Cal would save them.He’d know how and—
Without thinking the impulse through, she turned to move toward him.She was jerked back by her shirt.She fought it off, but the surprise of it put her at an imbalanced disadvantage.Particularly when a surprisingly strong arm came around her neck, jerking her backward and into the man.
He might look old, but he clearly took care of himself.She couldn’t struggle out of his grasp, and she immediately stopped struggling when she felt cool metal press to her temple.
She froze, because out of the corner of her eye she could see it was a gun.
Her mind went completely blank.
*
Cal stopped ona dime.
He could take Everly, no doubt, in any kind of one-on-one physical fight, but the gun complicated things.Because he’d have to get to Mr.Everly before the man pulled the trigger.
Cal couldn’t take that chance with it pressed up against Jill’s temple.
He was still completely lost on how this all centered back around Mr.Everly, but he knew well enough in a dangerous situation a person couldn’t always take the time to parse out the whys.
Not until guns pointed at heads were out of the picture.
He couldn’t bring himself to meet Jill’s wide, terrified gaze.It twisted in him like too many terrors to count, and he had to be calm.In control.
He could defuse this.He’d spent his adult life adding fuel to a million fires, and in this moment, he fully understood himself and why.
Because he’d spent a childhood defusing situations as fraught as this one.Mom had still died.So why bother?
But Jill would not be a victim in this.Glenda wouldn’t be either.He could do this, just like he once had so expertly as a boy.
Besides, Sam was waiting outside.He’d only come up to the cabin thinking he might get through to Glenda on his own, and Sam could watch or whatever for whatever everyone was so concerned about.
Turned out, they’d been right to be concerned.
Once Sam figured out what was going on, though, she’d go for help.She wouldn’t be content to wait back like they’d agreed for long.She’d come soon or go get help.
Everything would be fine.
Even knowing that face-offs like this didn’t usually endfine, Cal believed it would.Had to.
Part of defusing violent situations was believing you could.
Because he really didn’t want to get shot again.Or worse, so much worse, witness whatever happened if Mr.Everly pulled that trigger right now.
“What are you doing here?”Mr.Everly demanded, eyes narrowed.
Cal kept his hands up in a kind of surrender gesture as he took another step deeper into the cabin.“Weirdly, when your nephew called you an asshole and said he wasn’t an artist, we figured we’d turn around and come home.”
Mr.Everly sneered.“Good for nothing.Turned my sister against me is all he ever did.So high and mighty.I bet he loved having a detective interrogate him.”
Cal shrugged, taking another step forward.He wished he could make any sense of this, but nothing was clearer, even knowing Mr.Everly was somehow behind… whatever this was.
A threat to him that connected to Glenda.Because it was clear.Mr.Everly wasn’tprotectinganyone.He was the source.
“You.You drew those pictures.”Cal was utterly and completely baffled.“You’re the one threatening me.Why?”
“You know why.”
Cal didn’t.God, he really didn’t, but he glanced at Glenda then and saw a truth in her eyes he didn’t want to see.
