Page 56 of In the Arms of a Hero

“Well, Mom asked who your boyfriend was, and I told her it was Aaron. Of course, she remembers him from last year… and not too fondly.”

“Oh, good grief! It’s not like we were engaged, and he broke up with me. It’s not like my heart was shattered. It just wasn’t the right time for us. I admit, my feelings were hurt, but we’ve moved past that.”

“That’s what I told Mom.”

“So you’ve joined team Aaron?” Belinda asked with a lifted brow and a smirk playing on her lips.

Bess rolled her eyes. “I never hated him. I just hated that my big sister was hurt.” After a few more minutes of chatting, Bess stood and stretched her arms over her head. “I know the doctor will come back in, and if all is well, he’ll release you this afternoon. Aaron is going to come over and take you home. I’m going to head to the bakery, make sure the closing goes well, and deposit the money into the bank. I’ll also make sure your place is ready for you.”

Bess helped her settle back into bed, where more pain meds were administered and made her sleepy. Realizing the coffee Bess had brought was decaffeinated, she chuckled at her sister's foresight before falling asleep.

Aaron walked over to the double desk station, where Hunter and Brad settled into the chairs. “What have you got?”

“In case it was targeted, we looked at your recent cases. Since you’ve been a detective less than a year, there aren’t as many to consider, but we had a couple of deputies checking into any cases you were involved in beforehand. There’s no one recently out of jail, and no one that we came across that should have had a vendetta against you,” Hunter said.

“I checked on your ex—Cilla Henderson. She’s moved on, man. Got some guy’s ring on her finger.” Brad ducked his head and hid a grin.

“Come on… give it to me,” Aaron said, rolling his eyes.

“She said that she’s sorry your girlfriend got injured, but if you thought she had anything to do with it, your head was bigger than your ego.”

“Ouch.” Hunter chuckled, not bothering to hide his mirth.

“Yeah, I figured as much. But honest to God, I’m not in the habit of pissing people off… certainly not enough to shoot at me.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “So… not aimed at me? We’re thinking random?”

“Or aimed at someone else,” Colt said, walking over to the group with Sam following. “With that many law enforcement officers in the group, it could have been aimed at someone else.”

Aaron knew his face appeared ravaged from the events of the past days, but Colt’s face held deep lines that exposed his anger and the pressure he felt at wanting to make sure the residents of his county were safe from someone firing into a gathering. The local newspaper was already reporting on the event and wanted to know what the sheriff’s department was doing. Colt had already met with the county’s board of supervisors to update them.

Colt’s phone rang, and he looked at the caller ID before saying, “It’s Ryan.” Connecting, he skipped the greeting. “What have you got?” He listened, his gaze down toward his feet, and Aaron exchanged glances with the others.

“Have you got him now? I’ll get a deputy to escort you to the interview area.” Disconnecting, he said, “Ryan and Andy are bringing in George Haskins and his wife. Seems they have some information for us. His wife, Mable, called the VMP this morning to go out and find George, who was out on the water after having had too much to drink last night. Andy brought himhome, and then Mable told them what George had been saying the night before. It seems he may have information about the shooter.”

The air seemed sucked from the room with the collective gasps. Aaron took to his feet, his gaze shooting to Colt, who was already holding his hand up.

“Only from the viewing window,” Colt said. “Can’t have you in the interview room.” Colt then looked at Hunter and Brad. “You two get ready.”

Aaron didn’t care that he would be behind the two-way mirror. He just wanted to get firsthand information. Soon, Ryan and Andy came into the station, escorting a middle-aged couple. George was known as a local fisherman who drank more than he worked, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering wife.

Hunter and Brad introduced themselves and took the couple into the interview room while Sam, Aaron, Andy, and Colt filled the room on the other side, looking on.

After completing the preliminaries, Hunter looked at Mable and said, “You called the Virginia Marine Police early this morning. What was going on?”

Mable’s lips were pressed tightly together. “George had been drinking… not like that’s anything new. But he was talking nonsense yesterday and just kept drinking more. Then I had to go to my shift at the Dollar Store, and he was passed out when I got home late. I woke up this morning, and he’d gone out on his boat. I knew he was drinking more and figured he would fall overboard. I had the morning news on while fixing coffee and couldn’t believe what I heard. What was on the news was what George had been mumbling about. So I called the marine police to go fetch him in. And then I told them what he’d been saying. Next thing I know, we’re being hauled here.”

Turning to George, Hunter said, “Okay, George, let’s hear it.”

George’s hands shook as he brought a paper cup of coffee to his lips, taking a large gulp. Even when he set the cup back onto the table and laid his forearms on the surface, his hands continued to shake. Mable grimaced, her lips once again pressed tightly into a frown. “Go on, George. You gotta make this right.”

George twisted to look at his wife, and Aaron witnessed an expression that caused the air to halt on its way into his lungs. George didn’t look at his wife as though she was an older woman with frizzy gray hair pulled back into a ponytail. He didn’t see the lines that prematurely aged her makeup-free face. He didn’t see the pale, gaunt face or the ways years of working and taking care of him and their kids had etched those hard memories into her being. As George stared at Mable, he saw his salvation, sure of her continued presence in his life, and his features relaxed as he nodded.

Turning to Hunter and Brad, he said, “I saw something, but I’d been… well, I’d been drinking earlier… like a fool, and now, here I am.”

Brad sighed as Hunter grunted. “Okay, George. Tell us what happened.”

“And don’t leave out one fucking detail,” Hunter added.

George’s eyes widened, but he nodded and swallowed deeply as his Adam's apple bobbed. “I went out on my boat the other afternoon?—”

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