He managed to stop kissing her long enough to turn her in his arms so that she lay back across his lap, her legs stretching the length of the sofa. “This is better.”
He claimed her mouth again, catching her little whimper, her arms sliding behind his neck, drawing him closer.
Bzzz-Bzzz Bzzz-Bzzz
Damn it.
Since only family was likely to call this late at night, he had no choice but to take this. “Sorry.”
Still holding her, he set her upright, got to his feet, and retrieved his phone from the kitchen. The display on the screen readZACH MCBRIDE.
“What the…?” He answered. “Belcourt here.”
“I understand that Ms. Archer is staying with you.”
“That’s right.”
“Given what she’s been through, I didn’t want to risk waking her, so I thought I’d call you. I wanted to let you both know that we found the two suspects in the mountains west of Crestone.”
That was only about four hours south of Scarlet.
Shit.
“Go head.” He glanced over at the sofa and found Naomi watching him, wariness in her eyes as if she somehow knew what this call was about.
“An alert citizen recognized them when they went into Crestone for supplies and called in their vehicle with the plate number. A park ranger spotted the vehicle at a campground west of town. We moved in, and there was a firefight. Clem McConnell was killed. Arlie Harding crawled into the forest and got away.”
Damn it!
“I appreciate your letting us know.”
“There’s more. The vehicle they’d stolen had several newspapers on the dashboard, all featuring articles about their attack on Ms. Archer. One had a photo of her, pulled from DMV files in South Dakota. Harding and McConnell had circled her image, and someone had drawn a penis on her face.”
Chaska fought to control his rage and revulsion. He didn’t want to make this harder on Naomi. She was going to be upset enough as it was when she learned that her photo had run in at least one paper and that these bastards had defiled her image.
Sick sons of bitches.
“What do you plan to do at this point?”
McBride was a chief deputy US marshal. He’d damned well better have a plan.
“I told Ms. Archer that I didn’t think she was in any danger from these two. I’m more concerned now. I’ve already spoken with the Scarlet Springs police chief and the Forest County Sheriff’s Department. They will be stepping up patrols in and around your home. We’ve got checkpoints on the roads. All law enforcement are on high alert. We’ve got teams, including a K9 unit, standing by for a search at first light.”
“I appreciate the call. Please keep me posted.”
“Do you want me to talk to Ms. Archer in the morning?”
“No. I think it’s best if I handle that.” Chaska ended the call, saw the fear in Naomi’s eyes.
How was he going to tell her this?
Chapter 11
Naomi huggedher arms around herself, her pulse pounding in her ears, her head swimming. “What do you mean when you say theydefacedit?”
Chaska’s brow bent in a frown, a muscle clenching in his jaw. “They drew … They drew a penis on it.”
Naomi let out a laugh, the sharp sound surprising even her. “Well, that’s desperate. Was it good for them?”