15

Noah slammed himself to the floor and hollered, “Kit, are you okay?” He’d seen her dive to the floor two seconds before he did.

“Fine,” she grunted.

He turned his head to see her army crawling toward the phone, wincing each time she put weight on her still sore arm. “I’ve got my cell phone, Kit. Stay still!”

“You call Dakota. I’ll call 911.” She had a landline on the kitchen counter. He stuck around long enough to see her grab the cord to pull it off the counter. It landed on the floor in front of her.

While she took care of calling the authorities, Noah stayed low and raced toward the back door that led to a screened-in porch. Briefly he paused at the window and scanned the area.

Nothing.

He snatched his cell phone out and punched in Dakota’s number. He wanted someone he trusted on his way over here.

Footsteps sounded behind him and he whirled. Kit crept toward him, gun held ready, face intense, anger visible.

Dakota came on the line.

“We’re at Kit’s house and need backup. Someone decided to take shots at us again.”

“What?” Dakota’s voice thundered through the phone. “Connor and I’ll be there as soon as we can. Do you have backup on the way?”

“Kit called it in. Should be here shortly. Be careful, I have a feeling our shooter is still out there.”

“Hunker down and stay out of bullet range.”

Kit reached for the doorknob. “I’m going after this guy.”

“Are you crazy?”

Through gritted teeth, she ground out, “No, mad.”

Panic hit him. He couldn’t let her go outside. “As soon as you set foot outside that door, he’s going to put a bullet in you.”

“Come on,” the Judge whispered to the cops inside. “Come on.”

He had the perfect view from the roof. Even in the darkness, the lighting from the street and Kit’s home provided enough of a visual that if Kit came out the front door, he’d have to squirm around a bit to get his sights on Detective Lambert, the one he wanted dead. But if Lambert came out of the back door from the porch, all he had to do was pull the trigger.

A plan a son could be proud of. How he wished he could have been proud of his father. The familiar sick rage built in him and he pushed it down. Now wasn’t the time to think about that. “Come on.”

The rifle still felt odd in his grip. Heavy, bulky. He was much more comfortable with the small Walther PPK/S. The one he’d used to kill Walter.

Still no movement from the house.

Why weren’t they racing out of the house to find the shooter? What kind of cops were they?

The Judge wasn’t concerned about someone seeing him. He had a great spot behind the chimney.

Then a car pulled into the subdivision and the Judge cursed. What were they doing home so soon? She’d said her parents would be out of town until tomorrow. He had to get down now before they came inside. Otherwise he’d be stuck up here until they left again.

As much as he wanted to stay and watch all the action, recording it in his mind for a story to tell his son, he definitely had to leave before the cops figured out where the bullets had come from.

He scrambled for the rope he’d pulled up after him. The climbing gear had come in handy. He smiled as he thought about it. It had been so easy. Just toss it up and over, the hook on the end of the rope had grabbed and held. And with the rifle strapped to his back, like Spiderman, he’d scaled the building.

And waited.

Only now, sirens sounded in the distance. He’d shot through the window. And missed. He wanted to scream out his frustration. How had he missed again? He shook the rifle. Stupid, ancient weapon. He should have invested in a newer one. But he hadn’t wanted to spend the money. So he’d worked with the sight and got it lined up the way he wanted. Or so he thought.

And he’d shot and missed. Again.

And they called for backup instead of racing out the door. They were smarter than he gave them credit for. He’d thought if he kept his distance, he’d be able to take out the one he wanted without any trouble, but this was twice now that he’d missed.

He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Kit paused. Heard the sirens. “Help’s on the way.” She still itched to open the door and search the neighborhood until she found the creep who shot out her window.

But she could tell the thought of her sticking her head outside completely unnerved him.

Noah looked out the window one more time. “Good.”

“I wonder who he’s after,” she mused, grudgingly giving in to Noah’s rational argument that going out the door before backup arrived would be incredibly stupid.

He looked back at her, his brow lifted. “Um . . . us?”

She shot him an aggrieved look. “Funny. I mean, is he after both of us? Or just one of us?”

“He’s struck twice.”

“And we were together both times.”

“But the bullets came closer to you both times.”

“On purpose or because that’s just where they ended up after he pulled the trigger?” She pursed her lips. “And why is he shooting at us anyway? Who is it? Someone who doesn’t like us investigating this case?”

“A psycho who just got out of jail and is out to get the person who put him there?”

The back-and-forth dialogue helped her think.

He looked out the window. “Good questions. We’ll have to figure out the answers later. Our backup is here.”

“Once they decide the scene is secure, they’ll be all over the place.” She rubbed her head. “Great.” Another thought hit her. “Alena!”

“Who?”

“The girl who lives in the other half of the duplex.”

A knock on her front door had her crossing the room to open it. Connor swept in, followed by Dakota and three other officers.

“Are you okay?” Concern creased Connor’s eyes as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Kit nodded and turned as Noah came up behind her. “Yes, we’re fine. We were just trying to figure out who the actual target with this guy is and what we’ve done to earn his attention. I need to check on Alena.”

One of the officers heard her. “Is that the person who lives next to you?”

“Yes.”

“No one’s there. We already checked.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Which explained the lack of barking. Roscoe would have been going nuts.

Dakota, Noah, and Connor stepped outside. Kit walked into the kitchen. The broken window gaped a jagged grin, allowing the heat of the night to roll in.

Glass lay in her sink, over the countertops, and on the floor. Upon the bullet’s impact, the pizza box had flown from her grasp, hit the wall, then fallen to the floor. She left it there.

Approaching the window, she ignored the crunching under her shoes and examined the entry point of the bullet. Her eyes judged the angle and followed the invisible line to her wall. She could see the hole it made from where she stood.

A sound behind her whipped her attention to the doorway. “Hey Jake.”

“Hey Kit Kat. Whatcha got?”

“A bullet in my wall over there. Feel free to dig it out. I’m trying to figure out where it came from.”

“You know I’ll figure that out with all of my handy-dandy investigative tools.”

She smiled at him, and it felt strange, the upward tilt to her lips. Her jaw felt frozen in place, like she’d kept it clenched too long. When she moved it, it ached. “I know, Jake.”

“The team is working on that as we speak.” He walked over to the wall that held the bullet and began extracting it.

Noah came back in and looked at her. “From the angle of the bullet, and this is just a rough estimate until Jake does his thing, we think the bullet came from across the street. Guy was up on the roof of the house.”

“And yet once again, he missed,” Kit murmured.

“You think it’s the same guy that killed those two college students? Maybe warning us away?”

“Could be, I guess. It’s no secret we’re the ones investigating the cases. But, it just seems odd that this guy plants a bullet in the brain of two people at close range, but both times that he’s used a rifle, he’s missed.”

“Assuming it’s the same person.”

“True.”

“I think it might be a good idea to look into past cases and see who’s recently been released from jail who might have a grudge against you or me.”

Noah nodded. “After we were shot at, I asked the captain if he would have someone start looking into that.”

Surprised, Kit looked at him. “You did?”

“Yeah, sorry, forgot to mention it.” He looked away.

“So, has anyone found anything?”

“Nothing as of this afternoon. He promised to call if anyone came across something interesting.”

She studied him. “What are you not telling me, Noah?”

Rubbing a hand across his eyes, he said, “I’m wondering if I know who is doing this. Then again, it just doesn’t seem possible.”

Her brows reached for her hairline. “Care to share?”

Noah blew out a sigh. “I wanted to be sure before I said anything.”

For the first time since they’d been partners, she felt anger with him. Keeping her cool, she stated, “Well, one of us might not live that long, so why don’t you fill me in.”

“Of course, you have the right to know.” He stepped to the wall to watch Jake pry the bullet from its plaster coffin. “You remember what I told you about my former partner and how she died?”

“Yes.”

“Her husband wasn’t convinced I wasn’t to blame for Lisa’s death.”

“Ouch,” she sympathized. “Does he have a history of violence?”

“No. Nothing.”

“Then what makes you think it’s him?”

“I don’t know that it is. I just think we need to cover all of our bases, and he seems like a good place to start.”

She thought about that and asked, “What’s his name?”

“Skip Cooley.”

“Then let’s make him our first stop in the morning.”

“Sounds like a plan. So,” he looked around, “where are you sleeping tonight?”

Kit turned and scanned the mess in her kitchen. “I’ll pack a bag and head over to Dakota and Jamie’s. They’ll let me hang out with them tonight.” She gestured toward the window. “I guess I could tape it up and stay here, but that wouldn’t offer much security.”

Noah rubbed his nose. “Let’s do it to keep the bugs out.” He slapped at a thirsty mosquito as Kit found the necessary supplies to close the hole in her window until she could call the glass company. “About your security around here . . .”

She held up a hand to halt him before he got started. “I know, I know. But this is a rental. I refuse to put money into a security system when I plan to buy a house.”

“Then we need to go look.”

She sputtered. “We?”

“Sure. Why not? We’re going to be together day in and day out until we solve these murders. When you get a little time to look at a place, I’m probably going to be with you, so . . .”

She shook her head. “I don’t even have time to find anything to look at.”

“That’s where friends come in handy. I know a guy.”

Of course he did.