Page 44 of Jacques

“Danny,” he called out.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll wait for Remy to give the all-clear. I can hear better from here.” She stood in the V between the SUV’s body and the door, using it as a shield.

Jacques shoved open his door and rounded the back of the SUV to join Danny. He didn’t dare leave her, afraid she’d ignore their warnings and charge up to Sarley to demand answers.

“You didn’t say nothin’ about bringin’ someone else with you,” Sarley said, planting his hands on his hips. “I said I’d talk with you, not with anyone else.” He lifted his chin toward Jacques and Danny. “Ain’t that the redhead who works at the Crawdad Hole?”

“That’s right,” Cleyburn said. “She wants to know what I came to ask.”

“Oh, yeah?” Sarley sneered at the deputy. “And what’s that?”

“Why did you break into her apartment?” Cleyburn stood with his feet braced, his hand resting on the weapon holstered on his belt, waiting for an answer.

“Who said I broke into her apartment?”

“We have video footage of you staking out the building, and we’re running fingerprints now. It’s only a matter of time before we have all the evidence we need to charge you for breaking and entering and sexual assault.”

The man held up his hands. “Now, wait just a minute. I didn’t touch the woman.”

“What other conclusion can we deduce from a man who broke into a woman’s apartment to steal her medical records that recorded the fact she’d been drugged and raped?”

His hands still up in surrender, Sarley shook his head. “I didn’t touch her. Never have. I ain’t never did that to any woman.” He glared across the yard at Danny. “You can’t pin it on me when all I did was take a couple pieces of paper. You weren’t even there.”

“Why did you take the papers?” Cleyburn asked.

Sarley shrugged. “I did it for rent money. I didn’t know what the documents were about. If I’d known they were about...well, I wouldn’t have done it.”

An engine revved out on the highway. Moments later, a gray sedan swerved in front of the driveway, windows down, a handgun clearly visible and pointed toward the house.

“He’s got a gun!” Danny shouted to the men near the house. “Get down!”

A shot rang out.

Wood splintered on the post holding up a section of the roof.

Another shot immediately followed the first.

Sarley staggered forward and tumbled down the stairs, landing at Cleyburn’s feet.

Danny dug in her purse for her gun as another loud bang sounded and the window in the open door of Jacque’s SUV shattered.

Jacques threw himself between Danny and the shooter and fired back.

Cleyburn spun, service revolver in hand, and opened fire.

Danny yanked her handgun from her purse and ducked around Jacques, her weapon aimed at the shooter.

The driver punched the accelerator, propelling the sedan out onto the road as Remy emerged from the trees and fired his own weapon at the retreating attacker. Remy chased after the vehicle on foot for several yards before turning back.

While Jacques continued to cover until the shooter’s car disappeared, Danny flung herself on the ground beside Sarley and immediately applied pressure to a wound in his midsection. “Come on, Sarley. You’re not done yet. Stay with me.”

Jacques knelt beside her, searching the man for other wounds, but found none. The one to his gut was enough to ruin his day.

Sarley stared up into Danny’s face. “Didn’t mean no harm,” he said.

“Then why did you do it?” Danny asked.

“Rent money,” he said. “He paid me to watch you and to take those papers. Nothin’ else. Said it was a private dispute. I swear.”