Page 90 of My One and Only

Which was good. She had no desire to hear anything more from Don.

The sirens were close, and suddenly a police car veered off the road and rolled toward her. An ambulance followed, tailed by another police car.

The first police car rolled to a stop, and two officers jumped out. “We got the APB. Thank God you called in your location. Are you okay?”the first one called. “Do you need an ambulance?”

Cam must have called the police when Fiona found him. Thank God. She swallowed the sour taste of bile in her mouth. “I’m fine,” Jo said, wrapping her arms around her waist. She nodded toward Don’s truck. “He was going to drive me into the river and drown me.” She pulled her phone carefully out of her pocket, turned off the recording, and showed it to the officer. “I was able to record everything he said. My phone was in my pocket, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to hear everything.” She swallowed. “He told me he killed Ashley Pierce. He drove her into the river and drowned her in the water that poured into the car. Then he got out and let the car sink.”

Her teeth chattering, Jo said, “My gun is on the floor of the back seat. I had a backup in an ankle holster. I used the backup to stop him. He has a thigh and chest wound.”

She watched as the paramedics yanked open the driver’s side door and assessed Don. After several minutes, they lifted him out and placed him on the gurney. There was a scary amount of blood on both his thigh and chest. But he seemed to be conscious.

Don’s voice drifted over to her. “… bitch shot me. Twice. I was just talking to her, and she pulled her gun. Put two bullets in me.”

“Let’s get you to Delnor,” one of the EMTs said. “You need to have those wounds taken care of.”

The two EMTs pushed the gurney toward the ambulance, lifted it inside and snapped it into place. One started an IV, while the other put pressure pads against both wounds. After triage, one of the men jumped out and trotted to the cab. The other closed the door. In moments the ambulance was bumping over the uneven grass, siren wailing.

As soon as the ambulance began moving, Jo turned to the police officers. “My gun is in his truck. May I retrieve it?”

“Is it the one you used to shoot him?”

“No. That was my back-up piece.”

The officer studied her for a moment. Sighed. “I’m sorry, but we have to confiscate both weapons. Check them for gunshot residue. Match the ballistics to the bullets the docs’ll take out of your abductor. And we’ll need to make a copy of the recording on your phone.” He gave her a sympathetic look. “I know you’re the victim here, but we have these protocols for a reason. Have to follow them, so when the case goes to trial, there aren’t any holes that the defense can squirm through.”

“I understand,” she said. “Can I at least use my phone to call Cam Pierce? I’m his bodyguard, and he needs to know where I am and that I’m okay.”

The police officer handed her his phone. “Use this one. I don’t want to take any chances with your phone. That recording is essential evidence.”

Jo nodded and dialed Cam’s number. Cam answered after two rings. “Did you find Jo?”he demanded. “Is she okay?”

“It’s me, Cam. I’m fine.” She drew a shuddering breath. “I had to shoot Don twice. He’ll survive, but he’ll be going to prison. Now I need to go to the Ogden police station. Can you meet me there?”

“Leaving now,” Cam said. He blew out a breath. “I’ve been frantic. Thank God you called.”

“Is Fiona okay?”she asked him.

“Seems to be. I took her to my parents’ house. I didn’t want her to see or hear anything about what happened. We’ll talk to her later.”

“Okay,” Jo said, relaxing her hand which was gripping the phone too tightly. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

After returning the phone to the police officer, Jo pulled her back-up gun out of her ankle holster and dropped it into the evidence bag the officer held. “My other gun and my purse are in the truck. Do you want me to get them?”

“We’ll do that,” he said. “I’ll have to search the purse back at the station, but no reason you can’t have it back. But we’ll have to keep the other gun until we’ve done ballistic tests on it.”

“I’m a bodyguard,” Jo said. “I need to have at least one of the guns.”

“Did you fire the one that’s still in the truck?”

“No, I didn’t,” she said.

“Then I think we can do a few quick tests for gunshot residue. If they’re negative, you can have that gun back.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Hard to protect someone without a gun.”

“We’ll need to see licenses for both guns, though.”

“They’re in my purse.”

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