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After the EMTs checked the young woman and declared her shaken but unharmed, they left. Shawn took Gene to be processed into custody while I began gathering evidence at the scene and taking down witness statements. Finn refused to let me arrange him a ride home, stating he wanted to watch the process. I thought it was more likely he didn’t want to be alone. The poor guy looked scared and somber, a look that made me want to comfort him the same way I’d comforted Tessa the night before. Well, maybe not the exact same way.
I let him stay close to me as I explained what I was doing. Taking photos of the bullet hole in the door, measuring the distance from where Gene had stood, and emptying and bagging the firearm. One of my other deputies showed up to take the evidence into custody and type up the witness statements for me, and Shawn returned to offer me a ride since department policy stated my vehicle would have to be towed in.
When he pulled up outside of Finn’s chalet, I murmured for Shawn to wait a minute while I walked Finn to the door.
Finn had been quiet all night since the shooting, and I was starting to get worried.
“Do you want to call your friend to come stay with you?” I asked quietly.
He reached the door to the small cabin and turned around to face me. “Kix? No. It’s okay. I think I’d… I’d rather be alone than have to tell him what happened and have him ask a million questions.”
I wanted to touch him, reach out and caress his lightly freckled cheek before skimming my thumb across his full lower lip, but I kept my hands fisted in my pockets instead.
“Call… shit, hang on.” I pulled out a business card from my wallet and handed it to him. “My cell is on there. Call me if you need anything. If you can’t get me, call the department and tell them to raise me on the radio. Tell them it’s a 10-36.”
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but I knew I’d piqued his curiosity enough to distract him from my leaving.
“Good night, Finn.”
“G’night, Sheriff.”
I turned and didn’t look back. Once I was in the car, I asked Shawn to stop off at the 24-hour supermarket before dropping me home. They didn’t have “boutique bacon,” but I got the best they had of everything Tessa had asked for. When I got back in Shawn’s patrol vehicle, he raised an eyebrow at me. “You hungry? I could have found a drive-thru.”
I noticed a bleeding scratch on the side of his face. “Not for me. You catch a fingernail or something when you took Gene down?”
He glanced in the rearview mirror before backing out of the parking space. “He had on a ring that got me. Big stone one like the kind some Freemasons wear.”
“I’ve got some stuff at the house we can clean it with,” I said, pointing him in the direction of my house. When he pulled back up the same mountain road that led to Rockley Lodge and the Stanner place, Shawn shot me a look.
“You made me drive you all the way into town when you live near the suspect and the place Finn Heller is staying?” he asked with a laugh.
I shrugged. “You don’t show up empty-handed to a pregnant lady, Shawn.” His jaw dropped, and I almost laughed. “Come in the house and let me fix you up. Stay for a beer.”
He followed me to the house and came up short as soon as he saw Tessa uncurl from the shadows of the rocking chair on the front porch.
As soon as her big belly came into view, the image of Gene Stanner threatening his pregnant daughter-in-law flashed into my memory. I grabbed Tess in a fierce hug and held her for a long minute. “So glad you’re okay,” I whispered into the side of her hair.
She held me just as tightly. She’d been with Nick long enough to know something bad had probably happened on the job, so she simply let me hold her until the moment passed.
I pulled back and held up the shopping bag with a forced smile. “Truckload of pork products and sugar syrup, just for you,” I said proudly.
She clapped her hand over her mouth and bolted for the house.
“Are you crazy?” Shawn hissed at me. “You don’t use the phrase ‘pork products’ around a pregnant lady. For god’s sake, Sheriff. Don’t you know anything by now? She looks at least seven months along. Where you been for the last seven months?”
I led him into the house and to the kitchen where I had him take a seat at the table. “I’ve only had her in my house since Tuesday night. She was in LA until then. So, no. I’m not all that familiar with cravings and sickness yet.”
