side of the grounds.
“Wait here with the firemen,” Dallas insisted a split second before he took off running.
Joelle nearly went after him, but he shot her a stay-put glance and raced toward the thick cluster of trees.
She saw it then. Or rather she saw a man.
Definitely not Rudy. This guy was taller, bulkier, and he had on some kind of uniform, like those that the employees from the electric company wore. The moment that Dallas started toward him, the guy turned and ran.
Sweet heaven. What was going on now?
Joelle had been certain that either Rudy or Sarah had set that smoke attack, but maybe she’d been wrong. Whoever this person was, running away wasn’t a good sign.
She made another quick 911 call, and this time requested that the sheriff send someone out to Rocky Creek. The dispatcher said he would, but that it would take at least ten minutes.
That was too long.
A lot of things could go wrong in ten minutes.
Joelle desperately wanted to go closer, to see what was happening. And she especially wanted to help Dallas. But he’d be furious if she disobeyed his order to stay put. Besides, she could end up being a distraction and that could cause him to get hurt or worse.
“He needs help,” she said to one of the firemen, but they were all focused on getting inside the building. One of them used bolt cutters to get through the lock, and they threw open the door.
Joelle couldn’t stop herself. She went to the corner of the building so she could pick through the trees and see what was happening with Dallas. He had to be all right. And she didn’t even try to push aside that she shouldn’t be feeling this much for him. She’d deal with that later.
For now, she just wanted him safe.
She caught sight of the man in the uniform again. He was weaving through some trees, still running, and headed toward the back. Joelle knew just about every inch of the woods, and about a quarter of a mile away was the creek and plenty of trails that a person on foot could use to escape. She didn’t know what part this man had played in locking them in, but she definitely wanted him caught.
Her heart was pounding again, right in her throat, and Joelle was about to beg the firemen to help Dallas. Then she saw him push aside a low-hanging limb just a few yards behind the man who was running away.
She grabbed on to one of the firemen and turned him in the direction of the chase. “Help him,” she insisted.
When the fireman didn’t move fast enough, Joelle forgot all about the sound reasoning she had for staying put. She started running toward Dallas and the man who was escaping.
Dallas launched himself forward, colliding with the man, and they fell to the ground where she could no longer see them. She hurried, tossing down her bag, so she could run even faster. Joelle bashed her way through the branches and had to skid to a stop so she didn’t run into them.
Even though he was clearly outsized, Dallas dragged the man to his feet and held his gun beneath his chin.
“Talk,” Dallas demanded. “Now.”
Chapter Eleven
Dallas could do nothing more than watch and wait. Something he wasn’t very good at doing.
Joelle must have felt the same because she was pacing the small observation room and had been doing that for the past hour, ever since Dallas’s boss had insisted that’s where they had to stay.
Because their presence could compromise the interrogation.
The problem was their suspect—aka the slimeball Dallas had chased down in the woods by Rocky Creek—wasn’t saying anything so there was nothing to compromise. Every time Marshal Saul Warner had asked him a question, the man had mumbled that he wanted his attorney. Well, the attorney was on his way, but Dallas figured the lawyer would just tell him to keep up the silent treatment.
The same must have occurred to Joelle because her nerves were showing. It wasn’t just the pacing. She was nibbling on her lip and looking many steps past the uneasy stage. With reason. She could have died today. Again. Dallas was used to facing danger, but this was probably eating away at her.
It also didn’t help that Owen was just one interview room over from them. He was waiting for his lawyer as well to be questioned about the latest incident at Rocky Creek. Saul would do that interview, too, since