Chapter Forty-Four

Kate brushed her hair out of her eyes and stared at Gary standing in the doorway. Blinked. It took a moment for her to register exactly what she was seeing. “You broke my door down?”

Then she couldn’t say anything because with two strides, Gary had pulled her into his arms in a bone-crushing embrace. His heart raced against hers.

Kate gasped. “Ribs! Careful with the ribs.”

He loosened his hold a little, only to run his hands over her, down her arms, over her face, lingering gently over the angry red mark on her cheek.

“I can’t believe you broke my door down!” Kate complained, straining to look at the destruction over his shoulder. “I was handling it.”

“Whose blood is that?” His voice was clipped as he gestured at her t-shirt. “Yours or his?”

Kate looked down at herself. “His. I think.” She suddenly felt queasy. “I look terrible.” Her ears started to buzz as she gazed the red splatters on her top.

Gary took one look at her face before lifting her so that she was sitting on the counter. He stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

“I’m fine,” Kate said through suddenly chattering teeth.

“’Course you are.” He pulled the lapels closer around her. Held on for a second before letting go.

A moan from the man balled on the floor made him turn. Gary tugged his belt from the loops and secured the man’s arms roughly behind his back. Delaney cried out and struggled, but Gary’s hold on him was like iron. He lashed Delaney’s arms behind his back with the leather belt. Then he grabbed a fist of Delaney’s hair and yanked the man’s head backward.

Delaney’s eyes were wide with terror.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” Gary growled.

He towered over the man and looked like he would give anything to finish the job right there and then. “Gary—” Kate said involuntarily.

The muscles in his arm strained. Then he released him and Delaney’s forehead smacked back onto the floor.

“Hey!” Delaney yelped and rolled onto his back, his face contorted with fear and pain.

“You’re not worth it.” Gary stepped over him, disgust on his face.

He glanced back at Kate. Whatever he saw in her eyes seemed to cut him to the bone. “You thought I was going to kill him?”

No. Yes. “I wasn’t sure.” Quiet. Truthful.

“Why would you be?” Gary looked down at his hand, his eyes shadowed and unreadable. “Why is his hair wet?”

“It’s tea.”

Gary snorted, half amusement, half disbelief. “There’s no avoiding tea when it comes to you, is there? Where’s Percival?”

“I have no idea. He wandered off a little while ago.”

“That doesn’t sound like him.” Gary frowned. “I can’t believe Delaney risked coming here.”

“He wanted the laptop.”

Delaney glared at them in sullen fury.

“What is that noise?” Gary suddenly blurted, looking around the store for the source. Then asked, “California surf songs?” His voice was incredulous.

“It’s not nice to judge.” Kate turned the music off and the store was silent.

“Murderer.” Delaney spat at Gary. “What do you think is going to happen when the police come? I’ll tell them everything.”

Gary opened his mouth to reply but Kate cut him off. “Tell them what?” Her cheek throbbed painfully. “What do you really know? How did he kill Wendell then?”

“I don’t know. Some sort of poison. I know he did it. One look at him and they’ll know too.”

“That’s your proof? Any cop worth his shield will laugh in your face. Give it up. Face it. You’re the villain here, Delaney.” She grabbed a roll of packing tape sitting at the far end of the counter. She tossed it to Gary. “Shut him up, will you? He’s giving me a headache.”

“With pleasure.” Gary tore off a strip and plastered it over Delaney’s snarling lips. He straightened. “You’re going away for a very long time, Delaney.”

“Whoa.” At the sound, Gary and Kate turned to look at the entrance.

Tim and Will stood in the broken doorframe, staring wide-eyed around the store, taking in the mess, the trussed-up figure on the ground. Tim turned to Will. “I told you Kate was awesome.”

“Even after I cracked your case?” Kate asked dryly.

“Yeah. If anyone could figure out we’d done it, you could. You know how it works.”

“It?”

“Mysteries.”

“Crikey,” Will breathed, gazing at the scene with blatant admiration. “She clobbered him.”

“Completely.” Tim stepped into the store and peered down at Delaney’s nose knowledgeably. “That’s a gusher.”

“Is he dead?” Will asked curiously from the threshold.

Delaney scowled back at Tim furiously, his shoulders working as his wrists strained at the belt tying his hands together.

“No.” Kate clapped a hand over her mouth, to stop herself from laughing. If she started, she didn’t think she’d stop.

Through the window, a figure staggered into view. He grasped at the broken frame and stumbled into the store, his shoes crunching across broken glass. One hand was cupped to his chin.

“Percival.” Gary greeted his employee with relief, but his voice was brisk when he continued. “Where the hell were you?”

The large man maneuvered past the boys with barely a glance at Delaney and stopped in front of the counter. He addressed a spot in front of Gary’s feet. “I didn’t judge the situation properly and sacrificed the entire assignment. I should have seen it coming.” He muttered the formalities in an unhappy slur. “Shouldn’t have been so damn cocky.” Suddenly his expression changed. “The tosser clipped me one in the alley!”

“Really?” Gary glanced at Delaney with a faint hint of respect in his eyes.

“With a bleeding wheel brace. I’ll tender my resignation tonight,” he rumbled.

“The hell you will. You did your best. Can’t ask any more than that. Just don’t let it happen again.”

Kate watched the exchange curiously. Turned out Gary was more forgiving when it came to other people’s failures than his own.

“Now make yourself useful and ring up the police.” He glanced at Delaney. “And an ambulance.”

“Yes, sir.”