Page 44 of Her Baby, Her Badge

Since Bailey was frantically trying to tell them something, he yanked down her gag and got to work cutting the ropes.

“The man who took me ran that way,” Bailey blurted, tipping her head to the woods.

That gave Dutton a punch of hope. And dread. Maybe the deputies would be able to catch him and not get shot or killed in the process.

“Who took you?” Grace asked.

Sobbing, Bailey shook her head. “I didn’t see his face. He wore a mask and used a stun gun on me.”

That was similar to what had been done to the other victims, and Dutton was sure Grace would question Bailey about it further once they were away from this place.

Dutton continued to hack away at the ropes until he’d cut through them, and he immediately latched on to Bailey. This was likely going to give her some bruises, but it was better than dying.

Despite her hands and feet being restrained, Bailey helped by moving forward. Or rather staggering. She would have bashed her head against his had Dutton not caught her.

Grace didn’t actually say “hurry,” but he could practically hear the word repeating in her head. And he did hurry. Unfortunately, he also had to lean out of the window to be able to grip Bailey. Dutton steeled himself for gunshots.

But they didn’t come.

He wanted to believe that was because the deputies had managed to apprehend the killer, but Dutton knew they weren’t that lucky. In fact, that sense of dread went up a whole bunch of notches when he heard a sort of hissing sound.

Around them, the ground ignited into flames. Lots of them. They shot up hot and high in a circle around them.

Hell. The killer had set this up, and within seconds, the fire surrounded them. It wasn’t actually touching the cruiser, but was so close that the heat felt like it was scalding him. The temperature was skyrocketing, and if they didn’t move, they’d be burned to death.

Dutton gave Bailey a hard yank to get her all the way through and into his lap so he could close the window. The moment he did that, Grace gunned the engine, and the cruiser shot through the wall of fire and thick black smoke.

She couldn’t see, of course, and that was a risk, but the biggest risk would be staying put and having the fire ignite the gas tank.

The tires kicked up the gravel, the rocks ramming against the undercarriage and the sides of the vehicle. And even though Bailey was blocking his view, Dutton saw the moment Grace managed to get them out of the fire. He had just a split second of relief.

Before the cruiser slammed into a tree.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Now that Grace was back in her office, she had given up on mentally complaining about having had to make yet another trip to the hospital. Because needing to go there for a checkup was a far better outcome than what could have happened.

Bailey, Dutton and she could have all been seriously hurt. Killed even, since they’d barely escaped that firetrap mere seconds before it could have gotten a whole lot worse. Yes, Grace had then crashed the cruiser because she hadn’t been able to see what was right in front of her. But thankfully, the airbags had deployed, and none of them had been hurt other than a few nicks and bruises.

Still, it’d meant another visit to the hospital, and this time, Grace had looked at the ultrasound screen when the nurse had been moving the wand over her stomach. She’d seen her precious little boy kicking around inside her, and it had given her so much peace. The spent adrenaline had likely contributed to that peaceful feeling, as well as bone-weary fatigue doing its best to take over.

“As soon as you talk to Bailey, you should get some rest,” Dutton told her. He was seated across from her in her office, and both of them were reading through reports from the CSIs and the deputies.

Or rather trying to do that.

Grace just couldn’t focus and that’s why she didn’t argue with Dutton. He was right. She needed rest, and she wanted to be home. Only minutes earlier, she’d gotten a text from Judson, who’d let her know that her window had been repaired and her security system upgraded. And the work had been done by someone they trusted, the same handyman who’d been doing repairs for both her mother and the police station for decades. She hadn’t wanted to take any chances with the killer or a hired gun getting into her house and waiting to attack them again.

The team of deputies that had been in the woods behind the church hadn’t seen anyone running from the scene, but it was possible the killer or a hired gun had been there, watching, waiting for them to die.

Then again, he or she could have set the firetrap on a timer even before Bailey had been brought to the cemetery and tied to the headstone. It was something the CSIs were investigating, and hopefully, they’d soon have some answers.

Grace looked up when there was movement in the doorway, and because she was still on edge from the latest attempt to kill them, her body automatically braced. She had to stop herself from reaching for her weapon. Because this wasn’t a threat.

It was Jamie, Ike and Rory.

Jamie immediately came into the room, and as Dutton stood, she threw herself into his arms. She wasn’t crying, but it didn’t look as if she could hold herself together much longer.

“I’d like to take Jamie and Dad home if that’s okay,” Rory said to Grace. “I can come back as soon as I drop them off.”

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