AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stop right there.”
The arm around Katie’s waist jerked hard, and she gasped. Luke froze. Ray pulled her backward, toward the living room, his boots crunching on the bits of glass scattered on the old linoleum.
Katie’s heart thudded wildly. There was nothing she could do. “You—you haven’t been in this kind of trouble before, Ray,” she said.
“Ray?” Luke repeated, his expression wary. “Ray Dean?”
Sweat streamed from Ray’s face.
“Just let her go and we’ll talk this out,” Luke insisted.
“Nothin’ to talk about.”
“Sure, there is. You told me about Isaac Wells,” Katie said. “That you think he’s going to frame you or something. Why don’t you let me write your side of the story?”
She felt him hesitate.
“If you do anything now you’d be thrown back in prison for a long, long time. And Isaac would get away scot-free. Think about your kids,” she said, sensing him listening, hearing his breathing slow a bit. “Laddy and Miles need a dad who isn’t in prison.”
“They’re used to it.” He glanced at Katie. Luke sprang forward. Startled, Ray stumbled a bit. His hold on Katie loosened a little. She threw herself away from him. “Don’t move!” Ray’s knife arced downward. Katie screamed and looked for something—anything—to use as a weapon. Luke caught Ray’s wrist, and the knife trembled as the men struggled.
Grunting, swearing, muscles straining, they wrestled each other to the floor. Glass crunched. Katie ran for the door, her feet slipping on the shards. She threw the bolt, shouldered open the door and, screaming for help, grabbed the only thing she could find—Josh’s old baseball bat that had been left in the corner.
Sirens wailed in the distance, and a truck roared to a stop behind Ray’s van. From the corner of her eye, Katie spied Jarrod bolting out of his pickup. “Get away!” he yelled, running up the steps, two at a time.
But it was already over. Luke, straddling Ray’s chest, had him pinned to the floor.
“Hell, Katie, what were you thinking?” Jarrod demanded as she followed him into the house. Outside, a police cruiser slammed to a stop.
“I thought I was renting my house.”
“What happened here?” a female cop demanded. She and her partner, weapons drawn, ran through the back door. She stopped when she recognized the man sprawled on the floor, pinned by a strong-willed cowboy. “Well, well, well. Ray Dean. Why aren’t I surprised that you’d be in the middle of this?”
“Butt out.”
“Don’t think so.” She motioned for Luke to get up. “We’ll take over from here, but all of you—” her gaze swept the group and brooked no arguments “—will have to come down to the station to give your statements.”
Luke didn’t look at the cops but walked straight to Katie and folded her tightly into his arms. “Thank God you’re okay,” he said, his breath hot as it ruffled her hair. She felt him tremble, heard his heart pounding and wanted to cling to him forever. Tears blocked her throat, and her eyes burned. “I was so worried.” He kissed her crown, and something inside her broke. She let the tears rain from her eyes and drooped against him, all of the fight and fire of her spirit finally collapsing. “Shh. You’re okay. I’m here.” She felt like a fool, an idiot of a woman, but was grateful that he was here, holding her, coming to her damned rescue.
“It’s all a mix-up,” Ray insisted as he climbed to his feet, and the second cop, Officer Barnes, a thin man of thirty or so with an expression of someone who had already seen far too much, yanked Ray’s arms behind his back and snapped handcuffs on his wrists.
“Take it easy! I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Right,” the policewoman mocked. “Not a damned thing.”
“Ray Dean, you have the right to remain silent—” Barnes began reading Ray his rights, but the prisoner would have none of it. He looked at Katie and, beneath the anger in his eyes, was a silent plea. “Look, I messed up.”
“Big-time,” Katie said as Luke’s arms tightened around her.
“Shut up. You have the righ
t to remain silent…” the officer began again.
Ray ignored him. “I want you to write my story. In your paper.”
She hesitated.
“Forget it, Dean,” Jarrod said. “Just get him out of here,” he ordered.
