Mint Juleps and Justice (18 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

B
rooke stood on her good leg like a flamingo, wishing the throbbing in her ankle would dull. The charade might work. She swallowed hard and continued. “Keith. We loved each other. It shouldn’t be like this.”

“You’re not going to make me look like a fool. Not twice. It ends here.”

Brooke watched the dark cloud veil his normally bright brown eyes. “You’re scaring me.”

“You should be scared. You ruined everything. I gave us a second chance and you blew it.” He shoved her forward.

She limped, trying to minimize the pain, but then she tripped over a branch and hit the ground on all fours.

“Damn you,” he sneered, dragging her to her feet by her arm. “Quit stalling.”

“I’m hurt.” She wasn’t sure where the injuries were anymore. The pain spiked up her leg to her neck and she felt the warm trickle of blood down her shin. Keith pushed and prodded her. She slid in the slick grass. Finally, the ground leveled as they reached the tree line at the bottom of the slope. Brooke leaned back against a tall pine, pausing to catch her breath. She squeezed at the stitch in her side.

In one swoop Keith lifted her with one strong arm, scraping her back along the rough bark of the tree, balancing her crotch on his knee. Her feet dangled above the ground.

Something glistened in the moonlight.
He has a knife?

“Heeeeeeelp! Let me go.” Brooke wiggled, trying to throw herself off-balance from where he had her perched.

He pushed the back of his hand against her mouth; her teeth sliced her lip. She tasted the salty blood. Pulling back just a little, she bit into the fleshy mound of his hand. Then screamed for help again.

“Damn.” He pulled back. “You bit me, you bitch.” He waved the knife in front of her face, resting the hand with the sharp blade on the tree just above her head. “Shut…up,” Keith enunciated each word.

“No-oo-oo.” Her eyes followed the blade.

“QUI-ET! SH—SHH.” His hot breath sent a spray of spit across her face. He shook her. The bark scraped her shoulder and she felt the sting of blood oozing through her blouse.

“Please,” Brooke squeaked out, barely able to swallow. “You’ve made your point. You were right,” she panted. “I messed up.”

“Now you’re talking.”

“I was j-j-just jealous,” she lied in desperation.
Outsmart.

Keith flashed a smile. For an instant she felt hope, but then he pushed his knee up harder against her crotch. Pinned tight, she couldn’t move. Keith laughed. The sound echoed through her brain. A sound she would never forget.

“You must really think I’m a fool to believe you want me back now.”

“Isn’t that what you want?”

“Oh, don’t you worry about what I want. I’ll have what I want.” He flipped the knife between the buttons of her blouse, revealing her lacy bra.

Brooke turned her face away, squeezing her eyes tight.

He bent toward her. His teeth scraped a line down the inside of her neck. The bristle of his chin burned her skin. He bit down on the stretchy elastic of her bra strap and tugged. Snap. She flinched as the elastic stung her skin.

He straightened his knee, and she crumbled to his feet in the unexpected release, striking her head on something on the way down. A sharp pain. The sky seemed to spin. She tensed, waiting for another strike. He loomed above her.

Brooke scrambled along the ground. Something dug into her leg as she tried to get to her feet. If he was going to kill her she wasn’t going to make it easy. Her fingers trembled as she wrapped her hands around a small branch. She took a breath and lunged forward.

He leaped back, cursing her. She grabbed for a branch to stand, but he seized her by the shirt and then wrapped her hair in his hand with a twist, tugging her backside against him. “Where d’ya think you’re going?”

His breath burned hot on her ear. Her shoulders lifted, protecting herself from his words. She felt him hard against her.
Relax. Don’t tempt him in this state of adrenaline, or he is going to kill you.

He pulled her closer, nuzzling her neck and leaving a damp trail behind. Was he crying or sweating? “You’re hurting me,” she whispered. “My hair—please…”

He eased his grip. “I never wanted to. I love you.” He pulled his hands away and she dropped to the ground. She landed on her stomach, all the air evacuating her diaphragm, leaving her gasping for oxygen against the screaming pain in her chest. She lifted her eyes and saw the tear run down his face.
Outlast.

He swept the tear away and kicked her once in the shoulder before turning away.

“Ow.” She rolled away. The knife lay on the ground just to her right. She wrapped her hands around it. The handle slipped in her sweaty palm. She stood, concealing the knife by holding it tight against her leg. “Then don’t. Please, don’t hurt me.” Tears slid down her cheeks, pooling in the crease of her mouth. “Let me go. I promise I won’t tell.” Her eyes pleaded, her voice small compared to the girl who was fighting so hard just minutes before.

“I don’t know.” His free hand stroked nervously through his thin hair. “I need to think.” He passed a hand over his mouth and eyes and hung his head.

Outlast.
She lunged forward. The sharp blade plunged into his flesh. It was her only chance to outrun him. She didn’t even stop to see his reaction, but ran as hard and fast as she could on the one good ankle, back in the direction of the car. She slipped, but clawed at the ground to right herself. He called her name from behind her. Getting closer.

She ducked behind some brush. She lay on the ground, tucking herself into a small area, hopefully hidden. Afraid to lift her head, she pulled her knees in tighter and fought the urge to run again. He was close.
Help me, God.
Bracing herself for the worst, she pulled her arms up, shielding her face and covering her ears. She waited.

Only the whoosh of her own blood and pulse hummed under her palms, and then the sound of a heavy thud against the ground vibrated beneath her.

“Brooke.” A warm hand landed on her shoulder. She squeezed her eyes closed tighter, tensing for a blow, but nothing happened. She heard her name a second time. It didn’t sound crazed or angry, but the words weren’t clear. Then a light.
Is this the light you see when you die?

Someone knelt beside her. She cowered, still, praying there’d be no more pain. Light washed over her. She held her breath.

“Brooke. It’s me, Mike.” He pulled her closer. “Brooke, look at me. You’re safe.”

She shivered and clung to the warmth of the safety he offered. It was a long moment before she dared open her eyes.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

T
alk to me. Are you hurt?” Mike tipped her face toward him.

She opened her eyes, but she seemed confused. “I think so,” she answered in barely a whisper. “It was him.”

He swept his penlight over her, then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and folded it into a tight, thick square. “Here.” He placed it over the gash on her forehead. “Hold that tight.”

She held it in place, but her hand shook.

Keith was unconscious a few feet away, cuffed ankle to wrist. The reflex instincts from the special ops maneuvers had come in handy. One swift move and Keith, who probably outweighed him by a good fifty pounds, had gone down. “You’re safe now, Brooke.”

“He was going to kill me.” She seemed unable to shift her focus off her ex-husband lying there in a heap. “He could have.”

“But he didn’t. I’ve got you. You’re going to be fine.” He ran his hand across her back in an effort to slow her breathing down. “I’ve got you.” His heart clenched at the sight of her.

“Why?”

He turned her face away from Keith. “Don’t try to make sense of it.” But he knew how that question could consume you. He’d been there, and even though he’d been in life-and-death situations, and done his share of rescues, an unexpected burst of emotion had overcome him when he’d seen Keith grab Brooke at the gas station. He wasn’t even sure what had turned his attention to the gas pumps, but he had and in that instant it was like someone had just delivered a shock from a defibrillator to his heart.

His heart raced, maxing out just like the car as he sped to catch them. Watching and praying, he didn’t even bother with a safe distance. He knew he needed to be close enough to step in. If he hadn’t gotten caught behind that tanker truck he’d have been there even sooner. Thank goodness Keith had left the car along the side of the road. If he hadn’t, he’d have lost them completely, and Brooke would have been in an even more dangerous position.

He watched her for a moment, wishing he could erase it for her. This kind of stuff didn’t go away so easy, though.

“I won’t ever let him bother you again,” he said, realizing at that instant that he was about to break his number one rule: Don’t let it get personal. What he was feeling didn’t feel a bit like business, and he damn sure couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.

It wasn’t about the rescue. This time it was about the girl.

It had taken every ounce of his strength not to kill the sorry bastard. He had the skill to do it swiftly, and he could have done it and left with no one knowing the better. But he’d called Sheriff Calvin instead to get them involved as soon as he’d seen trouble brewing. Maybe he’d done it to keep himself from killing the guy.

Brooke sobbed in his arms, gulping loudly for air.

He leaned his head down against hers. “You’re safe.” He stroked her cheek and held her for a moment, then hit redial on his phone and gave Sheriff Calvin his location and the update. He snapped the phone shut. “Medics are on the way.”

She tipped her tear-stained face up toward his, her lips trembling. “Thank you.”

Mike leaned in, trying to warm her with his own body. She looked fragile. Her face was dirty beneath a tangle of hair and mascara stained her cheeks. Something touched him bone deep that wouldn’t allow him to take his eyes off her.

Sirens suddenly filled the heavy evening air.

Unable to resist the pull, he took her soft, swollen lips into his in a kiss.

For a fraction of a second she struggled in his arms. He began to pull away, controlling his own need at that moment, but as he retreated, she returned the kiss and relaxed into the safety of his arms. The kiss went on until the sound of footsteps made them pull apart.

Equipment rattled as rescue workers flooded the area.

A woman EMT wrapped a white sheet around Brooke’s body, covering where her clothes had ripped. Mike knew it was more an emotional barrier than for the exposed skin. They strapped Brooke to a gurney and made their way back up the embankment to the ambulance.

Mike spotted Sheriff Calvin over by the emergency vehicles that now lined the highway. Blue lights flashed, bouncing off each other like a disco.

Sheriff Calvin watched as one of his men re-cuffed Keith for transport.

Keith spat on the ground, cursing and complaining the whole time. “Y’all think you’re so smart. This is not over. It was just a little domestic. We’re married. She’ll never press charges.” The officers pushed Keith down into the backseat of the police car. “You’re wasting your time. I’m telling you. She loves me.”

“Sure she does,” Sheriff Calvin said as he headed toward Mike. He handed his cuffs back and shook his hand. “Good job.”

Mike nodded toward the police car. “All by the book, right?”

“Oh, yeah. No loopholes. He’s toast.”

“Good deal.”

The sheriff shook his head. “Makes you wonder how people get to that point in a relationship. She’s filed several reports, but we’ve never been able to help her. Glad she got you involved.”

Mike extended his hand. “Thanks for the support. I wasn’t sure if an investigator was going to be welcomed into your community.”

“I’ll admit I was a skeptic at first. I wasn’t sure how I felt about some civilian coming in here and hanging out a shingle, but I’m always happy for good help. And any friend of Von gets an instant checkmark in my book.” He nodded toward the ambulance. “I just talked to the medics. She’s pretty banged up. They’re taking her in to check for broken bones, and make sure there’s no internal damage.”

Mike’s focus was across the way, where Brooke was being lifted into the ambulance. “I’m going to check on her one last time.” He didn’t bother to wait for a comment from the sheriff, breaking into a jog. By the time he got to the ambulance, they were getting ready to close the door.

“Can I have one second?” he asked the EMT.

“Sure.” The EMT pulled the door back open and Mike leaned into the back of the unit. “Hey, Brooke. I’ll check in on you, okay?”

She nodded. Tears stained her cheeks, and a contusion had already started blooming on her cheek, making her appear even more fragile under the bright lights. Still pretty though.

“Thank you for being here,” she said through the tears.

Mike patted her leg. “If you’d locked the car when you got in, I would have gotten him in the parking lot.”

“If only.” She looked confused and beautiful even with the bruising. “How did you get here?”

“Good timing. I’m pretty good at some things.”

She attempted a smile, but winced. Her hand went to her bloody lip. “Better at this than farm management or new relationships?”

“I am.” He laughed. “Promise me, from now on when you get in the car, you’ll lock the car door. I can’t take another scare like that again.” He paused. She probably wasn’t up to a lecture but the near tragedy had him feeling like he needed to give it. “So simple you can’t believe someone would need to remind you, huh?”

“Get in the car. Lock the car.” Her voice felt weak.

He gave her shaking hand a little squeeze through the sheet. “You’re going to be fine; it’s over.”

“I thought I was going to die.”

“But you didn’t. You fought back. We’ll talk later. Right now you need to get checked out.”

“I was lucky.”

Mike stepped back as the paramedics prepared the unit to depart. He didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, but Sheriff Calvin had come while he was.

A deputy carried a purse and handed it over to the sheriff.

Mike acknowledged the bag. “Brooke’s?”

“Yeah.”

“Her phone in there?”

Sheriff Calvin flipped it open and looked back up, rolling his eyes. He held the purse open toward Mike, displaying the disarray. “God. Who could tell? Enter at your own risk.” The sheriff pushed the purse in Mike’s direction.

Mike pushed through pens, and twenties and fives, and pulled out the phone. He thumbed through a few screens as Sheriff Calvin looked on. Mike glanced through the entries in Brooke’s phone. It was password protected, but like half the numeric passwords on these things, a simple one-two-three-four got him right in. “Shame, shame, Miss Brooke, you know better.” He read through the calendar. Was there anything this girl didn’t plan? The name and phone number of the locksmith, every appointment and personal plan down to the quarter hour, even reminders to get gas, yoga, and coffee breaks. Keith had known her every planned move, and it looked like she pretty much planned everything.

He scrolled through the entries and then stopped at the one that must have thrown Keith over the edge. It simply read, “Investigator-Keith-I’M DONE.”

“That’s what I thought. Thanks, man,” Mike said as he handed the phone back.

Sheriff Calvin took the phone and dropped it into the purse. “No problem. I need to get back to the station.”

“You bet.” Mike hiked back to his truck, and got in, the adrenaline still kicking so hard that he slammed the door. The ambulance still hadn’t left the scene, and he just couldn’t bring himself to leave until he saw the ambulance pull away. Kind of like how his mom had always said to wait until his date was safely inside the house before he drove off. Some lessons just never left.

Something in him had sparked when Brooke had shown up at Kasey’s place.

He’d tried to stick to business and ignore that feeling, but instead he’d found himself asking her out. Even as he’d tried to talk himself out of the dinner with her, it was like the more he resisted, the more she was like a magnet to his pull, because he’d run into her over and over again around town. The feelings he’d been prepared to never feel again were itching at him.

Von had lost his wife and he’d found love again. Mike still remembered the day he’d gotten the news about Von getting remarried. It not only felt like a betrayal of the grounds on which their friendship had been built, but it had been downright hard to even like Riley at first because it felt like a betrayal to the memory of Von’s wife and his own. The bond that he and Von had from losing their wives in separate but so similar ways—so tragic, brutal—had left him broken beyond repair, but somehow Von had risen above it. That had made him feel so lonely.

Yesterday he thought the rest of his life would be a solo act, but right now he wasn’t sure of what he’d been so sure about.