Page 57 of In the Arms of a Hero

“Exactly what day, George?” Hunter interrupted.

George screwed up his face, but as soon as Mabel huffed, he said, “It was two days ago.”

“You sure?”

George nodded, his expression anguished. “Yeah. ’Cause it was the day that woman got shot.”

At that point, Aaron felt his chest seize. He gripped the sill of the two-way mirror, and his body hummed with anxiety, waiting for George to get on with his story.

“Okay, keep going,” Brad ordered.

“I’d been fishing for a while. Well, fishing and drinking. It was getting sunset, and I’d ended up near the fancy restaurant just north of Baytown. You know the one? Blue and white on the outside. Took Mable one year for our anniversary.” George looked over at Mable. “Sorry, I never took you back.”

“Too much damn money for one meal,” she grumbled, her lips still pinched.

George nodded slowly, “Yeah.”

“Okay, let’s get back to the other night. You were in the water near the Sunset Restaurant. What time was this?”

George’s face screwed up in concentration, then he sighed heavily and rubbed his hand over his chin whiskers. “Well, I was tied up behind one of the breakers and fell asleep. Woke up, and it was dark, but there were lights outside. Looked over and figured it was a wedding or something going on. I knew Mable would be upset I’d been out so long, but I stayed where I was, just listening to the music.”

Mable jerked around and speared him with a glare.“Did you stay out in the bay listening to music instead of coming home? I knew you could be a fool, George Haskins, but you really proved it!”

George clamped his mouth shut, and his face sagged like a hound dog.

Aaron whispered, “They need to get her out of there for him to open.”

Colt shook his head slowly. “Believe it or not, even when she’s mad, she motivates him to talk.”

Sure enough, George continued. “I know. I should’ve headed home.”

Mable huffed. “Well, at least tell them the rest of what you saw!”

He nodded. “Just when I was getting ready to start my engine, another boat floated nearby. They didn’t seem to notice me, but I was curious as to why he came close to the shore after killing his engine. He sat behind the other breaker, in the dark, like me. I almost called out to him to see if he needed help.”

Hunter asked, “Only one person in the boat?”

George nodded. “Yeah, just the one man. He was hard to see because he was dressed in black and even had a black knit cap pulled down on his head.” George continued to nod, his eyes glazing over as he reminisced.

“Okay, keep going, George.”

“He had cut the engine and used oars to get closer to the shore, off to the side, away from the light coming from the wedding. He fiddled with something in the boat, and I thought he was getting ready to fish. He pulled out binoculars and sat in the boat for a while as he watched toward the shore. He then climbed out of the boat and was in about waist-deep water. He leaned over into the boat and lifted what I thought was the oar. Didn’t make no sense to me, but people can be strange.”

“And then?” Brad prodded.

George’s face twisted as though in pain as his hands began to shake almost violently. Mable reached over to grab his hands in hers. She whispered, “You’ve got this, George. You’re safe, and it’s going to be okay. But you got to tell them what happened.”

With one hand still clasped in hers, George grabbed the cup and took another long gulp of coffee. He nodded, then glanced at Mable and offered a wobbly smile.

He looked up at Hunter and Brad and continued. “He lifted the oar up, and I realized it was a rifle.” George’s whole body shook. “Then I realized someone was going to get hurt. I didn’t want him to know I was there, but I couldn’t let him just do what he was doing. I stayed down in the boat but started yelling.” His chest depressed. “I waited too long. He fired that rifle just as Ihollered out, and I’m not embarrassed to tell you that I did piss myself. I could hear people on the shore screaming and shouting and all kinds of noise. I leaned up just enough to see what was happening, but he climbed back into his boat and started his motor. He stayed in the shadows and headed out into the bay while the people screaming probably kept anyone from hearing him.”

“Did you see his face?” Hunter asked, nearly rising from his chair.

“As he turned the boat, the lights on the shore lit his face. I only got a glimpse, but I saw him.”

“Go on,” Mable said. “Finish it.”

“Before he started his engine, I heard him say…” George swallowed deeply again, his whole body shaking. “He said, ‘I got her.’”

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