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In the distance I heard sirens, and the blue and red lights began to flash as several police vehicles pulled onto the long, dusty road leading to my house.
“I have to go find your mom,” I said softly, patting Day’s back. He reluctantly let me go and stepped away, rubbing his eyes.
“When George gets here,” I said to Lance, “have him take Day back to his house. It’s only a mile away.”
Lance nodded as I walked toward the house. I clenched and unclenched my fists several times. Maybe the sheriff showing up right at that moment was a blessing.
I wouldn’t be going to jail for murder tonight.
I walked into the house, taking stock of the massive hole in the screen door and the scissors on the floor in the foyer. I heard Moira and Henry speaking softly in the den, but I wasn’t prepared for the scene before me.
Henry was covered in blood.Everythingwas covered in blood. Kirk was unconscious, bleeding from two wounds on his legs, his hands tied behind his back.
Moira turned to look at me, but she didn’t move. Her lower lip began to tremble, her eyes red and puffy from crying.
I held her gaze as several sheriff’s deputies came barreling into the house, their guns drawn as they joined us in the den. Voices rang out, and soon the house was filled with noise.
I just reached out to her, taking her hand in mine, and pulled her into my chest without saying a word.
I barely noticed EMTs moving in on the scene. I didn’t realize Henry had been taken away to be examined while Kirk was carried away on a stretcher, his hands handcuffed over his chest.
I held Moira in my arms, my fingers tangled in her hair.
“I am so sorry,” I whispered, and she broke down.
* * *
“A mild concussion,” the EMT said from inside the ambulance. Moira was sitting up on the stretcher as another EMT examined the back of her head. “She’ll need stitches, and a CAT scan for good measure.”
“I’ll follow you to the hospital once I get him situated,” I replied hoarsely, my heart in my throat as Day slumped against my shoulder, fast asleep.
Henry was in the next ambulance, his feet dangling over the side of the stretcher while the sheriff himself took his statement.
Sherriff Matthews was arguing with Henry as I walked up to them.
“Put me in cuffs and it’ll be the last thing you ever do,” Henry spat, his eyes bloodshot and hazy as whatever they were giving him via IV took hold of his body.
“You wanna tell me how a man with his knees blown out ended up being my problem, Hallston?” Sheriff Matthew snipped, turning to me.
“He won’t be your problem because he’s a rogue FBI informant, dipshit,” Henry seethed, yanking out his IV.
“You should’ve called me about this,” the sheriff said to me, ignoring Henry completely.
“We did call the station, but like Henry just said, this was out of your jurisdiction,” I breathed, shaking my head.
“I still have to take this motherfucker to the station for questioning. I’ll need your statement too, once you have things settled here.” Sheriff Matthews tipped his hat at me and glanced at Henry, scowling.
“I’m already getting calls,” Henry said through his teeth, blood dribbling down his arm. “The FBI is already on their way from Bozeman to try to clean up their mess.”
“I’ll be suing them for all their worth for this, trust me.” It was the truth. The fact that they’d allowed a violent offender out on the streets for their gain, knowing he’d nearly killed a woman before he’d gotten arrested seven years ago… Well, Day was going to be getting a brand-new truck on his sixteenth birthday and his college paid, that was for goddamn sure. “Don’t do anything stupid at the station. I’ll meet you there once I know Moira and Day are all right.”
Henry shrugged, then lay back against the stretcher, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Let me take him,” George said from behind me, his arms outstretched.
I carefully transferred Day over to George. The kid didn’t so much as stir as George walked away with him and laid him in the backseat of his truck. He tipped his hat and said, “I’ll call you in the morning. Day will be fine.”
I gave him a short wave as he backed out of the driveway and continued down the road to his own house, which was located on my property about a mile down the road. I let out my breath and walked back over to where Moira was sitting in the ambulance.
