“Fine. Whatever.” Just do something, Shane added silently, remembering how he’d accused Jamie Lynn of being impatient and wondering how he was going to force himself to wait for anything.
He eyed the cardboard boxes in the backseat of the sheriff’s car. If he got them out and stacked them atop the car’s trunk, Randall would be able to see them from the house and would know they’d complied with his demands. That wasn’t guaranteed to help but it couldn’t hurt.
The last box was in place when a shot was fired from an upstairs window.
It cut a round hole into a box mere inches from Shane’s shoulder.
By the time he realized what had happened, he could easily have been felled by a second shot—just like Max.
The first thing that crossed his mind as he dived behind the car was, “Thank you, Jesus!”
* * *
“If you shoot at them, they’re going to shoot back,” Jamie warned her captor. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
He guffawed. “I’m an important man. They won’t shoot me.”
“Okay, if you say so. Still, I wouldn’t stand in front of any windows if I were you.”
“Think you’re so smart, don’t you? Well, you’re not as smart as I am. You never guessed I was behind all your troubles, did you?”
She chose to humor him. “No, sir. I sure didn’t. We were blaming Benjamin Abernathy.”
“Oh, he was part of it. But he wanted to scare you away. I told him and told him, that girl won’t scare any more than her stubborn daddy did.”
“You killed my father?”
Another harsh laugh. “Not me. It wasn’t hard to find somebody willing to do it. Throw enough money at any problem and you can make it go away.”
“And my mother?”
The judge shook his head, his eyes hidden behind the night vision goggles. “Missed her. She ran off before I expected her to. It didn’t seem wise to go after her. Now I wish I’d gotten rid of all of you.”
“The way you got rid of Max Williford tonight?”
“Max is dead? Well, well. Looks like my old partner came through for me. I told Ben we needed to tie up all the loose ends. I guess he did.”
“It was just you and Abernathy and Williford? I’m impressed. The three of you pulled off a slick frame.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” The judge sounded less manic and more resolved.
“The only thing I don’t know,” Jamie Lynn said, fighting to keep her tone soft, her voice even, “is which teenager was driving my brother’s car that night.”
“What difference does it make?”
“None, I guess. I’m just curious. If it wasn’t your daughter, why did you take a chance on getting involved?”
Randall cursed under his breath and paced away from her. “Because the kids would never admit who was behind the wheel. They thought they were being clever. Getting their parents to bail them out no matter what. And it worked. I know Bobbi-Sue was in the car. She hit her mouth on the dash and loosened a couple of teeth.”
The blood on the car seat! Jamie’s heart thudded. Even if she didn’t make it out of this alive so she could repeat what she’d learned, DNA should lead law enforcement to the guilty parties. Both of them. If Shane couldn’t interest the famous Innocence Project in taking the case, he could still prevail upon the sheriff to have the samples tested.
But would he? Or would he be so glad to see the last of her he dropped the whole thing? Clearly, Judge Randall was going to jail and therefore Abernathy’s actions would also come into question, but would that be enough to reopen R.J.’s case if there was nobody insisting on it?
Tears pooled behind her lashes as she considered her probable fate and rejected it. She was not ready to give up. Nor was she willing to let a madman win this battle, let alone the war. A person didn’t have to be connected to law enforcement to crave justice. She might not be armed the way the judge was but she was far more cognizant of reality. He had the gun. She had the brains. Never mind that people in Serenity were probably seeing her as just as unbalanced because of her actions. What she had done to arrive at this point had been for the right reasons and she’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Kyle and Marsha were safe. Now it was her turn to escape.
How was yet to be determined.
EIGHTEEN
Shane had stayed down after the single bullet whistled past his ear. He eyed the house while armed men took defensive positions. If they went in, guns blazing, Jamie Lynn was likely to be collateral damage, providing the judge didn’t start by shooting her. Given his demonstration of willingness to fire, anything was possible.