Frustrated and confused, he took a step back. Dammit, he knew she wanted him. “What, Holly? You’re no longer my judge.”
“It’s not that… I…” She took a breath, pushed strands of hair off her face, and pulled herself up to her full height. Bolstering herself. “To keep them from arresting you today, I made a deal.”
“Deal?”
“Your father-in-law insisted on it. I didn’t want you to go to jail,” she said, almost on a sob.
“What deal?”
“I agreed to testify for the plaintiff at the full restraining order hearing. I’ll have to bear witness to you assaulting Joe Gilroy today.”
That hit him like a ton of bricks. He just stood there staring at her.
Looking anguished, she backed away several steps, then turned and hurried down the hallway, only to be brought up short when his cell phone rang.
She stopped, turned, and watched him yank the phone off his belt. Obviously she thought, as he did, that it would be one of the other Rangers with the requested update.
But it was neither of their names that appeared in the LED. He snarled into the mouthpiece. “What the hell are you doing calling this number?”
“Am I speaking to the superstar lawman Crawford Hunt?”
“Cut the crap, Smitty. What have you got?”
“What I’ve got is a sorry-ass drunk out here who’s in hock to me for his afternoon binge.”
“Not my problem.”
“Oh yeah, hotshot? Says he’s your daddy.”
Chapter 23
As soon as Smitty told Crawford where they were, he disconnected the call. Holly was right behind him as he went down the hallway and into his own bedroom, where he pulled on a windbreaker to cover his holster. Sweeping his keys off the dresser, he stepped around her on his way out of the room. “You know your way home.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Hell you are.”
“I heard what the man said.”
“Caps off a great day, doesn’t it?”
“I know all about your father, Crawford.”
“He’s not a father, he’s a drunk. I’m sure it’s in my file.” By now they had reached the back door. “Neal’s surveillance is probably out front. If you go back the way you came, you should be okay. Be careful hopping that fence again.”
“I’m coming with you.”
He bent down, putting his face close to hers. “No effing way.”
“Fine. Tickled Pink? I’ll find it.” She pulled open his back door and slipped through.
He would be long gone from the nightclub before she could run home and then drive there, but the thought of her showing up at one of Smitty’s joints alone… “Shit!”
He went after her and caught her mid-stride, taking her by the elbow and redirecting her toward his SUV. “This’ll make for good color commentary when you testify against me at the restraining order hearing.”
He boosted her up into the passenger seat of his SUV, then placed his hand on the top of her head and none too gently pushed her down below the level of the window. “If you don’t want to give Neal’s guy a photo op, keep your head down till I give you the all-clear.”
Part of him had wanted only to provoke her, but the precaution wasn’t wasted. As soon as he left his driveway, he spotted a car at the far end of his street pulling away from the curb. It followed at a discreet distance for several blocks as he navigated through his neighborhood keeping to the speed limit.
Then, “Hold on,” he warned Holly as he rounded a corner and floorboarded his accelerator. He didn’t let up until he was certain that he’d lost the tail.
“You can sit up now.”
He drove past the high school football stadium that marked the edge of town, then turned off onto a two-lane country road that wound through the woods. The pine trees lining it were as straight and closely spaced as the wall of a stockade. It was a dark night. The slender moon was obscured by a low ceiling of clouds.
Out of the corner of his eye, Crawford could see Holly only by the glow of the lights on his dashboard. She gripped the armrest when he took a steep curve without slowing down. “You could get a speeding ticket.”
“A traffic violation on top of a conspiracy to murder. That would be just awful.”
She whipped her head around and snapped, “You don’t do yourself any favors, Crawford.”
“Look, you don’t like the way I drive? Tough. I didn’t want you along.”
“This isn’t about your driving. I came along to try and prevent you from doing something you’ll later regret.”
“Like today when I knocked Joe on his ass.”
“Exactly like that.”
“I thought he’d sent me that video. Any parent who loves their child would have had the same reaction.”
“I agree. I’ll testify to that.”
He gave a harsh laugh. “Save your breath, Your Honor. No matter what you say from the witness stand, I’m never going to get Georgia back.” He turned his head. “Am I?”
She looked straight out the windshield and spoke so softly he could barely hear her over the truck’s engine. “Ultimately, maybe.”