The Defender. Cara Summers

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СКАЧАТЬ was something odd about this one,” the woman continued.

      “What?” Sadie asked.

      “Very few guests. Usually, the cars fill that little parking lot behind the church, guests hang out on the front steps before the ceremony and they cover the front steps with a long white cloth—to protect the bride’s dress, I guess—and the bride arrives in one of those big stretch limousines. But not tonight. I saw her come in a taxi with a little blond woman and I think the wedding dress was in the bag the blond was carrying.”

      Juliana had arrived in a taxi with a blond woman. The woman she’d seen get into the taxi had been carrying a dress bag. Sadie felt a little stab of guilt. She had no idea who the woman was, no idea who any of her sister’s friends were.

      “A young man had arrived a bit before that with a big bruiser of a fellow. Figured one of them had to be the groom until the other man arrived. Handsome as sin, that one. I was thinking the bride was one lucky gal if she was tying the knot with him. He looked a bit familiar, too, but I couldn’t place him. I will, though. It will come to me when I’m not expecting it. After the handsome one went inside, I went downstairs to catch Wheel of Fortune.”

      As “Annie” continued to talk, Sadie glanced at the front of the church. Nothing was happening. She started forward again.

      “Figured it must be one of those hush-hush affairs,” Annie was saying. “Maybe a pair of celebrities or something like that. Whatever it was, someone got wind of it and put a stop to it. I just hope that it wasn’t Father Mike who got killed. Of course, I wouldn’t want it to be the bride or the groom, either.”

      Sadie turned back to the tiny woman. “Someone got killed?”

      “I heard the cops talking a few minutes ago. I’ve got pretty good ears.” She leaned close to Sadie and spoke in a tone only she could hear. “They said one dead and two injured. Someone in there definitely bought it.”

      Not Roman. Sadie glanced back at the church doors. Please, not Roman. “I have to get in there.” She lifted the tape.

      Annie laid a hand on her arm. “They won’t let you past this point.”

      “But I have to—” She broke off when a young uniformed officer blocked her path.

      “Miss, I have to ask you to lower the tape and step back from it,” the officer said.

      “You don’t understand. I was here earlier,” she said. “I need to talk to someone who’s in charge.”

      An older man in his late forties moved toward them. “Problem, Jerry?”

      “She wants to talk to someone who’s in charge.”

      The older man turned to Sadie. He was on the short side but he had a solid, muscular build and eyes that gave away nothing. “Right now, that would be Officer Carter here and me, and our orders are to keep everyone out. The only people allowed in the church are the crime-scene team and the medics.”

      “You don’t—” Sadie began. But she stopped when the doors of the church opened and two medics carried out a stretcher.

      “Oh, thank heavens,” Annie said. “That’s Father Mike. I was so worried about him.”

      “How do you know he’s alive?” Sadie asked, unable to tear her gaze away from the stretcher.

      “They’re putting him in the ambulance,” Annie explained. “The coroner’s van will pick up the dead one.”

      Sadie’s stomach clenched. Was that why they hadn’t brought Roman out yet? She was about to step forward again, when the doors opened and another stretcher emerged. Relief streamed through her when she saw that it was Roman.

      “They’re taking special care of him,” Annie commented. “They’re using what looks like a back brace. And see how they’ve got his neck protected?”

      Sadie did see and her stomach sank. “How do you know all this?”

      “I watch a lot of TV and there’s all those crime shows. Beats watching that junk they call reality TV.”

      As soon as they’d loaded Roman’s stretcher into the ambulance, a uniformed policeman climbed in behind him and another one climbed in the passenger seat.

      “They’re sending cops with him,” Annie said. “They didn’t send any with Father Mike.”

      No, they hadn’t, Sadie thought. The fact that two policemen were accompanying her brother wasn’t a good sign.

      “He must have been involved in the shootings,” Annie echoed Sadie’s thoughts.

      As Sadie reached to lift the tape again, she recalled Roman’s words—“…shot…Paulo.” If he had, he hadn’t killed him. The moment she closed her hand around the tape, Officer Carter said, “Ma’am, you have to step back.”

      “But that’s my—”

      Sadie found herself gripped firmly by the arms. “You have to stay here,” Carter said. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to take you into custody and put you in one of the patrol cars.”

      Sadie could see in his eyes that he meant it. And beyond his shoulder, she could see the first ambulance pulling away from the curb.

      “Jerry?” the older officer called.

      Jerry turned his head. “Uh-oh.”

      Sadie followed the direction of his gaze to where a truck with Channel Five painted on the side had pulled up to one of the patrol cars blocking the intersection. Both Carter and his partner moved quickly toward the truck as an attractive woman climbed out.

      “Good heavens,” Annie said. “That’s Carla Mitchell from Channel Five News.”

      As the elderly woman hurried toward the TV truck, Sadie moved through the crowd in the opposite direction. She’d just go down to the middle of the block, cross the street and circle back. She had to get to that ambulance.

      She’d reached the edge of the crowd when Roman’s ambulance pulled away from the curb. Sadie broke into a run. If she could just beat it to the corner…

      As she sprinted toward the intersection, she thanked her lucky stars for her practical shoes. Dowdy they might be, but at least she could run in them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ambulance increase speed. It was gaining on her as she reached the corner. Without stopping, without thinking, she careened into the intersection, waving her arms.

      The siren sounded once, but when Sadie didn’t move, it pulled to a stop. The officer in the passenger seat rolled down the window. “Lady, get out of our way.”

      Panting, she moved quickly to the side of the ambulance and placed her palms flat against the door. “You’ve got my brother in there. I want to ride along to the hospital.”

      “That’s not possible,” the officer said. “He’s a suspect in a possible homicide.”

      Homicide? Sadie’s heart lurched. “At least tell me where you’re taking him. He’s my brother.”

      The СКАЧАТЬ