“Don’t move, Leonard, or we’ll see if this gun is loaded.”
The sheriff and the deputies were there in a flash, taking Leonard into custody as the sheriff helped her up.
She handed him the gun.
“What the hell did you think you were doing? You could have been killed,” he questioned as he held her upper arm and stared down at her chest and then her eyes.
This close, the sheriff was huge. She actually felt intimidated and tried taking a step back.
She pulled her arm free and then adjusted her blouse to cover her exposed flesh.
“I saw an opportunity and I took it before he could continue to molest me in front of an audience. Oh, and you’re welcome, Sheriff.”
She started walking away and noticed the other deputies looking her over and smiling. Some were shaking their heads as if they couldn’t believe what she just did. Then she heard his stern voice.
“Not so fast, miss. You were just involved in a hostage situation and I need some information from you.”
She turned to look at him.
“I was sitting here for over an hour waiting to be assisted. You can wait while I use a restroom and try to recover from what just went down. Then I’ll talk.” She stormed out of there hearing whistles at her temper, but she didn’t care. That damn sheriff was a jerk.
As she spotted the sign that indicated the right door, she pushed it open and headed inside.
She looked in the mirror and saw how red her cheeks were, and felt how fast her heart was racing. Now that it was over, she was coming down off the adrenaline rush and she began to physically shake.
She had let her anger, her frustration, and mostly her fear from the past make her decisions for her. She could have been killed if she hadn’t made that wrist control move so quickly. Michaela covered her mouth as she swallowed the cry that wanted to escape.
She wasn’t weak. She refused to have fear. She was alone in this world with no one but herself to count on, and that was the way it had to be.
* * * *
Sheriff Jake McCurran stood with his arms crossed, waiting outside of the ladies’ room. He was beside himself with shock at what just took place in his damn department. The deputy, a rookie, was being reprimanded by the sergeant while Jake waited to speak with the hostage. A woman he had surely never seen before and who also made quite the first impression.
The woman was new in town from what his secretary, Joyce, had told him. She had purchased the old Fenniger home at the end of Burgon Point. That place needed a shitload of work done to it. He wondered whom she was and all he could find out was that she came from Chicago. She was definitely capable of handling herself, but she should have let him resolve that situation. He could understand her need to defend herself as Leonard took advantage and began to fondle her. It pissed him off, immediately made him see red, as Leonard touched her.
She was a good-looking woman. Young, maybe in her twenties, and she was built well. The guys were all standing around waiting to find out who she was and whether or not she was single. Jackasses. She was just a victim and now they wanted to hit on her.
Just then the door to the restroom opened and the woman came out. Her blouse was buttoned further up than before and he felt the bit of disappointment. He cleared his head, the one on his shoulders, and reminded himself that he’d just made fun of his staff for wanting to hit on the woman.
“Miss?”
She locked gazes with him, looking straight up into his eyes. She was a petite thing compared to him. She had long brown hair and deep blue eyes, and the prettiest face he had ever seen.
“Your name?”
“Michaela.”
He reached out his hand.
“Sheriff McCurran. Would you please follow me into my office?”
“Is it safe?” she asked. At first he thought she needed reassurance, but as she started walking ahead of him, he realized it was a wiseass comment. The woman had spunk, add that to the list.
“So you came here to get the documents you needed to remove the car from your new property. Sorry I wasn’t here to meet you right away. I had a situation downstairs.”
“I assume it wasn’t as intense as the ‘situation’ upstairs with Leonard.”
He eyed her over as she sat in a chair in front of his desk, legs crossed, eyes filled with attitude and fire. And he noticed she was shaking and hadn’t accepted his offer of something to drink. She clasped her hands and started moving her foot. She was nervous, perhaps still recovering from the incident.
“Listen, if you can just give me the paperwork so that the tow truck can remove the vehicle that would be great. I can get the hell out of here and head home to all the work the place needs.”
“I can’t do that. When we processed the request, it came up as still being owned by Mr. Fenniger.”
She sat forward. “What? How can that be when Mr. Fenniger is dead?” she asked.
“Something to do with his estate and lawyers, I guess.”
“I swear if that damn thing ran, I would drop it somewhere a few towns over.” She shook her head and then lowered her eyes.
“Now that would be illegal.” He winked after she looked at him incredulously and chuckled.
She shook her head. “Okay, I really need to get going. I was hoping to start working on the house on Monday. The car is in the way of the Dumpster I ordered. What can I do to get this moving?”
“A Dumpster? You gutting the place?”
“Sort of.”
“Who’s doing the work?” he asked.
“Someone from the area. Listen, I really need to go. I have to get ready for work and still need to get back to the house. What is the next step?” she asked.
He stared at her, and he couldn’t deny the attraction he felt. He wondered if she felt it, too. If she did, she wasn’t giving any indication of it at all. Usually women saw the uniform and went all flirty on him. This woman seemed as if she could care less or perhaps was even turned off by his profession. Could she have some sort of past run-in with the law? When she first entered his office, she was pissed off and snappy. But she was also ready to bolt. Maybe she was just shy. She was new to town.
“Let me see what I can do. If there is a way to get it taken care of, I’ll do it. Being the sheriff and growing up around here, I pretty much know everyone. I’ll be in touch. Is this all your contact information?” he asked, looking over the documents she’d filled out. It would have to be filed with the charges against Leonard.
“Yes. My cell phone is best to reach me at. Thank you.” She stood up and reached out her hand for him to shake. Of course he did, and as their hands touched, he was shocked by the attraction as well as the size of her small hand in his much larger one.
“See you soon.”
She gave a small smile, pulling her hand from his, and then exited the room.
He glanced out between the blinds and saw the deputies saying good-bye and trying to stop her so she would talk to them, but she just smiled and waved, practically running for the exit.
He hoped to see her again, and even though he could take care of the problem with the car with one phone call, he planned on taking care of it personally and making a trip out to her new home. He wanted to see her again. She was that beautiful. He felt the slight ache in his chest and he shouldn’t.
Their relationship with Lisa was over for three years now. It was time for him and his brothers, Billy and Hal, to move on.
Chapter 1
It had been a stressful few days. She had spoken to Alonso after the incident at the sheriff’s department on Thursday. He wanted to call the sheriff and give him the heads-up on her case, and of course, Michaela begged him not to.
They talked about the job she took as a bartender for Thursday and Friday nights just for fun and to take her mind off of the case. He assured her that she was safe where she was and that there hadn’t been any sign of Carlucci, who they believed hired the hit man who shot her. Solomon, Annette’s boyfriend, who’d disappeared following the shooting, was still missing. They didn’t know if Solomon was dead or alive. Nor was there any indication that either man would come looking for her. She had been a victim caught in the middle of a violent crime.
Why she even left Chicago to try to help her sister, she’ll never know. It was her last try at saving Annette from the addiction. She thought about where both of them had wound up, Annette six feet under, and Michaela starting a new life in New Jersey but still unable to trust a soul except for Alonso.
Deep down, she hoped that both men did show up. Dead.
She couldn’t understand why Carlucci or Solomon would want to contact her. Carlucci wasn’t even officially being investigated. The detectives working the case believed that Carlucci, or a close affiliate, hired the man to kill Annette. That person, if identified and caught, would be charged in connection to the murder of her sister, and for the attempted murder of Michaela. The detectives were also searching for Solomon, the piece of shit weasel, as an accessory to murder or at minimum a witness to the crime. The jerk left his own girlfriend there to die. Michaela, too. She knew she didn’t like the guy the moment her sister introduced them to one another.
But weeks after she was shot, her apartment was ransacked, and it looked as if someone was searching for something. Then five weeks later when she was past recovery and trying to get her life back on track, someone ransacked her apartment again and this time left a message saying that they would be back.