Page 52 of Burning Justice

Hand prints.

His blood heated to the boiling point. The fucker had tried to strangle her. If this really was the same guy who’d tried shooting him at Piggly’s, why hadn’t he shot Gemma instead of trying to choke her to death?

Could be he didn’t want to make that much noise in a residential neighborhood. Or there could be another reason. Choking someone was more personal.

Brett clamped his jaw down hard, then glanced at Penny. “Call an ambulance.”

“No.” Gemma shook her head, then winced. “I’m not going to the hospital. It’s just a cut. When he was chasing me, I fell and hit my head on the workbench.”

Penny looked at Brett, her hand poised on the microphone.

“Gemma, please. Don’t argue with me.” The woman was too stubborn and too accustomed to taking care of herself alone than was for her own good. “I’d feel better if you let a doctor look at you.”

“No,” she insisted. “I’m not going to change my mind. My vision isn’t blurry, and I didn’t black out.”

“If you haven’t noticed,” the other woman chimed in, “she’s stubborn.”

“I noticed,” Brett muttered.

“I’m Bonnie, by the way.” She stuck out her hand. “Gemma’s next-door neighbor and longtime friend, whom she hasn’t said a word to about you. Pleased to meet you.”

“You, too.” Brett shook Bonnie’s hand, grateful that Gemma had a good friend living one house away. Grateful? He sounded like a concerned parent. Or, he reluctantly forced himself to admit, a guy who wanted to be more than just Gemma’s partner. “How about a compromise?”

Gemma narrowed her eyes. “What kind of compromise?”

Without answering her question, he tugged out his phone and called Tori Sampson, soon to be Tori Decker. “Tori,” Brett said when she answered. “Sorry to bother you so late. My partner was hurt tonight, and she’s too stubborn to go to the hospital.” Gemma wrinkled her nose at him. “Think you could swing by and take a look at her?”

“Of course,” Tori answered, and after Brett gave her the address, she added, “I’m just finishing my shift at North Metro. I should be there in ten minutes.”

“Thanks, Tor.” Brett ended the call and shoved the phone back into his thigh pocket.

“Who was that?” Gemma asked, not bothering to hide the suspicion in her voice.

“A friend. She’s an ER doctor.”

“Fine,” she grumbled, eliciting a snort from Bonnie.

Bonnie gave Gemma a look of exasperation. “Some things never change. You were the same way in college. Always independent, never letting anyone help you.”

“Not much has changed,” Brett said flatly.

Gemma scowled at him first, then Bonnie. “You’re not helping any.”

Bonnie threw up her hands. “Just calling things as I see them.”

Penny must have been reading Brett’s mind and took out a pad and pen. “Think you’re up for telling us what happened?”

“Okay.” Gemma cleared her throat, wincing and placing a hand to her neck. “After you called,” she began, looking at Brett, “I locked all the doors and made sure all the windows were closed, then went into the kitchen to make eggs for dinner.”

Not the upstairs windows. Brett let that slide for now. She’d probably forgotten about the ladder left against the side of the house.

“I heard a noise,” she continued, “and when I turned around, he was there. A big guy, wearing a ball cap and sunglasses. He tried to strangle me with his hands.”

At hearing the words, Brett compressed his lips, tamping down his anger and holding back a rush of foul language. “How tall?” he asked with a calm he didn’t feel in the slightest.

“About your height, but not as muscular.”

Penny scribbled on her pad. “Hair color?”