[6]

Steven paused and lifted his head. He looked at Quinn, who was studying the ground underneath the trunk of the Jag. “Did you hear that?”

“No.” Quinn removed his Bluetooth device from his ear. “Hear what?”

“A bunch of pops. Sounded like gunfire. That was the second time I heard it.”

“From where?”

“Don’t know.”

“Detective?” They both turned and saw a crime scene unit member waving at them.

“I got this,” Quinn said. He trotted over to the woman.

Steven’s phone vibrated on his hip and he snagged it. They were almost finished with the scene. CSU had arrived and had taken over. He was ready to call it a day. A night. Whatever. He’d been at it since five this morning, and his stomach was protesting its emptiness while the rest of his body wanted his bed. He held the device to his ear. “Yeah?”

“Shots fired on School House Road,” the dispatcher told him. “Officers are on the way. Is Quinn with you?”

“Yeah, why?” So he had heard something.

“He’s not answering his phone. Tell him Haley called it in.”

Steven ran over to Quinn. “Hey.”

The man looked up. “Yeah?”

“You got your phone on? Someone named Haley called 911 with a shots fired report. Dispatch wanted to let you know.”

His partner grabbed his phone from the clip on his belt and looked at it. He frowned and slid the button up on the side. “Forgot to turn it back on.” They headed toward their black sedan. He pulled the keys from his pocket as he jogged. “Where?”

Steven gave him the address.

“That’s about a minute from here. Tell dispatch we’re on the way.”

Steven climbed into the sedan. He hit the lights and siren as Quinn expertly wheeled the vehicle from the scene and onto the street.

“You mentioned a Haley earlier. Who’s that?”

“My wife’s best friend. Or one of them.”

Wife? He hadn’t realized Quinn was married. “She’s a cop? The best friend?”

“No, she’s a bodyguard, but she carries a badge, thanks to a special mandate from the mayor. She’s former law enforcement but now works for the Elite Guardians agency—as does my wife.”

“What’s the Elite Guardians agency?”

“I’ll have to explain later, but if you hang around us long enough, you’ll soon learn everything there is to know about it.” He pulled to the curb of the run-down home. They’d beat the uniformed officers, but Steven heard the approaching sirens. He glanced around and saw nothing to indicate the shooter was still around. Quinn pointed to a woman standing in the front yard, weapon at her side. “That’s Haley.”

She turned to look in his direction. Strands of red hair blew around her face. The rest she had pulled back into a messy ponytail. Even with the distance between them, no matter that he was unable to distinguish the color of her eyes, he still felt the power in her gaze. “Wow.”

“Yeah, a lot of people have that reaction when they meet her.”

And he hadn’t even met her yet. Quinn left the lights flashing and climbed from the car. Steven did the same.

She turned her attention to Quinn. “What took you so long?”

They’d arrived less than two minutes after her call. Steven snorted back a chuckle. He didn’t figure it would make a good first impression to arrive at a drive-by and start laughing. But secretly he decided he liked her spirit.

“We were about a block over investigating a homicide. Where’s the shooter?”

“Drove away about three minutes ago. I called in a BOLO.”

“I’ll go after him,” Quinn said.

“Don’t bother. He’s been gone too long. You won’t find him. This area is a maze. He could be anywhere by now. Let the officers on the streets do their job.”

Quinn nodded to Steven. “This is my new partner. Haley, meet Steven Rothwell.”

She moved closer and held out a hand. He shook it. “Welcome to the fun,” she said.

Steven scanned the home front that now resembled blue Swiss cheese. “Thanks.”

She eyed Quinn. “You didn’t say anything about getting a new partner. Where’s Bree?”

“Her sister was involved in a car accident three days ago. They’re not sure she’s going to make it. She’d already put in the request for a leave of absence to deal with family stuff, so when Steven applied and accepted the offer of a job here, they stuck him with me.”

Haley winced and looked Steven in the eye. “Poor guy. You have my sympathy. I have the number for a good psychiatrist when you’re ready.” Steven smothered a chuckle and Quinn rolled his eyes. She sobered. “I’ll call her later.”

Steven gestured to the house. “Anyone hurt?”

“No, but it was only because none of us were in the front room at the time the bullets started flying. I stayed down mostly, but managed to get a glimpse of the vehicle. Dark sedan. Maybe a Buick. No plates. And that’s about it.”

“Not much to go on,” Steven murmured. He looked around. “I’m guessing there won’t be any security cameras in this neighborhood.”

“I wouldn’t think so. Not this area.” She shook her head. “So many good people suffer because of the actions of a few. They’re trapped in this neighborhood, longing for a better life—” she thought about the textbooks on the table in the house—“working for a better life, and this is what they have to put up with.”

“Yeah.” Steven was surprised she’d voiced the thoughts. She didn’t come across to him as someone who shared easily.

Three more police cruisers pulled up, lights flashing. As the officers piled out of their vehicles, Quinn flashed his badge and started barking orders. “Canvass the neighborhood, see if anyone saw anything.”

The officers fanned out and Steven saw movement at the front door. His hand went to his weapon and paused. A young man stepped out. “Haley?”

Haley turned and walked over to the teen. “Zeke. Are your mom and Micah all right?”

“Yeah, just scared.” He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and eyed the police officers surrounding his home. “They going to catch who did this?”

“I can’t promise they will, of course, but I can promise they’ll do their best.”

Haley pulled the teen aside and looked into his angry brown eyes.

“They could have killed my mom or Micah!” He slapped a fist into his other palm. “I find out who did this, I’m gonna pop ’em. I’m going to find a way to get them back.”

“No you’re not,” Haley said. He stared at her, defiance rolling off of him in waves. “But I can sure understand why you’d want to. If I were in your shoes, I’d feel the same way. Angry and wanting revenge.” Flashes blipped across her mind. The sound of gunfire echoed in her ears. Different gunfire than what she’d just heard. She shook her head and focused back on the teen. “But it doesn’t fix anything, Zeke, okay? Don’t let the hate take root.”

His brow rose and he looked at her like she’d grown another head. “You sound like my grandma’s preacherman.”

She gave a light laugh. “I’m no preacher. I’ve just been there and it didn’t do much for me.”

Some of the anger faded from his face and surprise took its place. “Who’d you hate?”

“Someone who betrayed me and took joy in doing it.”

He blinked and crossed his arms. “That’s just not right.”

“No, it wasn’t.” She cleared her throat and forced the memories away. “Now,” she said. “Can you tell me who might want you dead? Someone you tried to mug? A gang member?”

He frowned. “I ain’t in no gang.” He looked down at his feet. Haley noticed his tone, his use of the English language changed from when she’d collared him as well as when they were in the pharmacy. “And I done told you that I ain’t tried to mug nobody. Ever.” His eyes lifted briefly to meet hers. “Until you anyways. And I’m real sorry about that.”

“Good, you should be.” He ducked his head. She softened her voice. “But thanks for apologizing.” He regretted his actions, but the fact that he even attempted to rob her raised all kinds of red flags for her. Intervention needed to happen now or Zeke would wind up just another statistic with a rap sheet. Right now, he was still a good kid in a bad situation. “I like your heart. It’s in the right place.”

He stilled and then nodded without looking at her. She turned to find Zeke’s mother in the doorway. She had her arms crossed in front of her and her freckles stood out on her light brown cheeks.

Haley walked over to her. “How’s Micah?”

She shuddered. “He wanted to know about the loud noise. I told him it was a couple of cars backfiring.”

“He bought that?”

“No, but he’s too weak to care about it much right now. He went back to sleep after I gave him his medicine and assured him that everything was all right.”

Haley looked at the bullet-riddled house. “Do you have a place you can go, a friend or a relative you can stay with?”

Belinda frowned. “Why? You think they’ll be back?”

“I certainly wouldn’t rule it out.”

The young mother shook her head. “No.” She tugged on a stray strand of hair and glanced at Zeke. “I mean, I guess we could go stay with Richie—”

“No way,” Zeke said. “I’ll take my chance getting shot up before I’ll stay with that—”

His mother shushed him. “You know I don’t approve of that kind of language. I’ve already called him. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

Zeke flushed, his anger burning in his dark eyes. Haley caught his gaze but he looked away, jaw tight, fists clenched.

His mother turned to Haley. “If we had some other place to go, we wouldn’t be here.”

Haley had been afraid of that. “What about a shelter?”

She held up a hand. “I’m not leaving my house.”

“Even if it means protecting your kids?”

She winced. “We have too much medical equipment. I’m not like other people. I can’t pick up and move without risking my child’s life.”

She had a point.

“Richie will make sure we’re protected,” Belinda said. “He’ll find out who did this.”

Zeke huffed a short laugh of disbelief.

Haley glanced at him, then back at Belinda. “Any idea why someone would want to do this to you?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Are you sure? Your kids could have been killed tonight.”

“I know,” she whispered. Tears filled her eyes and her lower lip trembled. “You think I don’t know that?”

“If you know anything, tell me and I’ll help you.”

Belinda blinked the tears away. “But I don’t know anything. I don’t know why someone would do this. And why do you care anyway?”

Haley lightly touched her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “Because that’s what I do.”

He hid behind the large shrub and used the high-powered binoculars to watch the excitement playing out in the yard of the ugly blue house across the street. With the rental car parked out of sight behind a business closed for the evening, he had no real concern of being caught. As the scene unfolded, he growled, a low sound that threatened to rupture into a full-throated scream of rage and frustration. He’d had an assignment, a target, and he’d failed to take out that target. His employer would not be happy. But no matter. He hefted the automatic weapon. A simple reload and he’d be back in business.