Colton Family Bodyguard, page 13
The waitress returned to the bar, going behind it. She smiled at the man who had been staring at her and they began to converse.
“They seem to know each other,” Callum said.
The man at the bar reached over and touched the woman’s hand and she smiled differently now, much more warmly. Then she glanced at the bartender as though making sure she hadn’t been seen. The man seemed to respect that and pretended to pay attention to his bottle of beer.
“The ghost of Nate Blurge?” Hazel said.
Callum chuckled. “Yes. He might be flirting vicariously through that guy.” If the woman Blurge had flirted with was the killer’s wife, maybe that was why Nate was murdered. And maybe the new man who flirted with her would draw the killer out.
“I have to go to the bathroom.” She stood and made her way to the back corner, having to pass the group of bikers on the way.
She ignored the tall biker, aware that he followed her movement. She finished her business in the bathroom, washed her hands and left.
As she walked past the pool table, the tall biker stepped in her path. She stopped.
He wore a sleazy grin, or at least that’s how she interpreted it.
“Hey, how about a game of pool? You can invite your friend over.” He gestured toward Callum. “Is he your boyfriend?”
She contemplated lying. “No.”
“Oh.” His gaze roamed down her body and back up again. “What’s your name, pretty lady?”
“Excuse me.” She moved to go around him but he blocked her way.
“If not tonight, then maybe another night?” He gestured toward Callum again. “Maybe when he isn’t around?”
“No, thanks.”
“At least tell me your name. Can I have your number? I think we should get to know each other.”
“Look, I’m not interested.” Hazel stepped aside.
The tall biker took hold of her arm and she got a whiff of his breath. He had been drinking for some time.
“Let go of my arm.” She jerked her arm and he held firm.
“Tell me your name.”
Just then Callum’s hand flattened on the man’s chest. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Hey.” The tall biker stumbled back with Callum’s shove. “I was just talking to the lady. She said you and her weren’t a couple.”
“She also told you she wasn’t interested. Is there a problem?”
The tall biker shook his head, feigning nonchalance and acting as though he wasn’t afraid. “No problem.”
“It looked like you weren’t letting the lady pass.”
“I would have let her pass. What business is it of yours anyway?” The man stepped forward, as though trying to intimidate Callum.
Callum stood at least an inch or two taller than the biker. “She’s with me. And even if she wasn’t, I can tell when a woman doesn’t want to talk to a man and she doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“You don’t know that. And you don’t own her.”
“Come on, Callum.” Hazel put her hand on his forearm. “Let’s go.”
“You gonna hide behind a woman now?” The tall biker stepped even closer. “You should have stayed out of this. If you hadn’t shown up, I’d have her number by now.”
“She wouldn’t have given you her number.”
“Well aren’t you a cocky bastard. Maybe somebody needs to put you in your place.”
“Maybe you should quit drinking and go home. I don’t want any trouble. I was a Navy SEAL, so you should think twice about starting something with me.”
Callum didn’t brag. He sounded calm and as though he had given the man a courteous warning.
But the tall biker smirked and glanced back at his cohorts. “Did you hear that? This jerk is a SEAL. He thinks he’s better than all of us.”
“I’ll warn you once more. You don’t want to start anything with me.”
Hazel backed up a little. This could get ugly. She had no doubt whatsoever that Callum could take on all of the bikers. Maybe if they were sober the other men would have had a chance, but all of them looked inebriated.
Two of the bikers stepped forward, one holding a pool cue.
“You don’t look like you ride. You’re too pretty,” the tall biker said. “What makes you think you can come in here and get between me and a lady?”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Callum said.
“I’m getting tired of you saying that.” The tall biker took a swing, which Callum easily avoided. He ducked another attempt and then delivered a hard uppercut to the jaw.
The tall biker stumbled backward and the one with a pool cue tried to jab Callum.
Callum blocked that and outmaneuvered him for control of the stick. He swung the cue, knocked the third man on the head and then kicked the taller one, sending him flying back onto the pool table.
This was turning into a real bar fight. And Callum could really move. She almost wasn’t afraid, she was so in awe of him.
Hazel backed up some more when the biker who had come after Callum with the cue charged. Using the stick, Callum blocked his punching fists and twisted to high-kick his face. When he landed he used the cue to poke the second man and then tossed it aside to hit the taller biker twice. His opponent fell down.
The other two backed off. Hazel noticed everyone in the bar had stopped to watch, even the bartender. Fighting must be the norm here, because no one interfered.
Callum waited for the taller man to decide what to do. He stared at Callum as he got to his feet, wiping blood off his lip.
“Come on, man. Let’s play pool,” said a biker who hadn’t joined the fight.
The taller biker looked from Hazel to Callum and then finally swatted the air with his hand. “She ain’t worth it.” With that he faced his friends.
Callum turned and found Hazel, putting his hand on her lower back.
She walked with him toward the exit, Callum tossing money on their table on the way out.
“That was quite a spectacle back there,” she said when they were outside.
“They were drunk.”
“Clearly. You could have seriously hurt them.”
“Yes. I’m glad he chose not to engage anymore.”
“Did you learn all those moves in the navy?”
“I refined them in the navy. I got into bar fights a lot when I was young.”
“Right. Wild.” She smiled and laughed a little, trying not to be so turned on by him.
Nobody had ever fought for her, least of all at a bar. She had not been the type of girl who hung out at such establishments, especially like this one. She had always been more of a wine bar kind of woman. Lunches with her girlfriends. Dates to nice restaurants.
Walking beside Callum, covertly taking in his long strides and his big shoulders, slightly swaying, she had never felt safer.
He caught her looking at him. “What?”
She shook her head, fumbling with brief self-consciousness. “Chivalry isn’t dead.”
“You liked it that I got into a fight back there?” He grinned teasingly. “I wasn’t playing around.”
“Oh, I know you weren’t.” She eyed him again, unable to stop her admiration.
At the car, he stopped her before she opened the door. “Maybe I should get into fights more often.”
She tipped her head up, falling into this flirtation far too easily.
“And you in this outfit doesn’t help matters.” He touched beneath her chin. “I’ve been dying to do this all day.”
He kissed her, soft and slow. Then the flames took over and he deepened the caress. He didn’t touch his tongue to hers, just gave her a long and reverent kiss.
She was beginning to think avoiding another tumble in bed would be impossible. And as for avoiding falling for Callum? That was becoming even more impossible by the moment.
Chapter 9
Back at the Dales Inn, Callum saw that same SUV out front with someone inside. Funny, now that he had a closer look, this man didn’t appear as large as the one who had shot at them. He must have been mistaken about the suggestion that this was their shooter.
“We should be fine. Just don’t look at him.” If it was a man. Callum wondered if it could be a female.
Up in the suite, he called Kerry, who told him she was on her way to check on them.
“Is there anyone else you can think of who has a grudge against you?” he asked Hazel.
Her head popped up from the tablet she had been playing around with. “What?”
He went over and sat beside her. “It just occurred to me that the person who’s been sitting out in front of this inn might be a woman.”
Her brow scrunched in confusion. “But the person who almost ran me and Evie over was a man. I know it.”
“I know that, too.”
“Well...what are you suggesting?”
“Maybe nothing. I’m more thinking out loud.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I just have this feeling that there is someone else seeking you out. The person who sits outside the inn doesn’t shoot at us.”
“We were in disguise.”
Yes, but every time? What if Callum hadn’t noticed the driver of the SUV before today?
“Can you think of anyone who might have a reason to be angry with you?” he asked.
She frowned in confusion. “Callum, I don’t understand why you’re asking me that. You think there is someone else—besides the kidnapper Evie witnessed—who is after me?”
“Yes, and no. Like I said, I’m thinking out loud, making sure I cover every angle.”
After a moment she slowly shook her head. “No.”
She seemed hesitant.
“What about your ex-boss? Carolyn Johnson?” The woman had lost everything after Hazel left her restaurant. People murdered for different reasons and revenge was one of them. Not that he could say for certain that Carolyn would try to kill Hazel. Maybe she stewed over her losses and blamed Hazel, but hadn’t gone over the edge yet.
“Carolyn wouldn’t do that,” Hazel finally said. “She isn’t that kind of person.”
“People respond differently to life situations. What did that restaurant mean to her?”
When Hazel looked away, Callum already had his answer. The restaurant had meant everything to Carolyn.
“That’s why I felt so terrible,” Hazel said.
And Carolyn had seemed gracious and forgiving. Even accepting, maybe overly so. “Let’s talk to her again. Maybe keep an eye on her.”
“You mean...do surveillance on her?”
“Yes.”
After a while she shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t believe she’d do something like that.”
“Let’s hope not. Let’s hope Carolyn is not somehow associated with the killer.”
“What if whoever you saw out there wasn’t Carolyn and was just waiting for someone else?”
That was possible, but Callum wouldn’t take any chances.
“I need to be sure, okay?” He met her eyes in a silent plea to heed him.
She blinked in concession. “Okay.” Then she gave him a faint smile that told him she appreciated his careful concern.
He heard his phone go off, indicating he had received a text message. It was from Kerry. She was five minutes out from the inn and she asked him to meet her in the parking lot.
After they each changed into normal clothes, he went back into the main room. “You wait here,” he said to Hazel. “There’s another officer outside on guard. I’m going to go down and meet Kerry.”
“All right.” Hazel sounded distracted, possibly weighed down by thoughts of Carolyn retaliating.
Assured that Hazel would stay put and she’d be safe in the suite, Callum rode the elevator down and went outside.
He spotted Kerry getting out of her vehicle. He also searched for the mysterious SUV and didn’t find it. The driver must have given up and gone for the day.
He looked around for any other signs of danger. A man wheeled his luggage toward the inn entrance and a car left the parking lot. Movement drew his attention to a tree off to the side of the front doors, where a man smoked a cigarette and looked back at him. He was about the same build as the man he had seen who’d shoved a body into his trunk. It was hard to say, though, because this man stood and the other had been in the car. Could they be the same man?
“Do you see that?” Kerry asked.
“Sure do.” He looked like a stalker. A few months ago, a creep had stalked Marlowe until he’d been caught.
“Let’s go see if he’ll talk to us.”
Callum started for the man with her by his side. The man continued to smoke and watch them.
Kerry took out her badge and showed it to him. “Detective Kerry Wilder. Are you staying here?”
The man glanced at Callum and back at her, blowing smoke out and then dropping his cigarette onto the ground.
“No. I’m waiting for someone.”
“What’s your name?”
“Joseph Smith.”
“Do you have any ID?” Callum asked.
The man removed his wallet and showed them his driver’s license. It said Joseph Smith but any person, even a man who stole cars and committed murder, could come up with a fake one.
“Who are you waiting for?” Kerry asked.
“No one who’s staying here. We just agreed to meet in this parking lot because it’s halfway between where we live.”
“What is the person’s name who you’re meeting?” Callum asked.
“You a cop like her?” Joseph asked.
“No. There’s been suspicious characters loitering around this inn.”
Joseph didn’t respond right away but then he said, “Her name is Eleanor and I’d rather not tell you her last name. She’s married. I don’t want to get her in trouble.”
Callum halfway believed this guy. Just when he was about to interrogate him some more, a gunshot rang out and a bullet splintered the bark of the tree.
“Holy...!” Joseph dove for the ground as Kerry and Callum drew their weapons and took cover, she behind the tree trunk and he behind another nearby.
He searched the parking lot and saw no moving vehicles or anyone inside a vehicle. Most notably, there was no sign of the SUV.
He spotted something in the trees surrounding the inn. “Over there!” He pointed.
Kerry nodded and yelled, “You stay here!” then sprinted for the trees.
Callum followed. He couldn’t in good conscience allow her to track down a killer on her own. But she was the detective.
The shooter had a good head start, but he ducked behind a tree trunk and poked his head out to shoot at them. He missed Kerry by inches.
Callum fired back, forcing the man to retreat. He got a good enough look at him to know this person was bigger than the one in the SUV. Whoever this person was, he was very desperate to silence anyone who could track him down.
He and Kerry emerged from the trees where they had taken cover and ran to two others closer to their target.
The shooter fled. Callum didn’t have a good shot, but Kerry did. She fired and must have gotten the man’s leg because he stumbled and then limped away.
Callum lost sight of him in the trees, but they soon reached a clearing and the highway. An older model Camaro was parked at the side of the road and the shooter got inside. By the time Callum and Kerry broke free of the trees, he had the car racing away. Kerry took aim and fired twice, breaking the back window but missing the driver.
She stood on the side of the highway staring after the vanishing car, putting her gun away.
Callum did the same.
“He’s a slippery one, isn’t he?” she said.
“Why did he shoot at us?” Callum asked.
“He was trying to shoot you,” Kerry said.
He had shot at Kerry, too. Had he gone insane?
The detective called in the incident, which would bring in other officers. “I’ve got something else to discuss with you. Why don’t you come up so Hazel can listen in?”
“All right. Is there more going on between you two than a mad shooter?”
He walked with her up through the trees—all part of the landscaping of the inn’s grounds. “Unfortunately, yes.” He was more convinced of that than ever.
* * *
Hazel heard the door open and looked up from the book she had been reading. She had to keep her mind off Evie. Kerry followed Callum into the suite.
Hazel stood from the sofa as they approached. “Did you find out who was out there?”
“That SUV was gone but someone started firing at us,” Callum said.
“We were questioning a man who was standing outside the inn looking suspicious when we were shot at,” Kerry added.
Hazel looked from her to Callum, confused as to who could have shot at them. “Was it the person in the SUV?” Maybe they had parked somewhere else.
Callum shook his head. “No. I’m sure of it. The gunman was bigger than the person in the SUV. I’m sure they’re two different people.”
“The person in the SUV is watching you?” Kerry asked. “Is it the stolen one from before?”
“No, this one was a charcoal gray and that other one was black. I didn’t get a plate number, but I don’t think that person is the same as the shooter. It’s just suspicious. The gray SUV was parked out there a long time.”
Kerry nodded. “Well, let me know if something changes or you see it parked out there again. And try to get a plate number. If it’s someone different than our shooter, then maybe they won’t be as careful.” She glanced at Hazel. “Like, if it’s someone you know.” Looking back at Callum, she said, “I’ll keep an undercover cop outside. I would suggest going somewhere else to stay, but given how brazen the shooter is, he will most likely come back. We could catch him if you keep drawing him here.”
