Hours after they’d found Amanda, Savannah walked into the café kitchen. “You almost ready to go?”
“Just about.” Gia finished wrapping the bowl of peppers and onions she’d just cut up for the morning.
“Everything out front is done, and the front door is locked, so we can just go out the back whenever you’re ready.” Resigned to waiting a few more minutes to head home, after an exhausting day, Savannah pulled out a stool from the island and plopped down, elbow on the counter, chin resting in her hand. “Leo just called from the hospital.”
Gia froze, one hand on the refrigerator handle, bracing herself for the news that Amanda hadn’t made it.
“It’s all right, Gia. She’s out of surgery, and they expect her to make a full recovery.” She blew out a breath. “Thank God we were right there when it happened. They’re saying the only reason she survived was the immediate first aid she received on the scene.”
Relief rushed through Gia, leaving her even more weary than she’d been moments before. Her legs turned to rubber, and she stuck the bowl in the fridge, then slumped down across from Savannah. “Did he say anything else? Were they able to question her?”
Savannah was already shaking her head. “She’s still in recovery, hasn’t fully come out of the anesthesia yet, but the doctors are optimistic she may wake up enough tonight to at least tell them who shot her.”
“Do you think she knows?” And was it the same person who’d killed Rusty?
Savannah shrugged, tracing circles on the counter with her nail. “I don’t see how she couldn’t. To have shot her in the chest at what they say was close range, she’d have had to be face-to-face with her attacker.”
“So unless he or she was wearing a mask . . .”
“She knows who did it.”
Gia sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose between a thumb and forefinger. Maybe she’d just sit there all night, fall asleep with her head on the counter. Or they could ask Zoe to stop by and take care of Thor, Klondike, and Pepper, and she and Savannah could crash in the apartment upstairs. Theoretically, she could be facedown on the semi-comfortable couch in a minute or less, instead of dropping Savannah off, making the twenty-minute trek home, then tending to Thor and Klondike, and possibly picking up garbage the raccoon shredded across her lawn, while keeping one eye out in every direction for bears.
As tempting as the idea was, she needed to go home. Even more than sleep, she needed to curl up with Thor and Klondike and have peace for a little while. Even if it was only an illusion. Hopefully, it would at least last until morning.
Savannah tapped her nail against the counter. “Do you think whoever shot Amanda was the same person who killed Rusty?”
“I don’t know. It seems likely, but for what purpose? None of the suspects or motives we came up with pointed toward Amanda as a potential victim.” A fact that had gnawed at Gia relentlessly ever since they’d found her unconscious and covered in blood. Could the attempt on her life have been prevented if they’d figured something out sooner? A detail that weighed heavily on Hunt, since he’d admitted as much earlier. But no matter how many times she ran through different scenarios, she couldn’t see a connection.
“I have another theory,” Savannah said.
“Yeah?”
“What if Amanda did kill Rusty, and someone shot her in retaliation?”
Huh. That was a possibility she hadn’t explored. “But who?”
Savannah sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Ariyah?”
Wow. That made a sick sort of sense. “I guess it’s possible. Considering Hunt has the gun that was used to kill Rusty in evidence, whoever it was had to have used another weapon. I suppose it could be another killer too.”
Savannah opened her mouth to say something, then snapped it closed at the sound of the front door opening, followed by footsteps.
Gia lunged for the rack on the counter, yanked a butcher knife from the holder, and held it tucked low behind her leg.
Savannah grabbed the rolling pin from the drying rack and stepped to the side of the door, where she’d be invisible if it opened.
With the lights in the kitchen still on, and those in the dining room turned off, she didn’t bother exposing herself to whomever might be there by peeking out. Instead, she steered clear of the cutout and waited. She held her breath. The ringing in her ears drowned out all other sound.
The door to the kitchen eased open, and Savannah lunged, rolling pin raised.
“Whoa!” Cole staggered back through the doorway into the hall. “Yo, hey, it’s just me.”
Savannah tossed the rolling pin aside and pressed a hand against her chest. She bent at the waist, braced both hands on her knees, and sucked in deep breaths.
After returning the knife to its place, Gia lay a hand on Savannah’s back. With the other hand, she gently gripped her shoulder, eased her up, and guided her back to the stool where she’d been sitting. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She breathed in deeply, shaky. “Sorry. Sometimes I’m still easily spooked.”
Cole wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulled her against him. “I’m so sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to startled you.”
She patted Cole’s hand, then turned her hand over and weaved her fingers between Gia’s. “It’s okay. Really. I promise, I’m fine.”
“Are you still getting panic attacks?”
She lowered her gaze and nodded. “But they’re far less frequent, and the therapist is helping a lot. So . . .”
Gia stepped back to give her some breathing room, and Cole sat beside her.
Savannah pinned him with a glare. “As long as people don’t sneak up on me when there’s a killer on the loose, I’m doing pretty good.”
Cole winced.
“I’m just messing with you, sweetie.” She winked. “I ain’t that fragile.”
“No, you’re not.” Cole looked her straight in the eye. “You’re one of the strongest women I know.”
She smiled, tears shimmering in her thick lashes, turning her eyes an even more brilliant blue. “Thank you for that. And now, if you’re finished scaring me half to death, and if you’ve locked the front door . . .”
He nodded.
“Did you find Jim Kirkman?”
Gia held her breath. If Cole had found him, it meant he couldn’t have shot Amanda, though he still could have killed Rusty. She resisted the urge to cross her fingers.
“I found him.”
She released the breath slowly, then stood and went to the fridge, pulled out three bottles of water. Though her mouth had gone bone-dry, she didn’t dare drink anything containing caffeine.
“He’s in the hospital.”
“Oh, no. Is he all right?” She handed Cole and Savannah each a bottle then returned to her seat.
“He’s on the mend.”
“What happened?”
“Pneumonia.” Cole raked a hand through his shaggy hair. “He’s been in the hospital for near on a week.”
“So he couldn’t have killed Rusty.”
“Nope.”
She wasn’t sure why she was so relieved to know that, but of all their suspects, Jim had been the most vulnerable, the most hurt. “We have to let Rhonda know. She’ll want to—”
He held up a hand to cut her short. “I’ve already talked to her. When I found someone who knew Jim, and they told me what had happened, that he’d been taken to the hospital by ambulance, I went to see him. After we spoke, I picked up Rhonda, told her what had happened, and brought her to him. When I left, they were holding hands and crying.”
Gia only prayed at least that story had a happy ending.
“What else did Jim say, anything?” Savannah asked.
“He’s going to try to get his life back on track. I told him I’d help him, but the first step is going back home to Rhonda, which he’s agreed to do once he’s released.”
“That’s great, Cole. I’m so glad to hear it.”
He nodded, and one tear slid down his cheek, then he sniffed and wiped it away. “What about Amanda? Any news?”
They brought him up to speed.
“Good. That’s good.” He uncapped his water, drank down half the bottle. “I’m glad she’ll be okay.”
“Me too.” While Cole might never come to terms with what had gone on with Amanda and Rusty, at least he could now make amends with Jim. He’d need that, and Gia was so happy he’d have the opportunity.
“Anyway.” Cole stood, recapped his water bottle. “Cybil’s waiting for me. We’re going to make a nice dinner and spend one peaceful evening together away from all of this, so if you ladies are okay?”
“We’ll be fine, Cole.” Gia stood as well, hugged him tight. “I just have to run up to the apartment—I forgot my charger in the outlet there—and then we’re headed out.”
“All righty then. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” He rapped his knuckles against the counter. “Try to shut everything off for a night, and get some rest.”
“That’s exactly what I plan to do.”
“Me too,” Savannah agreed. “Why don’t you go ahead and grab the charger, and I’ll finish wrapping the last few bowls and get them put away. Then we can get out of here.”
“Sounds good.” Gia walked through the café with a smile, careful to lock the door behind her, then unlocked the door to the narrow stairway and jogged up the stairs. She paused in front of the apartment door and sorted through her keys. When she found the right one, she stuffed it into the lock and—
A massive arm wrapped around her from behind and caged her against a rock-hard body. A ham-sized hand clamped over her mouth. “Don’t move.”
She struggled against his hold. Every self-defense move Hunt had taught her flew right out the window against an attacker so much bigger than her, with an iron grip around her whole body.
“Stop fighting me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
That makes two of us. But why would he have attacked her from behind if he didn’t mean to hurt her? And how had he snuck up on her so quietly. Caleb Ryan hadn’t struck her as light on his feet. Fighting against every instinct battering her, Gia worked to relax her body. She stilled, forcing the tension to ease out of her muscles. She begged her brain to slow down, to think. Tremors tore through her. Fear? The waning adrenaline rush?
“Okay. Please. I just want to talk to you.”
Then why grab me in a dark hallway? Why not call or knock on the door like a normal person? She nodded.
His hold loosened, and she had to resist the urge to turn and fight or try to escape past him and run down the stairs. When he stepped back from her, she whirled toward him. He held both hands up in front of him. “Please. Just listen to me.”
“Okay. But talk fast.”
“I know you are engaged to Captain Quinn, so you know things.”
She nodded again, unwilling to share any of those things she knew with him.
“The first thing I need to know is if Amanda is okay. I called the hospital, but they won’t release any information.”
She studied him in the dim light, for the first time noticing the tufts of hair sticking up, the black circles around his eyes, the way his hand shook wildly as he ran it over his goatee. A pang of pity surfaced, but she squashed it back down. “She’s out of surgery. The doctors think she’s going to make it.”
He collapsed against the wall and cupped his face in both hands, deep sobs wracking his body.
Instead of taking the chance to escape, unable to leave anyone in the kind of pain he was clearly suffering with, Gia stood her ground. “Did you shoot her?”
He snapped his head up, met Gia’s gaze. “No. No way. I’m in love with her. I’d never do anything to hurt her.”
Savannah’s theory ran through her head. “Were you the one who killed Rusty?”
“Absolutely not. And before you ask, I don’t know who did.” He watched her, like a predator sizing up its prey, then let his head fall back against the wall. “But I’m pretty sure Amanda does.”
“What? What makes you think that?” And why wouldn’t she have told the police if she’d known? Although that information could definitely have gotten her shot.
“Rusty had some shady stuff in his past, and someone found out.”
“He was being blackmailed.” She ran through the possibilities. They’d already ruled out Jim, since he’d been in the hospital at the time of both attacks. If Caleb was telling the truth, and Rusty was being blackmailed, it made no sense Amanda would have been part of it. Unless Caleb was trying to throw suspicion off himself, which remained a good possibility, it didn’t seem likely he was the culprit. So who did that leave? Ariyah? Why? She supposedly loved him, and what would she gain by blackmailing him? Brynleigh? She had been in the forest that morning, and she had accepted a bribe—
“Yeah, he was.” Caleb straightened. “And he didn’t have enough cash to meet the blackmailer’s demands. And Amanda refused to pay. Next thing you know, Rusty received a gift basket filled with muffins, ostensibly from Cole Barrister, with his number and a meeting time on the back of the receipt.”
“What did Cole have to do with any of this?”
“Nothing that I know of. I think he was just convenient.”
So someone was willing to destroy a man’s life just because he was convenient? She wasn’t sure she was buying it, but she’d at least hear him out, provided he stayed put against the wall. And if he didn’t . . . Well, now that she was face-to-face with him instead of caged against him, a well-aimed kick ought to put him down long enough for her to get past him to the stairs. “You think whoever was blackmailing him decided to kill him and frame Cole?”
He nodded wearily. “I think so.”
“Why? Whoever was blackmailing him couldn’t collect anything if Rusty was dead.”
“Ah, but they could. After Rusty was killed, whoever it was set their sights on Amanda, told her she’d be next if she didn’t pay up.”
“Was she going to pay?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head, ran a hand over his goatee. “I told her to just pay it and be done with the whole thing. But she said if she paid it was simply leaving her open to more extortion later. Then, last night, I wanted to stay with her, but she picked a ridiculous fight and tossed me out. I suspected she planned to meet with the blackmailer this morning, but I was so angry that I ignored my instincts and stormed out anyway. I left her there to get . . .”
“All right. Okay.” Gia lay a hand on his wrist. “Why are you telling me all of this?”
“She needs protection. And I need to be there with her. You have to believe me and talk Captain Quinn into providing protection and allowing me to stay with her.”
“Why not go to him directly?”
A wry smiled played at the corner of his mouth. “Amanda made me promise I wouldn’t go to the police, and I did. I can’t go back on my word. I won’t. Not to her.”
He was splitting hairs as far as Gia was concerned, but if that’s what allowed him to live with spilling what he knew, so be it.
“And I also wanted to warn you. Whoever did this is desperate now. They know they’re in trouble and they are looking for a way out. If they went after Amanda the way they did, it’s possible anyone who’s involved might be in danger at this point.”