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He cleared his throat, trying not to be distracted by her large brown eyes. Then he turned to face her. “Maybe we should go through the shooting event one more time.”
A hint of distress darkened her eyes. “If you think it will help.”
He hesitated. Would it really help? Or make Elly feel worse?
“I’ll do it.” Elly spoke with confidence. “Where do you want me to start?”
“At the beginning.” He forced himself to treat her like any other witness. He’d learned that interviewing witnesses several times often revealed new tidbits of information. Not because the witness didn’t want to cooperate, but more so because once the immediate horror was past, new details emerged.
“I was looking up at the blue Christmas lights.” Elly gazed off into the distance as if putting herself back there. “They were so beautiful. I remember turning to head back to the ambulance rig, and that’s when I bumped into him.”
He listened carefully as she recounted the brief meeting, including the way the hairs on the back of her neck lifted in alarm.
“It was dark,” she admitted. “So I couldn’t make out his eye color, but I have a clear image of his face imprinted on my mind.” She turned to face him. “I was listening to ‘Frosty the Snowman,’ singing along, when I heard the gunshots and the skaters falling to the ice. From there, everything was chaos.”
“I know. For me too.” He hadn’t been looking at the skaters or paying much attention to the marching band belting out Frosty. His gaze had been on tracking the people gathered across the street from where he was positioned.
With Kyle on the opposite side of the street doing the same thing. Yet it seemed as if the shooter had gotten several shots off before Kyle had reacted.
And that was odd, considering the shooter had likely been standing in the back of the pickup truck.
He was trying to imagine what might have drawn Kyle’s attention from the shooter when his phone buzzed.
Not a text this time, but a call from Steele.
“Hey, what’s up?” Joe asked.
“A black SUV has driven down the street twice in fifteen minutes.” Steele’s tone was terse. “You need to get Elly out of there.”
“Got it.” He slammed the computer shut and shoved his phone into his pocket. “Elly, grab your coat. We need to go.”
“Go where?” To her credit, she didn’t protest, grabbing her coat from the back of the kitchen chair and shrugging it on.
“Away from here.” He reached for his own coat but didn’t bother putting it on. They needed to get out of there ASAP.
The way this guy kept finding them was really starting to piss him off.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Her heart lodged in her throat, Elly stayed close behind Joe as he headed to the side door of the rental house. “Keep your head down,” Joe said.
She nodded, unable to speak. It seemed impossible that they’d been found here at the rental house. It was nerve-racking to keep running from this man who was stalking her with an assault rifle, just waiting for the chance to kill her.
Joe opened the side door and peeked out. She shouldn’t have been surprised to find Steele was already there, waiting for them. Rhy’s tactical team worked together as if they could read each other’s minds.
Maybe they could. It was painfully obvious that she would never have made it as a cop. Even if she could have passed the physical.
“This way,” Steele said in a low hushed tone.
Joe urged her forward, placing her between the two men. She hated the necessity of Joe and Steele putting their lives on the line for her. They moved along the back of the house, out of sight of the road. She didn’t know what Steele had seen, but she trusted him to lead them to safety.
The silence was only broken by the sounds of their footsteps crunching in the snow. She tried to step carefully and quietly but couldn’t. How Steele and Joe were able to master the art of moving without making a sound, she had no idea.
Steele paused at the corner of the house, then whispered, “Stay close.”
She nodded.
Steele picked up the pace, cutting across the yard, heading from their rental house to the next property. She could feel Joe’s reassuring hand on her back as she followed Steele.
