“I should have trusted my gut.”
“This isn’t your fault,” she said. “You tried to get me to come with you. This is all on me.”
“It isn’t. You didn’t ask for this. David Lee is a twisted soul. He’s convinced himself that some killings are justified while others aren’t. He’ll come into your bedroom—”
Luke had to stop for a second as the image Faith’s words had painted settled into his mind. How much had she been through tonight? How much would she go through in the days ahead? Would she ever feel safe, anywhere, ever again?
He cleared his throat. “He’ll come into your bedroom and make all sorts of threats, but he won’t kill you because somehow in his twisted mind that would be wrong. But it isn’t wrong to leave a bomb in your driveway designed to kill the occupants of the first car to pull in. That’s sick—and not your fault.”
“I shouldn’t have called for help. He knew I would. He planned it.”
“You did the right thing. It was brilliant. I didn’t even know you could get a silent call out to 911 by pressing your power button over and over again.”
“But—”
He pressed one finger to her lips, oh so gently. “I promise I will listen to you vent and worry and fret as much as you need in the days and weeks ahead, but I am never going to agree that you should have sat there and done nothing.”
He twisted his hand to hold her face. “David Lee is evil. He’s formidable. He’s not opposed to going after innocents to get what he wants. And we didn’t know anything much about him until when? Yesterday? Or the day before?” He couldn’t remember. “Thepoint is, he’s been planning his attacks and schemes for weeks, maybe months. He’s ahead of us, but now we know he’s out there, and we know what he’s capable of. We’ll get him.”
FAITH RESTED HER HEADin Luke’s hand. She wanted to believe him. Needed to believe him.
But she couldn’t believe him. Not yet.
There was a soft tap at the door. Luke took his hand away from her face and put it on the weapon in the holster across his chest.
“Agent Malone?”
She knew the voice. “That’s the paramedic,” she whispered to Luke, ashamed that she didn’t know his name.
“Enter.” Luke spoke with authority, his left hand still holding hers, his right hand still on his weapon.
“My apologies, Agent Malone.” The paramedic gave her a sly grin. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Am I free to leave?”
He climbed in on the other side of the gurney, his eyes on Luke. “You seem to be in good hands, so I’ll say yes. Don’t hesitate to call your doctor if that headache won’t ease up.”
“Okay.”
Luke climbed from the ambulance first, then offered his hand to her as she climbed down. When she was on the ground, he squeezed her hand. He gave her a little smirk when she held on a few seconds longer than necessary. He stayed by her side the rest of the night. Morning. Whatever it was. She didn’t know anymore.
She answered questions and drank a Cherry Coke she suspected Luke had been responsible for procuring.
As the black sky began its slow fade into morning, she stood against a police car and watched Luke pace and talk and run his fingers through his hair as he followed up on the protective measures that were already being put into place for her family, and she tried to memorize his features while attempting not to imagine what her life would be like without him.
David Lee wouldn’t disappear. Hope would be in danger. Her family would be in danger.
A cold realization filled her. David Lee had known that those officers’ deaths would crush her—and that as she came to understand how devastating it was to be the cause of another’s death, she would do anything to protect Hope, her mom, even her dad, Gail, and the boys.
Luke was right. David Lee was evil and brilliant. A formidable opponent she hadn’t realized she had.
But she knew now.
34
IT WAS OFFICIAL.Faith hated Mondays.
She’d done what she had to do. She’d stood on the platform as Dale told the world about David Lee and asked people to turn him in.
