LITMIR.BIZ

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primal need for self-preservation. Many times he’d had to physically subdue a victim in order to save both their lives. The thought rippled across his mind before he could stop it. Had Carrie felt panic in those last few moments before she drowned? With an effort, he blinked the thought away. He kept his tone light, reassuring. “It’s okay. He’s gone. I’m not going to hurt you.”

      Her skin was dead pale except for two spots of color that appeared on each cheek. “Get away.” Drops of blood dripped from her palm where a glass shard was cutting into her skin.

      He stayed still, hands where she could see them. “My name is Brent. I work for the coast guard.” He pointed to her hand. “You’re bleeding. Why don’t you let me help you with that?”

      She blinked, still gripping the glass. Slowly she looked at her hand as if she hadn’t known what was in it.

      “The man...” she stammered.

      He nodded. “I saw him. He ran away and he’s not coming back. Marco’s chasing him.”

      “Marco.” The dazed look in her eyes subsided and he could see her body begin to tremble like a leaf in storm-tossed water.

      “Why don’t you sit down?” He pulled a chair out, careful not to touch her. “I’ll stay here with you until Marco comes back, okay?”

      She still didn’t assent, but neither did she pull away when he pushed the chair toward her. Her trembling was violent now and she collapsed into it.

      “I’m just going to call the police.” He did so, eyeing her the whole time, checking to make sure that she was not slipping into shock.

      “What’s your name?” he said as he finished the call and clicked off the phone.

      “Donna.”

      “Nice to meet you, Donna.”

      He took a knee and slowly, very slowly, touched her wrist with his finger. “Can you open this hand for me?”

      “Are you a doctor?” she whispered.

      “Rescue swimmer and an EMT. I’ve been known to try my hand at doctoring a time or two. I’m a whiz with bandages.”

      Her fingers opened like a flower and he flicked the glass away. Taking a pile of napkins from the sideboard, he pressed them to the cuts on her hand. “Squeeze, okay? Not too bad, just some shallow wounds. Probably won’t even need stitches.” Her fingers were elegant, long and tapering, strong. He found himself glad she would likely not bear a scar from the attack, not a physical one, anyway.

      Mentally he’d been measuring the time, wondering about Marco. Shouldn’t he have returned by now? Her eyes, which he now saw were true navy blue, never left his face. She was, he realized, now that the terror was ebbing slightly from her expression, lovely. Like Carrie, only not.

      Sirens sounded in the distance.

      “Won’t be long.”

      “Where’s Marco?” she said, only a slight tremble in her voice now.

      He eyed the door. “As soon as the cops get here, I’ll go find him.”

      She caught her full lower lip between her teeth.

      “Don’t worry—from what I saw, he’s a big gorilla.”

      Marco appeared in the doorway. “The gorilla’s back.”

      Brent’s gut relaxed until he saw the ragged edge on Marco’s shirt and the blood seeping into the waistband of his jeans.

      * * *

      Donna leaped from the chair, brushed aside Brent’s restraining hands and ran to Marco. “You’re bleeding.”

      “Minor. Did he hurt you?”

      “No. Just scared me. Sit down. This man...” She looked at Brent. “He’s got some medical training.”

      Brent raised an eyebrow. “You should do what she says. I’m certain she’s smarter than you.”

      Marco reluctantly sat in the chair and Brent took a look at his wound. “Long and shallow.”

      “Minor, like I said.”

      Donna snatched up more napkins and handed them to Brent, who placed them on the wound. When he tried to hold them in place, Marco swatted his hands away.

      “I can do it.”

      “What happened?” Brent asked. “You forgot to duck?”

      “Sliced me, and made it to his truck.”

      Donna knew she should be terrified that the crazy attacker was out there somewhere, but at the moment, she could feel only relief. Marco, a man who was like a brother to her, was not seriously hurt.

      She turned to Brent. He was tall, a good six feet, with broad shoulders and the required military short haircut. Dark eyes, thick brows, an old bruise healing on his forehead. “Thank you, for what you did.”

      He shrugged. “No problem.”

      She quirked an eyebrow. “Why are you here?”

      Marco huffed. “That’s what I was trying to get out of him.”

      The police arrived then, sirens blaring. Three officers raced in, hands on their guns.

      Marco filled them in.

      The tallest one, a uniformed woman, introduced herself as Officer Huffington. Donna knew her even before the introduction. She’d been the one to show up in the hospital after her father was pronounced dead. Professional, unemotional. Donna felt anything but. Huffington listened intently to the three as they related the story as best they could.

      “Now do you see what I’ve been saying? Someone was after my father. He came here trying to scare me.” And it worked, she said to herself. Her knees were still shaking, palms ice-cold.

      “We’ll investigate, I can assure you, Ms. Gallagher, but what would his motive be, this guy?”

      “To stop me from investigating.”

      “Investigating what?”

      Brent edged forward. “I’d like to hear that, too.”

      Officer Huffington gave him the once-over. “So I guess this is the part when you tell me why you happened to be here at eleven thirty on a rainy night.”

      Marco grunted as a paramedic cleansed the wound.

      Brent’s eyes darkened, all traces of a smile gone. “I found the address to this business at my sister’s apartment. I haven’t heard from her recently. I was worried. I came here.”

      “Who is your sister?” Officer Huffington said.

      Brent pointed to the name on the file sitting on the conference table.

      “Pauline Mitchell. Seems like Bruce Gallagher was looking into something for my sister.” He looked squarely at Donna. “I’d like to know what that was.”

       THREE

      After a volley of questions and answers, Officer Huffington moved to speak with her officers. Brent wanted to talk to Donna, but Marco fielded most of the questions in a maddeningly brusque manner. Brent realized that Marco was trying to get rid of him. Reasonable. It was going on 12:30 a.m. The man was obviously family to Donna, and the woman had just been through a violent attack on the heels of losing Bruce Gallagher. He was sorry to have to press, but the roaring of his instincts would not be quieted now.

      “My sister is missing,” he stated again calmly. “She obviously went to see Bruce Gallagher on some private matter.” Too private to tell her brother. He swallowed the guilt. “I want to know what it was about.”

      Donna looked him over, pale

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