“You’re wearing latex gloves.”
“It’s a crime scene.”
“You haven’t called it in.”
“I was about to.”
“You destroyed a SIM card, Bob. I watched you do it.”
His mouth went tight.
“And you destroyed a phone belonging to a man you sent here last night.” I kept my weapon steady. “I know you sent them. Lyle called me an hour ago.”
His mouth went tighter.
“You’ve got no idea what you’re dealing with,” he said, “or what Frank’s capable of.”
“Then why haven’t you answered my calls? Why don’t you have backup? Why are you in a house registered to Frank’s brother? Why are you wiping prints off the floor?” I held his gaze. “Why, Bob?”
Movement shifted in my peripheral vision, and Kayden stepped up behind me.
Bob’s hand lowered to his hip, near his gun.
“Don’t do it, Bob.” I kept my weapon up, my voice steady, every muscle in my body coiled tightly.
“You going to shoot your boss?” A sick grin crossed his face. “I don’t think you’ve got it in you, Sapphire.”
I didn’t know if I did either. I’ve never shot anyone. Never even aimed my weapon at anyone. Bob could be right, and I hated that he knew it.
Four years of Bob telling me I was the best constable he’d ever trained, but was that because he’d known I could never pull the trigger on him?
“Don’t make me do this, Bob.” My brain was still trying to reconcile the man in front of me with the man I thought I knew.
He drew his gun so fast I didn’t even see it.
I squeezed my trigger. The bullet went wide, blowing a chunk out of the kitchen cupboard behind him.
“Bitch!” Bob ducked and came up firing.
The doorframe beside my head exploded into splinters.
“Run!” I slammed my shoulder into Kayden’s chest and drove him backward through the doorway.
I fired two shots behind me as we hit the top step together and launched ourselves down the stairs. Kayden twisted on the way down, and my elbow slammed into the railing, spearing pain up to my shoulder.
Another shot cracked from the top of the stairs, and Kayden gasped like he’d been punched in the nose.
We hit the dry grass at the bottom in a tangle of limbs. I rolled onto my back, weapon up, saw Bob was at the top step, and I fired. He darted away, and my bullet punched into the ceiling inside the doorway.
Kayden jumped to his feet, grabbed my arm, and hauled me upright. “Run!”
We scrambled along the base of the house toward the corner, away from the line of sight from the stairs. I pressed my back against the weathered timber and yanked Kayden in beside me.
“Fuck!” Bob roared, then he slammed the back door so hard the floorboards above us shook. The deadbolt thumped into place.
“He’s locked himself inside.” I pressed my back harder against the timber. “Fucking hell,” I gasped. “I can’t believe?—”
Kayden hissed through his teeth, and I shot my gaze to his arm. Dark blood was soaking through his shirt sleeve just below his left shoulder and spreading fast.