The Hunk Next Door(17)
“Maybe I should question her,” Abby said, teasing him. Libby was known as one of the gentlest people in Belclare. And she was seven months pregnant with their second child.
Calder’s laughter turned into a cough. “I’m sure she feels she has cause to do me harm more days than not.”
Abby pasted a smile on her face as the paramedics arrived and took over. As she backed out of the way, she hit an immovable wall. Before she could apologize, she felt warm hands on her shoulders, steadying her. “Easy. I’ve got you.”
Riley. His touch was somehow calming. But that didn’t last long. Anger, shock and worry spun like a wild tornado in her belly as Calder was moved first to the backboard and then to the ambulance.
When the ambulance was gone, Abby walked toward the landscaping to have a look.
“You should go inside,” Riley said from right behind her.
“No.” She faced him. This close, she had to tip her head back to meet his gaze. “He thinks someone pushed the ladder. I need to call in some help and check out the scene.”
His eyes narrowed and his mouth, usually so quick with that wry grin, turned into a dark frown. He handed her his phone. “Make the call. I’ll clear out the spectators.”
He managed the task efficiently and politely, turning down offers to help clean up the mess while she explained the situation to the officer on duty at the station.
When Riley returned, the street was eerily quiet. “Here.” He handed her a heavy flashlight. “Figured you’d need that.”
“Thanks.” She wasn’t sure what she hoped to find, but it wasn’t the nasty note scrawled on the siding of Calder’s house: “One down. Who’s next?”
“Not paint. Looks like charcoal,” Riley observed.
“Guess Calder was right about being pushed.” Open season on Belclare. The media would be showing that all night long and as soon as the word got around about this, the rest of the town would know Calder was in the hospital because of her.
Her stomach clutched and she nearly tossed her dinner right there at the scene. Anger jolted her. She’d never come close to contaminating a crime scene in her career. “Damn it. If they want me, they should come at me.”
“They want you to suffer.”
Knowing he was right made her feel worse. “What am I supposed to do, leave town? How would that help anyone?”
“That might be the most important question.”
She glared at him, wishing the light was better. “You sound more like a cop than a carpenter.”
“From you, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It wasn’t meant that way.”
“Too bad. I’d think you know from experience that very few people do bad things for the fun of it.” He flashed the light on the grim message again. “It’s kind of obvious someone is trying to get under your skin.”
To her ultimate frustration, it was working.
She didn’t know what to make of her new neighbor. He had a presence people responded to, herself included. His easygoing manners didn’t quite fit with his critical thinking. And how insensitive of her to think a guy with a tool belt had only one dimension.
She had enough experience with people to know better, but something about Riley was different. Something more than the way her body went hot when he was close. Whatever else she felt, this was hardly the time to address her physical attraction to him.
“Do you see any footprints?” The beam from the flashlight sliced through the darkness as she searched for anything helpful.
“Too many,” he answered.
That new urge to scream returned with a vengeance. She wouldn’t give the people behind these hateful acts the satisfaction. Whatever system she’d disrupted with the drug bust, the criminals were playing hardball now. She’d read the emails and threats in chat rooms about retaliation that involved taking out innocent civilians. Until now, she’d thought it was so much smoke and hot air.
They were lucky Calder hadn’t been paralyzed or even killed.
When she found the person responsible—and she silently vowed to do just that—she would see them rot behind bars.
When an investigative team arrived, Abby relinquished the scene as soon as she brought them up to speed. With her head spinning, she would only impede their progress. Belclare deserved the best from their police department.
Trudging back across the street, she could almost hear the gossip chasing her. The graffiti on the welcome sign was bad enough. As word spread about Calder she’d be lucky if Mayor Scott didn’t fire her at the next town council meeting.
He didn’t exactly have the authority, but that wouldn’t stop the posturing. And the posturing would weaken her position. Reaching her front door, she glanced back over her shoulder one last time, but the view of Calder’s house was blocked by Riley’s wide shoulders. “What are you doing?”