Page 44 of Tough as Steele

“Same here. Plus confiscate my gun. And honestly, I don’t feel right about leaving a scene where I fired my sidearm.” She nibbled on her lip.

“Neither do I, but time is of the essence here. Mimi needs us to break with protocol and head to Gaskin’s place. We can both call our supervisors once we get on the road and file a report on the gunfire.”

Her gaze ping-ponged around the room. She wasn’t sold on his idea. Fine. He got that. But…

“This is the right move,” he said. “I know it’s hard to go against protocol, but with Mimi’s life in the balance, I feel good about my decision. I try to live with integrity and transparency. Part of that is owning what I do. I want to be able to stand up and defend every action I take. If you don’t like this, stay here with Bristol, and I’ll go on my own.”

She gnawed on her lip then shook her head. “You’re right. This is the right thing to do.”

He held out his hand. “Then after you.”

Bristol stood by the patrol car, her hands on her waist, looking up at a deputy several inches taller than Bristol. He looked barely old enough to shave. Could they be lucky and a rookie had arrived?

Bristol maintained a calm tone as she talked, and she looked collected. Her demeanor impressed Nate. She was young and might not have been called to many murder scenes, if any, but she was handling herself like a pro.

He and Londyn approached the deputy, who gave them a head-to-toe appraisal.

Bristol introduced them. “We need to get going. Our abducted woman is still missing.”

The deputy planted his hands on his waist and tried to look stern, but he failed. “You’ll need to stay until our detective arrives.”

Sometimes, Nate didn’t arrive on a murder scene for hours, and he wasn’t prepared to waste precious time waiting. “That could take a while, and the woman can’t wait. She has a heart condition, and we’re not sure they have her medicine.”

“You’re right. It could take some time.” The deputy rubbed a hand over his buzz cut. “But it’s what needs to happen.”

“What if I stayed?” Bristol asked. “Londyn will surrender her weapon, and we can easily get in touch with her and Nate if needed.”

“Here’s my sidearm.” Londyn shoved it at the deputy, and he had no choice but to back away or accept it.

He slid his finger in the trigger guard, let it dangle, and tilted his head. His body language said he was capitulating.

“Bristol knows how to get ahold of us.” Nate grabbed Londyn’s arm and started walking away.

“But I…”

“Keep walking,” Nate whispered. “He’s not about to shoot us in the back.”

He heard the deputy sputtering, but Nate picked up his pace before the deputy ordered them to stop. If he did, Nate would comply. Near the end of the drive, he took off running through the sharp wind and rain now spitting from above, and Londyn kept up with him. They climbed into the damaged car, and he offered a prayer that even with all the damage, the vehicle would start. It did, and he got them out of there fast, his tires spinning on the gravel. He added a prayer that he didn’t have a leaky radiator that could cause the car to fail.

“You fixed the tire,” Londyn said.

“Before I got the swabs.”

She ran her hands over her legs, back and forth as if trying to rid herself of a pesky disease.

“Something wrong?” He flipped on the wipers, and they dragged like nails on a chalkboard across the damp window to clear it.

“I don’t like leaving Bristol like that. She could get into trouble, and I don’t want to be the cause of it.”

He switched off the wipers. “I could turn back.”

“No. You made the right decision. Mimi has to come first. I’ll text Bristol to keep me updated. And I’ll pray for her.”

“Me too.” He felt bad for the younger Steele woman. But from what he’d seen, she could hold her own, especially with this rookie deputy. A detective would be another story.

Londyn got out her phone, and he followed the road to Highway 84 that meandered along the Columbia River toward the city. He wasn’t in a meandering mood, so he floored it until he hit the morning rush hour traffic of the city.

Londyn’s phone dinged. “Text from Bristol. She knows the detective who caught the case. He’s pretty laid back and seems okay that we left, but he wants to talk to us as soon as possible.”

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