“Come on down,” he said. “It’s okay.”
Abby looked down at him. Jake nearly flinched at the pain in her eyes. “Easy,” he said. “Slide down. I’ve got you.”
She slid off the mule. Jake caught her at her shoulders and eased her to the ground. He felt the pull of her softness, the soft scent of her hair, the pain in her eyes, tugging at him like a powerful tide.
“You’ll be all right,” he whispered.
“Deputy Madigan, Officer Walters will take the prisoner from here.”
Feeling shaken and off balance, he turned away. In the back of his mind he could still see the look of betrayal on her face. He could still feel the warmth of her flesh against his skin. Smell her sweet scent with every breath he took.
Buzz Malone and John Maitland were watching him oddly. Jake took a tentative step toward Buzz. The older man’s gaze sharpened, but he didn’t say anything. Jake could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew something wasn’t right. That by-the-book Jake Madigan had stepped over the line.
Behind him, he heard the female D.O.C. officer speak to Abby. “Nichols, turn around and give me your wrists.”
Jake’s heart pummeled his ribs when the sound of the cuffs snapping into place reached him. He’d known they were going to cuff her, search her, interrogate her. He knew it could be hours before she got into dry clothes and got something to eat. They hadn’t eaten since the day before, and he couldn’t stand the thought of her going hungry.
The sound of shoes against gravel turned him around. He looked up in time to see the male officer put his hands between Abby’s shoulder blades and shove her toward the cruiser. She stumbled, lost her balance and went down on her knees.
Jake saw red. He didn’t remember moving. Didn’t remember lunging forward and grabbing the other man’s collar and jerking him around. He saw surprise on the deputy’s face. Pulling back, he punched him hard. Pain streaked up his knuckles, but Jake reveled in the diversion. Anything was better than the hurt ripping through his chest.
Out of the corner of his eye he heard the female officer gasp. Then her partner hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.
“Madigan, what the holy hell are you doing?”
Vaguely, he heard Buzz Malone’s angry voice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Abby on her knees on the wet asphalt, trembling, her head down. Jake felt as if he were having an out-of-body experience. He started toward her, but Buzz’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“Cool your jets, Jake.”
Temper pumping, Jake tried to shake him off, but Buzz swung him around. “Cool down, damn it! I mean it.”
He let go of Jake’s arm.
“What the hell’s the matter with you?” The deputy he’d slugged jumped to his feet, his hand on his jaw. “You crazy son of a bitch! You hit me!”
Jake swung around to face him. “I’d better not see you so much as lay a hand on her again, hot shot. You got that?”
“She stumbled, man. Who the hell do you think you are punching me like that? I’ll have your badge for that!”
“She’d better arrive in her cell in good condition,” Jake snarled. “If she so much as breaks a fingernail I’ll find you and make you wish you’d taken up waitressing instead of police work.”
“She’s a killer!” The deputy’s face reddened with anger. He jerked a finger at Abby. “She shot a clerk at a sporting goods store three days ago and took some weapons. I suggest you readjust your loyalties, partner.”
Jake stared at the man, temper and disbelief pummeling him like a boxer’s fists. “What are you talking about?”
The deputy wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “A few hours after she escaped Buena Vista, an elderly clerk was shot and killed in a sporting goods store a few miles from the prison. A couple of guns and some cash were missing. The sheriff’s office found the guns and cash in a truck parked under a bridge four miles from the prison. A truck owned by Nichols’s grandmother.”
* * *
Jake hadn’t expected the debriefing with Sheriff Noble to go well. That he’d punched one of his counterparts didn’t help much. If it hadn’t been for Jake’s report of the sniper—and the bullet wound on his abdomen—he figured Zane Noble would have fired him on the spot.
Thank God for small favors.
Buzz had agreed to drive him over to RMSAR headquarters for a shower and change of clothes, but Jake knew there was more to the man’s offer than simple kindness. If anyone understood Jake, Buzz did. There was no one Jake trusted more, and he figured if he was going to get to the bottom of what had happened to Abby, Buzz was the man to ask for help.
The two men rode in silence on the short drive to RMSAR headquarters, but Jake knew Buzz wasn’t going to let this go without explanation. Buzz proved him right the moment they walked in the door. “You owe me an explanation,” he said.
“I don’t have time right now.”
“Make time.”
“I need a shower, then I’ve got to go.” Jake brushed past the dispatch station, toward the rear. He was shaking inside. Hell, he was shaking on the outside. He’d thought he was going to be able to handle this. Turning Abby over to D.O.C. Walking away like this. The fact of the matter, he wasn’t handling it well at all.
God in heaven, he couldn’t believe the accusations he’d heard about Abby.
“Go where?” came Buzz’s voice from behind him.
Jake wanted to hit something. Rage and pain tangled inside him until he felt he might burst. Both men looked up when Pete Scully came down the hall toward them. The junior medic took one look at Jake and passed by him without saying a word. Tony Colorosa wasn’t so lucky.
“Hey, Madigan, looks like that hot-lookin’ lady convict punched your lights out. I hope it was worth it, buddy.”
Jake knew it was an innocent comment—at least as innocent as a comment such as that could be coming from Tony. But his temper was at the boiling point. He spun on Tony, grasped his shoulders and slammed him into the wall. “Shut up about her!” he snarled.
Barking out a profanity, Tony tried to break Jake’s hold on his shoulders. “Get your hands off me, Madigan.”
Jake held him against the wall. “Not another word about her. You got that, good buddy?”
“Madigan!” Buzz shouted. “In my office. Now!” He shot a hard look at Colorosa. “Get lost, Tony.”
Jake shook the other man hard once more, then shoved him away. He didn’t look back when Tony cursed him.
He was still breathing hard when he walked into Buzz’s office. He knew Malone was going to grill his ass; Jake figured he deserved it. His behavior wasn’t becoming to a search and rescue volunteer, let alone a sheriff’s deputy. By this time tomorrow, he figured he wouldn’t have to worry about either.
Hell, what a mess.
He’d never felt so impotent in his life. He would never forget the way Abby had looked at him as the female D.O.C. officer led her away. She didn’t cry, but the look of betrayal in her eyes slashed him like a switchblade.
“Sit down.”
Jake dropped into the sled chair across from Buzz’s desk.
“What the holy hell is going on with you?”
Leaning forward, Jake set his elbows on his knees and put his face in his hands. What the hell was going on with him? Why was this making him so…crazy? It wasn’t like him to lose control this way.
“Tell me what happened up there.”
Jake didn’t know where to start. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to tell Buzz what happened. He’d acted worse than inappropriately, and knew it could end up costing him his position on the team. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he knew what had happened between him and Abby.
All he knew at the moment was that he’d never hurt so badly in his entire life.
“Holy hell, Madigan, your hands are shaking.”
Jake looked down at his hands and laughed, but the sound was raw and bitter.
“How bad are you hurt?”
“Not bad.”
&
nbsp; “Let me see it. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were delirious.”
Scowling, curious himself about the injury, Jake raised his shirt and exposed the wound. The bandage Abby had put on it was still there. He raised one end of the tape. It was a deep gash and the bruise beneath was just starting to discolor.
“You need stitches.”
“I hate to tell you this, Buzz, but stitches are the least of my problems right now.”
“I’ll run you over to Lake County later.”
“How about Mercy General?”
The older man’s eyes sharpened. “Any particular reason you want me to drive an hour out of the way?”
“Yeah.” Jake looked down at his muddy boots and brooded.
“I’m listening.” Rising, Buzz went over to the coffee station. Reaching far into the back of the cabinet mounted on the wall, he removed a small flask and two cups. Back at his desk, he set one of the cups in front of Jake and filled it with two fingers of amber liquid. “I keep this stuff for emergencies,” he said.
“I reckon this would qualify as an emergency.”
“Yeah, decking a sheriff’s deputy isn’t real subtle.”
Jake reached for the cup and drank. The whiskey burned his throat, but he emptied the cup. “I screwed up, Buzz.”
“You’re not going to get an argument from me.”
“No. That’s not what I mean.” He cut Buzz a hard look. “I screwed up big time.”
Buzz sighed. “That female convict got to you, didn’t she?”
“I slept with her,” Jake admitted.
In the twelve years he’d known Buzz Malone, Jake had never seen the other man flinch. “What?”
“I said I—”
“I know what you said. What I’m wondering is why the hell you’re telling me and what the holy hell you’re going to do about it.”
“She’s innocent.”
Buzz groaned. “Jake—”
“Damn it, Buzz, she’s innocent.”
“She murdered a store clerk, for God’s sake! Why do you think that deputy was so hard on her? She stole money and guns and—”
“She didn’t do it.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
“Look, I know this sounds crazy—”
“It sounds a lot worse than crazy. It sounds like you did something that’s going to cost you your career and you still don’t have her out of your system.”
It hit Jake then that he wasn’t ever going to get her out of his system. The realization sent panic skittering up his spine, hitting his brain like a high-voltage spark. Fear churned in his gut. Fear of what he’d just realized, of what he’d known was true since the moment he’d first set eyes on her. Fear for the woman whose life he now held in his hands.
“I love her.” His own words stunned him, rocked him to his very foundation. “God, Buzz, I love her.”
Across from him Buzz got creative with his cursing. “Jake, you’re tired. You’ve got a bullet wound in your side. You just came out of a high stress situation. Give yourself a couple of days to clear your head and cool off.”
“A couple of days isn’t going to cut it.” Jake slid his cup across the desk. Buzz obliged by filling it.
“I need your help,” Jake said.
“What you need is for Sheriff Noble to look the other way and let this go.”
“Someone framed her.”
“Jake—”
“If you won’t help me, Buzz, I’ll do it without you.”
“Do what?”
“I’ve got a couple of leads to follow up on. I can’t do it alone. I need your help.”
“I’m not a cop anymore.”
“Tomorrow at this time, I probably won’t be, either. But I’ve got to work this. I’ve got to work it smart—”
“What you need to be working on is damage control. Hell, I can’t believe you slugged that deputy. If he files a complaint, you’re in big trouble.”
Remembering the way Abby had looked on her knees on the wet asphalt, Jake grimaced. “He had it coming.”
“If this woman—Nichols—starts spewing claims of improper police conduct, you can kiss your career goodbye.”
“She won’t.”
Sighing, Buzz leaned forward and filled his own cup, looking as if he needed the drink as badly as Jake. “I don’t have to remind you about your track record with women, do I?”
Jake knew he was referring to Elaine. Buzz was the only person who knew about her. The only person he’d confided in. He thought about Abby, tried to align the parallels, realized he couldn’t. Abby Nichols was nothing like Elaine. Jake was willing to bet his career on it. Lord, he was willing to bet his life on it.
“Are you sure you want to throw your career away on a convicted murderer?”
Tossing the empty cup into the trash container beneath Buzz’s desk, Jake rose. “I’m going to take a shower, then head over to Mercy General.” He gave Buzz a hard look. “Are you coming with me?”
“You going to clue me in or keep me fumbling around in the dark?”
A frisson of relief went through Jake. “I’ll explain on the way.”
* * *
For the first time that day the cold got to Abby. As the female deputy led her to her temporary cell, it seemed to rear up inside her, and burst forth from her very bones. She began to shiver. Her teeth chattered. Her hands were shaking so badly, she could barely hold the state-issue blanket and pillow they’d given her down in processing.
Oh, God in heaven, what had she done?
The question was moot because Abby knew damn good and well what she’d done. Not once, but twice. She’d trusted a man she’d known would betray her. She’d given him her body and let him use her. Worse, she’d given him her heart and now it was breaking.
Oh, Jake, how could you do this to me?
The interview with the D.O.C. officials was a blur. Mostly, they’d wanted to know how she’d gotten out, if anyone within the prison system had helped her, and what she’d done once she was free. The cops weren’t quite as nice and concentrated most of their questions about a sporting goods store clerk who’d ended up dead. From what Abby had gathered, the cops had found Grams’s truck and somehow the guns and money taken from the sporting goods store had ended up in the truck. They’d been relentless in their questioning, asking the same questions over and over again. Cold and wet and hungry, by the time they were finished with her some four hours later, she was almost ready to confess just so she could get into some dry clothes.
Processing was a nightmare, but Abby had simply let her mind leave her body as she was checked into the Chaffee County jail. She was allowed a shower, given a prison-issue jumpsuit and taken to her small cell in the basement where a female deputy passed a lukewarm dinner through the bars. After arraignment the next morning, she would be transferred back to Buena Vista.
Where was Jake?
The question had come to her a thousand times since she’d walked away from him in the parking lot of the ranger station. She wondered if, after everything that had happened between them, after everything they’d shared, he believed the lies about her.
He hadn’t come to see her. He hadn’t kept his word and gotten her transferred to a place where she would be safe.
Oh, God, what had she done by trusting him?
Abby stared at the untouched tray of food. She knew she should eat. It had been almost twenty-four hours since she’d taken in any nourishment. But her stomach was in knots and her appetite had long since fled. Standing in the center of her cell, she felt physically ill and cold to the depths of her soul.
Jake wasn’t going to come for her. He wasn’t going to keep his word and try to clear her name. He’d used her; she’d allowed it. Her body. Her heart. He’d given her hope and then snatched it away. The cruelty of the act hurt more than any physical blow.
Wrapping her arms around herself, Abby sank down to the cold, concrete floor. She knew better than to cry; crying never helped any
thing, but the tears came in a flood. Her sobs echoed off the walls of the hollow room. She cried openly, her heart bleeding as if it had been slashed. The pain doubled her over, and that was when she knew she’d made the ultimate mistake. Not only had she let Jake use her. But she’d fallen in love with him.
CHAPTER 15
Jake sat on the gurney in the emergency room of Mercy General Hospital in Denver and watched the nurse inject numbing medication into the bullet wound on his side. He’d filled Buzz in on the story Abby had told him about Jonathan Reed and her suspicions with regard to the deaths of at least two homeless patients.
Buzz hadn’t said much, certainly hadn’t admitted to believing such a far-fetched tale, particularly with consideration to Jake’s source—Abby Nichols. But Jake knew Buzz well enough to recognize the cop’s suspicion in the other man’s eyes. Buzz would help. And he knew if Buzz came upon one ounce of proof, he’d jump on it like a wolf on a rabbit. He’d left Jake at the nurse’s station and begun the uncertain and tedious process of questioning the staff with regard to Abby Nichols, Jonathan Reed and the death of a homeless man named Jim.
“Numb enough for you, Officer Madigan?”
The nurse’s voice jerked him back to the present. Jake looked over at her and forced a smile. “I don’t feel a thing.”
“Good, because you’re going to need about eight stitches.”
Nurse Holly Forbes was in her forties, with pretty brown hair and a reassuring smile. Jake watched her work the curved suture needle for a few minutes before asking, “How long have you worked at Mercy General?”
“Oh, gosh, it’ll be fourteen years next month. Just doesn’t seem possible, you know? Didn’t even have the new wing when I started.”
“Did you know Abby Nichols?”
Her hands faltered for a fraction of a second and she cast him a sidelong look. Jake stared back, trying to read her, and went with his gut. “Off the record,” he said.
She resumed stitching. “I knew her. She was a very nice young woman.”
“Did you know her well?”
“We were friends. Used to take our dinner break together when we worked graveyard shift. Terrible about what happened.” She pulled another stitch, then snipped the end with scissors and began tying it off. “She’s in prison from what I hear.”