“Since you didn’t drive down,” he said, “maybe you could fly back home with me.”
Her head came up. “You flew down?”
“Drove Ryker back to Dallas early this morning. I called the funeral parlor, found out the time of the service. Flying was the only chance I had of getting here before it was over.” He looked around. Most everyone was gone. “Almost didn’t make it.”
“I’m really glad you’re here,” she said softly.
“Go home with Jason,” her friend Lani urged. “Your spirits could use a lift.” She flashed an impish grin. “Pun intended.”
Kate smiled faintly. “All right, I’d like that. I appreciate you both coming with me. It really means a lot.”
Cece leaned over and hugged her. “Like we said, it wasn’t open for discussion.”
Lani hugged her. “We’ll see you when you get home.”
Kate watched her friends walk away. She looked back, studied the new cut on Jase’s cheek. “Looks like Harding put up a fight.”
“He didn’t go down easy, that’s for sure.” Jase set a hand at her waist. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way to the airport.”
As he walked her across the grass, Jase told her about arresting Randy Harding, about wounding a man in the firefight in the apartment, about the man Jax Ryker had killed.
“It was self-defense, but the cops have to be sure. There’s hours of questioning. They have to cross everytand dot everyi.”
“That’s probably good.”
“No doubt about it. It just gets frustrating, telling the same story over and over, answering the same questions a dozen different ways.”
“What happened to Rosa?”
“There was obvious domestic abuse. Plus she agreed to testify against Harding and his buddy Yancy Pike. I spoke to her briefly, told her that her brother loved her and that he’d help her any way he could. She’ll probably be okay.”
“Pike’s the one you shot?”
“Yeah.”
Once Jase had her settled in his rental car, it didn’t take long to reach the Coffield Airport, the small, regional airstrip where his Cessna was tied down. His flight that morning had been a little rough, but typical Texas weather, the clouds were mostly gone now and the sun was shining.
He parked in the return car lot, left the keys and they walked out to the plane. Jase helped Kate into the copilot’s seat.
“This is nice,” she said, running a hand over the sky blue leather interior that matched the stripe on the side of the airplane.
“You like to fly?”
“I’m not a big fan of commercial, but then who is?”
He smiled. “You’ll like this better, I promise.” He closed the door, walked around doing his visual inspection and unchocked the wheels. Satisfied, he climbed into the cabin and started the flight check, found everything to be in order, as he had expected.
He glanced over at Kate, saw her smiling for the first time that day.
He strapped into his seat. “Sit back and enjoy the ride.” The engine fired, the propeller whirred to life and he finished the flight check. As the wheels started rolling and the Cessna taxied down the runway, he noticed the color was back in Kate’s face, her golden brown eyes sparkling.
The plane lifted into the air and she grinned. “This is great.” Her gaze went to the patchwork colors of the land spreading out below them. “I love it.”
“After a night like the one I just had, it feels good to be up here where I can breathe.”
“It really does. Thanks for bringing me.”
“My pleasure.” And it was. Her excitement had him smiling. He laughed at something she said. The events of last night slowly faded, leaving him feeling clean and whole again.
