Page 68 of The Last Grift
TWENTY-SIX
GABE
Friday
Gabe didn’t likewhat was happening with Gordon, not one iota. Not one tiny weeny bit.
Something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what. He was good at reading body language, taught by a master— at least, at reading everyone but Ranger Man. Lundin remained an illegible tome. Gabe found solace in the idea that Heidi probably wouldn’t have been able to figure him out, either.
Ranger Man aside, Deputy Nolan was giving off seriously conflicting vibes. While he was acting confident, Gabe got the impression that the man was uneasy. Jittery. In a hurry. Small town or not, there needed to be sign-offs and paperwork, and more paperwork, before releasing Gordon Mac Donald from the hospital.
Gabe started walking faster, not wanting Gordon out of his sight. He moved past Elton and stepped around Lundin.
“Hey!”
“If there was ever a time to hurry the fuck up, it is right now,” Gabe said, not slowing down.
Gabe caught up to the deputy and Gordon just outside the hospital’s urgent care entrance. Elton and Lundin arrived seconds behind him. He noted that a patrol car was parked in the nearby loading zone, and Nolan was guiding Gordon quickly across the wide sidewalk. When he reached the cruiser, Nolan pushed Gordon’s head down onto the trunk.
Gabriel heard Nolan say, “Don’t even think about moving.”
When Gordon nodded that he understood, the deputy moved to open the back door.
“Why is he alone?” Gabe asked Lundin. “I mean, yeah, Gordon’s no threat, but it seems to me there’s usually two cops for this sort of thing. I gotta say, I really don’t want Gordon getting in the back of that car. Something feels wrong.”
“I agree,” Lundin said. “But I don’t know what we can do.”
“We stick as close to Gordon as we are allowed to,” muttered Elton. “We witness.”
Nolan’s car radio crackled, but he didn’t move to answer it. Instead, now that the back door was open, he grabbed Gordon by the scruff of his neck and started to pull him toward the back seat. Gordon cried out as, presumably, Nolan jostled his injured arm.
“Hey! Gordon just got his arm stitched up,” Elton yelled, stepping toward the deputy and his prisoner as if he was going to try and get in between Gordon and the door.
Gabe understood the sentiment.
“We’ll follow them to the station. It’s the only thing we can do at this point,” Lundin said out the side of his mouth.
“But why does this have to happen so quickly?” Gabe wanted to know. “Why is this Nolan asshole the only deputy here? The sheriff can’t be that shorthan—ah.”
A second TCSO cruiser raced into the lot and screeched toa halt next to where Nolan and Gordon stood. As that car’s door opened, Nolan jerked Gordon by the arm again and Gordon cried out. To Gabe, it seemed like Nolan intended to place Gordon in front of him. Why?
Gabe hadn’t seen or met Sheriff Rizzi in the few days he’d been on Heartstone, but he instantly knew this was who emerged from the new vehicle. It wasn’t so much the shiny star pinned to his uniform as the air of extreme confidence that bordered on arrogance. And the man hadn’t even opened his mouth yet.
Who was he fooling, the man was as arrogant as Larry Colavito.
Nolan’s Adam’s apple moved up and down, and from where Gabe stood, he could tell the man’s eyes were darting around. Gabe knew that look. Trapped.
He shoved Gordon away from him, causing the injured man to stumble and fall to the asphalt. In slow motion, Nolan reached for his sidearm. If Gabe hadn’t been watching the sheriff out of the corner of his eye, he would have missed Rizzi whipping out and discharging his own weapon. Unlike Nolan’s shot, Rizzi’s did not miss its target. The sound was deafening.
Nolan crumpled to the ground. Gabe would remember the event in slow motion, but the truth was the amount of time that passed between the sheriff exiting his vehicle and Nolan collapsing was less than twenty seconds. Maybe ten.
Once Rizzi pulled the trigger, what followed was an elongated second of absolute silence. A soundless vacuum of uneasy quiet that promised chaos when the world restarted. They were all frozen in place, staring at the fallen deputy.
Sound rushed back.
Gabe glanced over and met the sheriff’s deadly stare. Some strong emotion flickered at the back of his icy gray eyes, but he tamped it down too quickly for Gabe to interpret it. It hadn’tbeen fear. Then, together, they crossed to where Nolan lay on the cold, wet ground.
“What the fuck?” Gabe whispered, at least the fifth time in the past hour. “Why did he go for his weapon?”
