Virgin River (Virgin River #1)(111)

They stood like that for a while, Mel trying to catch her breath and Jack watching. Ready. She pulled away enough to look up at him and was nearly startled anew by an expression so fierce, so angry. “He was going to kill me,” she said in a whisper.

His eyes remained on the man as he said, “I will never let anything happen to you.”

The sound of running footfalls came up behind them, but Jack didn’t turn.

Preacher stopped suddenly in the doorway, a hand braced on each side as he leaned in, panting. He looked into the kitchen, saw the man on the floor, Mel in Jack’s protective embrace, the gun dangling at Jack’s side. And Preacher’s expression went dark, his brows drawn close, his mouth turned down in a scowl. He walked into the kitchen, kicked the knife across the floor and bent to the man. He felt the man’s neck for a carotid pulse. He looked over his shoulder at Jack and shook his head. “It’s okay, Jack. It’s done.”

Jack put the gun on the table and, with Mel still protected against him, turned to the wall phone. He lifted the receiver, punched a few numbers and said, “This is Jack Sheridan in Virgin River. I’m at Doc Mullins’s—I just killed a man.”





Sixteen




It took the sheriff’s deputy, Henry Depardeau, longer to arrive in Virgin River than it took him to determine that Jack had acted in defense of Mel, whose life was in danger. Just the same, Jack’s second call that night had been to Jim Post, June Hudson’s husband. That background in law enforcement could come in handy. Jim was there faster than Henry. And, Jack learned that night, Jim was a former DEA agent who had actually worked in the area prior to retirement.

“We better have a little look at Calvin’s camp,” Jim said. “If it’s just a little compound of vagrants, I don’t see that as a problem. But I suspect it might be more than that. If so—we’ll want to tell the sheriff.”

Jack was invited to spend what was left of the night with Mel at Doc’s. She saw a side of him she didn’t know existed. This gentle, tender giant was gripped with fury, and it was a silent and impressive fury. He held her through the night, both of them in one small hospital bed. Sleep was difficult for her and she was fitful, but every time she opened her eyes and looked at him, she found him awake, watching over her. She would look up at his face, his tense jaw and eyes narrowed in anger, but when she put her hand against his cheek, he would relax his features and turn soft eyes on her. “It’s all right, baby,” he said. “Try to get some sleep. Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid while I’m with you,” she whispered, and this was the truth.

The next morning, early, June and Jim arrived in town. June came over to the clinic while Jim went to Jack’s. “I just wanted to make sure you aren’t having any stress-related problems with your pregnancy,” June said. “Any cramping, spotting?”

“Everything seems to be fine. Except for those frequent shudders I feel when I think about what might have happened.”

“I’m just going to spend a couple of hours in town,” June said. “If you have patients, I’ll help. Do you need to rest?”

“Jack was here last night. I don’t think he slept, but I got a little rest. Where’s the baby?” Mel asked.

“Susan has Jamie, and John and my dad have the clinic.” She smiled. “We country folk have to be flexible.”

“What’s Jim doing?” Mel asked.

“He’s with Jack and Preacher. They won’t be long. They’re going to have to take a look at that place the man came from, Mel. Be sure there’s no one else out there that will come into town and threaten a life.”

“Oh, God,” she said.

“I think they can handle it,” June said. “I guess it has to be done.”

“That’s not it, June. I’ve been out to that camp a dozen times. I didn’t see Calvin Thompson there except the very first time, when I went with Doc to help him treat some injuries. But I went, though I’d been told not to. And I was a little nervous and scared, but it never once occurred to me that someone from there might hold a knife to my throat and—” She stopped, unable to go on.

“Good Lord,” June said. “What were you doing?”

Mel shrugged. Her voice was small when she answered. “They looked hungry.”

A slow smile grew on June Hudson’s face. “And you thought you weren’t one of us. What hooey.”



Jack, Preacher and Jim piled into Jack’s truck and drove back into the woods. The compound was less than twenty miles away, but traversed by so many old logging roads and concealed roads, it took almost an hour to get there. They were so buried, one would never be inclined to worry that these people would pose a dangerous threat.

The young man with the knife, Calvin Thompson, hadn’t been with them long. He wasn’t just a vagrant, but a violent felon. It hadn’t taken Henry Depardeau long to learn he had a long drug-related criminal record from other California cities and had been hiding in the forest to dodge felony warrants for his arrest. It was likely that Maxine had brought him to her father’s hideaway in the forest.

When they got to the camp, Jim Post said, “Yeah, that’s what I figured.” He pointed to the camouflaged semitrailer, a generator beside it. The three men from Virgin River got out of the truck, brandishing rifles of the caliber that would kill a black bear with one shot. Rifles that would cut a man in half. Of course there was no one in evidence. “Paulis!” Jack called.