Kitabı oku: «Cold Case Manhunt», sayfa 3
Chapter 3
The next day, Jaslene put one harness boot down onto the slushy pavement and alighted from Cal’s SUV. She couldn’t look at him without anger flaring. She didn’t tell him what happened in her awkward situation because he had labeled her without having the facts.
“I’ll be back in about an hour,” he said.
She turned back to see his handsome face, dark hair neatly trimmed and blue eyes glowing even on this dreary day. Irritation joined her temper. Why on earth was he still so attractive to her?
“Okay.” She hated how attracted she was to him, a man who was so quick to judge.
Shutting the door harder than necessary, she ducked her head from the spitting snow and hurried into Pinocchio’s. The hostess led her to where Catherine and Tatum already sat at a tall bistro table along the front window.
“Sorry I’m late.” She sat on a chair next to the window, feeling a chill radiating through the glass.
“Who’s the hottie?” Tatum asked, as Cal pulled out into a break in traffic, windshield wipers swiping big snowflakes clear.
Jaslene watched him disappear up the road, his profile blurred by moisture on the windows of the car and the restaurant, but still managing to imprint on her brain.
“Detective Chelsey,” she said tersely, hanging her purse on the back of the chair.
“The detective you’ve been complaining about?” Catherine asked.
Jaslene shrugged out of her long black jacket and let it fall over the back of the chair, wishing they wouldn’t go there.
“You’re kind of edgy,” Tatum said. “Is he still going nowhere with the case?”
“He dropped her off for lunch,” Catherine pointed out. “They’ve been getting close.”
Tatum observed Jaslene, scrutinizing her. “Have you?”
“You look nice today,” Catherine said.
“She does,” Tatum added.
“Would you two stop?” Jaslene had worn a long black sweater over heavy tights, nothing sexy but she wouldn’t admit she’d taken more care getting ready today than she usually did. She wanted to make Cal squirm somehow for the things he had said to her.
“What happened to you?” Catherine asked with a sly smile.
“Nothing. What do you mean?”
“You haven’t had a single nice thing to say about that detective and now he’s dropping you off for lunch?” Catherine said. “Where were you before that? Obviously you were with him.”
“I was at his new office. He left the force to join a private detective agency.”
“Ooh, a man of action.” Tatum fanned herself. “Apparently, he’s not the slacker you had him made out to be.”
“I never thought he was a slacker.” Jaslene looked for a waitress, eager to get on with this before her friends exaggerated her relationship with Cal. Just because he dropped her off didn’t mean there was something romantic going on between them.
“Not smart, then,” Catherine said.
“No, I never thought that, either.” She had always thought he was shrewdly intelligent. “He just seemed to...not care very much, or...not have any feelings about anything, really. But he quit the force because his boss was going to reassign him.”
Tatum drew her head back and Catherine froze as she lifted her water glass.
“Wow. He...quit his job for you?” Tatum asked.
“No, not for me. To investigate freely.” Her annoyance came out in her tone.
Tatum looked at Catherine at the same time Catherine looked at her, and then they both returned skeptical gazes to Jaslene.
“He only cares about the victims. He said so himself,” Jaslene said.
“Did you have sex with him?” Tatum asked.
The question stunned her. “No!” How could they ask such a thing? She hadn’t thought about sex with another man since before her husband died. She had felt the urge in her awkward situation and felt guilty about that to this day. But Cal had no right to judge her.
“I thought he wasn’t doing anything to solve Payton’s missing person case,” Catherine said. She was always so practical.
“I thought he wasn’t, either, but it turns out he was. He found evidence Payton’s house and laptop might have been searched before police got there.”
“My, oh my, he is smart,” Catherine gushed.
The waitress came to deliver Jaslene a water. She hadn’t even looked at the menu yet.
“Was anything missing that police didn’t notice?” Tatum asked.
“I don’t think so, but Payton was in contact with a man she never told me about. Did she ever mention she was seeing anyone to you?”
Tatum shook her head.
“No,” Catherine said. “Did your detective find out she was?”
“We know she met a Dr. John Benjamin for lunch one day. He denies having any relationship with her and says she was his patient, but I can’t get past how odd it is that she met him for lunch. He claims it was to introduce her to a chiropractor, but the chiropractor never showed up.”
“I agree it’s odd she met her doctor for lunch.”
“She would have told us if she was seeing anyone,” Catherine said.
“Dr. Benjamin is married.” Jaslene waited for that to sink in.
Tatum drew her head back in surprise and Catherine just stared at Jaslene.
“Payton was having an affair with a married man?” Catherine said. “That is so not like her.”
“I know,” Jaslene agreed. “I think that’s why she didn’t tell us.”
“Wait a minute.” Tatum leaned forward on her elbows. “You’re not saying you think the doctor kidnapped her and maybe killed her, are you?”
“What if Payton threatened to tell his wife?” Jaslene wanted to hear what her friends would say. “Maybe he told her he would leave his wife and then she found out he had no intention of doing it.”
Catherine shook her head this time. “She wouldn’t do that.”
Jaslene didn’t think so, either, but she’d wanted to know what they both thought.
“There’s something else,” Jaslene said. “I saw Riley the other day. He made a pistol with his hands and mimicked shooting me.”
“Oh, that slithering snake.” Catherine made a face.
“Why is Riley stalking you now?” Tatum asked.
“Did you tell the police?”
“Cal knows. I saw him outside my house a month ago, too. I’ve seen him around town, just random run-ins, like normal. But he stops and watches me, like he used to do to Payton. He’s never made shooting gestures to me before. I guarantee you, I’d have told the cops if he did. There’s nothing anyone can do about a man who’s doing what he normally does in town and happens to run into me.”
“He’d like to kill you,” Catherine said. “Isn’t that what his little gesture means?”
“That’s how I took it,” Jaslene said. “He had an alibi, but Cal is going to look into that again.”
“It makes more sense that Riley had something to do with Payton’s disappearance than a married doctor she might have been experimenting with sexually,” Catherine said.
“Cal?” Tatum queried. “You just called your detective ‘Cal.’”
“Detective Chelsey.”
“You’re calling each other by first names now?” Tatum teased. “Ooh la la.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“Stop it.” Her friends knew her well enough to pick up on undercurrents.
“What’s been going on between the two of you?” Tatum asked.
“Nothing.” Her response, if she was truthful, would be wild attraction—before he had insulted her, but she would rather not go there.
Both Catherine and Tatum pinned her with doubtful gazes.
“Nothing,” she repeated.
Tatum cocked her head dubiously and Catherine started to smile.
“Nothing is going on,” Jaslene almost snapped.
“He’s very good-looking,” Tatum said.
“And manly,” Catherine added. She’d married a tall man herself.
“There’s nothing going on between us,” Jaslene insisted. “In fact, I told him about Ansel and he assumed I cheated on my husband.”
“You almost did,” Tatum said.
Jaslene lowered her head with the pang of grief and regret that fact instilled. She felt like she had cheated. And Cal was right. Her husband had died not knowing the truth.
Tatum reached over and put her hand over Jaslene’s. “I’m sorry. I know what a sensitive subject that is for you.”
“You didn’t cheat on Ryan,” Catherine said. “Ansel kissed you. You didn’t kiss him. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Jaslene wished her heart would believe that. True, she hadn’t been the one to initiate the kiss, but what it had made her feel was the part that felt wrong.
“I asked my husband what he would do if something like that happened to me,” Catherine said. “He told me he’d beat the hell out of the man and make sure I felt loved.” She smiled, full of affection for her man.
Had Jaslene’s husband made her feel loved? Ryan had been a geologist like her. They’d gone to school together. Sometimes she thought both of them having the same profession wasn’t such a good thing. They’d both had different ideas on certain earth processes, for one. For example, he supported global warming and had conviction that would be the cause of an apocalypse. She agreed humans were responsible for climate change, but she also thought the earth was far more powerful than any human influence. People would heat up the earth, but that didn’t mean the planet would come to an end. The earth would recover, even if humanity did not.
She and Ryan had argued often. Jaslene had fallen in love with his intelligent mind and his dark good looks. Best friends, they’d shared a love of nature. But had that been enough? Why had another man sent sparks, which she had never felt with Ryan, chasing through her? She had liked Ryan’s lovemaking and his kisses. But she hadn’t been transported to outer space. She wasn’t sure Ansel could have done that, either, but he had gotten off to a good start with that kiss.
“Well, you aren’t a cheater,” Tatum said. “You have integrity and respect for others. You don’t have it in you.”
“Tell that to Cal.” Jaslene smiled to cover the sick feeling churning her stomach.
“Something tells me he’s going to discover that on his own,” Catherine said. “He doesn’t know what he has yet.”
What did he have? Her? Not yet, and Jaslene wasn’t sure she ever wanted him to, since he thought so little of her now, without any details on what had really happened with Ansel.
* * *
Dr. Drake Faulkner, the chiropractor Benjamin had recommended for Payton, welcomed Cal into his office. He closed the door, muffling the sounds of voices considerably. Dr. Faulkner was almost six feet and fit, with salt-and-pepper hair and titanium glasses.
“Thanks for seeing me.” Cal sat on a chair, taking in the stacks of files on the desk and cluttered windowsills. Outside, the snow had picked up, flakes hitting and melting against the glass.
“My receptionist told me it was important...related to a missing person who may have been a patient of mine?”
“Yes. Payton Everett.”
The doctor’s interest perked up. “She wasn’t a patient of mine. She was referred to me but never came to see me. Seems I can’t help you after all.”
“I think maybe you can. What can you tell me about Dr. Benjamin?”
“What do you want to know?”
Rather than say he needed to know everything, Cal started with “Did he ask you to meet him and Payton for lunch?”
The doctor hesitated. “Yes, but I refused.”
“You refused or didn’t show up?”
The doctor leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “Mr. Chelsey, Dr. Benjamin asked me to meet with a potential patient. I found that ethically insulting, not to mention a risk to my practice.”
“Why did you think it was ethically insulting?”
“Because I don’t have personal relationships with my patients. If he intended to refer her to me, then why do it over lunch?”
“Why did Dr. Benjamin ask you to meet her?”
“Maybe he liked her. I don’t know.” Dr. Faulkner leaned back.
“What was the nature of your association with Benjamin?”
“I worked for him when I opened my practice, but I went out on my own because I didn’t agree with his philosophy...like meeting patients for lunch.”
Cal believed that. “Do you know if he had any kind of personal relationship with Payton beyond meeting her for lunch?”
“No. Like I said, she never came to see me and I went out on my own shortly after that incident.” He tapped his fingers on the end of the armrest.
“If you worked for him, why the need for a referral?”
“His company is large and includes several clinics and practices. He had a referral program set up between them all.”
He seemed agitated. “Why did Benjamin ask you to meet him and Payton for lunch? Why not just refer her to you like a normal doctor?”
Faulkner grunted derisively, his fingers stilling. “You just answered your own question, Mr. Chelsey. There’s nothing normal about Dr. Benjamin. He’s not a man who lives by any rules other than the ones he makes up himself.”
A lot of criminals embarked on their wayward careers with that kind of mentality. Could Dr. Benjamin be behind Payton’s disappearance? If he liked her as Dr. Faulkner suggested, that would be highly unlikely. Unless Payton posed a threat to him, but what threat could she pose? Telling his wife didn’t seem enough for a motive. Maybe Faulkner just disliked the doctor.
“Can you tell me of any other incidents he caused?” Cal asked. “Do you think Dr Benjamin was having an affair with Payton?”
“It’s possible. That wasn’t the first time he took a patient to lunch, if that’s what you mean. He had a way of treating his practice like it was a personal extension of himself. He grew a very successful business on charisma alone. He owns several clinics across the country now, including two home health care services companies. Many doctors and nurses work for those clinics. He’s a multimillionaire. I give him credit for being smart, but I found his personal interactions with his patients too risky. I wanted no further association with him.”
Dr. Benjamin did have a way of presenting himself as friendly. He had been kind and patient and cooperative up until the end, when he’d refused to answer any more questions. Jaslene had noticed that, too. But was that all a show?
“Did you remain in contact with Benjamin?” Cal asked.
Faulkner’s fingers started tapping again. “No. He wasn’t very happy with my decision to leave his company.”
“Did he know why?”
“I didn’t publicly condemn him for his ways. He wouldn’t have liked losing the business. He lost most of my patients when I left.”
“So, you were gone before Payton disappeared.”
“Yes I was. I left shortly after he invited me to that lunch. I heard about Payton in the news.”
“Do you think Dr. Benjamin could have been responsible for her disappearance?”
“I knew him but I didn’t know him that well. I wouldn’t make an assessment either way. I’m not even sure how involved he was with her.”
He asked the chiropractor a few more questions about the day Payton disappeared, but he had already branched off on his own by then and had no contact with Benjamin or Payton for quite some time before that. He thanked him and left.
Time to go pick up Jaslene from her lunch with her friends. He wondered if she had cooled down yet, and part of him wanted to make it up to her.
Chapter 4
Jaslene looked at her cell phone again. Where the heck was Cal? Her friends had already left, Tatum on her way back to work and Catherine to run errands before she picked up the kids. Jaslene waited inside the doors of the restaurant, watching the wind pick up. The snowflakes had gotten heavier with the cooling temperature.
Movement across the street caught her eye. A small dog peeked out from behind a dumpster in an alley. The poor creature hung its head low and kept lifting its front paws. It was soaking wet.
Jaslene opened the restaurant door and walked to the edge of the street, waiting for traffic to pass before crossing. She reached the dumpster. The dog saw her and ducked behind the cold metal. She peered around the corner. It huddled against the wet brick of the building, shivering.
She saw now that it was a puppy, an adorable dog that looked like an Australian shepherd. It had no collar. Given its dirty, wet and shivering state, its must have been out here a while.
“Are you lost?”
The puppy lowered its head with a slight twitch of its ears.
Jaslene inched forward, crouching as she neared. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The puppy lifted its head and Jaslene found herself looking into the saddest, most dejected eyes she’d ever seen, beautiful golden eyes that matched the two patches of eyebrows above.
“Oh, you poor baby.” She touched the dog’s wet, cold head and began petting it. “I’m going to get you warm and dry, okay?”
The puppy whimpered as a violent shiver racked the tiny body.
Jaslene choked back the sting of tears. “How did you get out here?” She gently lifted the dog, seeing it was a girl, parting her jacket and tucking her inside.
“Did you run off or did someone leave you?”
The puppy clung to her for warmth, whimpering more. Jaslene wrapped her jacket around the dog, feeling wetness seep into her sweater.
Going back to the street, she looked up and down the sidewalk and across the street. She saw no one out searching for a lost dog and saw no lost dog posters.
Cal’s SUV pulled up to the restaurant. Jaslene hurried across the street, jogging in front of the vehicle to the other side.
She got in and the puppy clawed at her, trying to crawl closer. Tiny, precious whimpers accompanied grunts, piercing Jaslene with protective instinct.
“Is that a dog?” Cal sounded incredulous, as though he asked a question to which he already knew the answer.
“I found her in the alley.”
After continuing to gape at her for several seconds, Cal started driving. “Doesn’t it belong to someone?”
“Who would leave their dog out in this weather? Especially a puppy?” Even if the animal did belong to someone, she wasn’t sure she’d give her back to anyone that heartless or careless.
“Do you want me to drive to the pound?”
Jaslene looked at him, appalled. “Is that what you would do? Dump a helpless puppy off at an animal shelter? She’s obviously been through enough already.” Jaslene pet the dog and kissed her drying head. She wasn’t sure what she would do with the puppy yet, but she sure wasn’t going to abandon the animal.
“An animal shelter will feel like home compared to an alley.”
“Let’s stop at the pet store on the way back to my place.”
She spotted one just ahead.
“What if you get attached?” Cal asked as they walked toward the pet store.
Jaslene kept the puppy tucked in her jacket. “Then I’ll keep her.”
“Are you ready to take on a dog? You’re going to decide on the fly to keep it?”
“She needs a home.”
“The pound will find her one. Everybody loves puppies. It wouldn’t take long for someone to pick her up.”
Ignoring him, she entered the store and found a cart. As she lifted the puppy and put her into the front, the animal whimpered and tried to climb back up onto her.
“It’s okay.” She pet the puppy’s tiny head. “We’re going to get you some necessities, little girl.”
Jaslene pushed the cart toward the dog food, Cal trailing behind. “Do you not like dogs?”
“I like them. I’m just being practical. They’re a big responsibility. They aren’t like cats.”
“Are you a cat man?” She glanced back. He did not strike her as one.
“No. I’m a never-home man.”
Glancing at him, she wondered if he really meant that. His job probably kept him busy and away from home a lot, but surely he had time for meaningful relationships. He just barred himself from them because of his nasty divorce.
She chose some dry and canned food and put them in the cart. The puppy hung its paws over the baby seat backing, sniffing the bag. She picked out two dog beds and then a collar and leash. Cal helped her by finding dog food and water bowls and she picked out a brush and some shampoo.
“If you’re going to have a puppy, you better get some toys.”
“Good point. I might not have any shoes left if I don’t.” She found the toy aisle. Cal seemed to be getting into this.
Grinning, he held up a stuffed squirrel squeaky toy with big eyes and floppy tail. When he squeezed the chest, it make a chirping sound like a real squirrel.
Jaslene laughed and put it in the baby seat with the puppy. She picked out a ball and another chew toy and headed for the checkout.
“What if you have to give the dog up?” Cal asked.
“Are you always this depressing?” She understood he was only being practical, but for now she only wanted to take care of a helpless puppy. Didn’t he see that?
He chuckled. “You’re spending a lot of money on a dog who probably belongs to someone else.”
“I’ll give notice to the animal shelter and post some found posters, but I doubt anyone will claim her. Look at the poor thing. She’s obviously abandoned.”
“Or lost. Dogs run off.”
“There you go with all your cheer again.”
“No, I’m just good at avoiding a broken heart.”
Didn’t he mean another broken heart?
* * *
Cal watched Jaslene dry off the softly crying puppy after its warm bath. The maternal way she cared for the creature touched a soft spot in him, one he wasn’t prepared to have touched.
“What are you going to call her?”
“I don’t know. Crybaby, if she doesn’t stop that pitiful sound.”
“She’s probably tired.” Jaslene had already fed her and given her some water. She’d put one dog bed in the living room and the other in the bedroom.
Wrapping her in a soft throw, Jaslene cradled the puppy, who gave a few grunts and rested her chin at the bend of her arm with drooping eyes. After a few exhausted blinks, the puppy fell asleep.
“I think my heart just melted,” Jaslene said.
“Just like holding a baby.” Cal wished he hadn’t let that thought slip. He’d watched mothers hold their babies and imagined his wife doing the same someday. But she had destroyed any dream of having that together.
“You’ve held a lot of babies?”
“No.” He brushed a finger over the top of the puppy’s head, careful not to wake her up. He hoped she wouldn’t dwell on that topic.
“Nieces and nephews?”
“It was just a figure of speech.” Please, make her stop.
“Do you want babies?”
And there it was. Cal felt opened up and exposed right now. He struggled to maintain aloofness.
“I did.” Maybe he could use this to cool this attraction between them; letting her know how important having a family had once been to him should accomplish that. He wished he could still look forward to that, but doing so would only lead to devastation.
“But not anymore?”
“I should get going,” he said shortly.
She looked at him a moment and then seemed to allow him to back off. “All right. Let me put Rapunzel to bed and then I’ll see you to the door.”
Apparently, she’d decided on a name, but why did she want him to wait? Why didn’t she just let him leave? Did she intend to try and get him to talk about why he no longer wanted kids?
An image of her holding a real baby—his baby—struck him and he had to forcibly chase it from his mind.
She took the puppy to her room, presumably to put it to bed. Feeling a little foolish for waiting, Cal went to stand by the entrance in her living room, an earthy, no-fuss room that was more functional than decorative.
Hearing her return, he faced her.
“Um...” She lifted her hand and ran her fingers through her golden hair.
“It’s a short walk.” He extended his arm toward her front door.
She breathed a brief laugh and lowered her hand. “I didn’t ask you to wait for that. Um...”
He waited.
“I... I know it’s probably none of my business, but...”
Yep, he was right. “I don’t want kids because I wanted them with my wife, who showed me that some people don’t mean what they say.”
“Not all people.”
“She had me convinced she was the only one for me.”
“Maybe she didn’t plan on meeting another man. Maybe she didn’t intend on hurting you.” She reached out her hands toward him. “Look at you. You’re a handsome man. She must have thought she was lucky to have you.”
“No. She thought I was lucky to have her.”
The amount of himself he had put into that relationship gnawed at him. He felt like an idiot for not recognizing the signs, the most glaring being that she had not loved him.
Jaslene put her hands on her hips...sexy hips. The sight calmed him and drove negative thoughts about his ex-wife away.
“Well, if that’s true, why did you marry her?” she asked.
“I thought I was lucky to have her.”
“What was so special about her?”
That was an excellent question. “She was career driven and liked doing the same things I do. She also seemed impressed with what I did for a living and told me she wanted a family.”
“Does she have one now? A family?”
He hated that his ex-wife did have a family now. His face must have showed his sentiment.
Her mouth formed an O and he heard the faintest “Oh.” She touched his forearm. “Now I understand why you’re so bitter.”
He fought off a heated reaction to her touch—that all too welcoming heat. “I’m no longer a dreamer. People die. People kill. People sleep around and get divorced. That’s not only the thing that turns me off about having a family. It’s my profession, too. I’m hardly ever home.”
She stepped closer, letting her hand fall from his forearm. “Why did you think it could work with your ex-wife?”
He liked looking at her soft, blue eyes that were the color of a Caribbean island bay. “I believed her. She said she’d be there for the kids when I couldn’t be. I don’t want to bring children into a family destined for dysfunction.”
“Not all marriages fail.”
“They say fifty percent fail but I think that number is closer to eighty.”
She put her forefinger on his chest. “Maybe you should try to get past your divorce.”
He had an urge to slide his arm around her and give her a kiss she wouldn’t forget. “I am past it.” He would never make that mistake again.
“No, you aren’t. You think every woman is as untrustworthy as your ex.”
“Not every woman.” Only the ones who cheated. He left that unspoken.
Rising up onto her toes, she said in a husky tone, “I didn’t cheat.”
He wasn’t sure if she deliberately encouraged him or if her attraction led her, but he didn’t question. He just slid his arm around her waist, pulled her against him and kissed her.
He felt her stiffen and heard her sharp indrawn breath. But if she felt the same fire as him, she’d go with him on this expedition. Sure enough, she relaxed against him and moved her lips with his.
Just before he lost all ability to listen to caution, he gently withdrew. Her sultry eyes nearly did him in and had him going back for more. He needed to shut this down or things would move too fast.
“You didn’t cheat because you didn’t have the chance,” he said.
She blinked a few times and then as awareness of his words seeped through her passion, her brows lowered. “What?” She pushed his chest and he stepped back, letting her go. “You don’t know anything about me.”
He grinned. “I know you’re a good kisser.” With that he turned and went to the door.
He might have joked around and flirted with her, but as he left the house, his gut roiled. What if he was wrong about her? He didn’t want to hear what happened with her alleged affair.
He approached his car and noticed a familiar truck parked across the street. An instant later he recognized Riley. Damn, that man was bold. He didn’t seem to care that he was seen.
Concerned for Jaslene’s safety, Cal walked to the side of the truck, even more surprised when Riley lowered the window instead of driving away.
“What are you doing here?” Cal asked.
“I was waiting for Jaslene to come out so I could talk to her.”
That seemed more than a little odd. Why wait in his truck? Why not knock on the door? Maybe he just said that and just got his rocks off stalking Jaslene. The man must have psychological issues. “What do you want to talk to her about?”
“I want to know what she’s going to do to make up for causing Payton’s death.”
Cal met his angry eyes without flinching or giving away any reaction to that startling comment. “How do you know she’s dead?”
“She’s gone. She’d be here if she was alive,” he snapped.
Did he really blame Jaslene for Payton’s supposed death? “You think she’d still be here if the two of you were still together?”
Riley narrowed his eyes. “She would still be with me if Jaslene hadn’t interfered.”
“I’m not going to argue with you about anything. If you continue to stalk Jaslene, I’m going to have you arrested.”
Riley put his truck into gear. “She’s going to pay for what she did, and so will you if you keep hanging around her.”
“I’d like to see you try. You go within fifty feet of her and I’ll come after you.”
“She may as well have killed Payton herself.”
“Don’t come back here again.” Cal looked into the cab of the truck, searching for anything suspicious. There was a lot of trash, as though Riley spent most of his time in there.
Riley shifted on the car seat and Cal spotted a pistol in his right hand. He held it under his thigh but Cal saw part of the grip.
He met the man’s eyes. “Why the gun, Riley?”
Riley just sent him another angry look before driving off.
Cal ran to his SUV, got in, started the engine and flipped a hasty U-turn before going after the truck. He followed Riley through town, seeing him look into the rearview mirror several times. He knew Cal was tailing him.
Riley sped into a turn and Cal followed, removing his gun and readying it to fire if Riley threatened him. He checked his speed. About thirty over the speed limit. This road led out of town. Once they reached the open highway, Riley sped up more. Cal easily kept up.
Riley slowed and spun into a three-sixty. Cal started to do the same as Riley began firing. Cal ducked and came up to fire back, hitting Riley’s driver’s side door.
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