Dell scoffed again. “Yeah, right. Only because my old man gave me up.”
Noah looked surprised, though none of his focus dulled. “No, he didn’t.”
Eve could see Trina, hands and feet bound, lying dazed against a wall. Where’s Brock? Then Eve was lifted on her toes, Dell’s gun digging harder into her head.
“Don’t lie to me, Webster,” he snarled.
Eve found her voice. “He’s not,” she said. “I found you. It wasn’t that hard.”
Dell stiffened and for a split second the pressure from the gun slacked away. But he recovered and Eve winced in pain when he ground the barrel harder. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not. I found an article by Kurt Buckland, with a nice photo of your father standing at V’s graveside. You resemble your dad.” She paused for effect. “Or you did, until you killed him. You don’t look much like him anymore, what with that hole in his chest.”
“Shut up.” But she could feel a slight tremble in Dell’s hand.
She could see Noah watching, waiting, alert. She felt the weight of her own weapon in her pocket and hoped to keep Dell distracted enough that he wouldn’t feel it, too.
“You killed your father for no reason, Dell,” Eve said softly. “He didn’t tell on you.”
Dell was shaking now. “Shut up. Damn you.”
“Did he tell you he was innocent? Beg for mercy? Did you shoot him anyway?”
His arm tightened around her throat. She lifted higher on her toes, trying to breathe.
“Let her go, Farmer,” Noah said, his voice as calm as hers had been.
“No. No. You killed, too, Webster. You started this.”
“I didn’t kill your brother, Dell,” Noah said. “He was running from a crime. We were pursuing. That’s what we do.”
“He didn’t do anything.”
Eve could smell his desperation, a rancid odor.
“He killed a store owner,” Noah said reasonably. “In cold blood.”
“Only because she drove him to it.”
“She? You mean Katie?” Noah asked.
“Yes. He wasn’t bad. V wasn’t bad.” But he didn’t sound so sure now. Eve sensed his confusion and remembered the night before, that brief moment when she’d reminded him he was in a bar surrounded by cops. Rage had become confusion, then he’d swung back to cold control. Dell was there, right now, in that moment between rage and control, and Eve prayed Noah was paying attention. Turning herself into dead weight, Eve lifted her feet and wrenched from his grip.
“Drop the gun, Farmer,” Noah demanded, even as she hit the floor, rolling away.
Curled into a ball, she turned her head enough to peek out. Noah held his gun steady on Dell, but Dell held his gun on Eve. The two men stared at each other.
“I’ll kill her,” Dell said, his voice coldly mocking, just like the night before, “while you watch. You’re going to kill me anyway, just like you did V. I’ll take her with me.”
Eve slid her hand into her coat pocket and pulled out her gun. She lurched to her knees, holding her aim steady at the hand that held the gun.
“No, you won’t,” she said, and Dell’s head whipped around, eyes wide and startled.
It was all Noah needed. Quickly he closed the gap, twisting Dell’s wrist painfully as he shoved him to the floor, his own weapon shoved against Dell’s spine as Dell fought wildly. Noah grunted as he struggled for control of Dell’s gun, one knee jammed into his back, the other pressing his arm into the floor.
“Get back,” Noah snarled to Eve. “Get out of here. Now.”
“I’ll kill you,” Dell was screeching at the same time. “I don’t care which of you.”
Eve crawled a few feet toward Dell and pointed her gun at his head. “Stop it,” she snapped. “Or I’ll shoot your damn head off. You don’t want to die, Dell. I’ve been there, and trust me, it ain’t fun. I’m not lying. And I’m not afraid of you.”
Dell stared up at her, eyes full of hate. In seconds Noah knocked Dell’s gun from his hand, then cuffed his hands behind his back. Kneeling on Dell’s bucking legs, Noah looked up, his eyes dark with fury. “What part of ‘Get back’ did you not understand?”
“I couldn’t hear you,” Eve said blandly. “He was screaming ‘I’ll kill you’ too loudly.”
Noah rolled his eyes, tersely called for backup, then looked at Trina, who’d struggled to a sitting position, her hands and feet bound. “Where’s Brock?” he demanded.
“Bedroom,” Trina said. “He was going to kill us when you got here, make you watch.”
Eve was on her feet. “I’ll go.” Her heart surprisingly steady, she ran to the back, stopping to grab a kitchen knife. Brock was on the bedroom floor, tied and gagged. But his eyes were open and furious. She pulled the gag from his mouth.
“Is everyone okay?” were the first words from his mouth.
“Yeah. Are you?” She winced. “Ooh. That’s a nasty bump on your head.”
He rolled his eyes. “How much will it take to wipe this picture from your mind?”
Eve chuckled as she sawed at his ropes. “We’ll negotiate.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Wednesday, February 24, 11:20 p.m.
Noah blew out a relieved breath when Eve emerged with Brock, walking unaided. “You better be happy they’re not hurt, you little shit,” Noah muttered.
“I would’ve,” Farmer snarled. “I would’ve killed all of them while you watched.”
Noah held on to his temper. Barely. He’d recited Miranda, but Farmer had screamed through it. Farmer starting screaming again as Brock ran to his side, holding Farmer down while Noah dug plasticuffs from his pocket and secured Farmer’s kicking feet.
Eve cut Trina’s bonds and helped her to the sofa amid Dell’s promised retribution, delivered at a pitch that could shatter glass.
“You guys need a medic?” Noah asked.
Brock and Trina checked each other for injuries. “Nah,” Brock said, “I think we’re good with just some ice. Eve has informed me I have a nasty bump.” He lifted his brows in an attempt at levity. “I never would have known otherwise.”
Now that it was over, Noah chanced a look at Eve and his heart tumbled. She stood, still calm, holding one of Trina’s butcher knives in her hand. Noah stood, wincing a little. He lifted Eve’s chin where a bruise was forming, his jaw going hard. “He hit you.”
“I’m okay. Really.”
“You were a hell of a lot better than okay.” Needing to hold her, but aware of Brock’s and Trina’s curious eyes avidly watching every move, Noah stepped back. “I’ll call Abbott. The three of you should go ice yourselves.”
Brock helped Trina to her feet. “I’ll have bourbon with my ice.”
“I’m not on duty,” Eve shot back, laughing as she walked with them to the kitchen.
She was a fascinating woman, Noah thought. So often, she stood back and watched the world go by. But when she found herself thrust into it, she… sparkled.
Distraction? Perhaps. But a welcome one. He glanced down at Farmer. And now that this SOB was in custody, she was no longer in danger. She needed no safe house.
He could take her home. Or to mine. He swallowed hard as he thought about taking up where they’d left off earlier that evening. But other priorities came first.
Noah took his cell from his pocket, his adrenaline already receding. Abbott had told him Donner was gone and commanded him to meet him and CSU at Donner’s house.
“Bruce, it’s Noah,” he said when Abbott picked up.
“Where are you?” Abbott asked acidly. “And what’s all that racket?”
“At my cousin’s house and the racket is Farmer. I brought Eve to stay with Brock, but Farmer was already here, waiting. Long story short, he’s cuffed and lying on the floor.”
“My God,” Abbott said, the acid drained from his tone. “Is everyone okay?”