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So he went with the most natural response to his best friend’s prying. “Shut up.”
Holt didn’t have much else, because he didn’t seem capable of fighting this. Whenever he thought about finishing up the assignment and moving on, a tightness filled his chest. The idea of her dating someone else, sleeping with someone else, hit him like a sucker punch to the gut.
Forget the sensation of being dragged under. He was falling for this woman. At rapid speed and without a safety net. He thought back to how he made fun of Joel and Cam—all of them—and now he got it. This one woman walked into your world and everything else stopped. It was downright annoying.
Shane leaned back against the couch cushions. “You know that’s your go-to response when I give you grief about being with her, right?”
Knew and planned it that way. “Your point?”
“It’s lame.”
Holt really couldn’t argue with that, so he tried to turn the conversation. “So are your attempts to tick me off.”
“We’re taking bets, you know.” Shane leaned over the coffee table and shuffled through a pile of papers.
Holt was so busy watching the photos and lines of writing flip by that he almost missed the comment. “What?”
“About how long it will be before you’re on your knees, begging Lindsey to forgive you.” Shane smiled as he said it, clearly enjoying this moment too much.
“For what?” Holt didn’t doubt it, but he did want a heads-up if Shane knew something he didn’t.
“Oh, there will be something.” Shane separated the documents into stacks, using some system in his head.
One page grabbed Holt’s attention. He put out a hand to stop others from burying it lower in the pile. “Hold up.”
“What?” Shane brought the paper up to the top. “That’s Walt Freeland, Lindsey’s uncle. He died in a shoot-out with ATF.”
Holt picked up the papers as wave after wave of anxiety washed over him. The photo was old, but the resemblance was unmistakable. The jawline. The mouth. The dark evil in the eyes. One thing was for certain—her uncle was not dead. “No, he didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
Holt forced his memory to cover and compare every detail. He’d changed his appearance, likely on purpose. Only someone looking would know. Someone who faced the guy every day, or sat across a desk and answered questions.
“Different hair and he’s lost a lot of weight, but this guy is definitely not dead.”
Shane frowned. “How do you know?”
“He’s my boss. Hank’s boss.” When Shane just stared, Holt tried again. “That’s Simon Falls.”
“Why didn’t she recognize him?”
“She’s never seen him in his role as Simon Falls. Few have. I’ve been up there, trying to figure out how to sneak a photo back to Connor and Joel and haven’t been able to.” Holt’s mind immediately shot to Lindsey. He spun up off the couch and stalked toward the back door with Shane right behind.
Holt’s gaze started at the last place he’d seen her and zipped across the yard. He looked for any sign of her as the panic started beating in his head.
“Lindsey?” Shane yelled her name, not being shy about being as loud as he could.
Dread gripped Holt. “Where is she?”
“Look.” Shane took off before he explained. He ran toward the trees to a crumpled form lying in the leaves.
Holt recognized the uniform before he turned the deputy over. Blood pooled around him, and his eyes had gone glassy. He was alive but not for long.
“He’s knifed.” Holt ignored the ping of his cell in his back pocket letting him know he had a text and stayed focused. He ripped the bottom of his T-shirt and pressed it against the wound. “Where’s Lindsey?”
“I’m sorry.” The deputy’s mouth barely opened.
“Later with that. Where is she?”
Shane scrambled in the grass toward something. He came back and dropped to his knees beside Holt. “Her cell.”
Holt unlocked it with the code Lindsey had given him in case of an emergency. As Shane called for an ambulance on his own cell, Holt punched buttons on hers. He found the message without any trouble. Misspelled and almost incoherent, but he knew. Also knew what the text on his phone said. “Todd has her.”
As Shane talked in the background the deputy tried to nod as he forced out another string of words. “Took her to Simon...not sure where on the property.”
“That’s the easy part.” Holt thought about the cell in his pocket and the app that would lead him straight to her. “I’ll find her.”
