B008DKAYYQ EBOK (16 page)

She remembered the old Nikon she’d given Austin. He’d been beside himself with excitement at being able to take pictures like she did. For the better part of the afternoon, she had taught him the basics of photography while he snapped photo after photo, first at Payne Kincaid’s, in between birthday cake and splashing in the pool, then later at the park where they also played on the swings and monkey bars.

The intruder applied more pressure with his forearm. “I want the film that was in that camera.”

She squirmed, her lungs straining for air while the edges of her vision wavered and grayed.

He backed off a little, and she heaved in breath after breath.
 

That’s what all of this was about? A roll of photos taken by a child?
 

“Where is it?” he demanded. “I’ll take you apart—”
 

“There wasn’t any.” The lie burst out of her before she thought about it.

He grabbed a handful of hair on either side of her head and yanked her face close to his. “Do not screw with me.”

“I’m not. The camera was empty. It’s not like I have rolls of film just sitting around. My cameras are digital.”

He knocked her head back into the wall. “I’ll take you apart if you’re lying.”

Stars burst in front of her eyes, and she would have slid down the wall if he hadn’t had her pinned. “I’m not lying.” She said it calmly, steadily.
 

He bracketed her throat with one gloved hand, his other still tangled in her hair. “Killing you would be worth it just to see the look on your deadbeat brother’s face—”

“Will it resemble the look on your face when I put a bullet in the back of your head?”

He whirled toward the voice behind him. Bailey saw A.J. looking very badass with a handgun clasped in both hands, her feet braced apart. The other woman hit the light switch with her elbow at the same time that the intruder lunged at her.

“No!” Bailey screamed and leapt onto his back. They both went down, Bailey on top, and he rolled violently to the side, throwing his elbow up under her chin. Her head snapped back and struck a bookshelf, and she reeled backward.
 

She tried to scramble to her feet, to go after him, to keep him from hurting A.J., but the brightly lit room spun and abruptly went dark.

Chapter 21

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Twenty-seven.”

“Bailey.”

She rolled her eyes at A.J., who was, thank God, unhurt and pacing while the same ER doctor from a few days ago checked out Bailey. “Three. Nice manicure, by the way.”

Dr. Todd White, who must have been prematurely gray given his baby face and dimples, gave her a tolerant look. “Follow my finger with your eyes without moving your head.”

She obeyed, doing her best to school the still-wild pounding of her heart. She couldn’t believe this was her second trip to the ER in the course of a week. She hated the ER. Hated the soft, muted sounds and the antiseptic smells. Hated the memories.
 

“Good,” the doctor said as he picked up her chart and made a note. “I checked your X-rays, and they’re clear. You’ve got a mild concussion. Ice and Tylenol. Any dizziness or persistent headaches, you come back to see me.”

“You mean I don’t need to be attacked to come see you?”

A.J. stopped her feverish pacing. “Jesus, Bailey, how can you be so flip?”

Bailey glanced at her and thanked God and the entire universe all over again that she wasn’t describing her best friend’s killer to the cops right now. “A.J., it’s over. You’re fine. I’m fine.”

“Shit.” A.J. dropped onto the chair next to the gurney and buried her face in her hands. “Shit, shit, shit.”

Bailey flashed a small, forced grin at Dr. White. “Think she might need a sedative.”

A.J. raised her head and glowered at the doctor. “If you come anywhere near me with a needle, I swear to God I’ll take your head off.”

Dr. White lifted his hands in the I’m-not-coming-near-you gesture. “I would never.”

He went to the door and paused. “There’s a police officer waiting to see you, Ms. Chase. Are you ready to talk to him?”

Bailey nodded. “Thanks for your help.”

He finally smiled, showing teeth so perfect and white that he could have done a Colgate commercial. “I don’t want to see you again. Here, anyway. Got it?”

She gave a sober, perfunctory nod. “Got it.”

When they were alone, A.J. popped up out of the chair. “What the
hell
is going on? That guy was going to kill you.”

He’d also gotten away. When Bailey had come to, A.J. had been frantically trying to revive her. Sirens had already been screaming in the distance, and the intruder was long gone.

She knew what he wanted now, though. The camera she’d given Austin. Or, rather, whatever was on the film in that camera. But what did all that have to do with James?
 

Killing you would be worth it just to see the look on your deadbeat brother’s face.

“Are you going to tell me what the hell’s going on?” A.J. asked.

Bailey glanced up at her friend, who stood before her with arms crossed against her chest. Bailey had brought danger into A.J.’s home. Unwittingly, yes, but A.J. could have been hurt. Or worse. Hell, if her friend hadn’t brandished a gun at the intruder, Bailey herself probably wouldn’t have escaped with nothing more than a massive case of anxiety and a headache.
 

Bailey met A.J.’s questioning gaze. “So, you have a gun.”

A.J.’s eyes narrowed in response to the dodge. “My dad bought it for me a couple of years ago and showed me how to use it. I’ve got a license.” She cocked her head. “Out with it, Bailey. What the hell is that guy after?”

“I don’t know.” Lying was easy. The more involved A.J. became, the more at risk she would be.
 

“Did you see your car when we left for the ER?” A.J. asked.

Bailey nodded. The passenger-side window had been smashed, the glass littering the curb in front of A.J.’s building. The intruder apparently had checked her Honda for the camera before breaking into the apartment.

“What was he looking for? You must know.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t.”

“Don’t try to protect me. I want to know what’s going on. Is it Jamie?”

Bailey gave her a sharp look. “Why would you think that?”

“Maybe because he’s the only shady part of your life?”

“He’s not shady.”

“Look, he’s your brother. You love him regardless. I get that. But you can’t sit there and look me in the eye and tell me he’s not carrying hazardous cargo after spending four years in prison.”

“He’s been out a year. If this had anything to do with him, don’t you think it would have happened before now?”

“Depends on what he’s been up to for the past year.” A.J. pursed her lips, as if considering her next words. “I heard what that son of a bitch said to you when he had you by the throat. I
know
this is about Jamie.”

Bailey slid off the gurney. “The police are waiting to talk to me.”

“You’ve always had a blind spot for—”

“Don’t,” Bailey snapped. She so didn’t have time for this.
 

A.J. squared her shoulders and crossed her arms. “You’re so predictable.”

That stopped Bailey, and she met her friend’s frustrated gaze. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Things get tough, and you shut out the people who care about you. You did it after your dad was killed, and you did it again after the stuff with Daniel.”

Bailey stiffened. “I’m really not in the mood for deconstructing Bailey—”

“Well, I am. I let you shut me out. I let you get away with … what should we call it? How about ‘quirk’? I let you get away with that quirk. You shut people out. Well, here’s my quirk that you’re going to have to learn to tolerate: A man broke into my home and assaulted you. Someone, most likely the same man, trashed your home and your car and stabbed you. I want to know what the hell is going on, and I’m not going away until you tell me.”

Bailey sighed and rubbed at the back of her neck where a knot of tension had settled. She hated denying A.J. the answers she wanted, but she also couldn’t live with making her friend more of a target than she already might be.
 

When Bailey remained silent, A.J. sat beside her on the edge of the gurney and bumped her shoulder against Bailey’s. “Will you at least tell me what you’re going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Another lie. She knew exactly what she was going to do. Get the roll of film that had been in Austin’s camera and have it developed.

A.J. sighed. “I called my parents. Dad’s coming to get us.”

“I can’t go with you.”

“You can’t go home. That guy knows where you live.”

“I don’t want to endanger your family—”

“Dad’s a retired cop, remember?”

“With a bad heart,” Bailey said.

“He can still handle a gun.”

“I won’t chance it. If anything happened to him … or you …”

“Well, I’m sure as hell not letting you go somewhere alone,” A.J. said. “Maybe Dad could call one of his old buddies and secure a safe house.”

“I don’t need a safe house.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ll call Payne Kincaid, okay? I can stay with him.”

“How can you be sure you wouldn’t be found there, too?”

“Even if I were, it’d take a tank and a rocket launcher just to get through the front gate. The place is locked down tighter than a maximum security prison.”

“I still don’t like it. You should have police protection.”

“Tell that to the understaffed police department.”

“What about staying with Cole again?” A.J. asked. “You were safe with him.”

“No.” She knew she spoke too quickly, because A.J.’s eyes widened. She made an effort to sound perfectly reasonable. “He’s already gone above and beyond. I can’t ask him–”

“I can.”

“A.J., seriously. You turned to your Dad for help tonight. Payne has been like a father to me since Dad died, so that’s where I’m going.”

A.J. raised her chin. “Then I’m not leaving until he comes to get you.”

“Fine. Can I use your phone to call him?”

A.J. fished in her purse and handed over her cell. “Just so you know, my dad’s going to be even more difficult than I’ve been. And he still carries a gun.”

Bailey smiled at her friend, relieved that A.J. didn’t appear to be holding the big pile of lies against her. She reached out and caught her friend’s hand and squeezed. “Thank you.”

“What? For letting you have your way and possibly getting yourself killed?”

“For saving my life,” Bailey said seriously. “You saved my life tonight, A.J.”

The redhead’s eyes misted over as she clasped Bailey’s hand between both of hers. “Then you’d sure as hell better not make it for nothing.”

Chapter 22

Draining the last of a cooling Starbucks latte, Cole waited for a clerk at the Kendall Falls police headquarters to do a database search for a year-old police report bearing the names Bailey Chase and Daniel Chambers. He’d decided that if he couldn’t get what happened out of the people directly involved, then he’d go the official, and probably most reliable, route.
 

The blond, twentysomething woman at the desk started to shake her head. “I’m sorry, but that case is still open.”

“Still open? It’s a year old. That’s got to be a mistake.”

She shrugged as she toyed with her ponytail. “I’m not the one who makes those decisions.”

“Can you tell me the names of the filing officers?”

“Officer Molly Jenkins.”

Perfect, Cole thought. He’d developed a working relationship with her in the past several months. “Thanks.”

As he walked away, he checked his watch and decided that 9:15 a.m. was late enough to call A.J.’s. He couldn’t explain his need to talk to Bailey, to hear her voice. He’d spent yesterday restless and pacing, unable to concentrate on anything, which had led to a night of tossing and turning.
 

He berated himself for worrying about her, for letting himself get dragged into someone else’s problems. Again. He should have learned his lesson after Sally McCoy. That time, he’d almost ended up dead. But Bailey was different. She wasn’t a woman who couldn’t kick a drug habit and f-ed up her entire life. She was …
 

The thought trailed off as, frustrated with himself for being wishy-washy about Bailey Chase, he pulled out his cell phone.
 

No one at A.J.’s picked up.

He’d heard about A.J.’s penchant for sleeping through anything as noisy as a tropical storm, but he’d expected that Bailey would answer instead.
 

The intensity of his disappointment irked him.

* * *

Bailey sighed as she sipped the most heavenly coffee she’d ever had. “You always have the best coffee.”