Page 55 of Counter Attack

After Taylor packed up her evidence and the three officersleft, Nathan and Alexis sat with the sheriff. Carson rubbed his jaw with his thumb. “What if you’d been shot again ... or worse? Maybe I shouldn’t have made you chief deputy.”

“Gramps! I can take care of myself. Besides, I don’t think the shooter meant to hit us.”

“Unless the shooter was a really bad shot,” Nathan said.

Carson nodded slowly. “If they were that bad, they wouldn’t have used a rifle to attack you. Maybe they were just trying to scare you.”

Alexis shivered. “I think they were sending a message to let me know they can get to me whenever they want.”

“I don’t like it either way.” Nathan stared toward the woods where the shots had come from. “Even a bad shooter gets lucky sometimes, and if the purpose is to scare you, it’ll escalate.”

Carson nodded his agreement and then turned to Alexis. “Have Chattanooga send me all your cases. While I’m sitting here doing nothing, I can comb through them and maybe find a connection.”

“Good idea.” Nathan studied Carson. It was good to see that he was getting stronger and told him so.

The sheriff grunted. “Doesn’t seem like it to me. I don’t like standing on the sidelines.”

“No one does,” Alexis said softly, then she leaned forward. “It would be great if you could take a look at the files—I trust you a whole lot more than I do Madden.”

So did Nathan. He turned to her. “How about you? Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Shook up but alive.”

“Thanks for having her back,” Carson said.

“She’d do the same for me.” Nathan tapped the body armor she’d put on right after her deputies arrived. “Don’t take this off again until you’re in the house.”

“It’s one thing to have my back and another to hover.” She crossed her arms. “And you’re hovering.”

He shrugged. “I can’t help it.”

“That’s your last get-out-of-jail-free card.” Then she smiled. “But you don’t have to worry about me taking my body armor off until I’m undressing for bed.”

“Thank you.”

Alexis looked toward the wooded area. “I can’t believe I thought this job would be safer than the streets of Chattanooga. That I’d just be pushing papers. Tonight certainly changed my mindset.”

“It’s not every chief deputy who has someone gunning for them,” Carson said. “Russell County is generally a safe place, or as safe as any place can be.”

“I haven’t been here long enough to make enemies, so are we all agreed the shooter was probably the Queen’s Gambit Killer?”

“I think that’s a good conclusion,” Carson said.

She cocked her head. “How well do you know J.R.?”

“Who’s J.R.?” Carson asked.

“J.R. Whittaker,” Nathan said. “You should remember him. I arrested him when I was your deputy.”

“You arrested a lot of people.”

“We raided a drug party, and he offered to give up the dealer who arranged the party if we let him go, and you did.” When he still looked puzzled, Nathan added, “He’s Marilyn Whittaker’s son.”

“Oh, now I remember him. Lives in Chattanooga now.”

“Right. Still visits his mom sometimes.”

Alexis tilted her head. “So he’s been your CI since you were Gramps’s deputy?”

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