“No buts.”
Cain considered stopping long enough to drop her beside the road. That might be the only way to keep her out of range of flying bullets. Then again, he couldn’t leave her alone either. She was the target right now.
Betsy sucked in a breath and exhaled long. “He was there.”
“What do you mean? Who? Where?”
“Before you picked me up. While I was waiting on the porch.” Her fingers trembled as she warmed them in front of the heat vent on the dashboard. “I thought I heard footsteps in the snow. By the side of the house.”
Cain clenched his jaw. “Why didn’t you tell me that when you got in the truck?”
“I thought I imagined the sound. Thought I was remembering…” She stared out the side window.
“Remembering what?”
She rotated back to face him. “Nothing. I just thought it was my imagination. Besides, why wouldn’t he have grabbed me while he had the chance?”
Because the jerk liked to play games. Taunt his prey with his power. Play God with their lives.
Cain pulled to a stop in front of her house. “Which end of the house were the sounds?”
She pointed toward the right. “By the big pine tree.”
Grabbing his gun, he jumped from the truck. “Lock the doors and stay in here.”
She nodded.
“And if you need it, there’s a gun hidden in a compartment at the back of the glove box.”
She nodded again. “Don’t worry. I won’t get out.”
Crouching, Deputy Evans, Officer Hastings and Cain started across the front yard as Kennett led other cops in through the back. Likely the thugs had already come and gone. Cain angled toward the pine at the corner of the house and glanced beneath the boughs.
Footprints in the fallen snow. The jerk had scared her. Then let her go. Why?
Because no one knew for sure who he was, what he looked like. At least, not yet. Basically, all the drug runner wanted was his money, his drugs and his hidden identify. That way he could hide in plain view and never be caught. Could be anybody, on any street, in any town.
Cain knew she didn’t have whatever the man was looking for. But the guy wouldn’t give up. The biggest problem was that she didn’t have his money or his goods. In fact, she had nothing to save herself. Cain had nothing to save her either. Nothing except himself and his gun.
What could have possibly made him think leaving the DEA would mean a nice, peaceful life. He still hadn’t officially resigned, but he had options at least. Good news, he’d bought a swing for the front porch. Bad news, he just wasn’t built to sit on a porch. He chambered a bullet as he started into Betsy’s house.
Maybe he should consider this as the first day of his new private security firm. Should be interesting—if he didn’t end up dead.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Close to twenty minutes later, Betsy ached to get out of Cain’s truck. To race across her front yard. To see for herself why every cop who walked out the front door didn’t have the nerve to look in her direction. But she wouldn’t. She’d keep her word to stay put.
Rummaging in her pocket, she realized she hadn’t bothered to check her phone messages after setting it to vibrate back at the car lot. She scrolled down her list of missed phone calls—Sheriff Davis, JB, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Sadie, Marcy, Marcy, Sadie, Marcy. Her family didn’t know the meaning of “give up.” Never had. Never would. Betsy clicked the volume back to ring just as Marcy called again.
“You know you are being one persistent pain,” Marcy said. “And don’t try to tell me nothing’s wrong. JB got a call from Deputy Evans earlier. Went straight into the bathroom, locked the door and turned on the shower to keep me from hearing. I hate it when he does that. Hate it.”
Betsy knew there was no need to expect anything less from her sister. Heck, if the situation were reversed, she’d be just as determined to get through, too.
“Well, if you ask me, your husband always takes everything way too serious.” Betsy wouldn’t tell her that for once he had a right to be worried. And for once she wished he were in town instead of in St. Louis, waiting to take her sisters and mama to the airport to catch a plane for New York. “Are you all at the airport yet?”
“Don’t you pull that with me, sister of mine. You are not going to change the subject.” Marcy paused. Blew out a sigh. “Betsy, JB took off back to Crayton well over two hours ago. Told us to get a shuttle to the airport. Now why did the deputy call?”
If JB hadn’t wanted to ruin the women’s trip, then far be it from her to say anything that might make them grab a rental car and head straight back home. “How would I know what all goes on in the Crayton Police Department? Heck, did you know Cain Connery hired on at my business just so he could stake out the car lot to catch a drug runner?”
