Livvy stopped, stared up at him, and a raw sob tore from her throat. “Oh, God. Chloe killed my mother, Ethan. She stabbedher, and my mother was screaming and bleeding. But Chloe just kept stabbing her, and then she shoved her into the tub.”
Ethan silently cursed, and he hauled Livvy to him, trying to protect her from…everything. And failing big time. He couldn’t undo the past, but he sure as hell could help her deal with the fallout.
Grace and Sunny came out into the backyard, both of them clearly puzzled as to what was going on. Neither of them said anything though. Probably because Livvy looked ready to fall apart. But there was something that Ethan had to know. He had to hear Livvy spell it out.
“Who was at the window?” he asked, already dreading the answer.
“Vernice,” Livvy muttered. “It was Vernice.” She blinked back tears. “I remember it all, Ethan. I remember everything.”
He pulled her back to him and got her moving toward the cruiser. “I need to get her out of here,” he insisted.
Grace didn’t argue, and Sunny and she followed them toward the front of the house. They didn’t get far though. Only a couple of steps. Before all hell broke loose.
There was the blast of a gunshot. Loud and deafening. Followed by a scream of pain.
Chapter Seventeen
Livvy heard the sound and knew exactly what had happened. Someone had fired a shot at them.
And Sunny had no doubt been hit.
That scream was one of intense pain.
Drawing her gun, Livvy whirled around and saw the blood already spreading over the shoulder of Sunny’s camel-colored coat. Yes, she’d been shot. Maybe not a fatal wound. Not yet anyway. But the shooter obviously wasn’t done.
In a blink, another shot rang out just as Grace hooked her arm around Sunny and dragged her to the ground. She didn’t stop there. Grace pulled her behind some weed-filled shrubs. Not much cover, and it was obvious Sunny was the target since a third shot went in her direction.
Livvy and Ethan got moving, too. They scrambled behind the meager cover of a toppled front-porch railing. No way would it protect them from bullets. Ditto for where Sunny and Grace were. And that meant they had to spot the shooter and stop him or her now before the worst happened.
Before someone got killed.
She thought of her baby. Of the risk and danger that her precious child was in. Ethan was no doubt doing the same because he positioned himself in front of her. Protecting them. Livvy was thankful for that, but at the same time, she was terrified for him. After all, they were only a few feet from Sunny, and the shooter might decide to take them all out.
The cruisers were parked to their right and were too far away for them to reach. Trying to get to them would make them easy to pick off, especially since Sunny probably wouldn’t be able to move fast enough.
More shots came, slamming into the ground right by Sunny and Grace. Sunny screamed again, and Livvy prayed she hadn’t been hit a second time. Prayed, too, that they’d all make it out of this alive, away from this hellish place where two women had already died.
But who was doing this? Who was shooting at them?
Livvy hoped she got the chance to learn the answer to that, and maybe then they could make an arrest and get some justice for Zadie.
She heard Grace murmuring something and realized she was calling for an ambulance and backup. Good. Sunny would need to get to the hospital, and they could use help stopping the shooter. The problem with that was the ambulance wouldn’t be able to approach the house as long as there was active gunfire.
And there was plenty of that.
There were two more shots, and Livvy used the sound of it to try to pinpoint their attacker. The wind and Sunny’s screams weren’t helping with that. Ditto for her own gusting breath and pounding pulse. Her teeth were chattering as well from the cold. But when there was another blast from a gunshot, Livvy whirled in the direction of the cornfield.
She was certain the shooter was in there, but from her angle she couldn’t see who was doing this. Apparently, neither could Ethan because he levered himself up a little. Just as a bullet slammed into the house right next to them. Livvy took hold of his shoulder and hauled him back down.
“See anyone?” Grace asked.
“No,” Livvy and Ethan said in unison.
It was Ethan who added, “But I think the shooter is at my ten o’clock.”
Livvy thought that as well, and what she wanted to do was to send some shots of her own in that direction. But it would be a huge risk to do that since the shots could end up hitting someone traveling on the road. There was also the possibility that if they did aim at the shooter, then he or she would just move farther to the left and take up cover behind the bulletproof cruisers.
Sunny finally stopped screaming, the sound of her voice trailing off into a whimpering sob. She had to be terrified, not just of being killed but bleeding out right here where her sister had died. Maybe her injuries weren’t life-threatening, and the ambulance would be able to get to her in time.
