Page 78 of Deadly Attraction
Her eyes lit up with insight. “Unless he’s going to claim he was kidnapped.”
“Wha…” Mitch shook his head. “No way. No one’s going to believe he was kidnapped and held against his will.”
“Of course they will. That’s what his fans will want to believe, and he’s a good actor, remember? If he gets caught, he’ll claim he had nothing to do with any of this. That Linda and whoever else is involved, forced him.”
“He wrote a threatening message on his wall at the prison before he left.”
“You don’t think there are prison guards who are fans of his show? If no one saw him write those words, there’s no proof he did. He can claim that a guard or another prisoner snuck in and wrote them.”
Mitch didn’t want to believe it, but he’d seen and heard of far more ludicrous defenses. “You know him better than anyone. How do we get him to show his hand, Doc?”
“I think you know. You were thinking it the other night, then changed your mind about using me as bait, didn’t you?”
“It was never a viable option.”
“Of course it is. Chris is all ego. He likes to gloat and believes he’s superior to all of us, but he’s too clever to admit his involvement. He would have to believe he’s safe from prosecution and be so full of himself that he couldn’t stand not bragging about what he’s accomplished.” Her gaze came back to his, a newfound determination in her eyes. “He would brag to me. I’m the one person who’s never believed him or his insanity plea.”
“No. We are not going to give him that chance.”
“If I let him catch me, if he thought I was at his mercy, he’d sing his own praises from here to the moon. You could put a wire on me or whatever you need to do to get his confession recorded. I could get him to admit he’s been involved all along.”
“Catch you? Fuck, no. Not happening.”
“You can be nearby and then bust in before he does anything to me.”
“He might kill you.”
“He might try, but you’d be there to stop him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Emma.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
He didn’t, but he still wasn’t going along with this. “My job is to protect you and keep you in one piece, not throw you into the hands of a psychotic killer.”
“I’m still waiting to hear your better idea.” She grinned as if this were a game. “Oh, that’s right. You already had this idea but didn’t act on it.”
“Emma, you are undoubtedly the smartest woman I know, and I get that you have a handle on Goodsman’s mindset, but being at his mercy, as you put it, is not the same as a clinical environment where your safety is guaranteed.”
In the distance, he heard sirens. Finally. A glance out the kitchen window confirmed the ambulance was nearly there, lights flashing as it cruised up the long drive. A lone sheriff’s car trailed behind it.
Emma heard the sirens, too. Her shoulders slumped. “I need to dosomething. I feel so helpless! I can’t stand waiting around for Chris or one of his fans to hurt someone else.”
“I know. It’s a sucky situation.”
He hugged her before going out to vet the EMTs and sheriff. After letting them inside the house, he spent the next few minutes helping the EMTs get Danika stabilized and into the ambulance. Then another hour explaining everything to the sheriff who had obviously had too many issues to deal with over the past few days and not enough sleep.
“I loved that show,” Deputy Korrin said, rubbing a finger over his mustache. “My wife has all the seasons on Blu-ray.”
Whatever. This jack wagon was going to be no help at all. Mitch didn’t care for the way Korrin looked at Emma, his small, dark eyes roaming over her curves when he thought she wasn’t looking. “If we’re all done here, I need to get Dr. Collins to a meeting.”
Emma raised a brow at him, but he wasn’t taking chances. Up until the sheriff had actually confirmed he was a fan of theMary Monahan Chronicles, Mitch had planned to have Korrin escort them to the safe house. Now, he’d decided he wasn’t trusting anyone outside of Will with the information that he was moving Emma to a safer location.
“A meeting on Christmas?” the man asked.
Emma gave himthatsmile. The professional, detached one that Mitch hadn’t seen in awhile. “Criminals don’t take Christmas off, do they? Like you, Deputy, I end up working a lot of holidays and weekends.”
Smooth. As Korrin closed up his notebook and rose from the chair, Emma glanced at Mitch and he nodded at her.Good girl.
