Page 46 of Justified Lies

Lianna cried out, kicking at him with her good leg, but he caught her around the calf. Using her elbows to brace herself, she thrust out her bad ankle. The kick landed, catching him off guard he slipped down two stairs, his knee slamming down with a thud.

Tim was temporarily preoccupied grasping his knee. This was her only chance. Turning, Lianna’s ankle throbbed as she fumbled to stand. Biting back the pain, she ran as fast as she could towards the top of the stairs.

“Help!”

The word choked out of her. But no one stirred above, the forest on either side of the stairs hauntingly quiet. Tim was yelling after her but based on the distance of his voice, her kick had slowed him down significantly. Light filtered through the clearing ahead, signaling the top of the stairs was close. Not risking him catching up, Lianna put her head down, bore the pain of her ankle, and didn’t turn around again.

****

Gabe stepped out the front door and caught a raindrop on his forehead. Shrugging, he was still half wet from his hasty shower anyway, but he hustled to the car. He had just opened the driver’s door when his phone buzzed. Without looking, he swiped right to answer it and was bombarded.

“He’s following me!”

Gabe knew the sound of Lianna’s voice better than a bear knew the smell of honey. As habit, he still pulled the phone away from his ear to check the call display.

“What? Lianna?”

Every hair on his body stood straight up.

“What if he comes to my house?” She sounded close to tears.

“Who’s following you? Where are you?”

“I’m at my house, but I need to go. He’s coming up the stairs, he tried to grab me. I don’t know why he’s so mad.”

Lianna was breathing hard, her jumbled words coming out in gasps.

“Who?”Gabe roared the question. His fear for her outweighed his need to comfort her.

“Tim.”

Gabe stilled for a moment. One hand on his hip, where his holster should be but wasn’t. The other gripped his phone so tight it risked pulverizing in his hand.Is he in the house? How could this have happened so fast?Gabe thought her neighbor was a creepy fool who needed to keep his eyes to himself. He clearly had underestimated the man.

“Is he in the house now?”

“No, he followed me up the stairs while I was jogging.”

Piecing the story together, he figured out she meant the stairs leading to the ocean trail. Lianna told him she was going to run before he left her bedroom this morning. Had Gabe not beentrying to get out of there so fast, maybe he would have registered what she said and issued a reminder about running alone.

Furious with himself, he jogged to the back of his vehicle and opened the trunk of his SUV to retrieve his firearm from its locked safe. Quickly loading it, he took off in a sprint down the street. It was faster to just cut through the neighbors’ backyard on foot than drive.

“Stay in the house, I’m coming towards you.”

“I’m out front.”

What!

“Damn it, get inside.”

“I need to know if he’s coming. I won’t hide inside and wait.”

Cringing, Gabe thought of Tim sneaking around the back of the home, or from the side catching her off guard. But it wasn’t worth the effort to argue now, so he pushed himself faster. He was too upset to reason.

“I’m almost there. Stay on the line with me until I can see you.”

Gabe was flustered, and he never got flustered. At least not on the job. If anything, years of training had helped him hone his nerves into usable energy, helped him focus on the minuscule details and tasks. But Lianna’s panicked voice in his ear had him frazzled.

Gabe’s heart was in his throat when he reached her street. It was only one block over, but it seemed to take an eternity. When her front porch came into view, he saw her pacing, arms wrapped around her midsection, her head on a swivel. Finally, she spotted him, and he swore her bottom lip started to quiver.

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