“It was Dr. Daniels all along. I can’t believe it. He wanted to kill me. I can’t believe it,” she said over and over again like a mantra.
“You’re safe now. I’m here.”
Sirens wailing in the distance eerily filled the room. Still clinging to him, she moved her head up and down in rhythm with his deep breathing.
“You guys better get out of here. I’ll handle it with the damn badges.”
Low grunts, shuffling feet, and then quiet except for the sirens, which sounded closer now. Goldie pulled on the sheet, yanking it from the mattress as she still clung to him, moving with him as though they were glued together. Pushing her back a little, he wrapped the sheet around her exposed body, then pressed her close again and waited. When the blue and red flashing bounced off the bedroom walls, she knew what he was waiting for.
Heavy clumping up the stairs unnerved her and she whimpered, but his soothing hand on her hair calmed her as the footsteps came closer. Peeking through her semi-shut eyelids, she saw Sheriff Wexler walk into the room.I bet I spoiled his date. I wonder how she liked the flowers.That was all she could think of: Wexler’s date.
“What happened here?” the sheriff asked as his glance went from her to Goldie to Dr. Daniels’s dead body.
“He’s your rapist and murderer. He came after my woman. The fucker had a knife in his hand, ready to cut her, so I shot him.”
“Did you yell out to him?” Barnard asked, coming closer to the body.
“Yeah.”
Barnard looked at Hailey. “Do you have anything to add about what happened?”
She shook her head. “It was awful. He’d unzipped his pants, and he had a knife in his hand. I was petrified. He’d tied me up and cut open my clothes. I heard Goldie tell him to stop but he didn’t. He just kept coming closer to me.” When she glanced at Goldie, pride shone in his gaze. She rested her head against his shoulder.
“We’ll need your full statement, Ms. Shilley. You can do it downstairs or at the station. It looks like a justified shooting,” the sheriff said, nodding at Goldie.
“We’re going to have to investigate a little further before we can rule it justified. How’d you know he was here with Ms. Shilley?” Barnard asked Goldie.
“I didn’t. I went to meet her for dinner, and when she didn’t show and I couldn’t get her on the phone, I got worried and came over to her house.”
“So you had no idea the rapist was here?”
Stone-faced, Goldie said, “I just answered that.”
“Do you always bring a weapon when you come over to your girlfriend’s?” Barnard folded his arms over his chest.
“Yeah.”
Wexler cleared his throat. “I issued the permit for it. It’s all good. We got the DNA results a few days ago ruling out Dan Krutcher as the rapist-murderer. We’ll do a DNA comparison on Daniels, then wrap up the case. Do you want to come down with Ms. Shilley and give your statement?” Wexler asked Goldie.
He grasped Hailey’s hand and went out into the hallway. Wexler’s voice drifted over the low murmurings of the deputies. “We’ve got a handle on it, Jack. Thanks for helping us out.”
“You believe the load of shit that outlaw told us?”
“I do. You can head back to Durango tomorrow morning. I’ll wrap this one up.”
Hailey and Goldie walked down the stairs and waited for the lawmen in the family room. Goldie stroked her hair. “You’re gonna need to talk with someone about all this shit that went down. Breanna can get you in touch with some counselors.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, but Daniels’s face jumped into her mind and she shuddered.
“Just talk to whoever Breanna recommends. Do it for me, okay?”
“Okay.” Wetness coated her eyelashes, cheeks, and chin.
The two lawmen came into the room then and sat down. She sat up straight and waited for the questions to begin.
This is going to be a long night.
Chapter Forty-One
