Page 9 of Flynn

“I am hungry, although it seems wrong.” She pulled the ponytail holder from her blond hair and combed her tresses with her fingers. “I just can’t believe they’re gone. That they were involved in anything that would cause someone to shoot them while they were sleeping.”

“Detective Klem is a good guy; he’ll figure out what happened.”

“I know.” She glanced at him. “I really appreciate your help, Flynn. I feel bad I dragged you into this, but contacting you was the only option that flashed in my mind.”

“Hey, I don’t mind,” he said lightly. “Good thing I live in Greenland. I was glad to have gotten there so fast.”

“You have a house?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s small, only two bedrooms.” It was more than enough to suit his needs. Yet he also knew it would be a drastic change from the sprawling dwelling she’d lived in with the Millers. “Like I said, you can sleep in the guest room.”

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep without nightmares,” she confessed.

He didn’t have a good response for that. In his role as a police officer, he’d seen more than his share of violence. But that was his job, to protect and serve. Being a live-in nanny shouldn’t be dangerous.

And for sure a nanny shouldn’t be the witness of a double homicide.

A glance in the rearview mirror made him frown. Dawn was barely peeking over the horizon now that they’d fallen back from daylight saving time, but the vehicle behind him had two headlights, one slightly brighter than the other.

The same set of headlights had been behind him on the way to the police department from the Millers’ home in Brookland.

Were the cops following him for some reason? That didn’t make any sense, but he couldn’t seem to shake off the weird coincidence.

Without warning Taylor, he abruptly turned at the next light, then hit the gas, surging forward. She cried out in alarm, bracing herself with a hand on the dash.

“What are you doing?”

“Sorry about that but hang on.” The vehicle with the unevenly bright headlights had made the same turn.

“Are we being followed?” Taylor’s tone was incredulous. She twisted in her seat to look behind them.

The sharp crack of gunfire had him yanking her down even as he swerved to get out of the line of fire. He cranked the wheel to cut through a gas station that was thankfully mostly empty. He hit the gas again, pulling into traffic and cutting off another driver. Ignoring the sharp blare of the guy’s horn, he drove as fast as he could, going around cars that were moving too slow.

The morning rush hour made it that much more difficult to avoid the car tailing them. Although he hoped the same would hold true for the driver of the car with uneven headlights.

Using his thumb, he activated his phone. “Call 911!”

The sound of a ringing phone filled the interior of his car. A moment later, the dispatcher answered, “This is the 911 operator, what is your emergency?”

“This is MPD Officer Flynn Ryerson. Shots fired on Blakemore Drive,” he said as he hit the brake to avoid striking another vehicle. He quickly swerved around the slow driver and then took another right-hand turn. “I’m heading west now, on 121stStreet. Get officers to this area now!”

“Please stay on the line,” the operator said calmly.

He thought he saw the uneven headlights closing the gap, so he quickly switched lanes and floored the gas, shooting through a yellow traffic signal. More horns blared, but then other cars moved into the intersection blocking the driver of the uneven headlights from following.

Flynn wasn’t listening as the 911 dispatcher continued to talk. He was too busy trying to figure out where he could take Taylor that would be safe.

Not his place and not the American Lodge in Brookland either. He wanted to be as far away from Brookland and the scene of the murders as possible.

He thought of Zeke’s house and made another abrupt turn. He felt certain his buddy wouldn’t mind his using the place while he was out of town.

Especially not once Zeke heard that he needed to keep Taylor safe from the gunman hot on their tail.

ChapterThree

The gunman had found them! Taylor had her head down as Flynn made frequent and unexpected turns. The seatbelt tightened painfully against her chest. She wanted to cry or scream, but she was frozen in place, much like when she’d heard the four gunshots that had ended Steve’s and Robin’s lives.

The only good news was that Max wasn’t with them. The very thought of the baby sitting in the back seat as someone fired shots at them made her blood run cold. As hard as it had been to hand him off to child protective services, that was better than having him in danger.

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