Since they’d been shown to their table and Maria had noticed Wyatt with his date near the fireplace, she had been struggling to keep her gaze away from that side of the room. She wasn’t having much luck. As she was seated facing that particular area, she hoped Damon believed she was simply gazing toward the cheery fire.
So far, she had managed to keep up with his conversation, but it was getting a little hard to feign interest. He was so self-absorbed, she figured he wouldn’t notice anyhow.
As she’d been spying on the sheriff, she went on alert when he answered his phone and glanced in her direction, his posture changing. Having worked in the department for the past six years, she knew what that altered posture and demeanor meant—there was trouble somewhere.
When he started toward her table, she was honest enough to admit to herself that only part of her increased heart rate was attributable to knowing something was wrong. Tall, more fit than most men half his age, his dark hair graying around the edges just a tad, Wyatt Dixon cut a figure that turned female heads, and not just because he was the sheriff.
Almost from the time she’d started her job, Maria had found herself in the unenviable position of having a crush on her boss. Not the kind of infatuation one acted on, but the kind of affection that was seated in admiration and respect with a healthy dose of attraction thrown in. It was the kind of crush to which she would never confess, but it was also strong enough that she couldn’t easily ignore it.
Putting aside the fact that Wyatt Dixon was her boss, at least sort of, Maria wasn’t his type. From the handful of women she’d seen him date since she’d started working for him, as well as knowing what kind of woman his late wife had been, she knew he preferred professional, sleek blondes. Petite, sleek blondes.
While she adhered to a high standard of professionalism, Maria was about as far from petite and blonde as she could be. She had no illusions about her potential attractiveness as a mate for Wyatt Dixon, which was a good thing because if she had any notion that he might be interested, she would probably end up embarrassing herself.
“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked as he reached their table. “This is Damon, by the way.”
After the two men shook hands, Wyatt apologized. “I hate to interrupt your evening, but I’m afraid I need you. We have a situation, and Ethan’s asking for your assistance.”
Damon frowned. “Can’t it wait? I thought you just worked on computers or something. Someone else can handle it, surely.”
His tone was dismissive and made Maria pause in the act of gathering her purse and wrap so that she could send an incredulous glare in his direction.
Wyatt scowled. “Maria’s our IT director, not some desk jockey.”
To her everlasting embarrassment and reluctant amusement, Damon stood up, an angry flush on his cheeks. “I’m shelling out for a frigging steak dinner here. She can take care of whatever it is tomorrow.”
His voice wasn’t quiet, and a shocked silence spread throughout the dining room as the other patrons paused their dinners and waited to see what would happen.
“Actually, I ordered chicken,” she said dryly, but neither man paid her any attention.
Without blinking, Wyatt stepped closer to the younger man. He got out his wallet and pulled out several bills. Not bothering to count the money, he carefully tucked it into Damon’s coat pocket. The entire time, he kept his gaze locked on the other man’s. When he patted the pocket and Damon’s chest with none-too-gentle controlled deliberation, Damon’s face flushed even deeper, all his piss and vinegar gone, and he swallowed.
“Anything else you’d like to say, son?” Wyatt asked with a slow, dangerous drawl.
Damon swallowed convulsively and shook his head. “No, sir.”
“I didn’t think so. Now, if you’ll excuse us?” Turning his back on the cowed man, Wyatt gestured for Maria to precede him through the restaurant.
As they left the dining room, she heard the chatter and hum slowly return to normal. She knew the town would be abuzz by tomorrow with news of the confrontation, but she didn’t care.
They didn’t speak as they hurried to Wyatt’s department-issued SUV. The night was cold and clear, a typical early November evening in Southern Indiana. As he shut the door behind her, she tightened her wrap around her shoulders and shivered, glad to be out of the wind.
As he started the engine, he turned toward her with a grimace. “I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting your young man to be so… vocal.”
She couldn’t help it—she snickered. “He’s not my young man, first of all. Second, that’s the most interesting date I’ve been on in months. No apologies are necessary.” Her words startled a laugh out of him. Growing serious, she twisted in her seat. “What’s going on?”
Wyatt was sober as he cleared the lightly frosted windshield. “We’ve had a child abduction by the noncustodial parent. Carrie was sending the information to my laptop, and that’s all I really know.” He hit the button that woke the machine, logged on, and quickly read through the notes. “Damn.”
“Bad?”
“You could say that. Take a look.” His face was grim as he pulled out of the parking lot, turning on the light bar but not the siren.
As they sped through town, she turned the computer toward her, and when she saw the names and address of the victims, she felt her stomach drop. “Oh, dear God.” She couldn’t prevent her hand from going to her mouth, and a cold wave of fear raced down her spine. “Not Lori and Leah, please.”
He glanced at her sharply. “You know Lori Sterling?”
She nodded. “I’ve been tutoring her in the literacy program at the library.”
Enabling the hands-free feature on his phone, he called dispatch. “I want to keep this call off the radio, Carrie. Patch me through to Ethan or Stacy.” While he waited for the call to go through, he looked at Maria, taking his eyes off the road briefly. “What can you tell me about their situation?”
Shaken but dealing with the shock, she rubbed her temple. “You know that her ex-husband, Chris, damn near killed her three years ago. That’s when she hit bottom and finally fought back. He ended up in prison, I thought for life, and Lori’s been rebuilding her life ever since. How could he have gotten out? Shouldn’t she have been notified if he was released early?”
“Yeah, she should have, and we should have been as well, but the system doesn’t always work. Have they had any contact since he went in?”
“Not that I know of. She’s worked hard to create a new life for herself and Leah. Looking back wasn’t something she seemed to need or want to do.”
Carrie’s voice broke into the darkness. “Sheriff, I have Ethan for you.”
“Thanks. Ethan, what’s your status?”
“I’m at Lori’s house with her and her mother. We’re waiting on Maria to pull these tapes, see if they can give us anything.”
“Maria’s with me. We’re a few minutes out, maybe six. What the hell happened?”
On the other end of the call, Ethan expelled a breath. “From what the babysitter said, Sterling broke in about four o’clock with a gun. He locked the sitter in a closet and took Leah.”
“Four o’clock? Why the hell am I just being called about this now?”
“Because it didn’t get called in until about thirty minutes ago,” the detective explained. “Lori worked until after six this evening. She didn’t get home and find out about it until almost seven.”
“What about the sitter? Is she okay?”
“Traumatized emotionally, but unhurt. Her boyfriend came and picked her up a couple of minutes ago. I had a unit escort them over to the hospital so she could get checked over. She’s pregnant.”
Wyatt swore. “Where’s Stacy?”
“She’s out at the Patch. We got a tip Sterling was there.”
A sprawling sixties-era neighborhood that had been built with seemingly little rhyme or reason, “the Patch” was short for “Rabbit Patch.” The name had come about due to the area’s twists and turns, with houses hidden in ravines and around curves. It had become notorious as a place where ex-cons and parolees went to ground. Despite its small size, consisting of only around a hundred houses, because of the geography, the Patch tended to give law enforcement fits. Any time a situation like this happened and they had to go inside, tension went through the roof.
Wyatt rolled his head. “Are we putting up roadblocks?”
“Yeah, but the tip was strong, so we’re focusing efforts on the Patch.”
“Okay. We’ll be at Lori’s house in about two minutes.” He disconnected. “This won’t be pretty. I know you don’t generally deal with the public.” He turned off the main road onto the long driveway that led to Lori’s small farmhouse.
“I’ll be fine. Remember, I know Lori. I won’t mess things up.”
He shot her a perturbed glance. “I didn’t think you would. I just don’t want you to get upset if things turn out badly.”
When they reached the house, Wyatt parked next to Ethan’s unmarked car. Deputy Jason Hudson was standing guard on the front porch, nearly hidden in the darkness, and he stepped forward as they approached the house.
“Sheriff, Maria. Ethan’s inside with Lori and her mother.”
Maria nodded and patted him on the arm. “I’ll head on in then.”
As Jason held the door open for her, she took a deep breath and said a silent prayer for guidance, wisdom, and strength. She would need all three to get through what was to come.
As Wyatt stood on the porch with Jason and watched Maria disappear into the house, he thought about what she’d said, about how she knew Lori Sterling. Finding out Maria was involved in a volunteer program had surprised him, but he couldn’t say why exactly. Maybe because she was so young. Before he could follow her inside, his phone rang, his second detective’s name coming up.
“Stacy. Talk to me. What’s going on?”
“I’m at the Patch. We’ve got Sterling cornered at his brother’s trailer, and ISP SWAT is on the way,” she said, referring to the Indiana State Police.
Wyatt’s gaze flew to Jason’s. “The little girl?”
Stacy’s voice cracked a little. “She’s inside with him.”
His heart sank. “Okay. I’m just now getting to Lori’s. I’ll head that way in a couple of minutes after I talk to her. Where exactly are you setting up?”
She didn’t answer, and the reason why was quickly apparent. The sound of an engine revving mixed with shouts as shots rang out, echoing over the phone. The staccato pop of gunfire lasted only a few seconds, but it seemed to go on forever, only stopping after a loud crash, followed by a droning car horn. Within a heartbeat, the radio on Jason’s uniform erupted into chaos.
Stone-cold with fear, Wyatt dashed to his vehicle. “Update Ethan. I’m heading over there. Stay here, no matter what!”
Pointing the SUV down the driveway, Wyatt flipped on his light bar and siren, pushing the pedal to the floor as soon as he reached the paved highway. Heart pounding, he kept trying to get through the radio chaos. Gunshots fired during a hostage situation were never a good sign, especially in a place like the Patch and in the dead of night. They’d be lucky to come out of this unscathed, and he hoped with everything in him that if anyone was hurt, it was Chris Sterling and not one of the men or women under his protection.
Injustice is available now in eBook and print.