“Doesn’t matter.” Nick pointed to a dim figure scaling the wall, just disappearing out of camera shot.
“But why is she going up?”
“There’s a man with a gun on the ground. Up’s safer.” Logan sounded as if he were discussing the weather. How could he stay so calm?
“What if she falls?”
Logan grinned. “Emmy’s a good climber. Isn’t she, Nick?”
“I don’t need a reminder of that, thanks.”
“Reminder of what?” I asked.
“Nick here thought he could out-climb Emmy once. He’s got a reminder of the bet he lost in a certain part of his anatomy I believe you’re familiar with.” Logan winked at me.
Did he mean Nick’s apa? I recalled him mentioning he’d lost a bet to get that. If so, I had more than one reason to be grateful for Emmy’s climbing skills.
“Enough about that,” Nick said. “Look.” He pointed at the screen again, where a second figure was scrambling out of my bathroom window.
“Looks like that’s our boy,” Logan muttered.
My heart stuttered as he clung to the drainpipe, and I wished he’d lose his grip. At first, I felt guilty for thinking that way, but then I remembered the man had caused nothing but hurt to me and the other women he’d targeted. Blackwood had found five so far.
“Do you think he’ll fall?” I whispered to Nick.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
Those fingers dug into my hips, and Logan’s foot tapped out a jerky rhythm on the floor. Only the Dark Lord remained impassive as he watched the screen.
And it seemed he was in charge. “No, don’t shoot unless he goes for his gun.”
“He’s talking to the team on the ground,” Nick whispered. “He doesn’t want this to get messy.”
“I’d say it was already messy.”
“Messier.”
Nick wrapped his arms around me, and I sagged against his chest. I hated the waiting game, and even more so, the feeling of helplessness that came with it. Emmy had given me a chance when nobody else would, and that had led me to the man I loved. Now she was risking her life to solve my problems. I owed her everything, and I hoped with every atom in me that I’d be able to repay her.
Please, let this turn out okay.
There was a simultaneous intake of breath from Nick and Logan as a dark figure fell through the camera shot so quickly I wondered if I’d imagined it.
“What was that?” I had a horrible suspicion I already knew. “Did someone fall?”
The Dark Lord grinned, the first time I’d seen him look genuinely pleased. “It seems Detective Jonas lost his grip.”
CHAPTER 51
NICK’S PORSCHE SPED through the night towards my apartment, or rather, what was left of it. I gripped his hand in my lap as I tried to process the night’s events. My stalker was gone, as were most of my belongings and my home. I should have felt devastated, horrified even, but all that spread through me was an overwhelming sense of relief.
It was over.
Everyone I cared about was safe.
“You okay, baby?”
“Yes. I thought I wouldn’t be, but I am. And you’re sure Emmy’s not hurt?”
“She broke a nail on the climb. Bitched like hell about it over the radio.”
“A nail? That’s it?”
“That’s it; I promise.”
As we got closer to my apartment building, the sky lit up like a macabre disco, orange from the dying flames with tinges of blue and red from the emergency services vehicles that had rushed to the scene. Nick drew to a halt half a block away and turned to me, his face serious.
“I hate to ask you this, but could you keep Blackwood’s involvement quiet? We had some problems with the local cops last year—the chief in particular. Emmy bypassed him on a few matters, and she’s not in his good books right now.”
After what Emmy had done for me, I’d lie my butt off from here to Baysville if it helped her out. Not to mention the fact that Jonas had tried to kill me twice and nearly succeeded in roasting my friend. Sympathy for the man was in short supply.
“Just tell me what to say.”
Nick pressed his lips to mine. “Thank you. I mean that. We all work as a team, and you’re one of us now.”
“I always will be.”
That got me tongue and a whole lot of happiness, until a passing siren reminded us of the reason why we’d come. Nick pulled back but kept his arm around my shoulders.
“We’ll say you lent Emmy your apartment after she had