fired. The only sound was Jada gagging. He nodded at the alleyway and started for the next dumpster. The police sirens screamed closer now, sounding from Main Street and stilling.

Perfect. Chief Gibson would secure the scene out front, and if the shooter was still hunkered down in his stand, Gibson would hopefully arrest him.

Dev charged down the alleyway, picking up his pace now. One dumpster after the next. Jada matched his pace. No one fired on them.

He reached the T-shirt shop and burst through the door. He took a look around. Everything was as he'd left it. His heart said to race to the office to make sure Kinsley was okay, but he forced himself to wait for his sister just inside the building.

She entered and took a deep breath, then slowly eased it out and looked up at him. "We made it."

He gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Let's get to Kinsley and make sure she's all right."

He guided his sister down the hallway ahead of him and stopped at the office door. Keeping one eye on the hallway, he knocked. "Kinsley, it's me. Are you all right?"

"We're fine." A tremor in her voice spoke to her concern. "No trouble here at all."

He wanted to unlock the door and whip it open. Race in, grab her in a hug, and pull her into his arms until he felt certain she was unharmed. But he needed to employ a little more self-restraint. Hugging her wasn't the safest thing to do right now. He would have to control his urge to hold her in the same way he'd done for years.

He hissed out a breath between his teeth. "The police have arrived. It looks like the shooter's gone, but stay in there until I'm certain. Okay?"

"Anything you say." Her soft, almost timid voice was nearly his undoing.

If anything other than the anxious tone of her voice told him she was scared, her easy acquiescence and compliance with his instructions gave her away.

He hated this for her. Hated how the shooter had rendered the usually strong woman afraid.

He couldn't let this happen again. He had to do better and couldn't let the shooter come anywhere near her. Even if he hadn't succeeded in injuring her physically, he injured her emotionally, and that scar would live with her forever. Dev would do everything within his power to prevent that from happening again.

He would call on his team to assist even more. But he wouldn't depend on them alone. With God's help, he would up his game. Failure wasn't a choice. If he didn't intensify his efforts, the consequences could be deadly. Not just for her, but his sister could lose her life as well.

No one was going to die on his watch. No one.

Police Chief Gibson stood across the office desk from Kinsley in the T-shirt shop. She would love to have Jada and Dev at her side, but the chief had banished them to the main store area. He'd separated them, so he could individually take their statements. He'd encouraged Kinsley to take a seat. A kind gesture, right? Wrong. She was sure he had ulterior motives. Standing tall over her left him seeming more in charge and reinforced the fact that he knew his job well and wasn't a person one should lie to or withhold the truth from.

He was nothing like many would expect a small-town police chief to be. When he arrived on scene, Dev told her that Gibson had previously served in the Portland Police Bureau, had risen to the level of lieutenant at a young age, and had a promising career there. But then his son had succumbed to serious allergies and needed to move out of a big city to an area with cleaner air. So when the chief's position had opened in Boulder Lake, the family moved for the job.

He rested his hands on the desk, casually, but the tightening of his eyes belied the relaxed posture. "I'll get to the Main Street shooting in a minute, but I'd like to discuss the one in Portland first. Why would someone be trying to kill you, Ms. Pearce?"

"Please call me Kinsley," she said for like the fourth time, but he'd ignored her requests and insisted on the formality.

He didn't respond verbally, but watched her, his eyes dark and probing, as if he thought he could push her along to answer.

Okay, fine.

She gave up and would make sure to keep things formal between them, too. "As I told you several times already, I don't know unless it's related to my work. Maybe someone I found negligent in their job has it out for me. My findings could even be the reason they went to prison. Or maybe they were just fined. Perhaps they lost their license. I suppose any of these things could've caused them to want to seek revenge."

He leaned forward. "Then, before I let you go today, you'll write down the names and contact information for these people."

Impossible. "I can give you a name or maybe two off the top of my head, but I need my computer to make a complete list. It holds all of my work files, and I can refresh my memory on older investigations."

His right eyebrow rose. "So you think this might not be a recent event?"

She shrugged. "I can only think of one person right now. Those findings would be from an older investigation, but he's still in prison."

The chief tilted his head and rested on the corner of the desk. "I would think you'd remember anyone who threatened you."

"You'd think so, but I get a lot of offhand comments. On the surface they sound like threats but aren't really meant as threats. Just a person spouting off. You probably get comments like that, too, but the person doesn't actually mean it."

He nodded. "Happens all the time when we arrest someone. Very few ever follow through. They're just speaking out in anger at the moment."

"Exactly." She punched a fist into her palm to emphasize her point. "But if I can review my files, I can provide a list of people who made those offhand comments."

He tapped a finger on the desk, starting slowly and ramping up speed. "Wouldn't you have reported those people to your supervisor?"

"No. I mean, I don't have a supervisor. I'm a contract worker. Even so, I've never had anyone actually act out against me. Guess I've never believed any of them." Memories of some of the more forceful comments raced through her brain. "Some were more strongly issued than others, and I can segregate those into a separate list."

He gave a sharp nod and stood. "When can you pick up the computer?"

She'd like to say she would drive back to Portland to get it right after she finished this interview, but she was fairly certain Dev wouldn't allow her to return to her apartment. He would insist on picking it up himself, or if he wasn't willing to leave her alone, he would send someone else from his team. She'd just promised herself that when it came to her safety, she wouldn't go against his wishes again, and she was at the mercy of his schedule.

Hoping the grilling was done, she eased to the edge of the chair. "I don't have a vehicle. Dev drove me here, and I'll have to check with him on his schedule."

"We can do that right now." The chief spun and went to the door. "Graham, in here. Now."

Solid footfalls crossed the floor and disturbed the quiet that had descended since the shooting ended. Dev soon appeared in the doorway, his gaze immediately racing to search her face. She smiled to waylay his concern. Concern perhaps mixed with caring for her that went deeper than she'd first thought.

Oh, man. Could he have similar feelings to her own but had been holding back for some reason?

Get a grip. Him having feelings for you is just a pipe dream.

Something she wanted to be true but wasn't.

The chief cleared his throat, bringing her thoughts crashing back to reality. He explained their situation, his focus riveted to Dev. "When will you be able to drive Ms. Pearce to her place to retrieve her computer?"

Dev scratched his head. "I don't think it's a good idea for Kinsley to go back to her apartment. I can arrange for the computer to be picked up."

He glanced at her, and she nodded her acceptance.

He let out a little breath. Right. He would expect her to argue with him, and why wouldn't he? She'd been arguing with him since the moment they'd laid eyes on each other again.

The chief planted his dangling foot on the floor, the loud thump reverberating in the small space. "One more thing before I let you go. How about Louis Luongo? Was he ever the subject of one of your investigations?"

"Yikes, that guy? The wife killer?" She glanced at Dev, who didn't seem at all surprised by this question. Had the chief told him something that he hadn't shared with her? If so, was Dev keeping other things from her? "Don't tell me you think he's connected to this."

"Right before the shooting, the chief told me that Luongo owns the boat he saw last night." The pitch of Dev's voice jumped up. "He's looking to buy a house on the lake, and I was going to ask you about him, but then shots were fired."

One of the last guys she wanted to talk about. "I investigated him a few times, but it's probably just a coincidence that he was in town."

"I don't believe in coincidences." Dev curled his fingers into fists.

"I don't either," the chief said. "Did you find anything that could be used to bring charges against him?"

"Nothing concrete, pardon my pun." She wrinkled her nose. "And let me tell you, one of the investigations was near the time of his arrest for killing his wife, and the DA pressured me to find anything to keep him behind bars. I did my very best, but besides a lot of hearsay and rumors, there just wasn't enough evidence to bring any charges."

"And knowing you," Dev said, "you did your very best to prove it."

"I did."

"Did he ever threaten you?" the chief asked.

"Trust me," she said, "if this guy had threatened me, I would've reported it. I would've done anything to help keep him behind bars until they could figure out if he killed his wife. I still think he got away with murder."

"As do most people." The chief frowned. "But it's not over. The detective is still working the case in his free time. I'll contact him to see if he has any thoughts on Luongo's relationship to the shooting, and see if I can chase down an alibi for the time of the shootings."

"The sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned," Dev said. "So take my statement, and you can get out of here to see if the creep has an alibi."

"If you'd like to use the office, I can go out front," Kinsley offered.

"Stay here," Dev said. "I mean, please, stay here. It's safer without windows."

A heavy feeling settled in her stomach. "You don't really expect the shooter to still be here, do you?"

"It's possible," the chief said, taking her attention from Dev. "Criminals often like to hang around to see the chaos they caused, even at the risk of being caught. Which is why my officers are canvassing out front and talking to anyone they don't recognize."

She clasped her fingers together on the top of the desk to stop the trembling that wouldn't seem to leave her body. She had to face facts now. Even with police presence, she wasn't safe. Anywhere.

Not anywhere at all.