Chapter 16 #3
She had a feeling she wasn’t supposed to say any of this to him, but she was working off the cuff.
Throwing whatever thoughts she had out into the world, hoping that it might focus his attention on her.
“They’re the ones who told the Rangers that it was you.”
She felt her whole face go hot and then cold a moment later.
Her words were mostly the truth.
Mostly.
They hadn’t laid the blame completely on Tony, but they hadn’t exactly given them another name to investigate, either.
She might literally be shooting herself in the foot by saying these words, but her only thought at the moment was keeping his attention focused on her.
“They told them what?”
The rise in his voice was more than just volume, the pitch was higher, too. Almost breaking at the end.
“The Rangers talked to your cousins. They told them that you were the one closest to Aracely.”
Tony’s arm jerked at the mention of her name.
Maybe it had before, but she hadn’t been staring at his arm then.
The gun pointed almost at her face made it hard for her to think about anything else.
“They told the Rangers that I killed her?”
She lifted her chin, trying to angle her face so she could see his expression. “Yeah.” Her throat hurt like someone had taken sandpaper to it. She’d never been a good liar because of the way her body reacted to the pressure of saying the fib.
But for this?
She’d do it over and over if that’s what it took.
“They said you were the one.”
Her voice started to ache, but so did her heart.
She was purposefully drawing his ire onto her.
Making herself a target.
The back door squeaked open and that turned Tony’s head in that direction.
The moment he started to lift his gun in that direction, she lunged at him, and the gun went off.
* * *
DUVAL
When the call from dispatch came in, the whole team was in their Bearcat tactical vehicle on their way to serve a warrant.
“Major West? Major West, this is dispatch.”
West reached over for the radio handset and called back. “This is West.”
“We have a call from your wife at the HomeCenter off of the 10. The man you’ve been searching for? Tony Coolidge? He’s got an undetermined number of people hostage in the Garden Center part of the store.”
“Tracy’s there?”
“Yes, sir. Your wife and daughter. Duval’s mother and sister and-”
“Noelle.”
Duval’s heart stopped right then. Seized in his chest.
When he’d heard the dispatcher list the people involved, it only took a moment for him to remember that the ladies were headed out to the garden center to pick out plants for West’s garden.
He reached for his cell phone and pulled it out as it was vibrating with an incoming message.
He prayed, honest-to-God prayed, that he’d read an all clear message on the screen.
MOM: We’re at the store. Tracy’s calling dispatch. We’re all out
He pulled in a breath, ready to tell the team that everyone was okay, then he saw the three little dots on the screen.
As he stared at them, he didn’t know what to expect.
MOM: except for Noelle
He squeezed his phone so hard he waited for the sound of it cracking to reach his ears.
Jack pulled the phone out of his hand and read the message in a moment.
She reached out and tapped West’s shoulder. “Noelle’s inside.”
Fox swore under his breath. “Do you think she recognized him?”
“Of course she did,” Jack muttered back. “She’s got a good eye. But how did Tony know-”
“Fucking Douglas,” Oxy slammed his fist against the wall. “When I see him, I’m going to-”
The Bearcat lurched from one lane to the next, the siren suddenly blaring outside.
Duval took cold comfort at the realization that the lights were on as well. If the people on the road did what they were supposed to, they’d have the way cleared for a U turn and head back the way they came. That was the quickest way to the store.
West’s phone rang and he handed it off over his shoulder.
Duval looked down at his phone that Jack dropped back into his lap as she took West’s phone from his hand.
Duval called his mother back, hating the wait for her to pick up while Jack spoke to Tracy to gleen more information.
“McCrae, thank god you’re there.”
“Mom, what can you tell me?”
He heard his mother sob and closed his eyes.
“She gave us time to get out, McCrae. She gave us time-”
“Noelle?” He asked the question, but he knew the answer before she gave it.
“Something happened while we were across the room from her.” He heard a sharp inhale of breath. “A man... with a gun... Tracy heard a name-”
“Tony Coolidge.”
“Yes! That’s the name.”
“We’re on our way, Mom.”
“Hurry, McCrae... please. She’s still inside and no one will tell us what’s going on.”
Duval couldn’t think of what to say to soothe his mother.
He had no words for himself, either.
Beside him, Dally shifted to look at him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Hold yourself together, man. We’ll make sure she gets out of this okay.”
Duval looked at him, his face a mask of stone.
He wanted to believe Dally, he wanted to believe that she’d be okay, but they were miles away from the store she was in.
Would they get there in time?