Page 69 of Jina

“No.” It was clearly a lie as she had cuts on her arms and a whopper of a bruise darkening the skin around her left eye. “Duncan is really Jaxon, an old friend of mine.”

“He is?” When they were fifty yards past the minivan, he pulled over to the side of the road, threw the car into park, and reached for his phone. “Rhy? I have Jina, and she’s okay. Perp is armed and seeking refuge within the damaged minivan.”

“I see it. Thanks for the intel.” Rhy’s voice was remarkably calm. Cole had to give the guy credit for keeping a cool head in the face of an emergency. “Zeke and Cassidy are here too. We’ve got this. Sit tight with Jina.”

“Roger that.” He ended the call, filled with relief that the nightmare was almost over.

“No, we can’t sit here. I want to help.” Jina pushed at her door, as if forgetting that it was still locked. “We need to back them up.”

“Hold on, where’s your weapon?” He lightly grabbed her wrist, but she recoiled so badly he abruptly let her go. Whatever had transpired in the car with Duncan had messed with her mind. “Take a breath and think. What can you do?”

She lowered her chin to her chest, taking several deep, ragged breaths. Then nodded. “You’re right. I need a gun.” She looked him dead in the eye. “Give me yours.”

Okay, that was not what he’d wanted to hear. “You’ve been in a crash. You’re not thinking clearly. Let Rhy and your teammates handle this.”

“Are you going to loan me your gun or not?” she demanded.

There was no point in arguing. He unholstered his weapon and handed it to her butt first. “Fine, I’m coming with you.”

She gave a jerky nod and unlocked the door. She slid out of the car, moving more slowly than usual, which gave him time to go around the front to join her.

“Lean on me.” He wrapped an arm around her waist.

“I’m fine. We can’t let him get away.” As if imagining that fate, she appeared stronger and more determined. They quickly crossed the grassy area to look down into the gully. “He’s going to make a run for it.”

She’d no sooner spoken the words when a dark figure popped up from behind the wreck and turned toward them. Even from here, Cole could see the gun in Duncan’s hand.

“Don’t move!” Jina shouted. “Drop it!”

Duncan didn’t listen. He lifted the weapon toward Jina. She fired two shots in rapid succession, striking Duncan center mass.

He dropped like a rock. Cole arched a brow at Jina. “That’s some good shooting considering you’re using a strange gun.”

She shrugged, then moved toward the fallen man. Rhy, Zeke, and Cassidy had been converging on the vehicle from all sides, but somehow, Jina got there first.

After kicking the gun farther away from Duncan’s outstretched hand, she knelt to feel a pulse. “He’s alive. Call 911 for an ambulance.”

“They’re en route,” Rhy said. “Do we need to do CPR?”

“He still has a pulse, but it’s weak.” Jina balled up Duncan’s shirt and pressed it against his abdominal wound.

“I’ll take over,” Cassidy said, nudging her aside. “You look like you’ve been through the wringer.”

“Thanks.” It was a testament to how bad Jina must have felt that she let Cassidy take over. She struggled to her feet, then turned to face Cole. “Like I said, Duncan is really Jaxon Palmer. He admitted to killing Brad Crow.”

Stunned, he stared at her. “Why would he do that?”

She rubbed the temple beside her darkening eye. “Jaxon worked with me at the custard stand. I mentioned seeing the creepy guy staring at me. Apparently, Jaxon thought he was helping me by killing Brad after he fled my parents’ farmhouse. I didn’t get the entire story, but he was mad that I wouldn’t relocate to Nashville with him. I thought he’d moved on, but apparently not. I don’t know the details, but he claimed a car crash required him to have surgery on his face. It makes me wonder if he’d used that as an excuse to find me again.”

He glanced down at Jaxon/Duncan. He believed Jina was telling the truth, but her story was like something out of a movie. He found himself praying Jaxon/Duncan wouldn’t die so that they could convince him to talk.

He needed something to corroborate her story.

“Yeah, I get it.” Jina’s voice was flat. “To be honest, it’s hard for me to believe it too.” With that, she turned and walked toward Rhy. “Hey, boss. We need to talk. There’s a lot I need to fill you in on.”

Rhy lifted a brow at Cole, who could only shrug. What could he say? His cold case and her current situation had intersected in a way he had never imagined.

Which meant he needed to proceed with caution until he could verify that Duncan was really Jaxon Palmer and that he’d killed Brad Crow.

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