“So?” Phoenix countered. “He wasn’t in uniform or on duty.”
“Whew! That’s going to be a bitch to clean up,” Ranger said as he suddenly materialized. I should have known he’d come with the crew. His face softened when he saw Avery. “How’re you doing, sweetheart?” he asked and held out a bandana for her.
She took it and started carefully wiping the edges of her face. “I’m not sure,” she said shakily.
“You’re going to have one hell of a shiner there. Look here at the camera but don’t smile,” he instructed.
Avery turned to Ranger with a blank stare on her face. “Why?” she asked.
“Evidence,” Ranger said right as the police arrived.
“Nobody move, and put your hands in the air!”
“Do they not realize we have to move to put our hands in the air?” Carbon grumbled.
“Relax, rookie,” Phoenix called out. “Where’s Chuck?”
“Fucking hell, Phoenix,” an older man said and stepped forward. “What happened?”
“Can you call off the guns?” Phoenix asked, though it wasn’t a question.
“Shit, sorry. Holster your weapons,” he said to his officers.
Phoenix motioned for me to step forward. “This is one of my members, Kellan Ward. He can tell you what happened. Kellan, Chuck is the Sheriff of Croftridge County.”
I cleared my throat and told the Sheriff exactly what happened. Well, almost exactly. I left out the part where Mark said he was a police officer, but I made sure to tell them he was the driver of the other vehicle involved in my wreck and that he clearly said he was going to kill Avery.
The Sheriff listened attentively. When I finished, he looked to Phoenix and asked, “How’d you get here before us?”
“Avery called me screaming and crying. Had my guy ping the phone for the location. He called it in while we headed out to see what was going on,” Phoenix explained.
“Anybody been inside?”
“Just Avery and Kellan, and I don’t think they’ve been back in since they came out,” Phoenix answered and I nodded in agreement.
“Sheriff,” the rookie called from the back door. “We need you to come inside.”
“Excuse me,” the Sheriff said and followed the officer inside.
“I guess they’ve identified the body,” Ranger observed.
“Avery,” Shaker said. “Let me help you over to the ambulance so they can take a look at your cheek.”
She turned her worried eyes to me. “Everything’s okay, baby. Go with Shaker and at least let them give you an ice pack.”
She reluctantly got up and walked with Shaker over to the ambulance parked on the street. I kept my eyes on her until she disappeared into the back of the ambulance.
The Sheriff pushed through the back door and came right over to where we were standing. “Do you know the man you shot?” he asked abruptly.
“No, I’ve never seen him before today,” I answered honestly.
“He’s a State Trooper,” the Sheriff said. “I’m going to need you to come down to the station.”
“That’s fine,” Phoenix said. “We’ll meet you and his lawyer there.”
“He’s not under arrest,” Chuck explained. “But I know who he is, and we need to keep this under wraps until we know what really happened.”
Avery suddenly appeared right in front of Chuck. “I’ll tell you what really happened. That man had an unhealthy obsession with me that started way before Kellan entered the picture. He used his position as a police officer to stalk me and interfere with my personal life. He meddled in my marriage, my family relationships, and when he still didn’t get the results he wanted, he tried to kill Kellan and my children by causing the truck they were in to go off a bridge. Yes, Kellan is the man who fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into Ian’s cruiser, but that has absolutely nothing to do with this situation. Having said that, Mark could’ve had something to do with the hit-and-run involving my mother. So, if by ‘keep this under wraps,’ you mean protecting a bad cop simply because he wore a badge, then, I’m sorry, but we won’t be cooperating with that,” Avery stated vehemently.
