In Her Sights (25 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Clayton stepped out of the shower, fastened a towel around
his waist, and leaned on the counter. He couldn’t quit seeing that arrow fly
into that chest. The man had stumbled back, and that was it. That’s all he
could remember until she appeared.

A dream, he’d thought at first. Moving fast with a stick. So
quick, he knew it couldn’t have been real. But it had been. Then Lexie’s voice had
called his name. She’d patted his cheek, and he knew it must have all been a
dream. Hallucinating her appearance was the only logical explanation. Why else
would Lexie Olympia be on a dark street in the worst part of town?

It hadn’t been a dream.

He pulled open his bathroom door and found the room empty.
The bow and her belt were still on the far side of the room on the floor, so
he knew sshe wasn’t gone. He crossed his room and stood over the items. He didn’t touch anything. The pistol she’d fired without a moment’s hesitation laid there in the pile. Something
about the size of a hunting knife and a small bag was also attached. He wanted
to dig through it all, but didn’t. Then a small eight-or-so-inch-long rod. He
squatted and knew that’s what she’d stuck in his hand as a walking stick. But
when he’d had it, it had been every bit of six feet.

He pushed off the floor, felt the ache in every last muscle
as he stood, and then dressed in some cotton pants. A shirt wasn’t happening.
He walked through his house and found her sitting on the couch. One of his kitchen
towels was tucked in her shirt collar and hung down her front. Her gaze met his,
and she smiled. “Feel better?”

He pointed at her chest. “Are you hurt?”

She stroked a hand down the towel. “You got a little blood
on me. It’s dry, but I didn’t want to get it on your furniture.”

Her voice was soft. Too soft and feminine to have saved his
ass from seven angry guys and to have killed at least one of them just an hour
ago. He glanced to the floor, hearing the
tap, tap, tap
of gunfire and
the screaming that had followed. Killed maybe more. God, he couldn’t. He didn’t
know what to say. “I need to make some more phone calls. I can give you one of
my shirts. If you want it.”

“Mike is bringing me some clothes. He’s supposed to pull up
and I’ll let him in the garage. I saw you had an empty slot. He should be here
within ten minutes.”

He started off, but that stopped him. “Mike and everyone at
your house know you go out with all those weapons?”

She nodded. “Yeah. If by everyone you mean Mike, Julia, and
Alex. Mike doesn’t know everything, but he knows something happens.”

And what was everything?
God, he wanted to know.
After all he’d learned about her, as she continually surprised him and left him
speechless, he was afraid to know what her answer to that question would be. He
needed something. A reaction or anything. “The arrow. That man is dead. Or he
should be.”

Her gaze left his, and she sniffed. “I know, but like I
said, he had a foot on your chest and looked like he was holding you down.”

The weight on his chest had been crushing. He’d barely been
able to breathe, but with his arms pinned down while being kicked, he hadn’t
had a chance. “He was.”

“I reacted to that,” she whispered.

“They’re going to be looking for the murderer.”

She winced.

He lowered his head. Calling her that wasn’t what he meant. “I
mean, they’ll be looking for who did this.”

“You’re the only one who knows.”

He shook his head. “Nobody would believe me if I said Lexie
Olympia killed a man and shot her gun at others while we escaped.”

She frowned at him, and her hands on the top of her thighs
tightened. “Yeah.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

He didn’t think she was fine and he sat next to her. He
started to put an arm over her shoulders, but his ribs stopped that. Instead,
he covered her hand with his. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here.
Something like this should be reported.”

“I would, uh…” Her voiced cracked, and she shook. “I mean. I
would really like it if we didn’t do that.”

“You won’t go to jail for it. You were saving my life.”

She dropped her head in her hands. “The dead body isn’t the only
problem.”

He had no words. The dead body. That’s what she called it.

“The arrow is one problem.” She swallowed. “The bullets I
left behind are another.”

He blinked.

Her mouth opened several times as she started to speak. She
took a deep breath and faced him. “I fired rounds so we could get away.”

The men’s screams echoed through his head again and he just felt numb all over. “I know.
That’s still self-defense.”

She stared at the floor. “That gun isn’t registered.”

He shook his head. She had a weapons permit. Could legally
carry concealed. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to say.”

She let out a hard breath and pushed hair back. “God, this
is harder than I imagined it would be. I would really like it if we didn’t call
the cops because this isn’t the first time I…saved someone by,” she nodded and
her mouth opened several more times, but nothing else came out. She licked her
lips. “Using extreme means.”

He pulled away from her. “You mean kill someone.”

She nodded and dropped her face into her hands.

“How many?” He watched her, but she looked down and didn’t
answer. “Lexie, how many?”

She sniffed and lifted her head up. “Sixteen—seventeen,
counting the one tonight.”

He stood. Seventeen? An aching knot turned his stomach. No.
That couldn’t be right. He misunderstood. She looked up at him, tears in her
eyes, and there was no misunderstanding. He turned around and headed to his
office without saying anything else. Because he didn’t know what to say.

He was a street cop for years. There was just that one time
he discharged his weapon at someone, and he hadn’t shot to kill. It
was miserable. Having to do that was horrible, and she’s killed seventeen
people?

A car pulled up to his house, and he waited. It took a
second until the garage lifted as Lexie had said. Likely Mike. Hopefully, she
would just leave because he didn’t know what to do with her. Didn’t know her
anymore. That woman he had kissed in the park was not this same person. The
garage ran again, a door closed in his house, and he knew she hadn’t left.

He sank against his chair and debated doing what should be
done versus keeping her secret. Not calling the police and reporting on those
deaths tonight went against every grain in his body. That’s what he did. He went
through the academy to serve and protect and find the truth.

The phone rang, but he just couldn’t answer right now. An
office number popped up on the caller ID. By the extension, it was Livingston.
The man would have information, but it would be nothing compared to what Clayton
had. The phone rang four times before he gave up and grabbed it. If anything,
maybe he would have some information to tell him what to do. “Yeah.”

“Got some more information on what that meeting tonight was
about. Thought you’d want some context to what you heard.”

Clayton rubbed his head. This damn dagger was the last thing
he wanted to deal with. This case. Her. All of it, he just wanted it all gone.

“What does the name Artemis mean to you?”

Christ, he was not in the mood for riddles. Or thinking. He
just wanted to sit. “Just tell me what you have.”

“That meeting about the dagger was because a character who
goes by the name Artemis requested it with the Sidewinders.”

His head was pounding. He’d taken a pain-killer when he’d
gotten in the door and called Reid. They weren’t touching his headache. Or the
pinch in his chest. “Who’s this Artemis?”

“Some people call her a superhero.”

“What do other people call her?”

“A killer. And a bitch, and occasionally, you hear the
police call her a pain in the ass.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, all of this starting to
sound familiar now. “Are you talking about that old urban legend?”

“Artemis isn’t an urban legend. The police department has
evidence.”

“
Allegedly
has evidence.” He knew this bedtime story.
Not that it had been told to him as a child. But Reid, who was from here, had told
Clayton about it, and there was no doubting it, the man fully believed the
stories.

“I’ve seen the photos. There’s nothing alleged about it. The
police department has three of her silver arrows, and they picked up two more
tonight. She’s real, and she had a meeting with The Sidewinders in Gillette
last night over your dagger.”

Clayton squeezed his eyes together. No. Please tell him he
heard wrong. “Did you say silver arrows?”

“Yeah. The whole thing is silver. Sometimes she writes
notes on the arrow’s shaft. From what I’m getting about last night, our
snitches tipped the police off for a lesser charge. I can’t get confirmation,
but it makes me believe the snitches are just snitches and not cops. If they
were cops, they would have gotten heavy time with the others to maintain the
cover. I researched that meeting spot, and it was the same park that the
Swinders and Red’s gang leaders were found dead in over a decade ago. The first
arrow they got from her was sent as a warning to these two leaders. They didn’t
take her seriously and were later found dead in that park—no arrow. There’s no
confirmation Artemis did it, but she’s the main suspect. The police had a good
trap set tonight, but she slipped out.”

Clayton couldn’t breathe. His chest was tight like a belt
strapped around it holding his lungs down. With the arrows, Lexie was clearly
Artemis. He rubbed his head, trying to think. If she was honest with saying she’d
killed seventeen, then those two were likely hers.

His throat tightened. Chasing after men and hunting them
down wasn’t like what happened tonight when she’d saved him. What was he
supposed to do knowing that? God, if she ever got convicted and it came out
that he knew.... This was putting himself at risk now.

Livingston continued, completely oblivious. “No trace of her
to be found. They think she’s holed up in Gillette somewhere or in the
surrounding area.”

Like hell. She was sitting on his fucking couch with
his
blood on her shirt because she’d risked herself to save him. That was the rub
in all this. She’d saved him. Risked her life, and everything about herself, to
save him. “They’re sure it was this Artemis?”

“Positive. When she wasn’t getting her questions answered, she
shot a silver arrow down that landed inches from the Sidewinder’s leader’s face.”

His pushed a thick swallow down. “And the other arrow? You
said two tonight.”

“They found a body with her arrow sticking out of his chest.
They’re still researching into that because a block away, there were two more
bodies with gunshot wounds. It’s pouring outside, so they’re not going to get
much. Fights broke out all over Gillette last night, and they’re trying to
clean it all up. It’s a mess down there.”

Two more from the gunshots. She was up to nineteen now.
Three bodies tonight because of him.

“Just so you’re aware, they’re watching Lexie Olympia’s
house because this gang thinks she has that dagger and passed that information
off to the police. They’ll be knocking on her door and following up first thing
in the morning, I would imagine.”

“She’s not home, she’s here.” Waiting for him to see if he
was going to call the police on her. And what if he did. His heart stopped.
Cool blankness feathered over him. If he called the police and turned her in,
would he be next? She said she wasn’t going to kill, but he didn’t know her at
all anymore. Three dead bodies in one night. What was one more to her?

He rubbed sweat off his brow. “Tell me more about Artemis.
Confirmed things. No rumors.”

Papers rustled. “Police hate her, media and lots of citizens
love her. She’s been quiet until this came up. The last thing they tagged her
on has been several years ago, before you moved here. They suspect with her
frequent activities here, she lives somewhere close.”

Right in the middle of fucking town. “What does she do? I’ve
heard the stories, but I want to know the facts.”

“She mostly keeps tabs on the gangs in Gillette and keeps
them under control. Every now and then, something pops up in a different part
of town. If a woman is attacked in a parking lot, people claim they see her.
Supposedly she dresses in black and watches from a distance. The latter could be made-up
stories or true. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding her.”

Considering the woman behind the name, the mystery aspect of
it all didn’t surprise him.

“I know you wanted facts, but there’s been a couple other
deaths that are suspicious. No arrows left behind, but the bodies that pop up
aren’t exactly nice people. The kind of people where victims find out their
attacker is dead and they’re relieved and happy. Same as with the gang leaders,
there was a bit of a public cheer of thanks. Anytime she leaves an arrow, there’s
mentions online of people happy and giving thumbs ups. The celebration and community-wide
thanks fits her profile. Anytime a body pops up and they have no leads and
people are happy they’re dead—they wonder if it’s her. Just complete
speculation.”

“How many bodies do they suspect are hers?”

“Without researching, I’d say maybe six? Not a lot of cases
go completely unsolved.”

Six. And Lexie said seventeen. What happened to the rest? In
addition to killing people, could she also make bodies disappear? Was she that
good that the police weren’t even aware? It seemed like the more he thought,
the more his heart stopped. “Keep your ear to the ground. Send me what you find.”

He hung up but didn’t get out of his chair. She
was somewhere on the other side of that door waiting to hear what he decided.