Shotgun Justice (12 page)

She shook her head. “It feels like it's asleep and sort of disconnected. I...I just want it to be over.”

“You need some time. Eat and try not to think about the case while I clean up.” He pushed bread into the toaster. “I forgot your tea.”

The knock in front saved him from making a complete fool of himself. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her not to worry about anything. She could come home; he'd take care of her.
Those words would have been grounds to throw me out on my ear.

“That must be Bo.” He tossed the hand towel to the counter.

“I can see that.”

“Right,” he mumbled, opening the door. “Looks like he has everything on the list and then some.”

“Hey. I got you two whiteboards. The bed frame was harder to locate. That's what took me a bit longer. It's about time she bought one.” Bo, laden with paper and plastic sacks, pushed past him. His demeanor brightened when he faced Avery. “How you feeling?”

“Pretty good, Bo. We appreciate you doing all this.”

“Beats waiting for speeders out on Highway 57. I better get the rest of the sacks.”

“Let me help,” Jesse offered, glaring at Avery when she got up and headed to the door.

“I got this. You aren't supposed to be out of the house. More than one person told me to keep you both indoors.”

Jesse held the door and noticed Avery eating left-handed but stopping when Bo entered the house. Kayden stood on the corner of the porch obviously watching for movement—other than Bo coming in and out.

Bo brought in the bed frame and whipped out a multi-tool to put it together. Avery just rolled her eyes. She couldn't like rolling out of bed every morning instead of sitting on the side.

“I'm paying for it,” he blurted.

“Oh, I know. And you can take it with you when you leave because you aren't using it while you're here.”

“The thought didn't enter my mind.”

“I bet it didn't.” She took her plate to the kitchen. “Did you see the puzzle Bo got?”

“Popcorn. Colored popcorn. Sort of made me hungry. Maybe I'll add that to my list.”

“All done,” Bo said, wiping his hands. “I'll stop by around lunch tomorrow if you want me to pick you up anything from the Dairy Barn.”

“Thanks,” they answered together. He might have been a little oversensitive, but he got the impression Bo was only asking if Avery wanted her standing order for lunch.

It was totally dark by the time he finished putting everything away. The card table was stuck against the wall by the television after they'd moved the couch closer to the door. Cards, dice and a puzzle sat on top. But the main, clear focus for Avery was the crime-scene photos getting taped to the hall wall. First up were the photos from Clayton, then the picnic grove.

“You ready to look at all this?”

“I need to catch this sicko, Jesse. Are you?”

Chapter Seventeen

Five days, four nights sounded absolutely perfect for a vacation. All winter Avery had dreamed about five days on a sunny beach, baking to a crisp golden brown. The cold Panhandle wind had cut through her until she learned to buy pants a size bigger and wear long underwear.

Five days going on five nights stuck in the same sixteen hundred square feet was absolute torture.

Not that Jesse wasn't a perfect gentleman. He was. A perfect gentleman all the way. Considerate to the point of ridiculous. He let her use all the hot water for her shower. Always put the toilet seat down. He cleaned up after himself. And he slept on the cot.

After the first night when he'd held her close to him and she'd slept so soundly...nothing. Not so much as an accidental touch. Which was hard to do in a one-bedroom, no-dining-area, overcrowded cracker box.

Oh yeah, she was good and ready to be sent to the funny farm.

The window unit in the front room was working overtime. She'd kicked off most of the covers and the bedroom door was open wide. Spring had taken a turn toward summer today. She needed to install ceiling fans or buy a box fan. She'd lived here during only the winter, so she had no idea how hot the place got when it heated up outside.

“Avery?” her forced roommate called.

“Yes?”

“You're not asleep?” He was just outside the door and could have checked for himself.

“Too hot.”

“Want to trade?”

“Quit being so damned nice!” she shouted. She was ready for a rousing discussion, excitement, a break in the case, some sighting of Snake Eyes or even a good old-fashioned fight with Jesse.

No workouts. She couldn't handle it if Jesse discovered just how dizzy she was all the time. She never knew when her hand or her leg might give way and she'd fall flat on her face... Everything had taken its toll on her. She needed a change.

“What was that for?” He stood in her doorway as pretty as you please with only his boxers. He had been standing in the hall.

“Do you remember that discussion about me
not
being your sister?”

“Yes.” He crossed his arms, covering his muscles.

“Then why don't you have clothes on?”

“You got me, Avery. Why do people tend to not sleep in their clothes. Sorry. I'm tired of sleeping on that cramped cot. However I'm dressed doesn't matter.” He did an about-face and left. “I didn't exactly bring pajamas with me.”

“Sorry.”

“Can't hear you,” he bleated.

“All right, you can have the bed tonight and I'll take the AC.” She gathered her pillows and turned right smack into his chest. She still wasn't 100 percent stable on her feet. His arms caught her before she wobbled.

Their eyes met. She hoped hers weren't shouting as loudly as Jesse's. His told her just how much he wanted her, like nothing else mattered but her. All in one close-up.

He swallowed hard.

She swallowed hard. “I'm good.”

“I'm not.”

This wasn't how she pictured their first real kiss after everything—that horrible night or Thompson Grove. She dropped the pillows as soon as his lips touched hers. Her arms circled his back, getting their fill of his bare skin. Tough-guy skin stretched tight across his muscles, yet smooth.

Jesse didn't wait to get reacquainted slowly. His tongue darted into her mouth, teasing her, making her want more of him. His hands circled under her backside and drew her closer to his...boxers. She wanted him, but he couldn't hide how much he wanted her.

His lips moved to her shoulder. He tugged the oversize T-shirt down and nipped at her skin. She tried to take a step back to the bed, but he trapped her closer. He kissed her faster, completely in control. Taking and not asking permission.

Man, did she love it. Her mind kept repeating “it's about time, it's about time.” Her heart felt...everything. The firmness of his lips smashed the softness of hers and she didn't care. His hands kept a firm grip at her hips, but she longed for him to explore, to pull off her shirt and tease her breasts.

She backed up again, trying to let him know she was ready for the next step. They could finally discover what they were like together. If he'd only...

She broke off his kisses. She hated to bring it up, but she also didn't want a repeat of their night in Austin. “I thought we were past the whole promise thing to Garrison.”

“We are.”

“Then if I want to be with you and you want to be with me... What's wrong with the bed?” She smiled as best she could, but something was wrong. “This feels like your party night all over again. But this time you're completely sober and unable to run away. Darn my overprotective brother. I could wring Garrison's neck, in a loving sisterly fashion, of course.”

“It was never about Garrison.”

“But you said...”

“Yeah. I thought I could do this. I wanted to have at least one night. Make love to you one time. You know, then I'd have memories.”

“Are you dying? Even living as far apart as we do, we could still—” She inhaled so fast she choked on air but still managed to yelp out, “You're... You...you...you found someone?”

“No. Of course not. I would never do that to you. Do you really think I'd fool around if I had a girlfriend?”

“You aren't fooling around, Jesse.”

She pulled the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around her. She felt vulnerable standing there braless, in PJ shorts, about to cry. Tears were in her very near future. He'd never seen that. Or at least not since ninth grade when her mother had forced her to stop trying out for football.

“Get out.” Her voice was surprisingly somber, considering she wanted to scream.

“I need to tell you why I can't do this.”

“I don't want to hear it.” She kept her back to him as the first tear slid down her cheek. She tried to wipe it inconspicuously with a knuckle.

“I don't want to tell you, but that doesn't matter.” He cupped her shoulders in his hands.

Hot skin to hot skin just made her burn for him more. She dipped a shoulder, attempting to free herself. He wouldn't let her go.

“It's nothing to do with your body or mind or anything like that. I want you till I ache, Avery,” he whispered near her ear. “So bad it hurts. Every night on that cot has been hell, knowing you were here craving the same thing. I didn't want to do this to you. Or hurt you.”

“What could be worse than humiliating me like this a second time?”

“I swore to myself I wouldn't put you into this position. If I just kept my distance, I'd never hurt you.”

“I got news for you, Jesse.
This
hurts.”

* * *

J
ESSE
SWALLOWED
HARD
, needing water to wet his suddenly dry mouth. “It was me. Okay? I'm the reason you aren't a Texas Ranger. It had nothing to do with the fact that you're a woman. I mean, it did. That's the whole reason for me, but not
their
reason. It was my reason.”

Avery turned to face him. He could see the wet paths her tears had made. She tucked the sheet under her arm and put her palms into her eyes. She slapped her thighs and sat on the mattress.

“I'm not quite following. You're trying to take the blame for me not being selected as a ranger. My being passed over wasn't because I was a woman, but it was wholly because I was a woman.” She clapped her hands together and shrugged. “I can't possibly be mad at you, Jesse. At least not yet. I can't understand anything you've said.”

“It made more sense inside my head when I planned it out. I think you're going to get mad. I just hope you can forgive me one day.”

“Then I'll reserve the right for both.”

“Let's sit in the living room, where it's cooler.” Jesse took her hand and led her from the room. She slipped her feet under the swishing sheet wrapped around her. Then leaned on the arm of the couch, waiting for his explanation.

“Oh gosh, it's better in here. Now, what's this all about? Why am I going to be angry?”

“You see, the higher-ups at the highway patrol thought you and I were having an affair. Someone must have reported seeing us together, kissing. You know they have a strict no-fraternization rule.”

“No one mentioned an affair to me.”

“They didn't mention it to me, at least not first thing. But it's what instigated the situation they presented to me.”

“Please stop trying to word everything perfectly, Jesse. Just tell me.”

Explaining to her was difficult. Or maybe explaining by trying to make himself
not
look as guilty as he felt. Which wasn't the truth. She needed the truth before they could move forward in a relationship.

“All right. They pulled me into the office one day, reminded me of the rule, then said there were three candidates for two ranger positions. I had one. The next on the list was you. If I could swear there was nothing between us and wouldn't be in the future, then they'd send us to Waco.”

“And your conscience wouldn't allow you to do that. I see.”

“It was an impossible position to be put into. Garrison wasn't just my best friend. He was my partner.”

“So you chose him.”

“But I didn't choose. I didn't know Garrison was one of the three. Don't you see?”

“I see perfectly.”

Could she? He couldn't swear that they weren't involved because he wanted to become completely involved with her. Did she understand? Why couldn't he just say what was in his head?

“I see that you couldn't lie to your boss, but you could lie to me.” She stood, straightening the sheet, tucking it under her arm tightly like a wall of protection. “We were sneaking behind Garrison's back and hiding from everyone. As I recall, you kissed me. You started the whole thing. But what you really did was set me up. I should be wearing that badge. Not you. You never even wanted to be a ranger. Garrison pulled you kicking and screaming to the Texas DPS and...you went along for the ride.”

“That's not—”

“Please don't. I'll finish this assignment with you. I'd be stupid to turn away your experience. You might be telling the truth about it being an innocent mistake. But you're right. I don't see how there can be anything between us if you felt like you had to lie.”

Whether she was calm or not, she put on a good front as she walked to her bedroom. “You've had to choose between me and Garrison for the last time.”

She cried herself to sleep and he heard every tear.

* * *

J
ESSE
HAD
TO
hand it to Avery. She was a professional in every sense of the word. Until she closed the bedroom door. For two nights, under the hum of the air conditioner in his ear, he could still hear the echoes of her crying.

He'd predicted her reaction and it was killing him that he'd been right. It might be killing him a bit more because he wanted to hold and comfort her. He hated being the bad guy. Never liked it when he was the robber to Garrison's cop. And he didn't like breaking the rules.

Yeah, he'd cleared his conscience, but he'd lost his best friend.
Professional
was the word of the day. Polite. Shared the coffee. Fix your own dinner—or get Deputy Bo to bring it to you. Then sit and laugh over a burger.

I am not going to be jealous of that kid.

Aw, hell, he was very jealous of the man who had just left after a painstakingly boring conversation. It had taken nearly an hour to update Avery on everyone in their county. Long enough to set Jesse's teeth to grinding.

“Dammit.” It wasn't the conversation. It was her laughter. She wasn't smiling or laughing around him any longer. He caused her to cry.

Avery joined him in the hall. “I guess lunch is over. Where were we?”

“The DNA familial tie led us back to this guy.” He tapped the latest picture on her bedroom door. “Father, grandfather or brother—we were trying to decide before Mr. Smiley Face showed up.”

His dig didn't receive even an arched eyebrow from her. She took the rushed DNA report from his hand and was reading it for the third or fourth time. He'd been staring at the thing for the past hour and hadn't made any headway.

Most likely because he'd been listening to how Julie chased Miss Wags through the yard with bubbles all over the little dog. Avery had laughed. Bo had laughed. Jesse had read the same paragraph six times.

“Ted Hopkins, aka T-Bone Hop, was covert ops in the '80s. So, yes, he could be any of those connections. But we'll never know. He's off the grid and has been for over a decade.” Avery closed the file and stared at the photo. “Since Snake Eyes wore the hood hiding his face, there's no way to even compare bone structure for a possible match.”

“Do you think it's a dead end? Maybe we get someone from headquarters to keep searching?”

She tapped her finger against the wall, thinking. “I believe our resources and energy are better used to analyze what he'll do. Even if we know who he is...our personal experience with him tells us more.”

“Still no reports of anyone with abdominal rake wounds at hospitals in two hundred miles. They widened the search—”

“I don't think he'd use a hospital. He was obviously trained by someone. Maybe T-Bone Hop?” Excitement—real excitement—had returned to her eyes. “He was military and disappeared. What if he taught Snake Eyes his survival secrets?”

“So we're looking for a ghost.”

“A ghost who got sloppy and left us alive.” She turned her attention to thumbing through the file they'd printed.

“What if it wasn't sloppy work?” Jesse wondered. “This man has been excellent working alone. No trace. Hell, no one really put together how many murders he's committed. He could have taken us anywhere, Avery. Why leave me untied? I can't stop going back to the very public place he left us. Why there? What good did it do
him
?”