He had his own gun up and was already standing at Darius’s side, yelling out commands.
It confused Eve at first.
Maybe their attacker was still trying to fight? But then, why wasn’t Darius moving from his spot?
Beneath her hands she could still feel the man’s tension.
When it lessened, it was her sign to finally get back to reality.
Eve stepped to the side, between the two men, to size up the situation, but Darius was faster. She saw only a sliver of theattacker on the floor, blood already on the hardwood, before his hand covered her eyes.
“Don’t look,” he said, voice low.
Normally, she would have bucked at the command, but another voice cut her off.
“H-he’s dead, isn’t he?” It was a man’s small voice, breaking slightly and coming from the hallway. A voice that shouldn’t have been there at all.
“Mitchell?”
Mitchell made a small noise of confirmation.
“He is,” Darius answered. “Theo, keep your gun on her. Mitchell, give me yours. Evelyn, turn around.”
Using her full first name did the trick. Eve turned and lost the warmth of Darius’s hand. The kitchen window on the far side of the room showed nothing but darkness as the rest of the people shifted around.
Darius secured Mitchell’s gun, Theo secured the woman, and Mitchell appeared at Eve’s side as they started making calls.
Eve would have paid more attention to it all had she not focused so completely on Mitchell when he came into view.
His face was black and blue, there was dry blood at his hairline, and there was broken and bloodied duct tape at his wrist.
“What happened?” Eve asked, hands flitting up. She didn’t touch him when he flinched.
His voice was loud enough to carry to the room around them. His gaze went over Eve’s shoulder. He was incredibly pale.
“She grabbed me outside when I was leaving earlier. She said I needed to come back a-and kill Detective Williams and—” Mitchell’s voice broke. He took a breath. He was more quiet than before when he continued. “And you. She said that I needed to kill you.”
Darius swore behind Eve.
The woman remained quiet on the floor.
Whatever fight she had had in her earlier was gone.
Mitchell shook his head.
“She said I had to be the one to do it—only me—but I said no. Never.” His voice hardened. “I tried to fight her, to stop her, but that man showed up, and I guess he got me good. I woke up on the floor alone. I rushed over after and found a gun on the floor in there. I-I used it.”
“My gun,” Theo explained, voice as solid as Darius’s had been. “I heard them breaking in and didn’t have time to do anything other than defend. She got the upper hand and disarmed me. I barely had time to react.” Regret laced his tone.
Darius picked up on it.
“You made enough noise to alert me,” he assured him. “You gave me the time to come out and Eve enough time to escape.”
Mitchell returned his gaze to Eve. His eyebrow arched.
Eve could feel Darius’s unasked question hanging in the air around them.
Sirens started up in the distance. They mingled in with her sigh.
