Page 139 of The Last Close Call

Joy sank to the floor and pulled her knees to her chest. A siren sounded in the distance. It drew closer and closer and was joined by another. She felt numb. Cold. Detached.

She pressed her forehead to her knees and waited.

THIRTY-ONE

The normally sleepy Sage County Sheriff’s Office was a hive of activity. Jack sat in front of a borrowed computer and watched the deputies rushing back and forth as they pieced together the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Brett Leary.

Joy had given a brief statement at the scene, but when deputies attempted to interview her again at the hospital, she’d wisely declined and called a lawyer.

“Do you think they believe her?”

Jack glanced up at Bryan, who leaned on the wall of Jack’s borrowed cubicle. Bryan had shown up here after Jack called him with the news of what had happened. It wasn’t their jurisdiction, but his partner had come anyway.

“Who?” Jack asked.

“Joy Kendall. Do you think they question her self-defense story?”

“What’s to question? She’s got a ring of bruises around her neck. He attacked her in her bed.”

“No, I know that,” Bryan said. “I’m just having a hard time picturing it, and I bet they are, too. I mean, the guy’s a pastor.”

“Yeah, well. Not all predators show up in a ski mask.”

Jack scanned his report one last time and then saved it. He logged out and pushed back his chair.

“I’m out.” He stood and grabbed his keys.

“You don’t want to talk to the sheriff after he wraps up in there?”

Jack glanced at the closed office door. The sheriff had been meeting with the county prosecutor for the last half hour, probably trying to figure out how to message this.

“No.” Jack checked his watch. “I need to get home.”

“I think I’ll hang around,” Bryan said, “see what details I can scoop up.”

“Keep me posted.”

“I will.”

Jack nodded and walked out, aware of people watching him as he stepped from the bullpen into the empty lobby.

Almost empty.

Rowan sat alone in a chair near the door, and Jack felt a rush of alarm as she glanced up from her phone.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

She dropped her phone in her purse and stood up. “Waiting for you.”

“I thought you got a ride with Lila?”

“Turns out, she’s working tonight.” Rowan shrugged. “So, I decided just to wait.”

Jack stepped closer, filled with both worry and relief. She looked almost as shell-shocked as she had back at the inn when the parking lot had been packed with emergency vehicles. After coming to the sheriff’s office and giving a statement, she had told Jack she was getting a ride home. He’d been racing to wrap up his paperwork so he could go see her, and now she was standing right in front of him.

He took her hand. “Come on.”

He ushered her out of the office into the cold night air. It was almost one a.m., and he couldn’t remember when he’d felt more drained. It had been a marathon day. A marathon week.

---