Mountain Witness

“We don’t know if he was the one flattening my tires, salting my yard, and everything else. What if it was his family? I wouldn’t put it past them.”

“I don’t think they’re dangerous,” Kathy said.

“We both know what they can be like,” she said. “I’d much rather stay here until everything is settled. Then maybe they’ll finally leave me alone and I can return home and live in peace.”

Kathy shrugged. “Maybe it does make sense to stay here, at least until the civil case is over.”

“Civil case?” Thornton’s voice had risen again and he looked like he was ready to explode with frustration. “This is supposed to be an interview, a police interview. You two need to start talking to us, instead of to each other. You need to answer our questions.”

“Chief—” Kathy began.

“What did he do to you?” Chris’s deep voice cut through the conversation, silencing everyone in the room. His brow was furrowed with concern, his tone gentle, almost a whisper, just like back at the house. “How did he hurt you?”

Her stomach did a little flip. Part of her was tempted to throw herself in his arms and beg him to take her away from the nightmare that her life had become. She must be more exhausted than she thought. Chris had shown his true colors when he’d barged into the room, looking like a bull ready to charge after a red flag. He wasn’t really interested in helping her. She’d do well to remember that, and not let her exhaustion and longing for someone to lean on after all these months of being alone influence her decisions.

She straightened her spine and focused on Thornton as she answered. If she looked at the supposed concern on Chris’s face one more time she just might shatter.

“The reason I moved to Destiny was to hide from my husband, as Kathy said. He disappeared after posting bail. And there have been some...incidents, annoyances really, that made me wonder if he was stalking me. While it’s true that he doesn’t have a...long history of being abusive, he did attack me about five months ago, which you obviously already know. We were separated. He’d moved out and left the house to me. And then he broke into our home in the middle of the night. He was dressed all in black and wore a mask. And that night, like earlier today, he had a knife. Today, Detective Downing saved my life when he shot Alan. And I deeply appreciate his sacrifice. But there wasn’t anyone else around months ago to protect me. So I saved myself. I grabbed my husband’s gun, the one he’d left in the nightstand before moving out, and I shot him.”

Chris blinked in surprise. “You shot your husband?”

“I did.”

Thornton and Chris exchanged a glance. But Julie had no clue what they were silently communicating to each other.

Kathy said, “Mr. Webb was charged with breaking and entering and attempted murder. He had duct tape, a knife and gloves. He attacked Mrs. Webb, pulled her out of the bed and onto the floor. She was able to get away and grab the gun or she wouldn’t be sitting here today. She’d be buried six feet under. However, in spite of the overwhelming evidence in the case, the judge went against our recommendations and set bail at one million dollars, which Mr. Webb immediately paid. Then he—”

“He paid a million-dollar bail?” Thornton asked. He and Chris both looked at Julie with renewed interest. “Just how much money did he have? And who’s the beneficiary?”

She closed her eyes and squeezed her hands together in her lap. This was what she’d wanted to avoid. Now they would look at her the way Alan’s family did. They’d never believed her side of what had happened and had accused her of trying to kill him for his money.

Kathy said something to Thornton but Julie tuned it out. She just wanted the interview to be over. How had it come to this? As she often did when thinking about the past year of her life, when her marriage had started to fail, she tried to pinpoint that one decision, that one pivotal event that had led to her entire life being turned upside down. But she still didn’t know what had happened. One day she was happy, they were happy, her and Alan. The next, everything had changed. Alan had become moody, angry, and it continued to go downhill from there. A tear ran down her cheek. Then another. She drew a shaky breath and wiped them away.

“Here.” Chris was crouching beside her chair, holding a box of tissues. And in his other hand was a bottle of water, which he held out to her. “They’re so busy arguing with each other over there that they didn’t even notice I’d left the room to get you the water and tissues.”

He jerked his head toward the corner by the window where Thornton and Kathy were standing, having a heated argument. Apparently, Julie had been so lost in her own thoughts, she hadn’t noticed anything that had happened over the past few minutes, either.

She wiped her cheeks with a tissue, then took the bottle. He’d already opened it and had set the cap on the table.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome.” He gestured toward the corner again. “I think they’re going to be at this for a while. Want to get out of here?”

She blinked. “I thought you wanted to interview me? Or is that your plan, to take me somewhere else and ask me questions without Kathy present?”

He cocked his head, looking every bit the handsome, sexy neighbor again instead of the angry, hardened cop. “Do you trust me?”

“No.”

He laughed. “Score one for honesty.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Never apologize for telling the truth.” He glanced at the chief and Kathy, completely consumed in their argument, before looking at Julie again. “I’d like to remind you that I’m a police officer, sworn to protect and serve. And if that doesn’t make you trust me, I’ll resort to blackmail.”

“Blackmail?”

His grin faded, and he was once again staring at her with an intensity that was unnerving. “Like you said before, I deserve answers. So how about we ditch this place and I take you somewhere safe, where no one will bother you? We’ll both get a good night’s sleep. No questions. No talking unless you want to. Then tomorrow, we take a fresh look at the situation and figure out where to go from there. Sound good?”

“Sounds too good, actually. Why are you offering?”

“Because somewhere along the way this interview turned into an inquisition. The chief and I both want answers, so I don’t want Nelson convincing you to leave and never come back. But it’s late, we’re all tired and you aren’t a criminal being interrogated. You’re a witness, a victim. You deserve to be treated better than you have been. I’m offering a truce. What do you say? Will you let me get you out of here?” He stood and held out his hand.

This time it was her turn to glance at Thornton and Kathy. Both their faces were red. Whatever they were arguing about, it didn’t look like they’d stop anytime soon.

She put her hand in Chris’s. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Seven (#udd99f7bb-0952-5332-a390-b9521d9e9567)

Chris glanced at his passenger as he turned his pickup off the highway onto a gravel road. Thanks to his SWAT team, he’d managed to get the witness out of the station without Henson or Bolton being able to give chase. It was hard to follow someone when the only exit door was blocked by three cops with guns. But he was already having buyer’s remorse.

The chief was going to kill him for this.

Julie sat stiffly, clutching the armrest as if it were a lifeline, staring through the windshield. Was she also regretting the decision to flee? Wondering if she’d gotten herself into worse trouble than she was already in?

“This isn’t the way I go to my house.” She leaned forward to peer at the narrow gravel road and trees crowding in that were revealed in the headlights. “I assumed you were taking me home. Is this a back way?”

“Your home is still taped off as a crime scene. You can’t go there until it’s released.”

Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded. “This seems awfully far from town to be leading to a hotel.”

“It’s called Harmony Haven. You’ll see the place over that next rise. See how the sky is lighter up ahead? That’s from the security and landscape lights.”

“A bed-and-breakfast then?”

He steered around a pothole, surprised the road was in such poor condition. Then again, there’d been a lot of rain this past month, and he hadn’t been down this way in quite a while.

“Chris?”

He shook his head. “It’s not a B and B. It’s a private home on a horse-rescue farm. It belongs to my friends Dillon and Ashley. They’re not here right now and I figured they wouldn’t mind us crashing for the night.”

Any argument she might have been about to give was forgotten as they topped the rise and Dillon’s property came into view. Julie stared in wonder at the beautiful vista laid out before them. It pleased him that she seemed so awestruck. He felt that way every time he came here, especially at night because of the way the lights cast an ethereal glow on the place.

With the sweat equity he’d invested to help Dillon get this place up and running over the years, he couldn’t help feeling proprietary about it. But with Dillon married now, Chris’s visits had become less frequent. Newlyweds needed their privacy, even more so now with a baby on the way. His jaw tightened. If it weren’t so late, he’d call the hospital for an update on Ashley. He’d have to remember to call first thing in the morning and check on her.

He pulled the truck to a stop beside the two-story white farmhouse and took a moment to enjoy the view himself. Soft floodlights that Ashley had insisted upon, which were more for ambience than security, dotted a long, pristine, white three-rail fence and acres and acres of lush green pastures that went on forever.

The enormous stable was partially visible behind the house. He parked at the end of the home’s enormous wraparound front porch that boasted white rockers and an old-fashioned swing hanging from chains.