Page 60 of Deadly Evidence
He jerked himself to his feet. “Leave me be.”
“Well, you know what? I think you are a mean old man. You drove my mother away, and I finally see how.” Mia choked back a sob. “Because you’re doing the same thing to me. Don’t worry—I’ll never come here again. Butpleasebe nice to Lacey!”
He glared at her. “You know nothing—nothing at all,” he repeated. “It’s better that you go.”
Then he lumbered to his feet and walked away, muttering incomprehensible Spanish phrases that were probably better left unknown.
Anna found Brady at noon. He was walking slowly back to the ranch with a good four miles left to go and with blood seeping through the crimson-stained sleeve of his shirt.
Her heart lodged in her throat at seeing his handsome face so pale. He could have been fatally wounded somewhere and died alone.
He’d never really been hers, but the thought of him not being somewhere in this world filled her with a deep, unexpected sense of loss.
Firing a signal shot in the air to let Dante know, she dismounted, then grabbed a first-aid kit out of her saddlebag and rushed over to him. “What happened? Are you okay?”
He tipped his head toward his arm. “Bullet wound. Copper didn’t much like the noise. He shied hard to the left and dumped me on a pile of rocks.”
Horror washed through her, turning her blood to ice. “Did you see the shooter?”
“Nope.” He managed a lopsided grin. “It was too dark out. But I’d guess they weren’t particularly friendly.”
“You think?” Shaking her head, she gestured toward a boulder. “Take a seat and let me look at this.”
She knelt at his side and gently slipped her fingers into the hole in his shirt, then slowly ripped the fabric open.
He winced and turned a lighter shade of pale.
“You aren’t going to faint on me, are you?” she asked with false briskness. “This isn’t more than a scratch.”
But it was.
The entrance wound was small and round, the flesh around it already inflamed and swollen. There wasn’t an exit wound on the other side. From the looks of things, he’d soon be chilled and running a fever from infection.
“The sooner you see a doctor, the better,” she murmured. “I signaled the others, but we can start home if you think you can get on my horse.”
“Others?”
“Your horse came back alone with blood on his saddle. Dante and I had no idea where you were or how badly you were hurt, so I called Luis and gave him general directions on where I thought you might be. He sent two agents to help us search.” She cocked her head. “I think I hear their vehicle now.”
“I wish you hadn’t done that.” Brady leaned his head against the boulder and closed his eyes. “It wasn’t necessary.”
“And how would we know that? Dante and I can cover just so much ground alone, Coleman. I couldn’t let you bleed to death out here and not do everything I could to help.”
“You...told Dante about me?”
“Of course not. I was vague. Luis told me to say these guys were search-and-rescue volunteers for the border patrol. Tell me—do you think the shooter was waiting for you, or did you just happen across drug runners on their way to the highway?”
“I—I’m not sure. Since no one followed me to finish the job, I’m guessing it was a surprise to all of us. They fired and took off without looking back.”
“From the looks of this blood, they did a good job.”
“I don’t want to risk being taken off this case, Anna.”
“You’re worried aboutmedical leave?” Anna opened the first aid kit and tore open a moistened towelette, then dabbed away the dirt at the edges of the wound. “I’d be more worried aboutmy health if I were you. What did you do—fall on this arm as well?”
He nodded.
“Ouch. No wonder you look a little bleary.” She tore open another package and pressed a stack of four-by-four gauze squares against the wound, then found a roll of adhesive tape and taped the gauze in place.
