Page 28 of Disarming Caine

“Jimmy Slater. I’m an old friend of Sammy’s.” He extended a hand, giving me a blatant once-over. “You must spend a lot of time at the gym.”

I didn’t like this man, but he was a friend of Samantha’s who didn’t touch her the way Miller did, so I smiled and shook his hand. “Antonio Ferraro. You worked on the Scott case, sì?”

“I did.” A muscle in Jimmy’s jaw ticked, but the easy-going manner didn’t falter. From what Samantha told me of the case, it had been closed early, until she and Janelle had it re-opened when they uncovered the arson and murder. I vaguely remembered speaking with Jimmy outside of the Scott house after the fire. He must have been the officer who did the poor original job. “Got any lights in this place?”

“Yeah.” Samantha turned on the lamp we almost knocked over before the first gunshot. Two feet away from where the broken glass littered the floor.

Energy tumbled through my stomach. That table saved her life. She could have been killed. Then where would I be? We should have stayed on the couch she hated so much.

Jimmy said, “We didn’t find a shooter, but—holy shit, you’re bleeding, Sammy!”

Chapter 11

Samantha

“I’mfine.”Otherthanthe bruises and strain from the mirror being shot out of my hands, I didn’t feel any pain. When I turned to face them, they spun me away, Antonio prodding my upper back, where the shirt was still damp.

Another male officer joined us. “Slater, it’s him, not her.”

I stepped behind Antonio, goosebumps crawling up and down my arms. My hand clamped over my mouth, and I practically screamed, “Where’s the ambulance?”

Antonio’s right shoulder was covered in blood, the lamplight glinting off pieces of glass embedded in his back. When he put the shirt on me, I’d assumed it was damp from sweat. But the glass from the balcony door had hit him. Every wince, every clench of his teeth, he was hiding pain and I made it worse fighting him off.

Jimmy waved the other officer to the door, and he hustled out of the room.

Antonio turned to me, grasping my forearms as I began to tremble. He kissed my forehead. “It’s just a scratch, bella. I’ve had much worse on the football pitch.”

“Liar,” I snapped.

He pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me.

Keeping my hands on his bare chest, I pushed away. I didn’t protect him. I’d failed.

An EMT arrived, the officer with her pointing to Antonio. She inclined her head to the bathroom. “Let’s get you in there and take a look.”

Antonio kissed my cheek and left with her. My eyes stuck with their retreating forms. What if he hadn’t run into the table?

Jimmy clapped his hands, and my focus snapped to him. “Sammy, I need you present.” He stood by the balcony door, glass crunching under his feet. “I’ve got two officers outside and a K-9 unit on the way. Whaddaya think happened?”

I dragged my brain away from the bathroom. Antonio was fine. Just cuts and scrapes, maybe some bruises, but fine. I was fine.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

What if he hadn’t run into that table?

“What was that, Jimmy?”

He waved me over, and I joined him and the other officer by the balcony door. Three flashlights swept back and forth at the end of the parking lot, dipping behind trees and branches along the edge of the trail.

“Janelle said you knew where the shooter was. They looking in the right spot?”

I nodded, pulling Antonio’s bloody shirt closed and wrapping my arms around myself. “Yeah, it was right along there, hidden in the trees.”

“And what’s your opinion? Any chance it was intentional?”

Seven bullets. I’d seen the muzzle flare in the mirror and it had been steady, not wavering like in a drunk’s hands. Surely not, though. Why would someone be aiming at my room? “Kids go drinking down there sometimes. The officers will probably find a bunch of broken bottles.”

What about Nathan’s warnings? Or the threat against my life in Naples and the man who could have killed me when I found the stolen relics? My hand rose to my forehead, to the smooth skin of the scar he’d left me with. Elliot would have warned me if that guy was out of jail, right?

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