Chapter 55
Fifty-Five
D ear God, please let them be okay.
Asher repeated the prayer over and over in his head as Stroud turned onto Esther’s street. They’d heard the all clear come over the radio, but little else.
Sirens still screamed through the cloudy afternoon skies from the patrol units parked haphazardly out front. Their light bounced off the front of the house. No one was outside. What did that mean?
Stroud came to a bone-jarring halt behind one of the cruisers. Asher was out of the car before the detective could tell him to wait. The front door was open, but he couldn’t see inside.
“Esther!” He ran through the grass. Stroud called out behind him, but Asher ignored him. Bursting through the door, he paused, taking in the scene.
Conversation ceased at his appearance. Faye and Edie stood to his right, speaking with an officer. To his left, Lennox lay on the ground, a colorful scrap of fabric wrapped around his wrists, which one officer was attempting to remove and put handcuffs in its place. Brooke stood to Lennox’s left, watching. Audra stood on the other side, speaking to a third officer.
Behind her, he saw the only thing that mattered, however. Esther sat at the table beside Annabeth.
Oh, thank God. The relief made his legs weak, but they were strong enough to carry him around Audra and the officer.
“Horn, I told you to… wait.” Stroud stepped inside and took in the scene. “What the hell happened?”
Asher dropped to his knees in front of Esther, still ignoring the detective, and wrapped her in his arms. He breathed in her sweet scent, then lifted his head, gently cradling one side of her face. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I’ll probably be sorer later from being manhandled, but I’m okay.”
“Manhandled?” Asher glanced over his shoulder to glare at Lennox. “What happened?”
“I’d like to know that too,” Stroud said.
“The Lady Brigade happened,” Faye said, grinning.
Edie chuckled. “Lady Brigade?”
“Badass Lady Brigade,” Brooke said. She looked at Asher. “You guys aren’t the only ones who get a cool nickname.” She turned to Audra. “I think we did pretty good, don’t you? Maybe I should make us some business cards and give Ford’s little side business a run for its money.”
Audra laughed. “No, I think we can leave the chaos to them. I’m quite looking forward to just running security for your hotel.”
“None of that tells me what happened.” Stroud raised a hand, the glower on his face telegraphing his exasperation clearly.
Brooke rolled her eyes. “Fine. We got back from the store and noticed the house was dark. With the clouds, we had a few lights on in the house, but they weren’t on when we got back.” She pointed up. “It’s still cloudy, so why no lights? Anyway, Audra made us get out all quiet-like, and we snuck up to the house and peeked in the window. That’s when we saw him holding a gun on Edie, Esther, and Faye.” She pointed at Lennox, who now sported some shiny handcuffs instead of the colorful fabric.
Brooke noticed and pointed to the scarf on the floor beside the officer kneeling next to his prisoner. “Oh, that’s mine.”
He picked it up and held it out to her. Asher now recognized it as the scarf she’d had on earlier.
“That was some crazy knot.” The officer gave a little headshake. “Took me a minute to undo it.”
“Thanks. I figured if it’ll hold a shark, it’ll hold a human.”
The man frowned. “What?”
Asher’s lips twitched.
Brooke waved a hand. “Nothing.” She looked at Stroud. “Once we realized what was happening, we went around back, where we saw the busted windowpane in the back door, which was open.”
“At that point, I suggested we attempt to flank them,” Audra said. “So Brooke went in through the garage, while Annabeth and I crept in through the open back door.”
“Which is when I saw them,” Edie said. “When we walked out to the living room, I happened to glance over and saw Audra’s face at the edge of the hallway. When I realized they’d returned and knew what was going on, I faked a stumble and told Mom to cause a distraction.”
Faye scoffed. “That wasn’t hard. I was already angry he was holding Esther hostage. And he tried to shoot Edie when she came in from checking the breaker box.”
“From the power outage?” Asher asked.
“You knew about that?” Esther frowned.
“The alarm sends out what amounts to a Hail Mary when the power’s cut. I got a message that the system was offline. Your text came in a few minutes later.”
“What happened after you created the distraction, Mrs. Campbell?” Stroud sighed, shaking his head.
“They… descended on him. From all sides.” She motioned to the others.
“I broke a potted plant over his head, then grabbed his gun hand,” Audra said. “Edie pulled Esther away as Brooke came in through the garage door.”
“She brought me a knife, and I jumped on him,” Edie said.
“Is that where the blood came from?” Stroud asked.
“Yes. He didn’t want to put his gun down, so I showed him I meant business.”
“Crazy bitch, is what she is,” Lennox muttered from the floor.
“Stockton, get him out of here.” Stroud swept an arm toward the door.
“Yes, sir.” The officer stood and rolled Lennox onto his side. “Come on.”
“Make sure you have medical check his neck.”
Stockton nodded once as he hauled Lennox to his feet, then helped him out the door.
“I’m sorry about your rug, Esther.” Edie’s nose wrinkled as she looked at the floor where Lennox had lain. “I really didn’t want to mess it up.”
“It’s fine, Edie. We can probably get it out. Or I’ll get a new rug.” She looked at Asher. “It might be time for a change. Who knows?”
A slow smile spread over Asher’s face. “It might be, yeah. A big one.” At her happy smile, he stretched his neck to press a gentle kiss to her lips.