Page 77 of Lay Down the Law

The terror resonating in his voice ignited the same emotions inside Erin. She felt her control slipping, like sand through her fingers, no matter how tight her grasp. “This isn’t your fault.”

“I don’t have time for this,” he snapped.

Erin’s stomach roiled and she felt nauseous. Oh, she hadn’t meant to involve that sweet little girl!

“I’ve got to go to the station,” he said.

“Let me come with you.”

“Stay here,” he ordered. “I don’t need DiCarlo getting his hands on you, too.” Without speaking, Nick bent and scooped up his uniform shirt. She watched, numb with pain, as he buttoned it with shaking, bleeding fingers.

He barely looked at her as he buckled his holster. “No one knows you’re here. Don’t open the door for anyone but me. Keep your sidearm close. You got that?”

Erin barely heard his words as cold realization crept over her. An instant later, the situation crystallized. DiCarlo didn’t want Stephanie; he wanted Erin. The knowledge impacted her solidly, hitting a place that was raw and weak. She nearly crumpled with the blow.

Shaking, barely trusting her legs, Erin crossed the room. “DiCarlo doesn’t want Stephanie, Nick. He wants me.”

The rumble of thunder outside punctuated the thick silence that followed her words. Nick slipped his cell phone into his uniform pocket, then turned to her. Erin winced at the ice in his gaze. She couldn’t believe that just a few short hours earlier he’d caressed her with such utter tenderness. Shared intimacies with her. Opened his heart. Stolen her own. Her heart shattered with the realization that he blamed her for Stephanie’s kidnapping.

He hadn’t said the words, but Erin saw the accusation in the depths of his eyes. She stared at him, willing herself to believe it wasn’t her fault. But the truth made her sick with regret. Her heart broke with the knowledge that the man she loved blamed her for risking something as precious as his child.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” he warned.

“I’ll stay.” She couldn’t, of course. She had to find Stephanie. Erin couldn’t let that little girl pay for something she herself had done.

He crossed to her and kissed her then—a hard, emotionless kiss born of desperation and fear. But it moved her nonetheless. Moved her so profoundly that her throat locked up and she choked back a sob.

No longer trusting her legs, she backed toward the bed, then slowly sank to a sitting position. She had the sudden, irrational urge to tell him she loved him, fearing this moment would be her only chance, but she didn’t.

“Watch yourself,” he said. Then, without looking back, he opened the door and stepped into the night.

* * *

Erin slapped her badge down on the counter and shot the desk clerk her best don’t-mess-with-me glare. “I’m a police officer. I’m commandeering a vehicle for a police emergency.”

The desk clerk of the Pioneer Motel stared at her as if she’d just told him she was going to shoot off one of his fingers. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“I need a vehicle,” she snapped. “Now!”

The young man jumped. “Uh…is a truck okay?”

“Fine. Give me the keys.” She looked at the clock on the wall behind him. It was twelve-thirty. Outside, a crack of thunder vibrated the walls. How on earth was she going to find Stephanie?

The clerk unsnapped a key chain from his belt loop and handed it to her. “Should I call the police or something?”

“Chief Ryan has already been apprised of the situation.”

The young man didn’t look convinced. “When do I get my truck back?”

“You can pick it up at the station later this afternoon.” She took the key. “Where’s the vehicle?”

“Out back. Next to the Dumpster.”

The pickup truck should have been in the Dumpster as far as Erin was concerned. She stalled it twice before getting out of the parking lot, and once on the way to her apartment. By the time she unlocked the door, her heart was raging with frustration. The minutes were ticking by, and she didn’t have the slightest idea how to find Stephanie. Her police training told her to find Nick or call Frank in Chicago. The part of her that was crushed by guilt because she’d endangered a child’s life wasn’t thinking quite as logically. Erin knew DiCarlo wanted her, not Stephanie. It made perfect sense to offer up herself in exchange for the child.

The phone jangled as she closed the door behind her. Crossing the room, she snatched it up on the second ring. “McNeal,” she said breathlessly.

Thick silence made the hairs at her nape stand on end.