Deception with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Two) (15 page)

Rilynne crouched down as the child reached her, and moved her just outside of the doorway. “Matthews!” she yelled down the hall. “Sweetheart, go to the kitchen,” she told the child, giving her a gentle push. “There’s a really nice man that’s going to take you outside.”

As she heard the whimpering moving away down the hall, she stood back up, her eyes still firmly on the gunman. “Matthews, get the child,” she yelled as she heard him drawing nearer.

“Now it’s her turn,” she said to the man. “Put the gun down, and let her leave with her child.”

He seemed to find her suggestion amusing and started to chuckle loudly. “What are you going to do little lady, shoot me? I think that gun may be a little too much for a little girl like you to handle. How about I tell you how this is gonna work?” His gravelly voice was missing something that left Rilynne feeling uneasy: fear. “You’re going to let me walk right past you and out the door, and you aren’t going to follow me unless you want to find pieces of her head on the side of the road.”

“Now, you know I can’t let that happen,” she said. “Lower you weapon, and let her go.” Just then Officer King, a young and ambitious officer, walked in behind her. “You’re surrounded,” she told him. “Your only chance of making it out of this house alive is if you put that gun down.”

He pulled the woman in front of him, blocking Rilynne’s shot, and aimed his gun back at them.

“Drop the gun now!” the young officer beside her yelled.

The gun moved from Rilynne to King, but before she could respond, a shot rang out.

Rilynne could see out of the corner of her eye Officer King crumbling to the floor. “King,” she called out. “King, are you okay?” She could hear backup storming through the house toward them between the grunts coming from King. She could tell by his lack of response that he had been seriously injured, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off of the gun.

Just then the woman let out an empowered yell and threw her head back into the man’s face. The shock made him loosen his grip on her just enough for her to fall to the floor. As his gun swung from Rilynne to the woman at his feet, Rilynne gently squeezed the trigger.

The floor shook as the man landed hard on his back. Before Rilynne had reached him to clear his gun, the woman had already passed her and was on her knees next to Officer King.

“He needs an ambulance now,” she said in a strangely calm tone. Rilynne turned around to find her with both hands pressed against the base of his neck. Just then, Matthews and two other officers burst in. “We’re all clear,” Rilynne said. “We need to get King to a hospital. He’s been shot in the neck.”

Matthews pulled out his radio. “We have an officer down, sent the paramedics in now.”

It took mere seconds for the stretcher to be rolled up next to him.

“We can take it from here,” one paramedic said to the woman as he slid his hands gently over hers. “We’re going to need to scoop him and go. He’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Come with me,” Rilynne said, placing her arm gently around the woman and leading her down the hall and out the front door. “Let’s go find your daughter.”

Ben was sitting on the back of one of the ambulances with a bundled blanket in his arms. As they stepped closer, Rilynne could see curly red hair poking out from the top. “She just passed out,” he said as her mother approached, his eyes shifting to her blood soaked hands. “Can you get her something to clean herself off with?” he asked the paramedic sitting on the bench behind him.

She jumped out of the back with a package of wipes and some hand sanitizer. “Are you injured, ma’am?” she asked as the pulled the wipes open and handed her one.

“Clair,” she responded, her eyes on the other ambulance as it speed away. “My name is Clair. And no, it’s not my blood. How’s my baby?”

“Perfect,” the paramedic answered. “I looked her over myself. There’s not a scratch on her. I’m going to need to check you out too as soon as you’re finished cleaning that off.”

Clair nodded, her attention now on the sleeping child in Ben’s arms. “Thank you,” she said a few moments later as she turned to Rilynne. “You saved our lives. I could never thank you enough.”

“You saved your lives,” Rilynne replied. “You stayed calm and made sure above anything that your child was safe. Not to mention that incredibly well placed head blow. I’m going to have the medic check that out. Your quick thinking may have saved Officer King’s life.”

“Kenny, my husband, pushed me to enroll in a self defense class a few years ago. I only went a few times before I found out I was pregnant, but I guess it paid off. Oh,” she said. “I need to call my husband and let him know what’s happened. He’s out of town on a business trip.”

“Here,” Rilynne said, pulling out her cell phone. “You can use this.”

Clair wiped off the last drop of blood and lathered her hands in hand sanitizer before taking the phone.

“That’s going to be an interesting call,” Ben said as she stepped away. “What happened to Officer King?”

“He took a round to the neck,” she said grimly. “He was still conscious when I left, but he’s lost a lot of blood.”

“I got here right before the shots rang out,” he said. “It isn’t my favorite sound in the world.”

The little bundle in his arms squirmed slightly as the sleeping child shifted around, faint snores filling the air. With everything the child had been through, Rilynne was amazed she had been able to fall asleep so quickly.

“What are you doing here?” she asked looking back up at Ben. “It’s a little soon to have the forensic team out.”

“I was on my way back to the station with another officer when the call came in. I’m not here in an official capacity. He offered to drop me off, but I had a feeling you would be tied up in the middle of this, so I wanted to be here.”

Clair walked back up and handed Rilynne the phone before she had a chance to respond. “He said that he’s going to catch the first flight back. I had to actually talk him into going on this trip,” she said gloomily. “He didn’t want to leave us alone for a week. I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to get him to go anywhere ever again.”

“Okay, Clair, why don’t you step in here so I can get you checked out,” the paramedic said, motioning to the back of the ambulance. “Do you mind if we get a little privacy?” she said to Ben.

“Of course not.” He slid smoothly off the edge, making sure he didn’t wake the baby. “We’ll be right here when you’re ready,” he assured her.

After several minutes, the doors opened back up and Clair stepped out.

“She has some pretty significant bruising, and after the blow to the head, I’m going to recommend we take her in and get it checked out,” the paramedic said as she hopped out behind her. “Did you want to ride with us to the hospital?”

“I’m going to need to wait here until we’re finished with the scene, but I can meet you down there when I’m done,” she said to Clair.

“I’ll go,” Ben offered. “You take care of the scene and I’ll make sure that everything we need is sent over to the station.”

Rilynne smiled as he held his hand out to help Clair into the back of the ambulance. As soon as she was seated, he handed her daughter up and climbed in himself. “I’ll check on Officer King’s status and call you as soon as I hear anything.” She shut the doors behind them as the ambulance pulled away.

“Evans,” Wilcome called out behind her as she watched it disappear around the next turn. “Give me an update.”

“King has been sent to the hospital with a gun shot wound to the neck. Ben Davis is on his way there now with the homeowner and her child, and he’ll call as soon as he finds out King’s condition. Two of the members of the crew are on their way back to the station for processing,” she said, turning to face him.

“And the third?” he asked.

“Inside waiting for Dr. Andrews to arrive,” she replies as she held out her gun for him to take.

He removed the clip and placed it in his pocket before continuing. “How’s the homeowner?”

“Clair’s tough, I’ll give her that. She threw the back of her head into the perpetrator’s face, which allowed her to get away and gave me a clear shot. She gave King his best chance of survival. He left her with some pretty bad bruises, but I stepped in before he could do anything serious. Her little girl was frightened, but otherwise okay.”

“Good,” he replied. After a moment, a look of confusion passed over his face. “What was Ben Davis doing here?”

“He said he rode in with one of the officers who responded to the call,” she responded. “He took care of the baby once we got her out.”

“Find Matthews and head to the hospital. Check on our victim, then I want someone with King until we have an update. I’ll go notify his fiancé and we’ll meet you there,” he said grimly. “We’ll wait until tomorrow to start interrogating the men in the station. Let’s let them stew for a bit. I’ll call and have the teams tailing the Peterson brothers pick them up before they have a chance to try to cover their tracks. I’ll also have someone bring in the other two men on the crew. Hopefully someone will turn on the remaining members before they decide to leave town.”

Rilynne found Matthews still standing over Officer King’s pool of blood.

“How’s the woman?” he asked without looking toward her.

“She’s tough,” Rilynne replied. “Ben’s with her at the hospital. The baby is fine, too. She was already asleep when I got Clair out of the house. Wilcome wants us to go to the hospital to check on them and get an update on King. He’ll be meeting us there with his fiancé.”

He followed her silently to the car. It wasn’t until the doors were both shut that he spoke again. “What happened in there?” he asked seriously.

“He was trying to force himself on her when I entered. I yelled for him to get off of her, and he pulled her up with the gun to her head. After I was able to get the baby out of the room, King came in behind me. He used the homeowner as a shield and shot King,” she explained. “Clair yelled and threw her head into his face, startling him enough to release her. He pointed his gun at her and I fired.”

“You should have waited for me,” he said as he sped through a stop sign. “It could very easily have been you that took the round.”

Rilynne placed her hand gently on his shoulder. “There was no time to wait,” she said confidently. “You did exactly what I needed you to do by getting that little girl out of the house safely. If you had been in there it would have just given that bastard another person to shoot at.” He nodded slightly in what appeared to be resignation. “You should call Katy,” she added. “You don’t want her hearing about this on the news.”

Neither of them spoke again until they walked into the hospital waiting room. “I’m going to go check up on Clair and find Ben. I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes.” As she walked away, she saw him pulling for his phone out. She didn’t envy him. The grief Katy had given him after Villarreal was killed would be nothing compared to what was sure to come now.

Ben was still sitting in the room with Clair and her daughter when she walked in. “How are you?” she asked as she sat down at the foot of the bed. Clair’s fiery red hair had been pulled up, revealing a bruise running down the side of her face.

“The doctor said that nothing is broken, and my head is fine. They’re going to keep us here overnight, but we can go home as soon as Kenny gets here in the morning,” she replied. “I wanted to thank you again. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.”

“I’m just glad that we were,” Rilynne said.

“Do you know how the officer is doing?” Clair asked. “They wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Rilynne looked over at Ben, but he just shrugged. “I haven’t heard anything yet, but I promise I’ll let you know when we do,” she stated as she stood back up. With one last smile, Rilynne walked out the door with Ben closely behind her.

“Matthews is in the waiting room,” she said as they weaved through the white hallways, following the signs tacked to the walls.

“Ryan Carnes, this is my partner, Rilynne Evans, and our lead crime scene investigator, Ben Davis,” Matthews said when they walked into the waiting room. In front of him was a tall man in blue scrubs.

“It’s nice to meet both of you,” he said. “I was just telling Todd that the surgery went well and we were able to repair the damage in Officer King’s neck. He did lose a lot of blood, though, and is still in critical condition.” The three of them let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. “He was brought in just in time,” he added. “Another ten minutes and he might not have pulled through.”