Page 6 of Abandoned

The man, probably in his early forties, had a snake tattoo stretching up his neck. He eyed Zara. “You?”

“Well, if it isn’t Ernie Nelson. Looks like you still can’t outrun the law. Are you out on probation?”

He spit out a derogatory word for a woman.

Will’s blood ignited into fury.

Ernie said, “Nope. Probation ended last week.”

“Has it been that long already?” Zara crossed her arms and rested them on the gear that circled her middle.

Will stood a little taller beside Zara. “It looks like you’re headed back. What was so important that you needed to run that first red light?”

Ernie’s eyes narrowed and his face hardened. A stonewall. Great.

Logan took him to the car and searched him before shoving him in the back of the squad car.

Zara squeezed Will’s sweaty arm. If it wasn’t for the magnet in her touch, he’d pull away.

“I’d offer you a ride back to your squad, but I don’t think you want to ride with that dude.” She coughed.

“I can walk.”

Another squad car pulled up behind Logan and Zara’s. A woman with short blonde hair emerged. “Looks like we were a block or two too far away.”

Once Ernie was inside, Logan swung the back door shut and stretched his back. “I would definitely have preferred Wesson to have taken him down.”

A muffled bark came from the back of Megan’s squad car. “Apparently, he wants to say hi or is mad you took down the bad guy.” Megan opened the door and the sable-colored German shepherd jumped out and ran to Logan then darted to Will.

Wesson leaned against Will’s legs. He gave the dog a furious rubdown. Hazel Hill was blessed to be able to have a K9 in the department and double blessed that it was Wesson.

Megan joined them. “Wanna ride?”

“Sure.” Out of the corner of his eye, Will noticed Zara’s eyebrows do a strange little dance. Was she jealous? She didn’t need to be. He reached out and touched her hand. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”

Logan called, “Ready, Grant?”

“Let’s roll.” Zara smiled at Will. “See ya soon.”

He wasn’t sure if it was the leftover adrenaline from the chase or that enticing woman who sent his heart on another high-speed chase—who was he kidding? He knew.

Chapter Three

At two minutes to six that evening, Zara pulled her ancient Volkswagen Jetta into the parking lot of the church she’d been attending with Logan and Will. At breakfast that morning, Will had convinced her to join a bunch of women from the police and fire departments for a girls’ night. With his arm across the back of the bench they shared at the little diner, she couldn’t deny him. He was convinced it would be good for her, and she had agreed.

But now that she was here, she regretted coming. She was no girly-girl. She was more likely to play basketball with the guys, but apparently girls weren’t allowed for their b-ball nights, so it was either go get to know some of the women she worked with or stay home alone.

Alone was not an option.

She opened the door and tried to wipe the sweat from her neck. But it was futile. It was just hot. Zara thought she preferred hot to cold, but North Carolina humidity was no joke. Today’s high had been in the low nineties, and it was easily still there. Without AC in her car, it was straight up miserable.

As she walked to the door, she pulled the hair tie from her hair and put it around her wrist with the other two—all teal—that were already there. She always kept them handy, and, in this heat, it seemed even more necessary.

Zara entered the church and paused as the cool air refreshed her to the core. The ten- minute drive to the church had nearly melted her. If only it wasn’t so expensive to fix the air conditioning. But it really didn’t seem worth it when she’d be driving a squad car the majority of the time, and maybe Will could drive her the other times.

Her cheeks warmed.

The door behind her opened, and a woman greeted Zara.