“Hi, Cap.”
“Chief, I just picked up Emma. It’s a long story, but we are on our way to the station. Jonathan’s truck is in a building a couple of miles north of the park. I can map it when we get to City Hall. There are drugs in it.”
“We’ll dispatch someone from the Sheriff’s Department, so they are near there when you pinpoint it.”
“Should we go back?”
“No. Your safety comes first. It won’t take long to get a deputy there.”
Cap glanced at her with an arched brow.
“How did Jonathan make it to shore? It looked like he could hardly swim. And with all the people searching, how did we not see him?”
“I don’t know. Everything happened so fast, I didn’t ask that. I think I was so shocked he was still alive and that he took me at gunpoint to help make an exchange. He said if I didn’t help, they would come after me and…kill Carly, and in the end, it was Jonathan who did.”
Emma couldn’t control the tears flowing from her eyes at the thought that Carly was dead and Jonathan caused her death. It may have been an accident that he shot her, but he was responsible for all of this. She in turn, enabled all of it to happen by allowing him into her life.
Cap’s head snapped in her direction.
“Jonathan killed Carly?”
“Yes. I think it was an accident.”
“How so?”
“By the time we got to the park, they were already there. Jonathan showed them the duffel bag of drugs, then all of a sudden someone shot at us.”
Her voice shook, and her body quivered as she relived that horrible episode.
Cap reached over and took her hand again.
“Even though Jonathan had drugs for them, they shot at him…us.”
“It’s okay, Emma. You’re safe now.”
She cleared her throat.
“Jonathan tossed the bag back onto the seat and then returned fire. Carly collapsed. Bullets flew back and forth. Jonathan got hit, and two of the Colombians went down. It was horrible. Just horrible.”
Sobs choked off her words.
Cap’s grip tightened.
“You’re doing great, sweetheart.”
“At some point, I just hit the accelerator as hard as I could…I think I…”
She swiped at her watery eyes.
“You think what?”
“I ran somebody over.”
Full-blown sobs ensued.
The next thing she knew, she was on Cap’s lap. He held her close, rocking her while he assured her that everything would be okay. He repeated the endearment over and over until she stopped sobbing.
By the time she finally lifted her head from the crook of his neck, she was sure she couldn’t produce any more tears. How had she come to be on his lap? When had he pulled the truck over to the side of the road?
