Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(67)

“I don’t know you,” Kelsey stated firmly, drawing his attention off Gabe.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. You do remember me pulling you out of the river though, don’t you? You can’t have forgotten that.”

A tiny yelp burst from her throat. “That was you?”

Shelby put a protective arm across Kelsey’s shoulders. With one breath, this jerk had ripped the last shred of hope from her.

“Yes, ma’am. Glad I could oblige. My buddy, Craig Olsen, said I could use his summer place if I ever needed it. Sure glad. You were in mighty bad shape that morning. I needed to get you somewhere safe.”

“Listen, buddy. IF that was you, why didn’t you take her to the hospital?” Shelby demanded. “Why take her to some guy’s house and hide her away for three days, huh? You want to explain that?”

“Someone needed to keep her safe,” he drawled, extra slowly, as if he needed to make a point.

“Not good enough, Mr. Carell, or whoever you really are.” This guy was lying through his straight, white teeth. He’d manipulated Kelsey, and she wasn’t strong enough to see through him. Well, Shelby could, by heck. “She was badly hurt. You should’ve called an ambulance. You should have had her transported to the emergency room. Instead, you let the people who love her go crazy with worry. We searched for three days while you played hero. She could’ve died.”

He lifted one shoulder. “Guess after your guys let Alex die, I wasn’t convinced you could keep her safe.”

“I didn’t let him die,” Gabe spat. He closed in on the guy, but Zack lifted a hand to stop him.

Gabe’s emotional outburst caught Shelby short. Oh my. Gabe. You poor thing. You didn’t let anyone die. He just—did.

“But my dogs,” Kelsey murmured. “They scented Alex on the river. I know they did. I just watched them do it. Twice.”

Hayden Carell had the good grace to offer a truly sad face. Even his mustache drooped. “Sure sorry ’bout that. Your husband gave me a good pair of boots when he came home on emergency leave from Iraq. They were nearly new, so I kept them and used them. Must’ve been what the dogs caught wind of.”

Oh, my God. Shelby shuddered. All along Kelsey had insisted that Alex had climbed into bed with her. Was it really this guy? Had he gotten inside? Had he held her in his arms and—

Ewww. The thought that this guy might have taken that extreme liberty with a medicated and unconscious woman creeped Shelby out, but it made sense. Kind of. She shot a lightning quick glance at Gabe, wanting to ask, but not willing to frighten Kelsey any more than she already was.

Kelsey stepped away from the stranger, shaking her head. “No. It wasn’t you. Not you. It was Alex.”

The front doorbell rang.

“Don’t let him out of your sight,” Zack growled.

Gabe shifted his weight, his pistol still aimed at Hayden Carell’s head, while Zack pulled the ladies inside before he locked the rear door. Striding through the house with Kelsey and Shelby at his side, he pointed at the couch. “Sit. Now.”

Shelby knew better than to argue, but damn. Carell seemed to have an answer for everything. Maybe Alex really was dead.

Mark Houston burst into the house. “Where is he? I want the bastard before the police get here.”

“He’s all yours.” Zack nodded toward the back.

“He hurt anyone?”

“Settle down. Hell, he didn’t get the chance. Gabe intercepted him at the back fence line. He’s cuffed and disarmed. Not going anywhere. Calls himself Hayden Carell. I’ve got to tell you, he sounds authentic.”

“Like hell. He’s Sam Becker, the FBI bastard who killed Alex.”

“Oh, no,” Kelsey murmured as she sank deeper into the couch, her face as pale as the day she’d come home from the hospital. She clutched one hand to her mouth.

And Shelby had had enough. Jumping to her feet, she blocked Kelsey from Mark’s view. “Stop it. Right now. You guys need to leave. I won’t have you hurting her. She’s had enough and so have I.”

Mark shot her a menacing look, but Shelby didn’t back down. She took another step forward, her finger pointed into his chest. “You’re as bad as that guy out there,” she bellowed, her index finger stabbed in the direction she meant Mark to go. Away, damn it! “You’re hurting her! Go outside and break someone else’s heart!”

He nodded, his anger restrained. His gaze flickered over her shoulder to Kelsey, but it was Zack who dropped to one knee at Kelsey’s feet. “I’m sorry, Kels. For a minute there, Gabe had us all believing, didn’t he?”

Kelsey broke down. She dropped her face into her hands and Shelby came unglued. “I still believe, damn it. Gabe’s telling the truth. Trust him, Kelsey. Not Hayden What’s-his name. He’s a liar.”

Kelsey’s shoulders heaved, and Shelby melted onto the couch beside her. She took her sad friend in her arms and pressed her to her chest, stoking her head. Shelby’s eyes brimmed as Kelsey’s pain became hers. This nightmare had to stop.

“Your husband is alive, Kelsey,” she crooned, rocking back and forth and giving Kelsey all she had to give. Kelsey had become more than a client. She was family.





Chapter Twenty