Thick as Thieves(105)

He flipped his aim to her and fired.

Shock registered on her face.

Arden didn’t even realize what had happened until her sister pitched forward and fell to the floor.

Then Arden screamed.



While driving with heedless ferocity, Ledge had placed repeated calls to Arden’s cell phone. They’d all gone to voice mail. So he wasn’t surprised when her house came into view and he saw Rusty’s car in the driveway, blocking in both her and Lisa’s cars.

His impulse was to roar up in his truck and barge in. But without knowing what kind of shit show was going on inside, not knowing what kind of danger Arden was in, he left his pickup at the end of their drive. As he alighted, he saw other vehicles speeding from different directions toward the property.

The cavalry. God bless Don.

He didn’t wait for the backup, but proceeded up the drive on foot, revolver drawn. It was still loaded from last night when he’d left it with Arden to defend herself while he’d dealt with Hawkins.

The only light on inside the house was coming from the window in the room where Arden slept. Running in a crouch, he approached it cautiously, now glad for the pelting rain that helped obscure him.

Through the window, he saw the three of them in an arrangement that nearly caused his heart to burst. Rusty was holding Arden with a nine-millimeter crammed into the soft tissue under her chin. She could die. At any second.

But no sooner had Ledge processed that dreadful thought, Rusty suddenly turned the gun on Lisa instead and pulled the trigger. Ledge reacted as he’d been conditioned. He fired. The bullet shattered the window and accomplished exactly what he’d intended: It startled Rusty into releasing Arden.

The instant Ledge saw an infinitesimal space between them, he fired a second shot. It struck precisely where he had aimed.

Rusty was neutralized.

Ledge crashed through what was left of the window.



Rusty released Arden so abruptly, she reeled into the wall, bashing her elbow. But she was impervious to the pain and only dimly aware of two additional gunshots reverberating in the small space, the racket of glass shattering, the thud of footsteps.

She stumbled over to Lisa and dropped to her knees, but she was helpless to touch her because of the hand restraints. Frantically, she pulled her hands against them in a maddened attempt to break free.

A voice she had come to know well said from behind her, “Be still.” She looked over her shoulder. Ledge was kneeling behind her. He snapped the restraints apart with his pocketknife.

Then gently Arden and he turned Lisa onto her side. When Lisa blinked, Arden sobbed in relief.

Ledge, who’d located Lisa’s wound, raised his eyes to Arden, and what she saw in them made her tremble.

He said, “Ambulance is coming up the drive.”

She looked back down at Lisa, who was moving her hand in a restless, groping motion until she found Arden’s. Realizing what her sister was attempting, Arden hooked their little fingers together. Lisa closed her eyes momentarily, then reopened them and gave Arden’s finger a tug.

Arden leaned down, placing her ear directly above Lisa’s lips, but what she managed to utter was gibberish. Arden leaned back in order to look into her face, but Lisa’s eyes were already partially closed and unseeing.

Arden sensed commotion behind her and, at the same time, Ledge placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her up to stand. “Give them room.”

Paramedics crowded into the space. One immediately began administering CPR on Lisa.

“Lisa?” Arden hiccupped a sob. “Lisa?”

Ledge placed his arm around her and drew her close.



Lisa was still receiving CPR when they placed her on a gurney and carried her to the ambulance. Arden was given a hand up and climbed in. The doors were shut, and it sped down the drive toward the road.

Ledge had seen in the eyes of one of the medics who had attended Lisa what he already knew. It had been a belly shot. Her chances of surviving were remote. He wanted to be with Arden.

But she might not want to be with him.

The rain had stopped. The men Don had sent to assist if necessary were circled around in the yard, chawing among themselves over what had happened, and giving their statements to the law officers who’d arrived with the ambulance. Some were from the sheriff’s office. Some, Ledge was relieved to see, were from other agencies. They would be impartial.

One of the retired Rangers noticed Ledge and brushed the brim of his hat with his fingertips. Ledge bobbed his chin in acknowledgment but didn’t join the group. He stayed on the steps at the back door.

Soon, Rusty was carted out of the bedroom, through the kitchen, and out the door where Ledge had been waiting.

The .357 had blown Rusty’s right shoulder joint to smithereens. The medics had stanched the hemorrhaging blood vessels, but Ledge knew it hurt like a mother. It wouldn’t kill him. Ledge hadn’t meant it to.

He hadn’t been looking Rusty in the eye.

Rusty was cursing the paramedics who carried his gurney. When he spotted Ledge, he tried to sit up, straining against the straps holding him down. “Fuck you, Burnet. You crippled me.”

“Maybe.”

“I’m not done with you.”

“Oh, you’re done, Rusty.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

Ledge did something he never thought he would do in the presence of Rusty Dyle. He smiled. “I don’t think so.”