Page 51 of Bachelor Cop Finally Caught? (Hot off the Press! 2)

The curse was basically an acknowledgment that she was right about him not being able to keep her away. He could order her to a safe distance once she arrived at the scene; he could even keep her off Mrs. Stamps’s property, but he couldn’t stop her from hovering in the background. And she suspected he knew very well that she would even risk disobeying his direct orders if she thought they interfered with her freedom to report the news.

“Just stay out of my way,” he warned.

She gave him a cheeky smile. “Yes, Chief.”

His only response was a growl.

For the sake of discretion, Lindsey gave Dan a ten-minute head start. She used that time to retrieve her camera from the trunk of her car and make sure it had film and batteries. The Edstown Evening Star had a limited staff; she didn’t have a photographer to summon. She could call Riley, of course, but there was no need to rouse him just yet. She could handle this assignment herself.

During the drive to Opal Stamps’s house, she used her cell phone to call her boss and editor. Cameron answered on the second ring, sounding wide awake. She identified herself and rapidly informed him where she was going. It turned out he already knew about the situation.

“Opal Stamps just called Serena,” he explained. “She wants to retain her as a lawyer for Eddie. Opal told us Eddie’s locked in his room, and she thought he’d be more cooperative if he has a legal representative on his side. Serena’s getting dressed, and then she and I are heading over there. No way I’m letting her go into that situation alone, though she has informed me she’s perfectly capable of doing so. I tried calling you to send you to the scene, but I got your machine when I called your house and no answer on your cell phone. I was just about to call Riley.”

“No need. I’m almost there.” She saw no reason to explain why she hadn’t been home to answer her phone, or that her cell phone had been left overnight in her car.

“All right. But use your head, will you? If bullets start flying, I don’t want to hear you jumped in front of one just to get a better angle on the story.”

“Very funny, boss.”

“I’m not trying to be funny. I’m telling you to be careful.”

“Okay, I’ll be careful. See you in a little while.” She disconnected the call as she parked her car on the side of the road beside Opal Stamps’s house, directly behind a dark sedan she recognized as Dr. Frank Purtle’s. A marked patrol car, its lights flashing, sat in the driveway, and Dan’s truck was parked next to it.

Climbing out of her car, Lindsey slipped the neck strap to her camera over her head, slid her notebook into the pocket of the jacket she’d retrieved from her back seat and moved to join a group of three men standing in the driveway behind the patrol car. A security light on a pole above them gave just enough light for her to identify everyone in one swift glance—Officers Billy Braden and Joe Elrod, and Dr. Frank Purtle. She didn’t see Dan. “What are you doing here?” she asked the physician everyone knew as “Dr. Frank.”

He nodded toward the house. “Mrs. Stamps called me. She wanted me to sedate the boy, but he won’t let me near him. I decided to stay awhile—just in case I’m needed.”

She devoutly hoped he wouldn’t be needed to treat any gunshot wounds. Turning to Billy Braden, she asked, “Where’s Dan?”

The officer—a distant cousin of Dan’s—replied, his broad face somber. He’s inside with Mrs. Stamps. They’re trying to talk the boy out of his room, but he’s not having any of it. He keeps telling them to stay away from him or he’ll shoot himself.”

Lindsey grimaced. “He’s feeling hopeless. Cornered.”

“Cornered animals can be very dangerous,” Dr. Frank observed.

“Eddie isn’t an animal. He’s just a scared and mixed-up kid.”

“That kid could be an arsonist,” Officer Joe Elrod—the mayor’s nephew—growled. “And if he set the fire that killed Truman Kellogg, he’s a murderer, as well.”

“Careful what you’re saying, Joe.” Her hands in the pockets of her leather coat, Serena North spoke as she approached, her husband at her heels. “At this point, as far as I know, there’s no evidence that Eddie has committed any crime. And we still don’t know that Kellogg’s death was related to any of the other fires.”

Joe scowled. “You representing him, Serena?”

“I don’t know yet. But I do know that there is a presumption of innocence at this point. Remember?”

Lindsey piped in. “I can’t believe Eddie would deliberately kill anyone. Even if he did set that fire—which, as Serena pointed out, we can’t prove yet—he must not have known Mr. Kellogg was there.”

Her attention drawn to the house again, she took a step in that direction. “Maybe there’s something I could do to help. Eddie knows me, and he always seems to like me. Maybe I could talk to him….”

She didn’t like the thought of Dan being in there with a terrified young man with a gun. If anything went wrong…

“I don’t think so.” Billy caught her arm. “Dan told me to keep you out here.”

Lindsey scowled, her concern for Dan making her temper flare in response to being kept away from him. “You really want to move that hand, Billy, before Dr. Frank has to sew it back on for you.”

Because she’d once blackened his eye—she’d been five and he seven at the time, and he’d thought it would be fun to kick over a block tower she’d very carefully constructed—the officer released her rather hastily. He kept his voice stern. “You know better than to threaten an officer of the law.”

“All I want to do is find out what—” She stopped when she suddenly spotted Eddie Stamps looking back at her from his bedroom window. Tentatively, she gave him a smile and a wave of her hand.

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