Page 33 of The Fall Back Plan
I don’t know what to do here, so I tell him that. “You’ve taken this bar buyout pretty personally, and believe it or not, I get that. It’s personal for me too. It’s none of your business why, same as your reasons are none of mine. But for me, I bought it to get rid of all the bad vibes. I’m turning it into something good. If your goal is to stop that, you’re doing a pretty decent job. I don’t know what to do with you right now to solve the problem. I can have Mary Louise see you out”—he tenses—“but you’d be back, wouldn’t you?”
He lifts his chin. It’s a silent but clear “Yes.”
“I need you not to come back if you’re going to be mad every time. What do we do about that?”
He says nothing for a long moment. Then something in his face shifts. The color evens out, but his jaw grows harder.
And then he reaches behind him for his waistband in a move we’ve all seen too many times in movies to mistake: he’s going for his gun.
Chapter Sixteen
Lucas
IwanttoseeJolie.
I have no legitimate reason to see Jolie. But this has to be a solvable problem.
I need an excuse to stop by, one that she won’t see right through. I’m not a shy guy. I know how to ask out a woman. But Jolie and I have a history. A bad one. We’re turning a corner, but I have no idea how she’d take it if I dropped in or called her up and asked her out on a date.
I drum my fingers on my desk, but nothing comes to me. That’s not good, since I’m spending as much mental energy on inventing excuses to see her as I am on our Doll Bandit. That’s what the Happenings detectives have named it.
The intercom on my desk phone beeps and Becky’s voice comes through, sounding tense. “Boss, you better get to the Mockingbird. Sophie Keller texted me they’ve got trouble.”
I’m on my feet immediately. It’s only 2:00 and they’re not open for lunches yet. I curse, because it’s a good bet the trouble is Shane, which means this is my fault. He got riled instead of scared. I charge out of the office and call to Becky, “On it.” I’m out the rear exit before she can even acknowledge hearing me.
At this point, I could get to Jolie faster on foot, but it tends to panic people when they see the sheriff running, so I hop in my vehicle and tear out of our lot, already on the radio to see who’s patrolling closest to the bar, giving orders to meet me for backup but not to run lights and sirens.
By the time I’m out of my vehicle and striding toward the entrance three minutes later, I’ve got one deputy stationed at the back door and another one waiting for me at the front. I nod at him. “Be ready.”
I open the front door, braced for anything. Years of experience have taught me to assess a situation in microseconds, but I’m still not prepared for what I walk into.
Ry is diving toward Shane as Mary Louise tackles him from behind. Jolie—her face frozen and blank—is rushing toward Sophie, who wears a look of pure fear. Jolie hooks Sophie around the waist and tows her backward.
I don’t know what exactly is happening, but I know Shane is the source, so I pull out my taser and race toward Mary Louise to help.
She’s got him on the ground now in an arm bar, and he’s trying to yell something, but his face is pressed against the wooden flooring, and I can’t hear him over Sophie’s shriek of, “Gun!”
He’s kicking, trying to buck Mary Louise, so I subdue his legs, reducing his leverage. “Stop resisting,” I tell him.
“Mn hung,” he mumbles into the floor.
“What?” Mary Louise asks, her voice flat and cold.
“Mno nguhn!”
My blood pressure drops. “He said no gun.”
“Yesh,” Shane says. It’s a very emphaticyes.
Mary Louise doesn’t let him go, but she gives me a quick glance over her shoulder. “I’m going to check.”
I nod. “I got him. Hardin, if there’s no gun, calm down and we won’t have a problem.”
He stops contorting. Mary Louise does a quick sweep across his lower back, frowns, and slips something from his waistband, then holds it up. “Flask.”
“I’m going to do a quick search to make sure you’re not carrying anything else we need to worry about,” I inform him. He makes a grunt that sounds like agreement.
I do a fast pat down of both legs, but he’s not concealing anything. We let him up after I give Mary Louise an all-clear nod.
