But despite the agony of the what ifs, he kept running. He ran fast and furiously through those woods with his gun drawn and ready. With his heart hammering.
Although he still didn’t hear another gunshot, he suddenly heard the sound of a car engine cranking up deeper into the woods. As soon as he heard it, he ran even faster. He ran so fast, getting whipped by the powerfully thick brush, that it felt as if he was running through an obstacle course. He had to lift his feet higher and higher as he ran nearly blind through the darkness and the thickets. But he kept running.
By the time he made it to where he thought he heard that car cranking up, he saw a car speeding off. The lighting from the complex was poor, but it did give the car a reddish tint, but he couldn’t be sure. It was gone so quickly that he couldn’t swear to any details.
And he didn’t waste time trying to either. Charly was alone in that apartment. She was still at the crime scene. He ran back to Charly.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It looked to Charly as if the entire police department was at her complex. And even though their chief had an investigation to oversee, he was sitting on the sofa right next to her. And seemingly to the shock of each and every one of his men who walked through that door, he kept his arm protectively around her waist as if he was making some statement. That she was now his, maybe? Or just that they were friends. She couldn’t say. But whatever it was, she needed it.
She was still shaken. So shaken that Boone could feel that she was still trembling. Anytime she heard a loud noise, or something fell, or somebody suddenly laughed out loud, she jumped. She was not okay. She was a long way from okay. And his heart ached for her. When would this woman get a break, he wondered? When was all of this upheaval supposed to end for her? But he was mostly concerned about why in the world would somebody try to kill her?
Although Charly had that question paramount on her mind, too, she had a different question on her mind as well. “How did you know to come over here?” she asked him.
Boone exhaled, and although he didn’t realize it, he leaned her closer against him. “I didn’t know,” he said. “I just felt something was wrong.”
Charly looked at him. “You felt it? What do you mean you felt it?”
“I felt it. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think straight. I felt something was wrong. So I came on over.”
He looked at her when he realized she was staring at him. Both of them knew how odd what he had said sounded. Both of them knew how absolutely right what he said sounded too.
They both looked away.
Morley and Dontay were the two detectives Boone had assigned to the case. They both came over and sat on the coffee table in front of their chief and his friend, and they both felt uncomfortable as they could feel.
Especially Dontay. The idea that their hard-edged boss would be showing any kind of affection toward anybody was amazing to him. But to show it toward a black woman was almost shocking to him. Chief Ryan had a reputation that didn’t jive with what Dontay was seeing. To the black community of Hemingway, their chief wasn’t what they would call friendly by any stretch of the imagination. But since their chief wasn’t friendly toward anybody, Dontay never took it personally.
Morley, who knew Boone far longer than Dontay, was also surprised by Boone’s show of affection toward Dean Johnson. She was pretty, he’d give her that, and Morley knew Boone dated all kinds of ladies in his past, including black ones. But he’d never known him to make any public display of affection toward any of them. That was the shocker.
But as the evidence technicians did their jobs, and as other cops canvassed the complex in search of witnesses, Morley and Dontay had a job to do too. And they, albeit awkwardly, got on with it.
“We hate to have to ask you these questions, ma’am,” Dontay said, “ but we need to know who you believe might have attempted to do you harm tonight.”
But Charly was shaking her head. “Nobody,” she said. “I can’t imagine anybody.”
“Everybody has enemies,” Morley said. “Are you telling us you don’t?”
Dontay was surprised by his partner’s brashness, but that was Morley. And Chief Ryan didn’t seem to mind him aggressively doing his job.
“I can’t think of any enemy that would want me dead, that’s correct,” Charly said. She had one, Meeker Tabloski, the man she testified against after he killed her husband, but that was it. And he died in prison.
“But what about when you were run off the road,” Dontay said. “Wouldn’t that person qualify as your enemy?”
“But those were just kids,” Charly said. “Those were just kids out on a joy ride.”
“What makes you so certain of that?” Dontay asked.
Charly looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“He means,” Boone said, “that you have no way of knowing if it were kids having fun, or kids being paid to harm you.”
Charly frowned. “But why?” she asked.
“Maybe that guy, the one you testified against, has a family,” said Boone.
“What guy you testified against?” asked Dontay.
Morley looked at Dontay. “What is that your business?” he asked him.
“Perfectly legitimate question,” Boone said, defending Dontay. “Dean Johnson’s husband was killed by a mob hitman. She testified in court against him. He later died in prison.”
“But he might have family members out for revenge,” Dontay said, understanding now.
Boone nodded. “Right.”
“Or the mob,” said Morley. “If he was their hitman.”
“But that all happened over three years ago,” said Charly. “Why would they all of a sudden want revenge when I move to Kentucky, when they didn’t want it while I was still in L.A.?”
Morley and Dontay knew it made no sense, either, but it was all they had.
Charly rubbed her forehead. Their questions were good questions, but it was all so distressing. The mob was suddenly after her? Or Tabloski’s family members? It was crazy to her.
But Boone could see her distress. “Let’s wrap it up, guys,” he said to his men. “Dean Johnson will be available for further questioning another time.”
That wasn’t satisfactory to either Morley or Dontay, but they knew they didn’t have a vote in the matter. They stood up, and walked away.
Boone stood up, too, and reached his hand out to Charly. “Let’s get you out of here,” he said to her.
Charly rose. She knew she couldn’t stay there tonight. That was for certain. But she didn’t exactly have money to burn on a hotel either. But she had no choice. “What about all of these shattered windows?” she asked.
“I’ve got a guy on his way now to repair them all. Don’t worry. A couple of my guys will stay here until this place is secured. You’re just not staying here.”
Charly would normally find his domineering style off-putting, but not that time. She was so shaken that having a man like Boone Ryan around was comforting to her. No medicine, she felt, could relax her more than he did. “I’ll grab a few things,” she said, and walked away toward her bedroom.
Boone watched her walk away. He could feel her anguish all over his own body, just like he felt she was in trouble even before she was. And he couldn’t figure it out. What was it about that woman, he thought, that haunted him so? He just couldn’t figure it out.