Killer Country Reunion. Jenna Night

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СКАЧАТЬ didn’t just break her heart. He broke the heart of everyone in her family who had also loved him.

      The EMT trying to rescue Caroline pulled on her arm a little harder, said something to Zane and Zane finally let her go.

      She was hoisted up onto the boardwalk, wrapped in blankets and taken to an accommodating insurance broker’s office just a few feet away. The EMT explained that, after witnessing what had happened to Caroline and Zane, the owner had sent her employees home for the day and offered emergency personnel use of her office.

      Caroline sat in a chair near a heating vent while the paramedic took her vital signs. Zane walked in a few seconds later and dropped down into a chair across from her. He locked eyes with her, his mouth set in a worried frown.

      “Caroline, can you tell me what happened?” Sergeant Matt Barrow of the Cobalt Police Department—who’d joined the force just before Caroline’s father was killed in the line of duty—stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Zane.

      “Yes, but first—my mom and Dylan,” she said forcefully, finally loosening her jaw enough to speak clearly. She was still shivering, but not as violently. “You need to make sure my mom and nephew are safe.”

      “I thought of them the second I recognized you out there in the lake. There’s an officer on the phone with your mom right now. She’s going to keep talking to her until she gets to the house and sees for herself that your mom and nephew are okay.”

      Caroline released a deep sigh and finally allowed herself to feel a hint of relief.

      Matt grabbed an office chair, rolled it close to her and then sat down on it. Now she could see Zane again. He was keeping an eye on her while the EMT took his vitals. Zane raised his eyebrows slightly, his expression matching her own curiosity. Why was he here? How long had he been back in town? He must have the same questions about her.

      “Tell me everything that happened,” Matt said.

      Caroline turned her attention back to him and she described everything she could recall about the attack. “Did you catch either of them?” she asked when she was finished.

      He rubbed his hand over his bristly black hair. “Not yet.”

      “What’s this?” the paramedic asked. Now that he’d gotten her warmed up and determined her vital signs were okay, he’d started to check for injuries. He’d pulled back the blanket from the area around her shoulder and seen the rip in her jacket and blouse and the surrounding patch of blood on the fabric.

      “I think I got nicked by a bullet.”

      The paramedic reached into his supply bag for scissors, cut the clothes around her shoulder and got busy cleaning the wound. She could feel him working, but lingering numbness from the cold water blunted the pain.

      “Did either of the men say anything that would tell you the motive for the attack?” Matt asked.

      She shook her head.

      “Well, it didn’t involve robbery. We found your purse by the bench where you sat on the upper level. Your wallet and phone were still in it.”

      “The attack might be connected to the murder of her brother,” Zane said.

      Matt glanced at Zane, then turned back to Caroline.

      “I realize that’s the obvious assumption,” Caroline said quietly. “But I don’t know for sure.” Although her brother had been murdered in Seattle, the Cobalt PD had taken an active interest in the case, partly because Owen was a Cobalt resident. But also many of the officers on the force still remembered his father, Sergeant Henry Marsh. They still treated Caroline like family down at the police department even though her father had been killed seven years ago. And they were anxious to do everything they could to help find Owen’s killer.

      “I’m so sorry about Owen,” Zane said, his voice low and husky with emotion.

      Caroline didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Not right now. She’d had enough emotional meltdowns for the time being.

      Matt glanced at Zane again and then turned back to her with one eyebrow raised and his lips pursed together. “You two know each other?”

      “We used to,” Caroline answered, her voice as clipped as she could make it, hoping that Matt would drop this line of questioning.

      “Huh.” He nodded slightly, seeming to get the hint. “Can you think of anybody else who would want to come after you for any reason?” Matt asked. “You have any kind of feud going on? Do you owe anybody money? Anything like that?”

      “No.”

      The paramedic told her the bullet had torn off a layer of skin and underlying tissue, but that the bone beneath it seemed sound. He wanted her to go to the hospital to get X-rays just to be sure. When she told him she’d knocked her head against the boardwalk and felt strangely sleepy for a minute or two, he definitely wanted her to go and get a thorough check.

      Zane stood. “I’ll make the trip to the hospital with you. If the ER doctor releases you, I’ll see you home.”

      Oh no, he would not.

      “Can you walk okay?” Matt asked. “If you feel up to it, I’d like to get you in a patrol car and away from here as soon as possible. Those men who tried to kill you could be long gone. But they could also be repositioning themselves nearby to take another shot as soon as they can. From what you’ve described, they sound like hired professionals. If they don’t kill you they don’t get paid. They’re not going to give up easily.”

      While Matt was talking to Caroline, another uniformed officer walked in carrying a couple of blue nylon gym bags. He tossed one of the bags to Zane. “Temperature’s dropping fast. You shouldn’t be out walking around in wet clothes. I brought you a pair of jeans and a shirt from your locker at the station.” Then the officer walked over to Caroline and handed her the second bag. “Some of the women at the station donated clothes for you, too.”

      What was going on here?

      “Wait a minute,” Caroline said as Zane zipped open the bag and started pulling out clothes. “You have a locker at the police station?”

      He nodded. “I do.”

      “You can’t be a cop,” she said, confused.

      “It’s not my full-time job. I’ve got other commitments. But I am a reserve officer. Mostly called out for search and rescue.”

      Caroline held up her hand for him to stop talking. The conversation was moving way too fast and there were too many gaps in the information she was getting. She needed a second to make sense of it all. “Are you saying you’ve been back in town for a while?”

      “About a year.”

      “A year?” Caroline and her mom had moved back to town a month ago. And nobody had thought to mention that Zane Coleman was back in Cobalt?

      Matt caught her attention and gestured at her to hurry up and open the gym bag.

      Trying to collect her thoughts, she slowly pulled out a gray sweatshirt and gray sweatpants. Then she СКАЧАТЬ