When Gabby parked the car on Main Street, she immediately let her head fall on the steering wheel. The road trip hadn’t been easy. On the way to where Hunter had taken her, she’d been napping the whole way. Now that she had to stay awake and conscious the entire time, it wasn’t any easier.

But once she figured out where she was starting, the way back home was easy. She basically followed one interstate north until she was back in Michigan. Thanks to many, many coffee breaks when she needed gas, she’d made it home without stopping for the night, but now the exhaustion seemed to catch up to her and all she wanted to do was crawl into her bed and sleep the next few days away.

Except she hadn’t stopped at her apartment. Instead, she was in front of the florist shop. The broken door was marked off with yellow tape and the Closed sign was facing the street. But there was no crime scene tape blocking off the scene or anything. This town had such a low crime rate, she would be shocked if the police department even had crime scene tape. She was pretty sure she’d been involved somehow with at least half of the murders in this county over the past two decades.

Not the best reputation to have.

She didn’t get out of the car. She didn’t even know why she’d driven here. She needed to go to the jail to see whether Kate was okay and try to get her out. She should go home and get her plan together before she made a fool of herself.

She thought back to what had happened the last time she’d tried to get someone out of jail, and suddenly she knew exactly why she hadn’t gone straight to the county jail. When she told the police that Hunter had only been protecting her, they’d ignored her every word even though all the facts supported her. What was going to make this any different?

She was just about to pull away from the curb when she noticed the big, shiny Expedition pull up behind her. Gabby knew she didn’t know everyone in town well enough to know for sure that she didn’t know the owners of this car, but an immediate foreboding filled her. And then the doors opened and the people piled out. One short blonde wearing jeans and a leather jacket, one tall handsome man wearing a sharp-looking suit, Hunter in his perfectly fitting jeans, a gray T-shirt, and black boots, and then someone she didn’t know in a black and gray flannel shirt and jeans. Gabby immediately knew she was out of her league as the four of them each surrounded her car. Hunter approached her door. She was just about to put her foot on the pedal and floor it, not caring who she ran over, when he knocked on her window.

Even though she literally saw him approach, she jumped at the sound before she rolled her window down a scant inch. “Hello,” she said with a croaky voice.

“Hey,” he said in an oddly casual voice as he looked through the crack of the window.

It was a joke. If he wanted to get in the car, he’d be able to in two seconds flat. Really, her only chance of getting away would be to floor it the second she saw them, but her own panic had left her frozen like a deer in the headlights. Frozen deer didn’t do well when coming up against a lion like Hunter....

“Whatcha doing?” he asked.

“I, um, I came back home.”

“Yeah,” he said to her obvious comment. “I notice you took my car.”

“I was going to give it back,” she said quickly.

“That sounds likely,” he said dubiously.

“Yeah....” She drifted off because there was nothing left to say.

“Where are you going now?”

“Police station,” she said without even considering lying to him. “Someone else is in jail when they’re innocent.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I wasn’t innocent,” he reminded her.

“Even so, you shouldn’t have been there. Now are you going to let me go or not?”

“We’re going to walk into the police station with you or you’re not going at all.”

She frowned at the strange ultimatum. “You’re not taking me out of the city?”

“Not much point in taking you out if you’re just going to come back and throw yourself into danger, is there? Now why don’t you open the door for me, hun?”

Gabby looked around her and started to think it was less of a request and more of an order. None of the three people he had with him seemed menacing, but they sure as hell seemed capable of taking care of themselves. A stark contrast between her and the group.

She reluctantly hit the unlock button and only a fraction of a second went by before Hunter opened the door. He held it open for her and gave her a stern look as though to say, “Come out when you’re ready, but if you give me shit I’ll drag you out.”

Once she was out, the other three people converged on her. The little blonde smiled as though trying to comfort Gabby, even though she found herself inching closer and closer to Hunter for protection.

“I’m Toni.” She reached out her hand.

Gabby immediately recognized the voice as the woman she’d heard earlier.

“Gabby,” she said as she met her handshake.

“Oh, I know. The tall hunk of man behind me is Scott Hart. And the debonair man with a chip on his shoulder is Gage.”

Gabby immediately recognized the name because it had been his bedroom she’d slept in. Considering the few personal items he’d had in the room, she hadn’t known what to expect. The handsome man standing farthest back than any of them didn’t seem to have a chip on his shoulder. He looked... bored. Which made sense. Gabby had no idea what this odd group did for a living, but she had a feeling Brighton, Michigan, was much smaller than their normal jobs.

“So.... What are you all doing here?” she asked, trying desperately for her voice to sound more confident than she was.

“We’re here to help you,” said the man Toni had introduced as Scott Hart.

Gabby frowned. “Why?”

“That’s what we do,” said Hunter from behind her as he set a hand on her waist in a protective, comforting way. She was so surprised at the contact. Too shocked to pull away. Why was he touching her? Were they in a touching place? Or was he trying to make sure she didn’t run again?

Most likely the latter option. He’d allowed her to have her phone as a show of trust. Trust she’d broken immediately.

“Why are you helping me?”

“Because you’re the kind of person who follows all the rules and still gets screwed over,” said Toni.

“What are you going to do differently?” She found every single one of the newcomers smiling.

“We’re going to break the rules.”

––––––––

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Gabby felt incredibly odd as she walked into the police station with her new backup behind her. Like walking in with a loaded shotgun. Even if she wasn’t pointing a weapon at anyone, it surely felt as if she were about to start a war with the people she should’ve relied on to protect her.

She was always torn between her natural trust of authority and her memory of just how untrustworthy they could be. As a kid, she’d thought the police were just naturally nice. It was only later that she realized most of the cops she’d interacted with had been on her father’s payroll.

She’d assumed that the crime-laden police department was a thing of the past, but now she was right back to where she’d been before: about to start a battle with people who had a lot more authority than her.

But this wasn’t like before. Unlike when she’d fought to free Hunter, she was now flanked by backup. Granted, she had no idea what their credentials were, but they seemed to know what they were doing. So who did she trust more? The police who’d screwed her over before? Or the strangers she’d just met?

But the time for questioning herself was over. She reached the reception desk and planted a smile on her face as though nothing was wrong. The woman at the desk seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place her. Probably a customer at the shop at some point. She was young with bright, alert blue eyes, but there was the sign of crow’s feet on the side of her eyes and smile lines on her face. The sign of someone who’d lived a happy life. Surely not someone corrupted by the system, right? “Hello, I’m Gabby Cooper. I was involved with the incident at Edna’s the other day and I’d like to give my statement please.”

The officer’s eyes widened. “Let me dial the detective on the case and let him know you’re here. Why don’t you have a seat?” Gabby started to turn when the officer added, “Can you have your friends sign in?”

Toni stepped forward. “I’m Ms. Cooper’s attorney and these are my paralegals. We’ll give our information to the detective.”

The officer eyed the three intimidating men. “Paralegals?”

“You know,” said Gage. “We’re like assistants to the boss lady here.”

The officer’s face immediately went cold at Gage’s mansplaining, but she didn’t say anything. Which must’ve been Gage’s point in making the statement.

Gabby had just sat down when a detective came to get them. “Ms. Cooper. I’m Detective Craig. Why don’t we have a talk?”

The entire entourage started for him and he held up his hands. “Whoa. Do we need the whole crew?”

Toni smiled, and Gabby knew the smile wasn’t comforting in any way. “As Ms. Cooper’s attorney, I don’t advise she speak to anyone alone. We’re here to assist her and you in making sure this investigation goes smoothly.”

“Oh, you’re here to help me?” he asked skeptically.

“You got it,” said Toni without missing a beat.

“Then I guess I’ll see if we have any conference rooms free.”

A few minutes later, everyone was seated and the detective was taking down all the names. Surprisingly, everyone seemed to give their real names, including Hunter.

The detective narrowed his eyes. “Hunter Cornell, huh? The same one who got in trouble here a while back?”

“The same one.”

Everyone else was being honest, so Gabby went with it. “Hunter was sent to prison when he shouldn’t have been years ago. That’s why I have all the help with me. I see the same thing happening to Kate, and I want to get this all cleared up as soon as possible.”

“That had to do with the Mason Cooper issue, didn’t it?” he asked.

Gabby straightened. Of course he would remember what happened with her father.

“That’s the one.” Hunter didn’t seem as concerned as Gabby did that this officer recognized who they were.

“Well, I have to tell you,” said Detective Craig, “none of this looks really good. Why don’t you tell me what exactly happened, Ms. Cooper?”

Gabby looked questioningly toward Toni, as though she were actually her lawyer or something. Toni gave her a comforting nod, so Gabby told him what she knew. “I had closed the shop for the night, and Kate and I were having drinks. I had a rough day, and she was helping me through it.”

That piqued the detective’s interest. “Tell me about your bad day.”

“Boy trouble,” she said.

“What kind of boy trouble?”

“I don’t think it has anything to do with this.” That was a lie. The boy trouble—Hunter—was very probably connected. She really wouldn’t mind telling Detective Craig everything, but sitting here, surrounded by Hunter’s friends, made the details seem all the more personal.

But it also meant Hunter’s friends were all the more interested. Toni leaned forward on her elbows. “Gabby, let’s be cooperative. Please tell the detective about your boy trouble.”

Gabby looked questioningly over at Hunter, who clenched his fists but didn’t protest. “I had, um, emailed an old boyfriend of mine. I wanted to try to get back together with him, but he wasn’t interested. So Kate and I were commiserating about boy trouble.”

“What was this man’s name?” asked the detective.

“Hunter Cornell.”

The detective raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything about it. “Okay, continue.”

“Like I said, we were commiserating. Then there was a knock on the door, and some man was demanding to come in and see me. I told him we were closed, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. The next thing I knew, he shot up the door and....” Gabby was stuck. If she continued on, she’d be telling the police that Hunter killed for her once again. He’d be arrested. And then she’d have Kate and Hunter both behind bars.

Before she could think of a good lie, Toni interjected. “Detective, there’s not much more to say. The man attacked her, she ran, and her old boyfriend, Hunter here, drove her away. What exactly do you want from us?”

“Well, that boy ends up with a few bullet holes in his body. I’d like to know how that happened.”

Before Gabby could say anything, Toni was talking once more. “That boy was a full-grown-ass man, and I’d like you to remember that you talk to us from now on. As for the bullet holes in his body, we don’t know. She did what any reasonable person would do under the circumstances and ran. As far as I know, it’s the police’s job to tell how people end up with bullet holes in their body.”

The detective narrowed his eyes at Toni but kept his temper under control. “All right then. Then what exactly happened with your friend Kate? Did she shoot the man when he attacked you?”

Gabby clenched her fists. “Of course she didn’t shoot anybody!”

Toni reached out and put a hand on Gabby’s arm, silently telling her to calm down.

“I told Kate to run and she did. I’m sure she came back to check on me and that’s when you found her.”

“Don’t worry about defending Kate,” said Toni. “For a conviction, they’d have to have some sort of evidence, like a gun or gunpowder residue on her hands, blood spatter on her clothes, or testimony from you, and I’m guessing our detective here doesn’t have any of that. He’s hoping you’ll mess up and give him something he can use.” Toni turned her attention to the detective. “Let me cut through the bullshit for you. My client cannot provide Kate with an alibi, but you also don’t have enough to actually press charges. So you have up to seventy-two hours to actually pull a charge out of your ass or release her.”

Gabby expected the detective to be wetting his pants at the way Toni laid it down, but he had a good poker face on. “I thought she was your client,” he said, motioning to Gabby with a jerk of his head.

“I think we both have the same client in this case. Justice.”

The detective fell quiet for a minute. Gabby couldn’t get a read on him. Was he holding back rage? Or was he just debating the next tactic for him to use? Then he was reaching over the table and pressing the off button on the little recorder in front of them.

“All right. If you want to cut the bullshit, let’s cut the bullshit. Who are you people?”

They all looked at one another. They’d used real names, so they couldn’t really be caught in a lie. Well, Toni was impersonating a lawyer....

“I know you’re not a lawyer,” he said bluntly. “And you guys sure as hell aren’t paralegals. But I also know Kate didn’t kill our mystery man. Someone much higher up than me issued the arrest order. I haven’t seen one bit of probable cause. If she did shoot the guy, it looks like pretty clear self-defense. The guy had marks on his arms from breaking through the glass, so I know he forcibly entered. And you”—he pointed to Gabby—“took off running. Why would we pin a murder on Kate when the witness who leaves town would be the much more probable suspect? Once again, assuming this wasn’t self-defense, which this very obviously was. So if you all tell me what you’re really involved with, maybe we can all sort this out together.”

There was a moment of silence before Toni said, “I appreciate your honesty, Detective. I think we’re both after the same thing. We want to know who is pulling the strings.”

“Ten years ago, Mason Cooper was the one who pulled all the strings in this town. I was the one who unraveled those strings,” said Hunter. “I think someone is trying to kill me and Gabby because of what we did to Mason Cooper.”

“Mason Cooper died years ago.”

“I didn’t say he was the one trying to kill anyone. But he was the head of a major criminal organization. You know how those things work. You cut the head off and another head pops right up.”

“But that didn’t happen here,” said Craig. “He was double-timing the two different cartels. They couldn’t both be operating out of a small town like this. They moved on and found some other town to peddle their poison in. We’re a nice place here.”

“Not as nice as you thought,” mumbled Gabby. She had also thought her hometown was safe. That was before the Terminator smashed through the glass doors and came after her.

“I’ll tell you what, Detective,” said Toni. “If you get us the name of the higher-up who orchestrated Kate getting arrested, we’ll make sure this never happens in your town again.”

“What are you going to do about it?” he asked skeptically.

Toni smiled. “I’m a lawyer. Trust me.”