Caught by You. Kris Rafferty

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СКАЧАТЬ you have to be checked out by a doctor. You could have internal injuries or something.” When he caught her glance of distain, he threw his hands up in the air. “What? I’m not a doctor.”

      “No, you’re a Fed.”

      “So, you don’t like Feds?”

      She pursed her lips. “I like Feds that tell me they are Feds before they try to get in my pants.”

      “If I’d told you, you never would have given me a second look. Despite what you might think, working for the FBI does not make me a chick magnet. They always think of their unpaid parking tickets when I want them to be thinking of me.” Her cheek kicked up with a smile, but she didn’t slow down. “Now you might be saying to yourself, but the FBI has nothing to do with parking tickets.”

      She glanced at him. “Is your punch line that you date only stupid women or women who illegally park?”

      He chuckled. “I’m a gentleman. I’d never say such a thing.”

      “Listen, it’s been fun, but, I got to go.” She scanned the street and sidewalk, and walked faster, clenching and unclenching her fists, drawing her thumbs across her rings, as if they irritated. Maybe they’d swelled so much, her rings were cutting off circulation. Her right hand had it the worst; split knuckles, red and purple bruising.

      “Patty, let’s have the EMTs look at your hand, at least. Okay? It looks really messed up.” He lifted it so he could get a better look. She winced, and pulled her hand from his grasp, then hid both hands in the pockets of her uniform’s apron.

      “I’m fine.” No. She was limping, and the growing bruise on her knee looked angry.

      “Did you fall?” He pointed to her knee.

      She shook her head. “I aimed poorly, and kneed Jim’s belt buckle during the fight. I think I pinched a nerve, but it’s fine.”

      “Fine.” He arched his brows, wondering if he should just shut up. Nope. “I think you need to rethink what fine means, because you’re never going to see a picture of a person in your shape listed under a definition of the word fine. But…if you say so.” He shook his head. “Fine or not, the sheriff is waiting for your statement. You shouldn’t have left the crime scene. Don’t you watch Law & Order?”

      She glanced at him, and he saw a return of her unease. “I wasn’t thinking.”

      She’d run from a crime scene and bought a ticket out of town. Seemed pretty clear-headed, if not premeditated to Vincent. “What about Rizzoli & Isles? Or CSI, or CSI New Orleans, or—”

      “Really?” She was out of breath from walking so fast. “Are you going to list all the television shows I haven’t seen?”

      “How could you not have seen them?”

      “No cable,” she mumbled, not slowing down.

      “Not even Netflix?”

      “No Internet. No computer. I’m a waitress in a small town. Tips aren’t that great.” If she was telling the truth, did that mean “the files” were in paper form? He found that hard to believe. Not in this data age, but no Internet? He found that hard to believe, too. She had to have them on a flash drive, tucked away in her apartment. “I have my iPhone, of course, but who wants to watch a show on a phone?”

      “Well, if you had watched those shows, you’d also know ignorance isn’t a defense. Most of the time, anyway. I think if you come quietly,” he said with a smile, “you know, not give me anymore of a hard time than you already have—”

      “What?” She gave him a flirty smile. “You pulling out the thumb screws already?”

      He laughed. “Just let the EMTs look at you. Don’t make this a big deal. And yeah, you must give a statement, or the sheriff will come looking for you. Come on.” He tilted his head in the direction of the diner. “They’re all back at the crime scene. Let’s go.”

      “I don’t want to.” She shuddered and kept up the fast pace. Her reaction read authentic. The diner upset her, and she was having a hard time processing. Now he felt like a jerk for forcing her to go back there, but he couldn’t risk her seeing the task force wire her street for video. Too much time and energy went into this operation. Vincent’s bleeding heart would have to go into storage.

      “Unfortunately,” he said, “it’s nonnegotiable.” Even his ears picked up the regret in his tone, probably because it was real. Yup. He was a jerk, but for a good cause.

      She stopped walking, glaring at him. “If I give my statement, will you leave me alone?”

      No. “Yes.” He indicated the road that would lead them back to the diner, and after a heavy sigh, Avery pivoted and walked in that direction. “Where’d you learn to throw a knife?” he said.

      That got her attention. Her annoyance fled, and her eyes widened as she covered the slice at her neck. When her fingers connected with the seeping injury, she winced a little. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. After Jim dropped the knife, I threw it. I didn’t want him using it on me again.”

      Bullshit, but informative. She sliced and diced Jim before throwing it at Eric. No one accidentally threw with that accuracy, or with the strength to pin a man’s hand to the stock of a shotgun. Her denial told him she was still invested in her role as Patty, and that meant she still thought there was a chance that Vincent was an unwitting dupe.

      “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you.” He was sorry. Guilty, too. He’d replay what happened in that diner for many years to come, looking to see how he could have done better, ended it quicker. Less dead.

      Avery glanced at him, her brows and pursed lips giving him some indication of her annoyance. “I protected myself. I didn’t need you.” Then she squared her shoulders and winced. Her limping grew more pronounced.

      “No,” he said. “You did not.”

      She stopped, putting her fists on her hips. “What exactly were you thinking, by the way? Putting your weapon on the floor when so many guns were in play? Yours was the only gun we had on our side, and you put it down.”

      He scoffed. “I didn’t put it down. I pretended to—”

      “Did you pretend to put our lives at their mercy, too? Because you did. Eric could have pulled the trigger at any moment.” She gave herself a little shake and then started walking again. Vincent couldn’t suppress a little annoyance at being called out like that.

      “I had a plan. It worked.”

      She scoffed. “They were a bunch of drug addicts. Addicts that had already killed a member of their own group, and… They’d killed Sam. You were going to comply, risking our lives in the hopes they’d be merciful.”

      She was working herself into a frenzy. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were flashing. Vincent found he preferred her mad rather than upset, and that made him smile. She noticed and narrowed her eyes, glaring at him.

      “I wasn’t going to put it down,” he said. “What I did is what we call in the biz a bait and switch.”

      She СКАЧАТЬ