Tanner smiled. “Well, you don’t have any projectiles sticking out of your body, so I think you’re going to be okay. Maybe a concussion.”
“Pretty sure you’ve punched me harder than this, sparring.”
Bree reached down and squeezed his shoulder. “You saved my life. Thank you.”
“Anytime. I’m glad you guys don’t have to run anymore.” He smiled and leaned back against the tree.
About ten minutes later, Whitaker finally showed up, just in time to be of no real use whatsoever. An ambulance came for Ryan, but he refused to leave, even though he probably needed to get a CT scan.
Tanner stayed glued to Bree’s side, and to be honest, she didn’t want him far anyway. They’d come too close to losing each other.
They waited with Ryan on Glen’s rickety front porch steps as some of the other sheriff’s deputies arrived—including Ronnie Kitchens, who hugged them both—and began searching the house.
Whitaker came out a few minutes later. “Well, as far as I’m concerned, you’re cleared, Dempsey. We found access to a huge stack of Dr. Michalski’s files on Carrico’s computer, cross-referenced with a list of all the people who’d gotten reduced sentences because of giving up info on others. Looks like Carrico planned to take them all out.”
“Unbelievable,” Ryan muttered.
“Would’ve liked to have known why he chose me to set up for the fall,” Tanner said.
Bree pulled him closer. “And how he could possibly think this would help his brother’s case. If anything, this will just make it harder for Darin to stay at the minimum-security facility.”
“Guy had cancer, right?” Ryan asked. “He’s pretty young. That couldn’t have been easy. Maybe he just snapped.”
“I guess so.” Tanner rubbed his eyes then looked up at Whitaker. “You already knew about this place when I called. How’d you figure it out?”
“Michalski. I found him after you broke into the sheriff’s office last night and locked him in that closet.” He shot a sideways look at Bree. “After I figured out that the window alarm was false, of course. Michalski was just spitting mad that you had snuck into the building.”
Tanner raised a dark eyebrow. “Didn’t makeyoumad that I had snuck into the building?”
Whitaker leaned against the porch rail. “Don’t get me wrong—I would’ve arrested your ass if I had caught you there. But I also couldn’t think of many reasons you would be there at all if you were guilty and on the run.”
Tanner shrugged. “I wasn’t guilty.”
“What I couldn’t easily figure out was whyMichalskiwas there at three in the morning. Started checking building logs, and it seemed he’d been there all night for multiple nights. Started looking further and figured out there was a lot going on with the doctor that he wasn’t telling. I went to the sheriff, and she and I confronted him this morning with our concerns. He admitted his wife was divorcing him and had hacked his files. She’d been selling them to whoever she thought could do the most damage to Michalski’s reputation.”
“He should’ve been up front about that from the beginning,” Bree said. “There were ways to do damage control. Hell, I could’ve tracked down anyone she’d sold the info to and destroyed it.”
Whitaker nodded. “I think Michalski understands that. He’s the one on administrative leave now. I’m sureyou’ll be reinstated as soon as the sheriff sees you, between what we found here, Carrico admitting to the killings and Fletcher finding him in the middle of attempted murder.”
Tanner stood. “Good. Then the sheriff can expect to see me first thing tomorrow. Right now, we’re going home.”
Home.That was definitely where she wanted to go. She wanted to check on Star and Corfu and make sure they were doing okay. She wanted to sleep for a hundred hours in Tanner’s big bed.
Beside him.
Bree and Ryan stood with him. Bree’s grin was huge, Ryan’s a little more painful as he rubbed his head. But he slapped Tanner on his back. “Congrats, buddy. I’m glad you’re no longer the hunted. I’m going to help make sure the people who really deserve the blame for this get what’s coming to them.”
Tanner shook his head. “No, nobody in the department is to blame. It was just some unfortunate circumstances. I’m just ready to get back to the job.”
Bree squeezed his hand. “And I know Risk Peak wants you back, too.”
Ryan nodded. “If you say so. I think I’m going to take a few dozen aspirin and call it a day. I’ll catch you guys later.”
Tanner and Bree headed toward their car, too. Tanner still hadn’t let go of her.
She smiled at him. “Looks like you get to go back to being Captain Sexy Li—”
She never finished the sentence as his mouth slammed against hers and he backed her against the car. She moaned, gripping at his hair and clutchinghim to her, totally not caring that his colleagues might be able to see them.
