Page 62 of Shadowing Her Stalker

Cara looked up as the lieutenant governor switched directions, then dithered, his arms flailing. “I have to get out of here. I can’t be here. I was never here,” he babbled.

“Could have sworn I saw you,” Wyatt replied, his voice a life preserver of quiet and calm amid the melee.

“I can have your badge,” Paul Stanton threatened, spittle flying from his mouth.

“You can try,” Wyatt challenged. “But from where I’m standing, it doesn’t look good for you, Mr. Stanton.”

“You drop your gun,” Zarah demanded, stepping back from Cara’s father and training her sights on Betsy instead.

You chose incorrectly, Cara thought as her mother released the safety on her weapon.

“You terrorize my daughter, point a gun at my husband and track your muddy shoes on my kitchen floor and you think you get to give the orders here?” Betsy demanded, widening her stance. “I don’t think so, honey.”

Out of the corner of her eye Cara saw Wyatt lowering his hands. He was cool as a cucumber. It gave her the confidence she needed to end this farce once and for all.

Meeting Zarah’s eyes, she spoke slowly and deliberately. “Lower the gun now, or I will never sign this. Mama, you too,” she added. “I mean it. Everyone, lower the guns now.”

“You mean everyone but me, right?” Wyatt asked, drawing his weapon from its holster at the small of his back as he closed the distance between him and Zarah.

Zarah’s head whipped around in surprise, but his aim didn’t waver as he took hold of her wrist with his left hand, expertly squeezing at the precise pressure point to make her release her grip. The gun she’d been waving around dropped to the floor as he twisted her arm behind her back.

“Zarah Parvich, you are under arrest. You have the right...”

Cara sat frozen, unable to tear her gaze away from the sight of Wyatt holding both of Zarah’s empty hands behind her back.

“Cara, can I ask a favor?” Wyatt asked politely.

“Uh-huh,” she said, and nodded.

“I left my coat on the living room floor. I have some zip tie restraints in the inside pocket. Grab a couple for me?”

“Sure,” she replied as she rose.

“I’m leaving,” Paul Stanton announced.

He took two steps toward the front room and without thinking, Cara snatched Grandma June’s skillet from the stovetop and swung. She aimed for his body and not his head, wanting to slow the man, not kill him.

But the lieutenant governor wasn’t the least bit grateful for her forethought. Cursing a blue streak, Stanton fell against the fridge, then crumpled to the floor, clutching his right arm.

“Excuse me, Uncle Paul,” she said with a sneer as she stepped over his legs. “I think we’d like you to stay a bit longer.”

On the opposite side of the room, Jim jumped up from his chair and hurried to embrace his wife. “Girl didn’t know who she was messing with,” he murmured into her hair.

Her mother gave a watery laugh. “I’m a regular Dirty Harriet,” she said, burrowing in.

Cara carried Wyatt’s coat back into the kitchen and her mother looked up, shaking her head. “Holy cow, girl, I can’t believe you remembered this gun.” Betsy wiped her eyes with the heels of her hands. “I doubt it’s had a bullet in the chamber in the last twenty years. How did you know it was still there?”

“I saw it the other day when I was looking for a pen,” Cara said with a smirk. “You’ve got everything in the world in there except a working ink pen.” Holding Wyatt’s jacket by the collar, she turned her attention to him. “What are you carrying in here? It weighs a ton.”

“Nothing much. Flashlight, pepper spray, flex cuffs, extra magazines, a collapsible baton,” he said offhandedly. “Standard desk jockey stuff.”

She pulled two zip ties from the deep inner pocket and handed one over. Zarah stood, unresisting, her head bowed, her lips clamped shut. Once she was cuffed, Wyatt guided her to a spot on the floor against the wall where she sat silently weeping.

Cara watched as he used the end of the other plastic strap to pick the discarded gun up off the floor. He deposited the weapon on the kitchen table, then looked from Cara to the woman on the tile floor.

“I called for backup from state police and the sheriff’s department before I came inside. They should be here shortly. You okay to keep an eye on her while I see to our esteemed lieutenant governor?” he asked.

“I am,” Cara responded. And to her surprise, it was true.

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