Page 9 of Crosshairs

“Lincoln Steele.”

“I’m Hattie Bell.” She tilted her head, studying him. “You part of the Steeles over by the Junction?”

“Yes, ma’am. My grandparents,” he said. “Do you have any family around here?”

She pulled her sweater tighter and shook her head. “Got no family left.”

About all she had were the clothes on her back. Before he could ask any more questions, a woman in her midfifties approached them. “Miss Hattie! You’re okay! When I heard your house was blowed away—”

“I’m fine, Wanda. This nice young man is helping me.”

“Well, you’re coming home with me. The storm purely missed us.”

Linc breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t known what he was going to do with Miss Hattie. He doubted she would go to the shelter being set up, and he couldn’t leave her here by herself.

“She needs to be checked out by the paramedics. They’re set up at the end of the street,” Linc said.

He walked the two women to a waiting pickup and helped them in. As the driver drove toward the first aid station, he scanned the area for his Search and Rescue supervisor. Instead, Sarah Tolliver and her videographer came into view, and he returned her wave. He should have known the news reporter would be here. The woman never slept.

Sarah walked toward him. “Not surprised to see you helping out,” she said, giving him a warm smile that reached all the way to her huge brown eyes. “Can I interview you?”

“Nah, find someone else.”

“The lady you helped into the truck. Did one of the homes belong to her?” Her honeyed voice was one reason she was so popular with viewers.

“That one,” he said, nodding toward the flattened house.

She turned. “Can’t believe no one was injured. She just walked away unscathed?”

“Miss Hattie rode out the storm in an inner bathroom,” Linc said. “We just freed her, and a neighbor down the road is taking her to the first aid station and then home with her.”

“She was a lucky woman.” Sarah stared at the house a little longer, then turned to Linc, running her gaze over him. “You’re looking good.”

“Yeah, well, thanks,” he said. “You, ah, look good too.”

“I’ve missed our talks,” she said wistfully.

Linc swallowed hard. Sarah’s brother had been his best friend since tenth grade at Natchez High School. They’d stayed friends through college and had joined the FBI together, Blake a field agent and Linc ending up being one of the FBI’s best snipers until ... until he wasn’t.

“So do I,” he said, hoping God would forgive him for not being perfectly honest. Sarah had been a couple of grades behind them, and while Linc had always liked Blake’s kid sister, he’d never had any romantic feelings toward her. After her brother’s suicide, they’d bonded for a while, but then Linc had backed off when he realized her interest in him went beyond being just a friend.

“You want to grab a cup of coffee when you finish up?”

Linc checked his watch. Past two a.m. Since today was his day off at Melrose, he planned to work until dawn. “I don’t think you want to hang around that long,” he said and cringed at the flicker of disappointment in her face.

“We’ll see,” she said, giving him a tiny smile.

A chain saw cranked up, and Linc nodded toward the sound. “I see my supervisor, and if anyone doesn’t need to be operating a saw, it’s Danny. I’ll take his place and you can interview him,” he said, forcing a chuckle in his voice. “Good to see you again.”

“Don’t be a stranger,” she said. “Dad misses you too.”

She didn’t mean that last as a barb, but it pierced his heart anyway. Neither Sarah nor her dad blamed him for Blake’s suicide, but that didn’t stop Linc from feeling responsible.

6

It was four in the morning before Ainsley got her grandmother to go to bed. After a power nap in the room she’d slept in growing up, she showered and changed into her National Park Service uniform. Good thing she’d brought along several changes when she left East Tennessee for Jackson, Mississippi, and a week at the law enforcement academy. From there she’d dropped her things off in Natchez and drove to New Orleans for her cruise.

And now she was trying to get her head back in the game after Cora’s accident last night. The girl who was murdered deserved no less.

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