Jared stilled. Something crashed in the living room. “Release her or…” He let the body on the floor finish his sentence.
The man held her tighter, blood spurting from his leg. His gun settled against her ribcage. “We’re backing out of here. Now.”
Her mouth dropped open and closed, her gun pointed down. She was definitely in shock. Yet her eyes focused, and her body straightened against the masked man holding her.
The guy was about six feet tall, and the knit mask covered him from the top of his head to his chin. Only his eyes, a deep blue, could be seen. “Move,” he muttered.
Jared looked at the gun, at Veronica’s wide eyes, at the bullet hole. He forced a grin. “You shot him?”
She rubbed soot off her chin. “He was aiming at you.”
Ah. What a sweetheart. “Nice shot. He’s gonna bleed out in no time.” Well, maybe. The blood seemed to be ebbing a little. Maybe she hadn’t hit a major artery.
The guy started pulling her toward the destroyed kitchen door.
“Let her go and I won’t kill you,” Jared said calmly, his peripheral vision catching Chalton staggering in from the other room to drop an unconscious man to the floor. It took a second, but he recognized the guy as the medical examiner from pictures he’d studied earlier that day. So Mabel had been correct. “Any more in there?” he asked his brother.
“One dead,” Chalton breathed out, rolling his shoulders. “Kept this one alive.”
“Good. He can answer questions.” Jared kept his gaze on the man holding his woman and forced his fangs to retract. It wouldn’t do to scare her any more than he already had. “Let Veronica go,” he ordered again.
The man holding her didn’t answer and instead kept dragging Veronica toward the door.
Jared leaped faster than a human could track, grabbed the gun, and yanked the barrel away from his woman. He spun her away and toward Chalton to catch.
Then he grabbed the man by the throat.
“Stop,” Detective Lance said, staggering up the stairs. “Don’t kill him.”
Damn it.
“Please, Jared,” Veronica whispered.
Ah, shit. Fine. He knocked the guy to the ground and ripped off the mask.
Lance gasped. “Lieutenant?”
Jared glanced at the man he’d only met once at the party. The retiring Lieutenant Smalt? Now this was interesting.
Chapter 14
Ronni huddled in a blanket on the ruined sofa, sipping a cup of coffee Jared had forced into her hands. Olivia sat next to her, doing the same thing. Chalton had an arm around Olivia, his feet up on the scratched and bullet-riddled coffee table.
The entire room was a mess of bullet holes, smashed glass, and destroyed furniture.
Police detectives and crime techs milled around, taking notes and pictures. Lance supervised the process, a bandage across his forehead and around his arm. Mabel gave her statement to yet another cop over in the corner.
Jared stood near the doorway, explaining once again how he’d ripped out the throat of the hired thug. Finally, he finished and moved her way to crouch in front of her. “We’ve been released. Let’s get out of their way and go upstairs.”
Lance walked toward them. “Is everybody all right?” he asked, his eyes weary.
“Yes,” Ronni murmured. “The lieutenant? Seriously?”
Lance shook his head. “Apparently his retirement pension wasn’t enough for him. He stole the drugs from lockup along with his partner in crime, the medical examiner.”
Her stomach hurt. “So the lieutenant poisoned me. And killed Walt.”
“Walt must’ve figured it out somehow.” Lance sighed. “I’d bet the lieutenant did the actual killing. Unfortunately, he’s not stupid. He’s lawyered up.”
