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Hunter laid the gun carefully at his feet and called up to Emily. “Emily. Don’t move.”
She stared down at him, her eyes wide. “I can come down the stairs. Mr. Sanders fell through the floor, but the stairs are still there.”
“No!” Both men shouted at the same time.
They’d begun to attract a crowd. Several people milled around, pointing and offering advice.
“You’ll have to jump. Just ease out of the window, and let yourself go. I’ll catch you.”
“No, I think I can go down the stairs.” She stubbornly hung onto the widow frame. Puffs of dust billowed out from the broken windows on the first floor.
“Emily, honey, listen to me. You cannot come down those stairs. The situation is very precarious.”
“I can’t jump. It’s too high.”
“The entire building is about to break apart. It’s not safe, Emily. You have to jump. Just fall into my arms, that’s all. You know I’ll catch you.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“Emily, trust me to catch you,” Hunter pleaded, his arms outstretched.
Trust me to catch you. Trust me. Trust me.
Trust me to take care of you, Emily, I’m your father.
Trust me little one, Mummy will always be here for you.
Trust me to handle it all for you, Emily. I will soon be your husband.
Could she trust one more time? She knew in her heart that question wasn’t only for the leap of faith she had to take from this window. Now that Hunter would be exonerated from the murder charges, there was no longer anything standing in the way of them being together.
Attempting to steady her nerves, she looked out again, fighting the nausea from glancing down. Hunter stood with his hands up, motioning for her to climb out. There were so many people down there, gawking up at her and pointing. She still hadn’t recovered from the sight of Mr. Sanders flying backward, his blank eyes staring at her as he landed on the floor, the boards immediately giving way under his girth.
She’d screamed as he’d fallen, taking several seconds to process that he’d been shot in the chest by something powerful enough to whip him backward and crash through the boards. At the thunderous noise of the surface collapsing, she’d grabbed the window frame and held on, sure any minute she would fall through the space and join Mr. Sanders.
“Emily. Please, step out on the windowsill and drop. I will catch you.”
Trust. It all came down to trust. If she would trust Hunter with her life, she could surely trust him with her heart. Stiffen
ing her shoulders and taking a deep breath, she sat on the sill and swung her legs over, both hands gripping the window. Her heart beat a rapid cadence. It was such a long way down.
Something in the building shifted, and once more she grabbed ahold of the window frame.
“Emily. Jump. Now!”
If she didn’t do it now, she would probably die. Staring into Hunter’s eyes, she pushed herself away from the building and dropped. Within seconds she landed with a thump into Hunter’s arms, both of them falling backward.
“I can’t believe it. I did it!” Emily’s words were muffled as Hunter kissed her face, her eyes, her mouth, while those around them cheered.
“What the hell is going on here?” The Chief of Police strode up with Jesse right behind him.
Hunter stood and gave Emily his hand to help her up.
“What’s happening here is me presenting you with the real murderer of Mr. Louis Smith.” McNeil thumbed back the brim of his hat as he regarded the Chief. “If you can get into that building without it falling down around your ears, you will find Mr. Sanders in there, dead from a bullet wound—”he pointed at the gun lying at Hunter’s feet”—that Mr. Henderson used to keep Sanders from killing Mrs. Smith.”
The Chief fisted his hands on his hips and shifted a toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. “I think you ought to start at the beginning, Captain. All I’m hearing is Henderson here shot and killed another of Galveston’s citizens.”
The Captain slapped the Chief on the back. “What do you say we all go to the police station so we can give you our eyewitness accounts?”
