*
“Go figure,” Kelsey said. She was lying in a hospital bed, wearing a stupid hospital gown with little blackbirds all over a field of blue, but with the way her red hair framed her face she seemed especially beautiful to Hannah.
The confusion that had reigned after she’d shot Bentley was at last over. It had seemed like forever, yet it had happened so fast. Armed men had burst in through both doors and down the stairs. Dallas had taken the gun from her, turned her face to his and asked, “You all right?”
She had nodded and murmured, “Not a scratch.”
He’d had to leave her then to reconnoiter with Liam and his men, and then the paramedics had arrived. Soon the parlor was being cordoned off and Liam had taken over her phone. She tried to get to her feet and found she couldn’t stand, but then Dallas appeared from somewhere and helped her up. She was happy to see that Kelsey was already groaning and protesting the need for an ambulance.
Dirk Mendini arrived. “Hell, I’m trying to get you up to my office to see if you can identify one corpse and instead you offer me another,” he told Dallas, who wasn’t amused.
“Nobody else?” Dallas asked worriedly.
Liam was the one to answer. “Not so far,” he said. “Officer Hannigan—he was on duty in the patrol car when Bentley made his move—is hanging in. He may not make it through the night. He’s a tough old bird, though, and Bentley missed the artery.”
“Thank God,” Hannah whispered.
By then the paramedics were ready to take Kelsey and Logan away. Hannah insisted on going with them, but she was torn, worried about Valeriya.
Valeriya was going to be okay, though she was still terrified. She’d overheard some of the cops talking and kept saying that the Wolf was out there and coming to get her. Liam was working on calming her down, promising that two of his best officers would take her and her family to a safe house, then stand guard through the night.
Just as she was getting ready to go with Kelsey, Liam walked over to Hannah and stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Sorry,” he said, “but you can’t go yet. You have to give a statement.”
She looked at Dallas, a little dazed, then followed Liam to a relatively quiet spot and started answering his questions. The whole time she was aware of Dallas standing nearby and watching her with a concerned expression.
As soon as she’d finished and signed, he strode to her side and took her to the hospital to visit Kelsey.
She understood why he was so worried.
She had killed a man. A man she had known most her life. She knew that even policemen had to get psych clearance after killing someone, and she would probably need help, too.
But all she felt right then was numb.
And grateful that everyone who mattered to her was still alive.
The hospital wanted to keep Kelsey overnight to watch for aftereffects of the concussion she’d sustained, so she was all set up in a private room by the time Hannah and Dallas arrived.
“Here I am, a Federal agent, and there’s my cousin the innkeeper bringing down a hired killer before he could claim another victim. You okay, cuz?” Kelsey asked with a stern look.
Hannah nodded, aware that Dallas and Logan were watching her as intently as Kelsey was. “He was going to kill Valeriya,” she said. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“You didn’t,” Logan said. “But killing a man, even when it’s a righteous shoot...it’s never easy.”
“You all need to stop looking at me like that,” Hannah said. “I’m okay. I’m fine. Really.”
“He was our friend, but you and he were especially close, with him working for you and all,” Kelsey said.
Dallas slipped his arm around her shoulders where she sat at the bottom of Kelsey’s bed and pulled her against his side. “You handled yourself remarkably well,” he told her.
They stayed a little while longer, and Hannah told them what Bentley had said about the letter. “He couldn’t believe Ronin never told me.”
“Are you certain he didn’t say anything? Anything at all?” Logan asked.
“I’m pretty sure I’d remember if he’d told me the location of a priceless treasure,” Hannah said, too drained to bother hiding her sarcasm.
“He died unexpectedly,” Kelsey said. “He dropped dead of a heart attack.”
“So maybe he meant to tell you,” Dallas said to Hannah.
She nodded. “Maybe. But at least now we know he was sure the treasure is on the property somewhere. And I swear it’s nowhere in the house.”
“Then we start digging tomorrow,” Kelsey said.
Hannah laughed. “If we start digging up the whole yard, I’ll need a treasure to put it all back when we’re finished.”
“Whatever it takes, it needs to be done,” Dallas told her.
She met his gaze, and she knew then what he was thinking.