Someone screamed. Lillo’s ears were ringing, and she turned, aware of Ian flying past her, diving for the man whose arm was still outstretched. They stumbled back, and a second man pulled his pistol and hit Ian across the head. Ian dropped like a stone.
She was already running when she heard her name. Allie was kneeling over Mac, her face contorted, fear in her eyes. “Lillo!”
Lillo pushed her out of the way. “Call the EMTs. The sheriff. Doc Clancy and Ned are at the clinic.”
She knelt over her old friend. Mac looked stunned, and was mumbling obscenities. Blood was pulsing out of her left sleeve.
Lillo found the seam and tore the fabric away. She knew immediately what she was looking at.
It was all happening again.
She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. Folded her hands and pressed them into the wound.
Mac let out a howl.
“Sorry,” Lillo cried. “I’m sorry.” Mac would never last until Clancy or Ned got there.
She looked wildly around. “Jess, get my kit from the spare room. Oh shit. I gave it away. Oh my God! I gave it away.”
Think. She had to think. She was applying pressure to the wound. She’d done it automatically, without thinking, but it wasn’t enough, her hands were already covered in Mac’s blood.
“No, you didn’t. I hid it in the closet.” Jess took off at a run.
Mac’s eyes closed. Lillo couldn’t let go in order to feel for a pulse. “Mac, can you hear me? Mac, respond, dammit! Stay with me.”
She was barely aware of things around her, she was totally focused on Mac, keeping constant pressure on the wound while she waited a lifetime for Jess to return with her kit.
And Lillo prayed. Prayed that she could stop the bleeding, that Mac would hold on until a doctor arrived, the EMTs or Clancy or Ned—that she wouldn’t have another death on her hands.
She knew stuff was happening behind her but she was in a bubble that held just her and Mac and a million fears.
Jess returned with the kit. Lillo gave her directions; she hardly knew what she said. She was on automatic now.
A crowd was gathering, she could hear the hum of their voices asking what had happened, but she couldn’t turn around to see, not even for a second, a second could mean the difference between living or dying.
She heard a screech rise over the other voices, then the voices getting angrier.
And Lillo just kept praying, Please, please, please.
It took Diana a lifetime to react. It was crazy. The goon shooting Mac. Ian flying past her to attack the man. He was lying still on the ground. He was crazy, risking his life . . . again; he’d already risked it once that afternoon.
People were running down the hill from town. All hell was breaking loose. Sonny grabbed the man who’d shot Mac and threw him against the hood of his SUV.
“Don’t move.” He yanked his head back and slammed him against the car a second time. His colleagues moved as one, but Howie and Nando were there to stop them.
Mr. Parker stood on the fringe, demanding that someone call the authorities.
“You’re in luck, mister,” Howie said. “The sheriff just happens to be in town helping us look for a missing boy. Mighty convenient. He’s on his way over.”
Ian pushed to his hands and knees, propelled himself to his feet, swayed, then staggered in Mac’s direction.
Diana caught him as he stumbled by. “Lillo’s working on her. Are you hurt?” Stupid question. “Are you okay? Maybe you should sit down.”
He didn’t seem to hear her.
“Ian! Look at me!”
His eyes were unfocused, deep and as unreadable as a black hole.
They all heard the siren approaching. It split the air as the sheriff’s car entered the parking lot and screeched to a stop. The sheriff jumped out.
Clancy and Ned jumped out of the back seat and ran to Mac and Lillo.
“Stop that man!” George Parker screamed, pointing to Ian. “He attacked one of my men.”
The flaming asshat.
“Because your thug shot an old lady,” Sonny said.
“It was self-defense. She was coming after him with a shotgun.”
“Bullshit. There ain’t no shotgun.”
Diana pulled her gaze away from Ian long enough to look toward where Doc, Clancy, and Lillo were kneeling over Mac. Craned her neck to get a better view. She didn’t see the shotgun.
“Did anybody see any shotgun?” Sonny asked.
“I didn’t see no shotgun,” Howie said.
“Didn’t see any kind of gun, ’cept what you folks are carryin’ concealed,” Sonny added.
The sheriff strode up to Parker. He was a good six two and at least two hundred and fifty pounds; he looked from Parker to Mac, lying white as ash on the pavement. And Diana’s stomach rebelled. God, please don’t let her be dead.
“This is a fishing village. We don’t take to handguns around here. Causes too much domestic vi-o-lence. Ayuh.”
“That’s right,” Sonny said. “Arrest these jokers, Sheriff. They were here last week causing a disruption, and now they’ve gone and shot Mac. I had my son go to the trouble of confiscating his weapon for you, Sheriff.”
Parker brushed past him. “She had a shotgun and she was aiming at us.”
The sheriff grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him. “You just go stand over there out of the way until my deputy arrives. Then you can tell her why she shouldn’t arrest all of ya.”
“Let go of my men. We’re leaving. You have no right to keep us.”
“Name?”
“What?”
“What is your name?”
“George D. Parker. This is my daughter, who has been kidnapped.”
The sheriff looked over at Jess. “Seems I heard something about that.” He motioned her over. “Have you been kidnapped?”
“No, sir. It’s just the ravings of a greedy old man.”
“Old? Who the hell are you calling old, you ungrateful—”
“Well, if that’s how you’re in the habit of treating your own flesh and blood, no wonder she ran away. Miss Parker, are you over eighteen?”
“I’m thirty-two.”
“Then I say she has a right to go where she wants.” He turned back to Parker. “Why don’t you go stand over there until I sort things out here? And Mr. Parker . . . ? Open your jacket, please.”
“What?”
“You aren’t carrying, are you?”
“I certainly am not.”
“He has goons to do it for him,” Jess said.
“Yes, Miss Parker. Why don’t you come stand over here with the rest of us.”
“They all have permits,” Parker argued.
“But not,” the sheriff said, “to shoot unarmed ladies.”
“She was armed.”
“That little old woman you just tried to kill? Hogwash. Lillo? How’s she doing?”
Lillo didn’t answer, but Diana—and she suspected everyone else—turned to see what was happening. Lillo was still kneeling by Mac. Doc and Clancy were standing over them. Why weren’t they doing anything? Cold dread overtook her. Because they couldn’t? Was it too late? Mac couldn’t be dead.
Diana moved involuntarily toward them. Didn’t stop until she reached the little group. She came to stand next to Ian, but her whole focus was on Mac, willing things to turn out good.
Lillo was still applying pressure to the wound as she wrapped gauze around Mac’s upper arm.
It seemed like blood was everywhere. Lillo was so intense that Diana began to be afraid.
Lillo wrapped and pulled the gauze tighter, all the while keeping Mac’s arm lifted in the air. “Take over,” she pleaded.
“You’re doing fine,” Doc said.
“Fine,” Doc Clancy added, but Diana could tell he was dying to attend to Mac himself.
They must trust Lillo. Or they wouldn’t stand by with Mac close to death. Because it certainly looked like she might be. Diana had never seen anyone so devoid of color. She sure as hell hoped this wasn’t one of those therapy-for-Lillo moments. Not with Mac’s life hanging in the balance. Surely, if Mac was still in danger, or Lillo wasn’t up to the job, they would take over.
But they just stayed there, huddled over the two women; Doc Clancy’s hands braced on his knees, Doc Hartley crouched just behind Lillo’s shoulder.
Diana could hear Lillo breathing. Each breath sounded like a sob.
Jess came up beside her. “Is she going to be okay?”
“I don’t have the faintest.”
“I’ll never—”
“It’s not your fault; don’t even go there. It’s your father’s fault for bringing those assholes. But not yours and not Lillo’s if Mac doesn’t make it. Too much guilt floating around here today. It doesn’t help.”
“You’re right. And I didn’t think about Lillo.” Jess covered her mouth with both hands. “I just assumed Mac would be okay.”
Ian had gone to stand behind the two doctors, and Diana wondered why this town, so small and forgotten in the back of beyond, was so lucky to have three doctors like these men, even part-time.
Clancy stood, looked at Ian, then reached into Lillo’s bag, pulled out an ice pack, and slapped it open. He handed it to Ian. “No arguments.”
Ian raised it to the back of his head and winced.
The sheriff strode up to them. “Can she be moved? Thought maybe we could put her in my cruiser and meet the EMTs halfway.”
Clancy nodded. Lillo finished wrapping the bandage and Clancy took over holding Mac’s injured arm. The sheriff scooped up Mac like she was Sleeping Beauty. Clancy held her arm over her head and they walked slowly to the police car. Sonny was there to open the door, they got Mac in the back seat, and Clancy climbed in beside her.
Lillo stood. Turned. She was covered in blood, and Diana gagged at the sight. A few deep breaths set her to rights. Lillo stepped toward the police car as if she meant to go with them, but Doc stopped her. She turned around, looked up at him, and let out a sound like a drowning man gasping for air.
It was heartbreaking and bone-chilling and Doc wrapped his arms around her; held her tight while she stood stiff as a board. Inanimate. Until finally her body sagged, melted against him, and she began to cry.
“Shit,” Allie said. Diana and Jess looked at her in surprise. “That was intense.”
“It was,” Diana agreed.
“She’s going to be okay,” Jess said. “Thank God.”
“Well, don’t relax yet.”
Just then, two more cruisers arrived. A woman, who must be the deputy, got out of the first cruiser, followed closely by two men from the second car. They rounded up Parker’s goons and escorted them to the two police cars. The deputy stopped at Jess’s father.
“I demand to speak to my lawyer,” Parker was saying.
“You’ll have plenty of time at the station.”
“You’re making a big mistake,” he said as she led him away.
“Not as big as the one you just made,” Jess said, and hurried toward the police.
Diana made a feeble grab for her, but didn’t really try to stop her. If Jess wanted to finish off the cretin who was her father, fine. And if she caved one more time, better to do it here and now, get it over with, and admit once and for all that she would never be free.
“Get out of my sight, I never want to see or hear from you again.”
Parker laughed. “Fine.”
“You don’t need anybody, do you? Well, good for you, you won’t be disappointed. I, on the other hand, plan to surround myself with good people who care about others and who stick up for what they believe, whose lives aren’t consumed with rampant greed and acquisition, but who want to make the world a better place.”
He snorted. Diana wanted to deck him where he stood.
“Think what you want of me or don’t think about me at all,” Jess said. “I no longer care. Oh, there’s just one more thing. I know you have a habit of destroying your enemies, but don’t even think about coming after my friends or this town, because if you do, I’ll finish you.”
Jess spun away from him. Found Diana. Took measured steps toward her, but she looked stunned. Diana wanted to run and hug her, but she resisted. The last steps would be the hardest and Jess needed to make them herself. So Diana waited for her to reach her.
They watched until the police drove away, then Diana grinned. “You just made my day.”
Allie joined them and gave Jess a hug. “You were awesome, Jess. But could you really finish him?”
“Well, I could help.” Jess shrugged. “I’ve been around him long enough to at least know where some of the bodies are buried. And if it ever comes to it, I’d be happy to testify against him.”
“For someone so nice, you are one scary lady.”
Jess smiled. “I think maybe I’m done with letting people walk all over me.” She nodded as if agreeing with herself. “In fact, I’m sure I’m done. Now, did Clancy say anything about Mac’s condition before he left?”
“Yep. She’s stabilized. Lillo did something about the artery and stopped the blood loss. But she’ll probably have to stay in the hospital a few days. And we’re supposed to leave on Sunday.”
Two days, Diana thought. So little time, and a shitload to do. But she needed to get back to work and Allie needed to go home.
She looked around. Ian was gone. Vanished. While the final scene played out, he’d taken the opportunity to slip away.
“Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. But right now, there’s something else I have to do.” She struck off across the parking lot.
“Where are you going?”
“To see a man about a horse.”