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Mac closed the door, reset the alarm, then moved quickly to the bathroom door.
“Keiley?”
The knob turned. Mac stopped the opening of the door in time to keep her from seeing a bloody Jethro.
“Jethro’s fine. Lock yourself back in while we check the house. ”
Her face was pale, her eyes dark in the paper-whiteness as she nodded quickly and hurriedly reclosed and locked the door.
“The alarm was off while we were outside. We check the house first. ”
Jethro nodded quickly, wiping a smear of blood over his forehead before moving in front of Mac. Blood stained the short sleeve of his shirt and had run along his arm. Jethro wiped his hand on his pants, smearing more blood, before they began canvassing the house.
Mac grimaced at the thought of Keiley seeing the wound or the mess it was making. It wasn’t life-threatening, just damned messy, and sure to upset her.
“I’m getting tired of this bastard!” Jethro snapped as they finished the upstairs and began making their way back down. “He’s pissing me off, Mac. He was after you. There’s not a doubt. ”
“I came in early from checking the place,” Mac murmured as he glimpsed Pappy lying in the foyer.
The dog had slid into the house between him and Jethro, so quickly and quietly that Mac had only distantly noticed the move.
“What happened out there?” he asked.
“I saw Pappy huddled under the trees. He didn’t come when I called to him, so I went to see if he had been hurt. The shot caught me about middleways across the yard. By the time I found cover I was closer to the treeline and out of the line of sight than I was to the house. ”
“Rifle or handgun?”
“Handgun. I’m betting a rifle will be next. ”
Mac shook his head. “He would have used a rifle first time. He wants to keep the odds even. ”
“Hell of an observation,” Jethro grunted as they entered the foyer and Mac moved quickly back to the bathroom.
“Fact. Based on the files of the victims. He kept his playing field even. It’s a test. To win he has to play fair. You should have come back into the house before checking anything. ”
He caught Jethro’s grimace. “She needed you worse than I did. ”
“She wasn’t being shot at,” Mac pointed out logically. “And there was no danger of her leaving because of a realization that hurts none of us. I could have dealt with that later. ”
Jethro caught his arm as he started to move through the foyer.
“You should have discussed this with me first,” he snapped, his eyes narrowing angrily.
Mac grinned with an edge of mockery. “You already loved her, Jethro. You think I missed it before we left Virginia? Do you think I didn’t hear it in your voice every time you got around to asking about her whenever you called?”
“I was handling it. ” Jethro’s expression was tight now.
“Handling it so well you haven’t shared a woman since we left town?”
“I was handling it. ” His voice lowered in warning. “I wasn’t in love with her, Mac, until you began playing your little games. ”
Mac sighed at that. “Sometimes y
ou have to go with your gut, Jethro, I keep trying to tell you that. You’ll hit an investigation with both feet forward and your gut all but getting you killed. When it comes to women, you act like you’re using a damned manual until you get them into the bed. You won’t find love that way. ”
“I wasn’t looking for love. ”
“No, you weren’t. You’d already found it. Unfortunately, someone else beat you to her first. ”
