Starks' Reality (23 page)

He heard the determination in her voice and he understood it. Respected it. She had a strength he suspected she didn’t completely understand. Any other woman he knew would have fallen apart under these circumstances. Hell, so would a lot of men.

Was it possible she was strong enough to handle the shit he lived with? God, had he just pushed away the one woman who might actually be able to love him?

As she stepped backwards he matched her movements, not daring to reach for her again. “Wait.”

“For what? For you to finish telling me off?”

“Look, I—”

“Don’t bother.”
She turned and started away again.

Jake dashed ar
ound her and blocked her path. “Come on, Heather, you can’t go out there alone. I don’t want two of you lost in the marsh.”

“I don’t really care what you want, Jake.”

He flinched but didn’t respond, knowing full well he deserved whatever she threw at him.

“Listen,” he said, “I’m headed out to search, too. At least come with me. You know the area.
We have a better chance of finding him together.”

Still shivering, she glared again, but didn’t try to get around him.

“Please.”

Glancing away, she nodded
.

Jake shrugged off his jacket. Although rain had soaked the outside, the inside still felt somewhat dry. He draped it over Heather’s shoulders and followed her back to the Trans Am.

When they were both inside, he turned the car around and cranked up the heater to help dry their clothes on the short trip north.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To the north end of the bay. I want to check the area where we found the boat.”

Anger scorched his chest
when he passed the road to Tucker’s. He shoved the anger away; this wasn’t the time. Later.

Finally, with Heather navigating, he found a
two-track to the right that dropped off the paved road and ran to the edge of the marsh. Dodging puddles and ruts where possible, he eventually pulled the car up to the old shack he’d seen from Tucker’s porch.

“Will you at least wait in the car?” he asked.

“No.”

Jake nodded. “
There’s a flashlight in the glove compartment. I’ve got another one in the trunk.”

He put on his Kevlar vest for warmth and waited for Heather at the edge of the road. In a moment, she stood behind him,
wearing his jacket with the sleeves rolled up to her wrists and shining the flashlight on the ground in front of her. At least they had a break in the rain.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded.

When he stepped into the marsh grass, he sank in mud up to his knees.

“Shit.”

But there was no other path. Shining the flashlight ten feet out, he worked his way slowly to the
edge of the open water with mud sucking at his boots. When he stopped, he sank in up to mid-thigh. The pungent scent of rotting vegetation and fish rose around him.

They stood less than a dozen feet from the spot where Coop’s boat had been lodged in the grass. The Coast Guard had hauled off the boat, but left behind long
streaks in the mud.

Heather grabbed the back of his vest when she stopped beside him and added her light to his. “What do you see?”

“Nothing. Just the marks where the boat was.”

“No life vest?” she asked.

“No. We didn’t see one earlier, either.”

Heather sighed. “He never went out without it. If it’s not here, he had it on. He couldn’t have drowned. I bought the vest for him. It’s
the kind that turns you right-side up.”

Jake searched the grass again for any sign of debris. “Maybe he didn’t go into the water. Maybe someone took him out of his boat before they punched holes in it.”

“You think he’s been kidnapped?”

“I don’t know.” Jake turned and nodded toward the road. “I don’t think there’s
anything else to see out here.”

He followed Heather, grabbing her by the back of the jacket once when she stumbled. When they finally got back to the r
oad, mud covered both of them to their hips.

Jake removed the vest and tossed it into the trunk. He didn’t need the added warmth anymore; he’d worked up a sweat trudging through the mud.

Heather opened the passenger’s door, looked down at her muddy legs, and then looked back at him.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

She climbed in.

He turned
the car around carefully, unwilling to find out what would happen if the tires went off into the marsh. Soon, they’d started back around the bay.

“Why would someone kidnap Coop?” Heather asked.

“Maybe they think he saw something, like Tran’s murder.”

That drew her
gaze to him. “Who murdered Tran?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I think I know where to start looking.” He glanced over at her. “I don’t suppose you want to wait at my house?”

She shook her head.

“I didn’t think so.”

“Where to?” she asked.

“
Radisson’s.”

“Tanner
Radisson’s?”

“Yep.”

~~**~~**~~

Jake parked the car in the shadows and they both got out. He didn’t speak as he opened the trunk and handed her a vest. “Put this on and don’t take it off.”

She grabbed the surprisingly heavy garment, and then shrugged off his jacket and draped it across the backseat of the car. As soon as she slipped on the vest and Jake turned her around to fasten Velcro straps, she realized it was a bulletproof vest like the ones the cops on TV wore.

He returned to the
trunk and shoved things into his pockets, and something into his right boot. Then he eased the trunk lid down until it clicked. She followed him around to the driver’s side.

“I want you to sit behind the wheel,” he said. “If anyone drives up, tap the horn once and drive off. You know where that last cutoff was that goes up into the trees?”

She nodded.

“If no one follows you, pull off there, shut off the engine, and wait for me. If they follow you, or if something goes wrong, drive straigh
t to the sheriff’s office. Got it?”

She nodded again. “What are you going to do?”

“Break into Radisson’s house.” He turned and ran off toward the gate.

Heather climbed into the car and pulled the door shut quietly. She rolled down the window and watched.

Jake stood at the gate for several minutes, doing something with tools from his pockets. Then, looking around, he dashed away, into the shadows along the fence where she could no longer see him.

Although still tired
to the bone, she wasn’t the least bit sleepy. At least they were doing something. That made her feel a little better.

She caught a glimpse of Jake as he ran across the yard toward the house. Somewhere in the shadows, he must have climbed the fence.

She couldn’t figure out the man. One minute he was yelling at her to get lost, and the next he was wrapping her in his jacket. He ran hot and cold—more so than anyone she’d ever known. Maybe that was how he survived as a cop. The ability to turn off emotion had to be invaluable when facing danger.

Something horrible must have happened at Tucker’s after she left. She’d understood that Jake had been upset because he was worried about her, but he crossed the line with both her and Tucker. When he walked into the house just before she left, she saw the regret
in his eyes. At that moment, though, she hadn’t been ready to accept an apology.

Apparently, neither had Tucker. Had he really slept with Jake’s wife when they were partners? Not only was it a horrible thing to do, it must have been a monstrous secret to keep fo
r so long.

She
couldn’t imagine things would ever be right with Jake again, and her heart ached. He had a frightening side she wasn’t sure she could handle. No one had ever yelled at her with such venom. And even if she could handle it, she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Still, she worried about him as she watched him at the front door.

~~**~~**~~

It didn’t take long to pick the front door lock. Jake tucked the t
ools into his back pocket, drew his thirty-eight, and eased the door open. He would have felt better with backup, but he didn’t want witnesses to breaking and entering.

The house looked as empty as the grounds had.
Radisson seemed to be with his missing car. Jake continued on cautiously, though, just in case. The only lights in the house came from rooms off the hall.

Halfway through the living room, he heard the distinctive sound of a revolver cock
ing from behind him. Jake stopped. He fell to his knees as he whirled around with his thirty-eight in one hand and flashlight in the other. “Freeze!”

A large figure
sat propped in the corner. The pistol he pointed in Jake’s direction fell to the man’s leg and he coughed. “Chief,” he croaked.

Jake got to his feet and flipped the
closest light switch.

Red
held his side with his left hand. Blood oozed between his fingers and pooled around him.

Jake
rushed to the patrolman’s side. “Hold on, I’ll call for an ambulance.”

He
dialed, and checked the room as the phone rang.

The call
went through to Kenny’s house.

“Hello?” The man had been asleep.

“Kenny, it’s Starks. Get your ass and an ambulance up to Radisson’s house ASAP. Red has been shot.”

“Red Daily?”

“Yes. Hurry.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jake trotted into the kitchen, grabbed a dishtowel, and returned to his patrolman’s side. “Let me see.”

He pulled Red’s hand away and opened the blood-soaked shirt. The slug had left a small entry wound in Red’s side, and a larger exit wound in back. Still, it must have been a small-caliber gun, probably a twenty-two, or a twenty-five. He folded the towel lengthwise and wrapped it halfway around the man’s middle,
and used Red’s belt to hold the towel in place.

“Okay, press right here,” he said, placing Red’s hand over the entry wound. “The ambulance will be here in a minute.”

“Chief,” Red said, his voice barely audible, “he’s got Coop.”

“
Radisson?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he kill Tran?”

Red nodded.

“Where did he go?”

“Don’t know,” Red said. “He’ll kill Coop. Find him.”

“As soon as the ambulance—”

“No,” Red said, gasping. “Now.”

“I can’t leave—”

“G
o.
Now
.”

Jake nodded. “All right. You just hang on. I’ll leave the front door open.
”

Then he ran.
Radisson’s disappearance left no need for stealth.

Jake punched the button for the front gate, slipped through as it started to open, and hurried to the car.

Heather climbed from the driver’s side as he approached. “Jake, what—”

“Hurry, get in,” he said. “We’ll talk on the way.”

She ran around the car and hopped in the passenger’s side. Jake started the engine and gunned it as soon as Heather’s door closed. He spun a circle in Radisson’s driveway.

“Put on your seatbelt,” he said.

The Trans Am roared down the dirt road to the highway. Tires squealed as they fought for traction on the pavement. When they caught, the car leapt forward. Jake considered putting on his red light, but decided against it. He’d just have to turn it off again when they approached.

“What happened back there?”

He glanced at Heather. She held the armrest and the front of her seat with white-knuckled grips, but her voice sounded amazingly calm.

“Red’s in the house. He’s been shot.”

“
Shot?
”

“H
e’s conscious. He said Radisson has Coop.”

“Is Coop okay?”

“I don’t know, Heather.” This was no time to hide the truth from her; she needed to know what was going on. “Red thinks Radisson plans to kill him.”

“Oh, God,” she said. “Where are they?”

“He didn’t know.”

“Do you?”

“Maybe.”

The ambulance flew past them in the opposite direction with its lights
flashing and siren screaming. Jake felt a little better knowing paramedics might get to Red in time to save him. Kenny would probably be there quickly, too.

“W
hy is this happening?” Heather asked. “Why did Radisson kidnap Coop?”

“I don’t know all the facts yet, but I think
Radisson is involved in the drug ring Evans has been trying to bust. Radisson was probably paying off Red and Boudreaux to make sure Evans and his men were never in the right place at the right time.”