Her sister certainly believed so.
Walking into the auditorium, Luke at her side, Katie wore a Cheshire smile. Unfortunately, the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Katie was scared. She wanted Janie to stay at home, in a locked room, until they figured out who had killed Patricia and who had pushed Janie down the stairs.
“Hey, Rafe.” Katie sidled in beside him. “We wondered if you’d ever get here.” Meaning, Luke and I left Janie alone on purpose so you’d have to rescue her. What took you so long? Katie followed that with, “Any news?”
At least Katie did recall that someone had more or less put a hit out on Janie.
“No,” Rafe said. “So far, it’s been a quiet morning.”
Katie nodded. “You back on guard duty for the rest of the day?”
Janie waited. Jeff certainly had smooth ways about him. He opened car doors, offered coffee, and even listened to country music, but he didn’t make Janie feel completely safe, not like Rafe did.
“I never left.”
But he had. Something she’d done last night had spooked Rafe, something that had nothing to do with cop and civilian and everything to do with male and female. Enough so he’d turned her over to Jeff and found other things to do at the banquet. Jeff had done some muttering about priorities. Mainly he’d wanted to be with the girl he’d brought.
Before Janie could ask Rafe what the game plan for today was, a man stepped behind the podium, cleared his throat and announced a song number.
A minute later, Janie realized she might never listen to country music again. Rafe didn’t sing with gusto. No, like everything else, his approach to music was purposeful. He had a deep, rich bass. Deep enough to awe Janie; rich enough to make her close her eyes and enjoy.
The man certainly had plenty of hidden talents.
Of course, when one’s life was in danger, it was never a good idea to close one’s eyes for too long. Janie’s eyes were still closed when Rafe suddenly stopped singing. She opened them when the rest of the congregation’s singing staggered to a halt, too, even though the song wasn’t over. On the screen, the words still waited. The song leader’s mouth was open in a silent O.
Rafe quickly turned to Luke. “Don’t lose sight of Janie.” Then, with an ease most big men couldn’t quite master, he slid out into the aisle and faced the back of the auditorium.
Tommy Skinley probably didn’t see whose arms were reaching out for him. His tears were that thick. He also probably couldn’t hear the words of the congregation. He was too busy cursing. He had one hand in the pocket of his jacket and the other pointed at Janie.
Unfortunately, neither words nor sobs stopped him from lunging at her.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
RAFE DIDN’T DOUBT for a moment that Janie was in danger. But the people of the congregation were in more danger as they stood between her and Tommy. The boy was in the middle of a meltdown and Rafe suspected some kind of stimulant was fueling the kid’s actions.
Worse, Rafe couldn’t tell if the kid had a gun or not.
His gut warned him that any loud noise would spook Tommy. So Rafe turned sideways, moved slowly and kept his eyes on Tommy. He motioned downward with his hand and then to the side. Most of the people in the church’s left and right sections got the crouch-and-go message and headed for the side doors.