Page 78 of Home Town Knight

We were in roughly the same area as Ellis and Tucker had been when they’d turned their phones off during their hunting trip. Where I assumed they’d found that cash.

When I took the next turn to follow him, Ellis was about a quarter mile ahead on a long, straight stretch of road. And there was another vehicle ahead of him, brake lights visible to the right shoulder. Waiting.

Ellis’s brakes flashed. He stopped right behind the other car.

“He’s meeting someone.” I pulled over onto the dirt shoulder and grabbed my binoculars.

“What’s he doing?” Gen asked.

His driver’s side door opened. “He’s getting out.” The other driver did the same. A dark figure started toward Ellis. I couldn’t make out the person’s features.

Then he reached the light shining from Ellis’s headlights, and I saw the newcomer’s face.

“It’s Trooper Rossiter.”

Gen sucked in a breath. “The one who stole the coin from Tucker’s hotel room?”

“That’s him. I knew he had to be up to something.” But I hadn’t expected him to come for Ellis. Maybe it was Rossiter who’d tipped off Ellis to the stakeout, given him instructions to avoid a tail. He’d done a poor job of it, obviously.

But maybe Rossiter was still worried about being followed, because he was glancing all around, his body language tight with tension. “It looks like they’re arguing about something. Rossiter’s pointing back at his own vehicle. Ellis is shaking his head. I think they’re disagreeing over who’s going to drive.”

Which made me think of the two intruders at Last Refuge. But Genevieve had been sure one of those men had been the killer, and it wasn’t Rossiter or Ellis.

Whatever they were up to, they hadn’t planned this outwell. But that was all the better for me. Whichever car they took, I planned to follow. This could be exactly the thread that we needed. If I pulled it, it could unravel this entire convoluted story.

Then, without warning, Ellis’s head snapped to one side. His body crumpled. And the sound of a rifle shot split the night.

Beside me, Genevieve jumped in her seat, hands flying to her mouth to cover a scream. Rossiter dove to the ground. I aimed the binos at the trees, scanning for any sign of the shooter. There was no movement. No further gunshots either.

Rossiter army-crawled to his open car door. Once he’d crawled inside, his engine revved, and he peeled onto the road.

Ellis lay where he had fallen, a dark pool spreading around him.

I lowered the binoculars and put the SUV in gear.

“We have to do something,” Genevieve said. She grabbed for my arm. “Could Ellis still be alive?”

“No.” Still, I radioed to dispatch to send paramedics and backup. “I’m going after Rossiter.”

The shooter was probably already fleeing through the woods, and I was in no position to track him. Not by myself at night with Genevieve here. The state trooper was the only one who might hold the answers.

I flipped on my headlights and my hidden emergency flashers, which would identify my vehicle as police, and tore after him. He was already driving fast. Then he must’ve seen my flashers in his rearview, because he floored it. Rossiter’s car accelerated, fishtailing slightly on the slick road. Genevieve gasped.

I radioed that I was in pursuit of a state trooper, hoping maybe someone at CSP could reach Rossiter and get him toslow down. But he wasn’t in his patrol vehicle. And it certainly didn’t look like he had any intention of stopping to answer questions. He was running scared.

The road curved, and a bridge appeared up ahead over a creek. Rossiter took the curve too fast. His car swerved, tires losing traction on the bridge.

He slammed into the railing, then kept going, crashing onto the icy creek.

My brakes squealed as I stopped my SUV before I reached the bridge. “Stay here,” I bellowed to Genevieve.

I shoved my door open and ran. My boots slipped on the embankment as I made my way down. The water was several feet deep, dotted with thick chunks of broken ice. Rossiter’s car was tilting at a precarious angle, the driver’s side dipping into the water. Carefully, I waded into the frigid current. The rushing water tried to grab my legs, and I steadied myself on a line of jutting rocks.

Through the windows, I could see Rossiter flailing around inside. Metal squealed as the car tilted even more. It had ended up in a weird position against the rocks, and if Rossiter wasn’t careful the whole thing could flip upside down. And if he was trapped inside when that happened?

I made it to the car and crawled partly onto it to reach the passenger door. After a couple of tries, I was able to yank it open and push it wide, which wasn’t easy against the pull of gravity. Immediately, Rossiter’s screams filled the air. “Water’s getting in! I’m stuck!”

“Are you injured?”

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