“You were going to do the same thing here, weren’t you?”
She nodded silently.
“And leave me?”
She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with tears. “I wasn’t counting on you, Derick.”
His hands tightened around her waist. “Now what?”
She sighed, closing her eyes. “I have to go,” she told him. “I won’t put you in danger.”
He stared at her for a long moment. Then she heard a strange rumbling coming from his chest. Laughter? At a moment like this? Was he seriously laughing?
Yes. He threw back his head, laughing outrageously at her statement, shaking his head. When he’d regained control, he opened his mouth to say something but shook his head and kissed her gently. “Honey, I think you need to get to know me a bit better. But first, we’re going to the police station.”
“No!” she gasped.
Derick cocked a dark eyebrow. “No? Why not?”
“They won’t do anything about John. They won’t believe me.”
He shook his head. “I know the local sheriff. Trust me, he’ll believe you.”
Carrie took his arm, pulling his hand away from the steering wheel. “Derick, I just…” she paused.
Derick understood and leaned forward, kissing her tenderly. It wasn’t a sexual kiss. This was a kiss of promise. When he lifted his head, he cupped her chin and looked into her eyes. “It’s not just the sheriff, honey. It’s also my team. Abby and Lexie suspected what had happened to you. My boss, General Kelley, has already ordered you to be protected.”
“No!” she gasped. “You don’t understand! John, he knows things! He knows how to get around people who are looking for him! It’s too dangerous.”
He chuckled again. “Jo…Carrie, I’m a U.S. Army Delta Force team member.” He waited for his words to sink in. “I’m special forces. Finding people, eliminating threats…that’s what we do. That’s my job. It’s what I train for.” He leaned forward and gave her another hard kiss. “It’s what I live for.”
She felt a rush of…hope?
“Fine!” she replied finally. “But if I’m talking to the sheriff, then I need to get something back at my house.”
He shook his head. “You’re not going back there. Not until this threat is gone.”
She smiled up at him, her heart melting for this big, wonderful man. “I appreciate that. But in order to convince the sheriff, I need an envelope. It’s in my bedroom in a duffel bag in the corner.”
Derick lifted his phone up and dialed a number, telling whoever answered about the envelope. “Yep. If you can get that and meet us at the sheriff’s office, that would be a big help.”
The other person must have agreed, because Derick ended the call with a nod, then slid the phone back into his pocket and started up the engine. “We’re set. We’ll meet Mike at the sheriff’s office. He’ll be there only a few minutes after us.”
Fifteen minutes later, Derick walked into the sheriff’s office, a hand on Carrie’s back. She wasn’t sure if he was offering support or comfort. Probably both.
“Hey Richard,” Derick called out. “I need your help with something,” he said to the sheriff who was standing next to someone’s desk.
“Sure,” the guy replied. “Come on back to my office.”
Derick went through the security door and they wove through the desks toward the back of the building.
Richard held the door for both of them, but when they were in his office, he closed the door. “I’m guessing this isn’t a social visit.”
Derick shook his head. “Not social. And Mike is on his way with something, not sure what. But Carrie needs your help.”
The sheriff sat down behind his desk, folded his hands, and looked at her. “What’s the problem?”
Carrie took a breath and, slowly, started to explain. Step by humiliating step, she explained what John had done to her. Right up to the point where she’d seen the daisies on her front porch this morning.
“I have no idea how he found me, but I know he’s here.”
The sheriff didn’t react until the end of her story. Slowly, he sat back in his chair, and sighed. “That’s a pretty bad story. Unfortunately, I can get the guy for trespassing, but I’m not sure a judge would do anything. So far, he hasn’t violated any laws.”
At that point, there was a knock on the door. Derick glanced at the sheriff. “That’s probably Mike.”
“Come on in!” the sheriff called out.
The door opened and Carrie’s eyes widened as a stranger, this one almost as big as Derick, stepped into the office. “Derick asked me to bring this to you,” he said softly. But instead of leaving, the big guy handed her the envelope, then stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest and waited.
Carrie’s fingers trembled as she took the envelope. “I carry these as…” she paused. Taking another breath, she shook her head as she handed the envelope to the sheriff. “Well, take a look. Will these help convince the judge to…?”
“What is it?” Richard asked, taking the envelope, which was obviously well worn and wrinkled. He lifted the flap and peeked inside before pulling out the pictures. “Dear God!” he breathed.
Mike’s arms dropped and he moved over to look at the pictures. Derick stood as well, moving around to the other side of the sheriff’s desk. “Holy Mother…!” Mike hissed. He looked at the pictures, then at Carrie and back again. “Tell me that’s not you,” he said.
Carrie nodded, lowering her lashes. “Yes. That’s me.”
“He did this to you?” Derick demanded, staring at her, his voice was low and soft. Then he came around to kneel in front of her, taking her hands. “Honey, did he really do that to you?”
The pictures showed a woman whose eyes were swollen shut and her jaw was clearly broken. In fact, her entire face was purple from that beating. Her arm was broken and both legs, plus several ribs which couldn’t be seen on the photo because of the hospital gown. But it was all documented in the medical report that was also in the envelope.
“Why is this guy not in prison for attempted murder?” the sheriff demanded. “No judge would let something like this slide!”
Carrie pulled one hand from Derick’s reassuring grasp, wiping an errant tear away. “He’s a police officer. A detective, actually.”
There was a stunned silence. All three men stared at Carrie, then back at the pictures.
“Still…” the sheriff argued. “This is brutal!”
She smiled as if trying to laugh off the seriousness of the beating. “He plays poker with the judge and police chief. John told the doctors that I fell down the stairs.”
They all stared at her as if she’d said something that didn’t make sense. And in reality, every police officer and medical doctor knew the difference between a fall and a beating. These pictures clearly showed a beating!
“I’m going to kill him,” Derick muttered, practically breathing smoke.
Chapter 14
In the end, Mike held Derick back until he was calm again. It helped that Mike got a call from one of the team members. General Kelly had assigned several team members to set up a perimeter around Carrie’s house. One of the team members had spotted Detective John Mingram of the Minneapolis Police Department hiding in a tree behind Carrie’s house. Since the land was technically part of the Army base, although not many people knew that, it was more of a buffer area, the fence of the actual base being about a mile west of that spot, but the trespassing charge was the first offense tacked onto the man’s list of crimes. The team member snapped several photos of John, who was taking pictures of Carrie’s house. So stalking was added to the list as well.