51

Her chest felt as if she’d been slammed by a hammer wielded by a giant. Tess inspected the area where the projectile had struck. It had glanced off the bottom of her badge—she could feel a dent—and hit her chest a bit off center. She figured it was because of the way her body was turned at the time. The deformed projectile stuck in her trauma plate. She doubted anything was broken, but she was certain there’d be a big bruise.

But Kayla was safe and a predator was in custody, and those facts acted like a natural painkiller.

Oliver had come running up the hill like a knight in shining armor—an unarmed knight. Tess instinctively raised her gun, but Marshall was incapacitated. The scene had settled down a bit. Hardin and his deputy were dealing with Marshall, who was screaming and moaning that his arm was broken. Bender took a look and then walked back over to Tess.

“Looks like you hit his collarbone.” He winced and pointed to his. “Not a lot of blood, but it’s all collapsed. Bet it stings.”

“Are you sure that you’re okay?” Oliver asked Tess.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” Tess said. She nodded to Bender as she leaned against Marshall’s SUV while they waited for medics. Hardin had secured the scene and called more deputies. Oliver stood next to Tess. Kayla had been walked back down the driveway to Tess’s car, where Del sat with her. He’d arrived shortly after Bender.

“I want to know what else you found out about Marshall from brother Doug.”

Bender arched a brow. “Dixon fell apart and told the whole story after you left.”

“I’m listening,” Tess said.

“In a way, Roger was the mayor’s brother—his foster brother,” Bender said. “When they were kids, they were adopted by the same foster parents.

“The mayor claimed he hadn’t seen the guy in years when Roger found him on the Internet and began to correspond. Dixon said he had no interest in reconnecting, but when he was in Vegas a few years ago at a conference, Marshall showed up. He professed to have reformed his life and was trying to start over clean. It seems both have records.”

“Doug Dixon is wanted too?” Tess shifted in surprise and winced as pain flashed through her body.

“Not wanted, but back in New Hampshire he did five years for federal embezzlement when he was in his twenties. The mayor says that after he was released, he’d learned his lesson. But he couldn’t get a second chance when he disclosed the conviction. So he left it off, came west to start over, and built a life here. He tried to forget his foster brother, who he said always had problems and has been a sex offender since his teens.”

“And Marshall held Dixon’s past over his head? Help your dear old foster brother get a new lease on life and he would keep the secret about the old conviction?”

“Surely the mayor didn’t think people would hold that old conviction against him?” Oliver said.

“Didn’t want to take the chance.”

“Even though he knew Marshall was a dirtbag?” Tess asked.

“Dixon says at first he thought his brother was on the up-and-up, that he really had changed. Marshall told him he’d legally changed his name to Dixon to get away from the stigma of being an ex-con. He played Dixon like a violin.”

“He played a lot of people,” Oliver said. “I’ve known him since he moved here. My associate pastor married him and Helen Camus.”

“Right.” Bender nodded. “The first couple of years, especially after he married Helen, who he seemed to make happy, Dixon says he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Marshall was a different man. It was only lately, in the last year and a half, that he realized there was something off. And now he had more to lose, what with his wife’s condition and all, so he looked the other way where Marshall was concerned.”

“Besides, he’d already covered for the guy for years,” Tess said.

“Yep. He admits he almost—” Bender held his fingers up as if he were placing quotes around the word—“called the FBI. But he was too afraid of Marshall and too afraid he’d go to jail, and no one would be there to care for his wife.”

That made sense in a twisted way to Tess. “As time went on, it would have been harder and harder to tell the truth.”

The drone of sirens drowned out the rest of the conversation as medics arrived. Hardin directed them to Tess first, but she waved them off. She was sore but okay. And Marshall’s whining was getting on her nerves.

She and Oliver walked down the drive to where Del sat with Kayla.

“How are you holding up?” she asked, noting that the girl’s tears were gone and Kayla seemed composed and calm.

“I’m okay.” She gave a heavy sigh. “But can I ask you a question, Chief?”

“Sure.”

“Mr. Dixon was the kind of man my dad is always warning me about. I never thought—I mean, he seemed so normal, but he isn’t at all, is he?” Her voice broke, the first crack Tess had seen in the brave girl. She wiped her nose and continued. “How do we keep away from bad people if they don’t seem bad?”

Tess sucked in a breath, ignoring the twinge of pain in her chest when she did. The girl had come face-to-face with evil and survived, but at what cost? Was there any way to prevent her from being scarred for life? Tess hoped so. “You did everything possible, Kayla. This wasn’t your fault. Mr. Dixon fooled us all. Just keep listening to your parents. Now, I have a question for you. How’d you get away from him?”

She shrugged in a way only a fourteen-year-old girl could. “I started to wake up and got scared. My dad always says to try and think before you react. Mr. Dixon carried me out of the car into the cabin. Then he took a shower. I could hear the water running. I worked on the ropes the whole time. I got them loose enough so that when he bent down and got in my face, I was able to poke him in the eye. Then I kicked him in the shin and ran.”

“That was a great self-defense move,” she said to Kayla. She figured Marshall had drugged Kayla when he took her from her house.

“You were brave and strong,” Oliver added.

“My dad taught me that.”

“Good for your dad,” Del said. He’d calmed Kayla and let her talk to her parents on the phone. Casey and John were on the way and Tess expected them any minute. Steve Logan was bringing them and she could admit to herself that she was looking forward to seeing him even more.

“How are you feeling now, Chief?” Oliver asked.

She started to sigh, but it hurt to inhale. “I’m okay. I’m gratified everything has worked out.” She looked at the pastor. He’d been a great help, but she knew that when they were finished, he’d be going back to town to make funeral arrangements. “You know, Pastor, you’ve insisted I call you Oliver. I think it’s time you call me Tess. Fair is fair.”

He nodded and started to say something when they heard a car approaching. Tess turned and saw the green-and-white Jackson County sheriff car coming up the drive to park behind the line of cars already there.

Her heart gave a little flutter when Steve Logan got out of the driver’s seat and looked her way. He then turned and opened the back door so that John and Casey Reno could get out. The anxious parents fairly ran up the drive to hug their daughter, and Tess felt the joy.

“Hey, good job, Chief.” Logan gave her a high-wattage smile and gripped her hand in both of his. “You melted Hardin and everything. He thinks you earned a medal today.”

“It was a team effort.” She let her hand linger in his.

“I second that sentiment.” Casey Reno wiped her eyes and looked at Tess, who reluctantly let Logan’s hand go. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough, Chief.”

“Please, it’s Tess.”

Casey nodded. “I’m glad you’re the chief. And if the mayor pressed the vote today, you have mine.” She sniffled and went back to hugging her daughter.

Just then, Tess’s phone rang. She recognized the number. It was the station in Long Beach, homicide office.

Placing a hand on Logan’s shoulder, she said, “I have to take this.” He nodded and she stepped away to answer the call.

It was Jack O’Reilly.

“We got ’em, Tess.”

“What?”

“The other actors in the shooting, the ones who ran away. We acted on a tip, got the first one. When we told his mom why we were there for her son, she commenced to put a whooping on the kid. He confessed, led us to the other two. It was a setup.”

Tess cleared her throat, still not completely comprehending. “A setup?”

“Yep. It was Cullen’s idea, but these knuckleheads went along. The other kids, they baited JT. When he ran into the alley, Cullen smacked him with the bat. Cullen wanted to kill a cop, Tess. He was trying to rack up gang creds and thought this would be the best way. The plan was to kill JT with his own gun. The truth is finally out there, and we have three in custody for attempted murder of a police officer. Consider your name cleared.”