My Deadly Valentine - By Valerie Hansen & Lynette Eason Page 0,32

he started to inch forward.

Rachel yanked open the passenger side door of the patrol car and threw herself inside, realizing belatedly that she was sitting on a now collapsed pizza box.

She wasn’t all that familiar with a police radio but since this was such a small department she figured it would be tuned to the right frequency and therefore pretty easy to use.

She grabbed the microphone, pressed the side to trigger it, and shouted, “Harlan, Jace needs help. He’s at my house—Rachel Hollister’s, I mean. Hurry!”

As soon as she released the transmit button she heard a scratchy reply. Help was on the way.

Should she do as she’d been told or relay that message to Jace? Surely, he wouldn’t think of entering the garage with the stalker until he had backup.

But apparently he had. When she looked for him, he was nowhere to be seen.

The garage was dimly lit by the car’s headlights but not completely dark. Jace went as far as the jagged opening, then changed his mind. If he entered through Rachel’s kitchen, maybe he could catch the stalker by surprise. And as long as his car was blocking the drive and she was safely inside it, he didn’t see much risk. His windows weren’t as easily breakable as those of a civilian’s car so even if she were attacked there, she’d be relatively secure.

The siren announcing the arrival of a second patrol unit bearing the sheriff decided him on his next move. Vaulting over the porch railing, he used the extra key he had left from changing the locks and entered the house. Thankfully, it was deserted, affirming his conclusion that Rachel’s assailant was working alone.

He quickly made his way to the side door and found it locked. All he had to do, however, was release the mechanism in the knob in order to ease it open.

Since he had the dark house behind him and the headlights of the cars pointed at him, Jace could observe the interior of the garage fairly well. What he saw gave him cold chills. A figure dressed in black was hunched over next to the broken opening in the door and was holding a hammer raised to strike. If he, or anyone else, had poked his head through that hole it would have been bad news.

Just then he heard Harlan’s voice. “Hands up and come out,” the sheriff shouted.

Jace saw Harlan’s body break the beam of light. So did the assailant. The hammer began its downward arc. Jace did the only thing he could do to save his boss. He fired.

Rachel screamed “Jace!” and started to run toward the garage. If the sheriff hadn’t physically held her back she would have entered without thought for herself.

“Jace!”

“I’m okay. Harlan, call the medics, will you. We’ve got a wounded man here.”

She continued struggling until she’d heard Jace’s calm, assertive voice. Now, she sagged against the sheriff. “Praise God. He’s all right.”

“Sounds like it,” Harlan said. “Can I trust you to stay out here till I get back?”

Rachel nodded, unable to catch her breath enough to speak again. Jace wasn’t injured. It was amazing, given the circumstances. How had he gotten the best of the man in the garage? And who in the world was the assailant?

Just then, she looked up and gasped. There stood the love of her life, arm in arm with the man in black, helping him walk through the hole in the broken door and out into the driveway. When she recognized her stalker, she was thunderstruck.

“You know this guy?” Jace asked.

Rachel nodded. “Yes. That’s Bud Foster. He’s—he’s one of the electricians who fixed the heater in the store. He works at the courthouse, too. Remember? No wonder he didn’t have any trouble sneaking that card into the rack. I see him so often I barely paid any attention.”

“That doesn’t explain why he was so mad at you,” Jace said. He gave the man’s shoulder a shake and heard him moan.

“Watch it. I’m shot.”

“Not badly,” Jace said. “You have the right to remain silent. If you give up…”

Rachel listened to Jace read him his full Miranda rights, then say, “Okay. Talk. What did you have against Ms. Hollister? What did she ever do to you?”

The man coughed and winced before answering. “It’s what she didn’t do, not what she did. She thought she was too good to date me. Too high and mighty.”

Astounded, Rachel scowled at him. “What are you talking about? I’ve never even spoken to you other than professionally