Gavin tried not to wince as the EMT wrapped the bandage around his shoulder tighter. Cutter, who had thankfully come trotting back from his pursuit looking none the worse for wear yet mightily displeased, gave a slight whine. The EMT repeated her recommendation that he get himself to the emergency room for a couple of stitches; he’d already declined their transport. Gavin nodded again, although he had no intention of doing so. He’d have Quinn do it before he’d subject himself to what an ER visit would bring down on him.
He would have avoided the medical response, too, if it had been up to him, but Katie had called them before he realized what she was doing, once they’d discovered it hadn’t been a branch or thorn but the assailant’s blade that had gotten his shoulder. When he had protested, she’d given him a look befitting the ice queen of her costume.
And that had, unexpectedly, warmed him rather than irritated or amused him. As did the way she was hovering now, watching. If the sight of his wound disturbed her, it didn’t show.
Or she’s more worried about you than disturbed by all the blood.
Again red flags snapped in his mind as if ripped by a gusty wind. Do not go there. Don’t even visit that territory.
He was surprised, but almost grateful for the distraction when a man in a dark suit and white shirt, sans tie, arrived in a unmarked vehicle that still screamed cop. A uniformed deputy had taken the basics, what little Gavin could provide, and he hadn’t expected any more than that.
“Heard it was you,” the tall, lean man said as Cutter greeted him effusively.
“Brett,” Gavin said as he shook hands with the detective he had come to like and admire in the days after he practically single-handedly toppled a sitting governor. “Didn’t expect you.”
“I was out and about anyway,” Brett Dunbar said. “Busy night for us, Halloween and all.”
“How’s Sloan?”
“Still the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“You’re a lucky man.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth he was remembering what Katie’s coworker had said that day. And his own agreement. I’d be a lucky man.
“Who’s the princess?” Dunbar asked, glancing over to where Katie was talking to the EMT. No doubt she was asking if there was a way to force him to go to the ER.
“Queen,” he corrected. “That, my friend, is the librarian.”
Dunbar blinked. Gavin thought of all the stereotypical jokes, but if the detective thought of any of them he had the grace not to voice them.
“Suits her” was all he said.
Indeed it does. “She had a party here tonight for kids, scary stories and a movie. It was a big hit, once she separated Spider-Man and Iron Man.”
Dunbar chuckled. “Impressive, given what she’s going through personally.”
She’s impressive, period. But he only nodded.
Dunbar turned back to face him. “Want to run through it again for me?”
In truth, he didn’t, but the detective had come all the way out here, and Gavin knew it was only because of him. An unsuccessful mugging was hardly worth his attention.
“I don’t have much,” he admitted ruefully. “Guy came out of the dark, wearing a full ski mask and waving that damned knife. Cutter went for one side, I went for the other. He nicked me as we went down.”
“Then he took off?”
Gavin nodded. “With Cutter after him. I would have followed, but...” He glanced over toward Katie. The thought that this had happened so close to her made him a bit queasy.
“Of course,” Dunbar agreed. “You couldn’t leave her alone out here. Too tempting a target.”
Tempting. Oh, yeah... Especially in that outfit that seems to highlight every luscious curve.
“—description?”
Belatedly he tuned in to Dunbar’s question. “Not much,” he admitted. “Just under six foot, I think. Medium build, jeans, light-color shoes, and a dark hoodie with a logo on it. The ski mask was black, with red trim. Fairly strong, but he didn’t handle the knife like a pro. More the slasher type. Sorry, but that’s about it.”
“That’s more than a lot of people get,” Dunbar said. “Any idea on the logo?”
“Long, horizontal, looked like the head of...something. With a point.”
“Seahawks logo, I’d guess,” Katie said as she came up to them. “They’re practically ubiquitous around here these days. I think half the population has one. Dad and I bought them for each other last Christmas.”
“Win a Super Bowl and people who never used to care start caring,” Dunbar said, smiling at her.
“Katie Moore, Brett Dunbar,” Gavin said by way of introduction.
“Really?” Katie sounded as surprised as he had been at the man’s presence. “Thank you for your help, Detective Dunbar. With this, and my father’s case.”
“Haven’t done much, but you’re welcome.”
“Do you think you could talk him—” she nodded at Gavin “—into being sensible and going to get stitches?”
Dunbar grinned. “I could try, but given that he knows my aversion to hospitals, he might doubt my sincerity.”
Katie threw up her hands. “Okay, I give up. But I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ if it gets infected or doesn’t heal right.”
“Duly noted,” Gavin said.
Cutter nudged her hand, and she stroked his head. “You’ve got more sense than the both of them, don’t you?” she asked the dog.
“He came back on his own?” Dunbar asked.
Gavin nodded. “Maybe the guy had a car down the hill.”
Dunbar looked thoughtful. “If he took off on the highway, cameras might have picked him up. Might not get much in the dark, but it’s worth a look.”
“I can put Ty on it and save your guys the time.”
“And get it faster,” Dunbar said, his mouth quirking. Then, seriously, he asked, “Connected?”
Gavin had been pondering that since it had happened. “Maybe.”
“Wait,” Katie said suddenly, obviously following their cryptic conversation. “I thought the guy just waited for somebody alone. Are you saying this attack wasn’t random? That he was after Gavin because of the case?”
Gavin shrugged. “At the risk of committing a logical fallacy, it has a tendency to be true.”
She stared at him. “Never mind the ‘post hoc, ergo’ stuff. This has happened to you before?”
“My presence does have a tendency to provoke things,” he said carefully.
“I’d guess,” Dunbar said, “it’s that annoying other tendency, that around you the truth seems to come out. I’m also guessing you don’t threaten easily.”
“I’m stubborn that way,” Gavin said with a grin.
“That way?” Katie said rather sourly. “I’m going to go lock up. Again.”
“All right,” Gavin said as she turned to go, not reacting to her tone. “Cutter?”
The dog instantly understood and was on his feet. He stuck close to Katie’s side as she walked back toward the library doors.
Dunbar looked at Gavin’s arm, his blood-soaked sleeve. Then he glanced at Katie, then back to Gavin.
“I assume you didn’t miss that bit of information she dropped,” Dunbar said.
“You mean that her father has a hoodie like that? No, I didn’t. And from what I’ve seen of him, he’s pretty fit and could still move that fast.”
Dunbar nodded slowly. “I’d hate for it to be true. She seems nice.”
“She is.”
“And smart.”
“She is.”
“And worried about you.”
That one stopped him for a moment before he said, “That goes back to her being nice.”
“Hmm.”
Gavin had noticed before that Brett Dunbar could say a great deal without speaking a word. He saw the man’s eyes flick toward the building, toward Katie and Cutter. Then back to him. And he didn’t like the speculation he saw in his expression. Not from a man who had experienced Cutter’s machinations firsthand.
And who had ended up with the woman who was indeed the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Don’t go there. Don’t even think about going there.
As he watched Katie secure her domain and turn with Cutter to come back, he had the crazy thought he should be saying that to the dog instead of constantly repeating it to himself.