Formidable.
That was the first word that popped into Livvy’s head. Then, a whispered thought followed.Familiar.
But he wasn’t. Not really. She didn’t know him. At least she didn’t remember knowing him.
“They’re here about Zadie?” he asked, looking at Chloe. His voice was formidable, too.
Chloe nodded, and she seemed to shrink under her brother’s scrutiny. Franklin then slid a glance at Ethan and her. A stony one. “Should we have our lawyers present for this questioning?” he snapped.
“That’s up to you,” Ethan replied, returning the stony look. “Or we can have this conversation at the police station.”
Clearly, that didn’t please Franklin, and he looked ready to return verbal fire. But the sound stopped him.
A bloodcurdling scream came from outside.
Chapter Four
That scream got Ethan moving fast. Livvy, too. She was right behind him when they hurried out of the house and to the side yard.
Considering there was a killer at large, Ethan kept watch around them, but he didn’t spot any threat. Only the two pregnant women whom he’d seen earlier from the window. They were now huddled together, crouching behind a bench, and one of them screamed again.
“Stop him!” the other woman shouted. She was pointing toward the backyard. “He killed Sunny.”
That got Ethan moving even faster, and he resisted the urge to order Livvy to get down, to take cover. He had to trust her on this. Livvy wouldn’t intentionally do anything to harm their baby, and if she saw a threat, then she would take measures to protect herself.
She peeled off from him, going to the pregnant women, and Ethan kept running. His gaze fired all around, and he certainly didn’t see a man, but there were plenty of places for someone to hide. However, his attention soon landed on Sunny. She was lying in a crumpled heap on the ground.
“Call an ambulance,” Ethan yelled to Livvy, and he raced toward the woman while continuing to keep watch for her attacker.
And she had indeed been attacked.
There was blood on the side and back of her head, and while she was breathing, she wasn’t conscious.
“Oh my God,” he heard Chloe blurt on a gasp.
Moments later, she and her brother came rushing toward Sunny, both of them dropping down next to the woman. Franklin practically shoved his sister aside though and began checking Sunny’s injuries.
“Ambulance and backup are on the way,” Livvy let them know.
Good. Now Ethan had to hope that Sunny’s injuries weren’t life-threatening and that she could soon tell them who’d attacked her. For now, though, he might be able to get that information from the two pregnant women, Hannah Brooks and Leah Parker.
Ethan didn’t have to tell Franklin and Chloe to stay with Sunny. Both obviously intended to do just that, and they’d do a better job tending to her than he would since they both had medical training. Still, he’d keep an eye on them.
Because one or both of them could be connected to Zadie’s murder.
While there was no evidence to indicate that at the moment, the investigation was in its early stages, and either one of them could have had means and opportunity to kill her. As for motive—well, that might come to light, too.
Ethan went to Livvy, and while continuing to keep watch, he stooped down next to the three women. “Are either of you hurt?” he asked Hannah and Leah, and they both shook their heads.
“Hannah saw a man wearing a ski mask come out from those trees,” Livvy explained, pointing to the area dead center of the backyard, where there were more of those pecan and oak trees.
“He ran straight toward Sunny and clubbed her on the head with something,” Hannah said, picking up the explanation. She was crying and her breath was gusting, but she seemed determined to get out the account. “I think it was a crowbar.God, he hit her right on the head, and when she fell, he started dragging her toward the trees.”
That was awfully bold, or desperate, considering there were two cops inside the house and two potential witnesses on the grounds. But why had this guy taken that kind of risk to get to Sunny?
“Leah started screaming,” Hannah went on, “and that must have spooked him because he dropped Sunny and ran away.”
So, desperate but not stupid. It would have been next to impossible to drag Sunny into the woods once he’d realized that someone was aware of what he was doing.
