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Good, Lucas thought; the parish police would follow him until he stopped in front of Felina’s flower shop.They’d be his backup to neutralize Felina’s intruder.
Mashing the accelerator all the way to the floor, Lucas raced down Main Street and skidded to a stop in front of Felina’s building.Slamming the shift into park, he flew out of the driver’s seat and ran up the stairs on the side of the building.
At the top, he eased around the doorframe, gun drawn, safety off.He stepped over the broken pieces of the door frame, reached inside and flipped on the light switch.When no one shot at him, he ducked low and slipped through the door into Felina’s apartment.
Nothing moved.No one lunged for him or pointed a gun at Lucas as he made his way to the bathroom door.Drawers had been pulled out of the small dresser, clothes still on their hangers had been yanked from her closet and lay strewn across the floor.He nudged the bathroom door wider.The room was empty.
Lucas’s pulse pounded.He didn’t dare yell in case the intruder was still in the building.The door to the shop was closed.
As he reached for the knob, it turned.
He grabbed the knob and yanked it toward him.A glass vase appeared from around the doorframe and flew through the air.
Lucas ducked just in time.The vase crashed to the floor behind him.
Another vase sailed through the air.
“Felina!”he called out.
“Lucas?”Felina’s head peered around the doorframe.“Oh, sweet Jesus.”In a flurry of movement, she flung herself at him, another vase clutched in her hand.“I thought you were him.”
“Yeah, it’s me.I’ve got you.He’s gone,” he soothed, careful to point the gun in his hand away from her while he removed the vase from her fingers and laid it on the little kitchen table.Then, he held her close with his free hand.
“He was making so much noise in the apartment.I thought it was only a matter of time before he entered the shop.I had to do something, so I grabbed some vases.It was all I had.”Her face pressed against his naked chest, and her arms wrapped around his waist, clutching him like a life preserver in a stormy sea.
“You did good,” he said.
Footsteps pounded up the outside staircase.
A man in a sheriff’s deputy uniform appeared in the doorway, his gun held out in front of him.“Put your hands up and step away from the woman.”
“It’s okay,” Lucas said, following the deputy’s commands, raising his hands above his head.
“Drop the gun!”the deputy yelled.“Drop the gun, or I’ll shoot.”
“I’ll lay it on the floor.”Lucas eased to the floor and laid down his weapon.Then he raised his empty hands.
“Step away from the woman,” the deputy said.
“I have no intention of hurting her,” Lucas said.
The deputy snorted.“Yeah, well, let the lady speak for herself.”
Felina stepped around Lucas.“It’s okay, Deputy Sarley.Lucas is my boyfriend.He came because I had an intruder.Did you see anyone running away from my building or a car driving away?”
“No, ma’am,” Deputy Sarley said.“Just this guy speeding through town and stopping outside your place.You sure he isn’t threatening you?”
Felina smiled and slipped her arm around Lucas’s waist.“I’m positive.But you’ll want to dust for prints.Whoever broke into my apartment trashed the place and, in the process, touched a lot of stuff.He might have left his prints on something.”
“Is it all right for me to lower my arms?”Lucas asked, refusing to lower his arms without permission in case the deputy got trigger-happy.
“Yes, sir.”Deputy Sarley holstered his handgun.
As Lucas lowered his arms, Felina stepped away, crossing her arms over her breasts.
Lucas missed her arm around his waist and her body, dressed in that thin little nightgown, pressed against his.Damn, she had some fine legs.
Using his handheld radio, the deputy reported the break-in and the address.“They’ll get our latent prints expert on it as soon as possible.It might be the morning before she can get here.I’ll do some random drive-bys to keep an eye on the place until my shift ends and have whoever comes on duty next do the same.Do you have somewhere you can stay in the meantime?”
