37. Ozzie
CHAPTER 37
Ozzie
“ W hat the fuck was that?” My head came up at the crack of a rifle outside.
Ellis froze, still on the phone.
I scrambled to my feet, knowing Claire was out there. “Take over.”
“Hell no. He’s already dead.” Ellis hung up.
Most likely. My aim had been true. Picking up my gun, I ran around the counter and into the living room to the busted-out front window.
Cautiously, I peered out.
The driveway and front yard were empty, but movement and raised voices under the tall pine in the side yard caught my eye.
“There.” Ellis nodded in the same direction.
“Yeah.”
Sirens blared and bright red and blue lights lit up the street as Riggs’s truck came roaring around the corner.
No more shots rang out, and whatever it was going on under that tree, it wasn’t focused on the house or the street.
“Come on.” Head on a swivel, I stepped through the window.
Turning right, I jogged through the yard and around my truck.
Riggs rocked to a stop at the end of the driveway and got out. His flashing lights lit up the area, and in the strobing glow, I saw three figures in the snow flailing about.
“Dammit, they were supposed to stay in the truck.” Ellis started forward.
I couldn’t make out who was who in the wild lighting or from this distance, but I could tell it was at least two women by the sound of their voices and their slighter figures. One voice rose above them all with a cry of pain.
My heart stuttered, praying it wasn’t Claire.
Speeding up, Ellis and I reached them in seconds. I paused for a moment, taking in the fracas.
Mina lay over a pair of black-clad legs—a woman’s legs—holding them down. Claire was sprawled over the woman’s back, holding one of her hands wrenched behind her back. Blood dotted the snow on the woman’s other side and three guns—a pistol and two rifles—were scattered on the ground just out of everyone’s reach.
“Claire! Mina!” I dropped to my knees beside Claire and took hold of the woman’s arm.
“No!” The woman shrieked and bucked.
Ellis stooped beside Mina to help her.
The woman turned her head, her brown eyes spitting the fires of hell at me.
Grace Alonso.
She shrieked again and tried to pull her hand away.
I clenched my teeth. Once again, I didn’t have any handcuffs on me.
“Quartermaine!” Riggs jogged over, kicking up snow.
“Do you have cuffs?”
Metal clacked together as he pulled them from his belt. Coming around Grace’s other side, he reached under Claire, who moved back to give him access.
The bracelet clicked as he locked it around Grace’s wrist.
“Be careful with her other hand. It has a hole in it.” Claire sat back on her haunches and swiped the hair out of her eyes.
Riggs picked up Grace’s arm, bending it back, and the woman howled again with pain. He locked the cuff around her wrist, which was coated in blood.
“What happened?” I looked up from the sight with a frown.
“She had a gun.” Claire brushed some snow off her top. “I shot it out of her hand.”
“You—” The words wouldn’t come out. She’d shot a handgun out of someone’s hand? “Why didn’t you aim for center-mass? Was she trying to shoot you?”
“Yes. But I didn’t want that on my conscience.” Her mouth twisted, then her expression hardened. “Besides, I want her to pay for what she did. Death is too easy.”
“What she did?” A sinking feeling filled my stomach.
Claire nodded. “Grace killed Marie. Her brother just covered it all up. She set fire to my office too.”
“You can’t prove any of it!” Grace wiggled beneath me but halted with a moan. “I didn’t say shit on the record.”
“Maybe not,” Riggs said, locking her handcuffs so they wouldn’t tighten anymore on her. “But after all this, I can get a bunch of warrants for all kinds of things.” He rolled up onto the balls of his feet and hooked a hand under her arm.
Ellis and Mina got up, and I grabbed Grace’s other arm, helping Riggs get the woman to her feet.
An ambulance turned the corner, killing its siren as it approached.
Riggs glanced at me. “Where’s Turner?”
“Inside.” My gaze flicked to Grace. She didn’t know I’d killed her brother.
She turned her head to look at me, still glaring daggers, but she must have seen something in my eyes. The fire leached from her expression and a hollowness appeared in her cheeks as horror took hold. “No,” she whispered. A glare formed, bringing her brows down to a point. “No!” she screamed and jerked against Riggs’s hold.
“I’m sorry, Grace.” I wouldn’t fill her ears with a line like, “I had no choice.” I didn’t, but she wouldn’t care. Someone she loved was dead. It didn’t matter that he attacked me. To her, it was my fault, and it would always be my fault.
“No!” She screamed again. “You bastard!” Riggs firmed his grip and started her toward the ambulance. “Oh, you better hope they lock me away for the rest of my life. I will murder you in your sleep if I ever get out.”
Stumbling over her feet and still struggling with the chief, she continued to shout threats and call me names as he hauled her away.
Sorrow twinged in my chest. For her and for Gabe. It didn’t need to end this way. No one needed to die. They’d made a choice and so had I.
Mine had been to live.
“Oh! Ozzie!” Claire fell into me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
I buried my face in her hair, breathing in her sweet scent. It felt so good to have her in my arms. “You okay, honey?”
She nodded against me. “I’m fine. Everything is okay now.” Leaning back, she framed my face in her hands, searching my gaze. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
“Same, sweetheart.” I palmed the back of her head and gave her a quick, fierce kiss. Just enough to make my brain believe she—this—was real, and I wasn’t lying on my kitchen floor, dreaming about her as I bled out.
“Oz. Man.” Ellis’s hand landed on my back.
I let Claire go and turned to hug my brother. Tears pressed at the backs of my eyes, and I hugged him harder. “Thank you.” When I decided to come to Alaska, forging a stronger relationship with Ellis was the driving factor. We were each other’s only living relative. To think I could have lost him or he could have lost me was as unfathomable and as painful as the idea of losing Claire.
“Can we not do that ever again?” Ellis eased back and gripped my shoulder.
Huffing a quick laugh, I agreed. “Never.”