LITMIR.BIZ

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his own house. Eric wanted his widowed father near, which only endeared him to Julia since she’d never been close with her own parents. So now the Butler men lived on connecting lots, two bachelors enjoying their time as father and son. Mr. Butler certainly understood the risks of the job. But right now that didn’t help matters. Right now they were all worried, and somehow Julia couldn’t help but feel responsible for all of this.

      “I’m fine,” Julia said in answer to Cat’s question, shaking her head as she stared at the lone man at the other end of the hall. “I couldn’t go home. I had to come and see—”

      “If he’s gonna be all right,” Cat finished, her arm going around Julia’s shoulder. “We’re all right here, honey, praying for him. I think the whole town is praying right now. That was mighty close.” She glanced at Harlan, too. “His daddy is real worried, I can tell you.” Then she lowered her voice. “Of course, a Texas lawman can’t show his true emotions. It’s an unwritten code.” She shot Adam a pointed look. “Got to be tough as nails, every last one of ’em.”

      Julia closed her eyes, reliving the vivid scene trapped inside her mind. She wasn’t as tough as nails. She could still feel the cold steel of that gun pressing at her temple. And she wondered for the hundredth time if that bright, stark terror was how her husband Alfonso had felt just before he died.

      Was that the kind of terror her daughter experienced each time she suffered another horrible nightmare about her father?

      Alfonso. She remembered sitting in another hospital room, waiting to hear the details of her husband’s brutal death.

      She didn’t want to hear that again today. She didn’t want that nice, unassuming sheriff’s deputy to die. Not on her account. Not for something as stupid as a robbery that would have yielded very little money.

      Trying to make sense of everything, she looked up at Adam. “Did you find the robber?”

      Adam shook his head. “No. He took off like lightning. Pretty sure there was a getaway car parked around the corner, and in all the confusion we missed it.” He looked as if he were taking that failure very personally. “He was bleeding, so he’s wounded. I tried to find him, searched behind the restaurant and all the streets, too. Sent a patrol out. He either found a good hiding spot, or someone came back just in time to get him in a car. Found some blood, but that’s about it.” Then he lowered his head, unable to look at Julia. “Of course, we have the bloodstains from your blouse, too.”

      Julia looked down at the clean lightweight sweater Cat had offered her after the police had asked her to remove her uniform blouse. Wishing she could go home and take a long shower to wash away all the fear and doubt, she could only nod toward Adam. “When will you know something?”

      “Not sure,” Adam said. “It’ll take the state crime lab a while to get to it, but we’ve put a rush on it.”

      Then he rolled his head, trying to release some of the obvious tension coiling through his muscles. “We’ve put out an all-points bulletin, and we’re checking all the area hospitals for any incoming bullet wounds. We’ve got roadblocks set up all around the area, too. I’m hoping they’ll haul him in any minute now, and I want to be the first person to get at him, trust me.” He shook his head, then pounded his fist against the wall. “I let him slip right through my fingers.”

      Cat gave him a soft smile. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You and Eric did the best you could today. It was crazy, there, after he ran out. Nobody blames you. You and Eric saved Julia from becoming a hostage.”

      Adam looked at the floor. “There’s a lot about this that just doesn’t make sense. But we’ll get the details figured out. We’re running a search right now, based on the descriptions we got from other witnesses. The boys will call when they have something conclusive on both him and the weapon. We found the bullet lodged in the front door.”

      Cat asked, “And Eric?”

      “He kept going in and out of consciousness, telling me he was okay, that it didn’t hurt too much. Of course that was right before he passed out cold.” Hearing Julia’s low groan, he said, “Don’t worry. He’s been through worse playing football back in high school.”

      Then he glanced over at Cat, causing Julia to wonder if they were keeping something from her. Eric and Cat were close. Just how close Julia couldn’t be sure, but she knew they shared a lot with each other.

      Feeling left out and afraid, Julia looked at her older cousin. “Cat, is everything okay back at the restaurant?”

      “I had to shut her down, of course, so the investigators could look for evidence,” Cat said with a shrug, her dark curls shimmering around her face. “Who wants to eat there today, or ever again, for that matter?”

      “Ah, now, you can’t quit,” Adam said, his grin tight with tension. “Who’d keep me fed and watered?”

      “You sound like an old mule,” Cat retorted, her own smile weak. “I’m not gonna shut down forever. Just…needed to get away from there. The employees are still a tad jumpy.”

      “We’re all jumpy,” Adam replied. “And right now your place is a crime scene, so we had to close the doors, anyway. Technically, I’m on administrative duty only until the Rangers get through investigating.” Then he looked down the hall at Harlan. “Hey, why don’t I go find us some coffee? I’ll ask Harlan if he wants some, too. Won’t be as good as yours, of course, Cat, but it might help.”

      “Yeah, coffee,” Cat said. “Just what we need to calm the jitters.”

      “I’m just offering,” he said with a shrug.

      “Go on,” Cat said, her smile full of understanding. “I’ll take mine black. Julia?”

      “Nothing for me,” Julia said, an uneasy feeling setting her stomach on yet another spasm of jangled, tingling nerves. “I just wish I knew who that man was.”

      “I’ll call and harass the investigators,” Adam said. “We all want to know that.”

      After he’d left, Cat turned to Julia, her big brown eyes full of concern. “So how’s Moria?”

      Julia looked at her watch. “She’s fine. Mrs. Ulmer probably doesn’t like me calling every five minutes, though.” She was torn between staying here or just rushing to the Ulmers’ to get her daughter.

      “Adam put a man on her, you know.”

      Julia’s head came up, her heart racing. “Why? Is there something else—?”

      “No, honey,” Cat said, her hand covering Julia’s. “Eric asked him to do it, in one of his more lucid moments just before they put him in the ambulance. Told Adam to send someone to check on your little girl.”

      “How’d he know?” Julia said, amazed. “How’d he know to do that?” Or that the gesture would set her mind at ease. “You didn’t tell him anything, did you?”

      Cat chuckled, soft and low. “No, against my better judgment, and because I promised you I wouldn’t, I haven’t told anyone about your troubles.” Then she looked down the hall toward the operating rooms. “But Eric can see things—that’s why he’s such a good lawman. The man has a sensitive side he hides from the world. He probably figured a mother would be concerned about the safety of her child—I mean after being held at gunpoint. And with the robber still on the loose.”

      Julia nodded, rubbed her suddenly cold hands together. “I was worried. The school’s principal couldn’t understand why I wanted to pull her out of class, since they have a sheriff’s deputy as their resource officer, but I’m glad I did. I’ll call Mrs. Ulmer again in a few minutes, but I’m sure Mr. Ulmer will entertain her all afternoon.”

      “You can count on that,” Cat replied. “The Ulmers love Moria like their own grandchildren. She sure is a sweetheart.” Then she let out a sigh. “Boy, I’m beat. What a day.”

      Julia

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