Texas K-9 Unit Christmas: Holiday Hero

“Em?” he pressed, and she shook her head, regretting the movement immediately. Her stomach roiled, and her vision blurred.

“I’ll be fine,” she managed to say, the words sounding thick and far away.

“You sure?”

Not really, but she’d been living on her own for years, doing everything for herself for so long she couldn’t remember what it was like to have someone along for the ride. “Yes.”

“All right. I need to process the crime scene. Then I’ll come to the hospital to finish our interview.” He hurried away, and Emma gave in and closed her eyes.

She didn’t need anyone, but it sure would have been nice to have someone traveling to the hospital with her. Someone who would take care of all the things that needed taking care of while she was there. A person or two or three who could finish painting the diner, put the furniture back inside it, do all the little things that had to be done before the place opened.

It would be nice, but God hadn’t seen fit to fill her life with the kind of people who stuck around when good times went bad. Camden was proof of that.

At least she had Aunt Bea.

For now. Eventually, the disease that was stealing her memories would steal her away.

Emma pushed the thought away, letting herself drift into the darkness and float on the waves of nauseating pain.

THREE

Lucas watched as the ambulance disappeared. He knew where Emma was heading, and he knew there’d be an officer waiting at the hospital for her arrival. He was tempted to head for the hospital anyway. It had been over a decade since he’d last seen Emma. He’d forgotten how full of life she was. Even wounded and bleeding, she had more energy than half the people Lucas knew. He’d found that fascinating when they were younger. His family had been academic and book smart. They hadn’t understood his love of the outdoors or his need for constant action. Emma had understood. She’d been the same way. It had taken them a couple of years to become friends, but once they had, they’d been inseparable. Until she’d moved away, he’d thought they always would be.

Of course, she hadn’t been the only one who’d left Sagebrush.

Lucas had gone to college, gotten a job with the Houston P.D., married Sarah. When she’d been diagnosed with cancer, he’d really thought she would beat the odds, really believed that God would heal her.

He’d been wrong.

It had taken two years to pull himself out of the dark hole he’d fallen into after her death. Another year to realize that Houston wasn’t where he belonged.

When he’d seen a job opening with the Sagebrush Police Department’s K-9 Unit, he’d jumped at the opportunity to return home. Six months later and he was just now finally getting into the swing of things, learning the small city again, the people again.

A police cruiser pulled into the parking lot, and Austin Black hopped out. Recently married and just back from his honeymoon, he looked happier than any man had a right to be. Lucas might have resented that if he didn’t like the guy so much.

“What’s the word, Harwood?” Austin asked, opening up the hatchback of his SUV and letting his bloodhound, Justice, out. The dog moved slowly, lumbering onto the ground with a quiet huff.

“The victim wasn’t able to tell me much. She didn’t see her attacker’s face.”

“Any witnesses aside from the victim?” Austin walked over to the purse that was still lying on the ground.

“No one has come forward.” And in this area of town at this time of night, Lucas doubted that anyone would. According to his coworkers, up until six months ago, the place had been the hangout for Dante Frears’s crime syndicate. Despite the fact that the syndicate had been shut down and the city cleaned up, people still whispered about Arianna’s Diner and the secrets that had died with its owner.

“How about a scent trail?” Austin asked.

“Henry caught the victim’s scent. He might be able to catch the perp’s, too.”

“Why don’t you see what he comes up with? I’ll see what I can find here. Was the victim inside or outside when you arrived?”

“Inside.”

“And the purse was here?” Austin snapped a photo of it, snapped another one of the open door.

“Yes. Aside from looking in the wallet, I left everything exactly the way it was when I arrived.”

“Good. I’ll start processing the scene. You start looking for our perp. Since he left her purse and wallet behind, I’d say he wasn’t after money.”

“I’d agree, but Emma said money was what he asked for when he grabbed her.”

“He might have been trying to make her think that’s what he wanted. Maybe, he thought she’d be more likely to cooperate with whatever he had planned if she believed he was only after cash.”

“I hope you’re wrong about that, Austin.” But he had the nagging feeling that there was more to the crime than simple theft. A thief would have grabbed the purse and run. Emma’s attacker had left it on the ground.

“Me, too. We’ve just got one group of criminals off the streets of Sagebrush. I’d rather not think we’ve got another wacko to track down.”

“One way or another, the sooner we get this guy, the happier I’ll be. Come on, Henry.” He led his partner to the purse. “Seek!”

Henry snuffled the ground, then ran into the diner and back out again. He circled the purse, took off toward Emma’s car. He stopped there, barking once before raising his head and sniffing the air. The parking lot was cut off from the busier street around the front. Buildings loomed to either side, their shadows creating dense, impenetrable darkness. Not a place he’d want his mother or sisters wandering around this late at night, that was for sure.

Henry stiffened, his muscles taut beneath thick black fur.

One more bark and he was off, racing across the parking lot and into the narrow alley between the diner and a bank. Lucas ran a couple of feet behind him, the lead loose, his eyes scanning the darkness as he followed. They’d been doing this together for two years. In that time Henry had never steered him wrong. He wouldn’t this time, either. Lucas was as sure of that as he was that he was following the path a criminal had taken.

The alley emptied out onto Morris, the road dark and quiet, the air heavy with rain. The moisture was an advantage, the scent trail easier to follow because of it. The moon hung low, its yellow glow dimmed by thin cloud cover.

They crossed two intersections, moving into a more vibrant section of the city. Well-lit buildings stood side by side, their storefronts decorated for Christmas. A bookstore, a coffee shop, a department store—Lucas had spent his childhood wandering through downtown Sagebrush visiting the local businesses. They were like old family, familiar and comforting.

Henry turned left at the corner of Broadway and Main, his pace slowing as he moved past a group of pedestrians. He crossed the sidewalk, nose to the ground, ears alert, oblivious, it seemed, to everything but the scent he was following.

They walked through another intersection, sticking to the main thoroughfare. No side streets. No trips into local business. The person they were trailing had known exactly where he was heading, and he hadn’t veered from the course he’d been set on.

Henry jerked forward, running into an alley and barking frantically. Someone scrambled through the darkness in front of them.

“Police! Freeze!” Lucas called, pulling his flashlight and catching the suspect in its beam.

A kid. Skinny. Dirty. Long hair hanging limp to his shoulders.

“I said freeze!” Lucas repeated, and the kid froze, his hands shooting into the air.

“Don’t let the dog go, man! Don’t let him go.”

“Down on the ground. Hands where I can see them!”

“I ain’t done nothing,” the man protested, but he dropped onto the ground, his arms and legs spread out. He knew the drill and didn’t say another word as Lucas patted him down, snapped cuffs onto his wrists.

He called in for transport, eyeing the skinny, pockmarked young man. Hollow cheeks, bad skin, narrow shoulders that were all bone. He looked like a meth user and probably was one.

“What’s your name?” Lucas asked as he pulled the kid to his feet.

“Justin Forsythe, and I’m telling you, I ain’t guilty of nothin’.”

“Then why are you hiding in an alley?”

“I’m not hiding. I’m sleeping. Or I was trying to. Until people started running through here.”

His words made the hair on the back of Lucas’s neck stand up. “What people?”

“You and some other guy.” The kid’s expression changed from fear to calculation. “He’s probably the one you’re looking for. You should let me go so you can find him.”

Henry sniffed the guy’s shoes, then the ground. Hackles raised, eyes on the far end of the alley, he looked as if he was ready to go again.

“What did the guy look like?” Lucas pressed for more information.

“Can’t tell you. I just heard him running through my alley. Looked out of my bed. I think he threw something on his way past, though.”

“Yeah?” Lucas flashed the light around the alley. Too much junk to make heads or tails of what might have been thrown, but Henry would know if one of the items belonged to the perp.

A patrol car pulled up at the mouth of the alley, and an officer climbed out. Lucas let him deal with the kid. He had bigger fish to fry.

He tightened his hold on Henry’s lead, letting the dog crisscross the narrow alley. Henry froze about a foot from a Dumpster that blocked the alley’s exit and whined excitedly.

“What is it, Hen...?” Lucas’s voice trailed off. A knit hat lay on the ground.

He used the end of a pen to lift it.

Not a hat. A ski mask. Black.

Henry whined again.

“Good job, boy,” Lucas murmured. This had to be the mask the perp had worn.

Lucas pulled an evidence bag from his pocket and dropped the mask into it. There’d be evidence on it. DNA. Clues as to who had attacked Emma.

Henry yanked against the lead. He still had the scent trail. God willing, the mask wouldn’t be the only thing they found.

“Seek!” Lucas commanded, and Henry scrambled to the top of the trash bin, jumped to the ground on the other side and took off running.

FOUR

Emma woke to darkness, her head pounding, her ribs aching. At first she didn’t know where she was. The pillow, the bed, the light seeping in through an open doorway—none of it was familiar. Somewhere in the distance, Christmas carols were playing, the faint music more creepy than comforting.

She tried to sit, but pain shot through her side, the stabbing agony stealing her breath. She touched her ribs. Cotton. Bandages. An IV in her hand.

The hospital.

Memories flooded in. The trip to the hospital. Bea arriving frazzled and worried. Doctors, nurses, X-rays.

A sputtering snore broke the room’s silence.

Emma glanced to the left, wincing as pain shot through her skull. Aunt Bea sat in a chair a few feet away, her head back, her mouth open. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, her feet pressed firmly together. She wore her favorite blue suit and one of her Christmas brooches—a wreath made of green and ruby crystals. Emma had picked it up at an antiques store in Boston.

Bea’s purple-white hair was in rollers, and Emma wasn’t sure if she’d left the house in a hurry or if she’d simply forgotten that she’d put them in. Bea had been forgetting more and more lately. The doctor had warned Emma that the disease would progress that way.

Alzheimer’s.

She hated the name, hated what it was doing to the only woman who’d ever really cared about her.

Emma frowned. Her aunt should be tucked in her bed at home, not sitting in a chair in the hospital. She needed plenty of rest, plenty of good nutrition and plenty of patience. That was what the doctor had said, and Emma had vowed that she’d provide every one of those things. Bea had always been stubborn though, and after she’d arrived with a bag of clothes and toiletries for Emma, she’d insisted on staying until Emma fell asleep. Apparently Bea had fallen asleep, too.

“Bea?” she called out quietly.

Bea didn’t move.

“Bea? she said again.

Still nothing.

She shoved aside her blankets and stood, her legs wobbling. She tried to take a step forward, but the IV pole was on the other side of the bed.

Not one of her best moments, but she’d make it work. She scooted back across the bed, the pain in her ribs so sharp her breath caught. Sweat beaded her brow, her stomach rolled and Bea just kept snoring.

A shadow moved across the doorway, blocking the light as she finally managed to get to her feet again.

She froze, her blood running cold.

She’d been trying not to think about the attack, trying not to remember the dark shadow lunging toward her, the fear, the panic as she’d been dragged back into the diner.

“Who’s there?” she called, her voice wobbling.

“Lucas.” He stepped into the room, carrying the scent of balmy winter air with him. “What are you doing out of bed?”

“Trying to wake Bea. She needs to go home.”

“And you need to be careful.” He urged her back onto the bed, his hands warm on her arms, his eyes deep green. “You don’t want to hurt yourself worse than you already are.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” she said, her cheeks hotter than they should have been. Because of Lucas?

Not possible.

Maybe she was feverish from the attack.

She touched her forehead, realized what she was doing and let her hand drop away.

“That bad, huh?” He settled onto the bed beside her, his long muscular legs encased in dark blue uniform slacks.

“It could be worse. I could be dead,” she murmured, looking at the wall, the floor, anything but his firm, muscular thighs.

“I’m glad you realize that, Emma.”

“What do you mean?” She met his eyes, felt something shiver to life inside of her. Memories of all they’d shared, maybe—long summer days spent hiking, biking, fishing. Long evenings spent on his parents’ front porch discussing life and goals and dreams.

“Henry and I lost his trail near a bus stop downtown. We were able to find his ski mask, but we couldn’t find him. Until we do, you’re going to have to take extra precautions.”

“He wanted money, Lucas. He didn’t find it. I’m sure he’s already looking for another victim.” That was what she’d told herself while the doctor stitched up the back of her head.

“He left your purse and wallet behind when he ran. Would someone who just wanted money do that?”

“Someone was banging on the door. It freaked him out.”

“I was the one banging, and he had plenty of time to pick up the purse when he ran past it.”

“He was probably too scared to stop.”

“I’ve been a police officer for a long time, Emma. I’ve worked hundreds of robberies, and I can tell you for sure, robbers don’t leave cash and wallets behind. Not if they can snag them during their escape.”

He was trying to make a point. The problem was, Emma’s head was pounding too hard for her to figure out what it was. “My brain isn’t functioning at full capacity, Lucas. What are you trying to get at?”

“He beat you up pretty badly, Em, for someone who was only after money.” He touched her cheek, his fingers trailing down a bruise that she knew was there.

“He kept insisting that I tell him where the money was. He hit me when I tried to run.” She eased to her feet, wanting to put some distance between them. She needed to think, needed to figure out exactly where he was going with his questions. “If money wasn’t his goal, then what was?”

“You?” He followed her across the room and stood so close that she could feel his warmth through the flannel pajamas Bea had brought for her. “I heard you broke up with your boyfriend a week before you left town.”

“Heard from who?” It certainly hadn’t been Emma. She preferred to keep the details of her breakup with Camden to herself.

“My grandmother. She and Bea sing in the church choir together. Bea wasn’t happy with the way your boyfriend treated you, and she let everyone in the choir know it.”

“That’s...embarrassing, but I don’t see what it has to do with what happened tonight.”

“Is it possible your ex is upset? That maybe he wants revenge? Or wants to drive you back into his arms?”

She laughed, her breath catching as pain shot through her ribs. “Please! Camden is way too busy to chase me down.”

“He’s a lawyer, right? A very successful one, according to Bea. He could have hired someone to do his dirty work.”

“No way. He’s not an idiot. He’d know that he’d get caught.”

“Smart criminals often make the biggest mistakes,” Bea said suddenly.

“You’re awake!” Emma turned to her aunt. Aside from the curlers, she looked the way she had when Emma was a kid. Pretty and plump and lively.

“How could a person sleep with all the noise the two of you were making?” she responded, brushing wrinkles from her skirt and using her walker to stand.

Two months after she’d fallen and broken her hip, Bea still didn’t have all of her mobility back. Emma wasn’t sure if she’d ever regain it, but she brought her aunt to physical therapy twice a week anyway. “I’d say that I’m sorry we woke you, but I’m glad you’re up. It’s three in the morning. You need to be home in bed.”

“I’ll sleep in my own bed when you’re able to sleep in yours.” She patted her hair, frowned. “What in the world?”

“You have your rollers in,” Emma explained.

“Why didn’t someone tell me?” She shot a hard look in Lucas’s direction.

“You just woke up. Besides,” he said, “I thought it might be the newest fashion trend.”

Bea responded with a quiet humph.

“I need to make myself presentable.” She shuffled across the room, her walker tapping on the tile floor. Her shoulders were more stooped than they’d been when she’d visited Emma in Boston the year before. Age had carved deep grooves in her face, but she was still the woman who’d walked Emma through the rough teenage years, who’d cheered her on when she’d gone to culinary school, who’d believed in her even when she hadn’t believed in herself.

She disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door.

Emma sat on the bed, refusing to give in to the urge to follow her aunt.

Bea might be slowly fading, but she’d told Emma that she didn’t plan to go down without a fight.

And, boy, had she been fighting lately.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked as he settled into a chair. He looked as if he planned to stay there awhile, his legs crossed at the ankles, his hands clasped behind his neck. He’d always been handsome, but time had refined him. He wasn’t a good-looking kid anymore. He was a very attractive man.

Too bad she was out of the dating market.

Not that she’d have looked in Lucas’s direction if she hadn’t been. He wasn’t her type. She preferred the more academic kind of guy. College professors. Lawyers.

Losers.

“Em?” He raised a dark brow, and she realized that he’d asked a question and that she hadn’t answered it. “You’re worried about Bea, aren’t you? Want me to get her a ride home?”

“I can call a cab for her.”

“Or you could let me call Slade McNeal. He’s on duty, and he’s your neighbor. I’m sure he’d be happy to give her a lift.” He pulled out his cell phone and made the call.

She let him because she didn’t have the energy to fight and because the only other way to get Bea home was to call her a taxi. She doubted a taxi driver would help her aunt up the porch steps or make sure she actually went inside the house.

She didn’t realize that she’d closed her eyes until someone touched her face.

“You in there, Em?” Lucas asked.

“Where else would I be?” She looked straight into Lucas’s eyes. Had they been such a dark green when they were kids?

“Someplace nicer than this hospital?” He leaned in, his hand sliding from her cheek to her nape, the warmth of his palm seeping into her cool flesh.

Her heart did a tiny little flip and her pulse jumped a notch. “Somewhere nicer than Sagebrush would be even better.”

“Speak for yourself. I’ve always loved this city.” He smiled.

“You moved away for a while, though, didn’t you?” Bea had once mentioned that he’d stayed in Houston after college. At the time, Emma hadn’t been all that interested in anything or anyone that had to do with Sagebrush. Since she’d been back in town, she hadn’t had time to think about old friends or to look up high school buddies. Between getting the diner ready and caring for Bea there hadn’t been room for anything else.

“I joined the police force in Houston after I graduated college. Came back to town a few months ago.” He patted the pillow. “Maybe you should lie down. You’re pale as paper, and I still have some questions to ask.”

“About my ex?”

“His name is Camden Maxwell, right?”

“Yes.”

Lucas jotted something in his notebook.

“What are you writing?” She leaned forward, then wished she hadn’t. Her head spun, stars dancing in front her eyes.

“Lie down, Em,” Lucas said, his voice sharp, his hands gentle as he urged her back.

She closed her eyes for a second, took a couple of deep breaths. “I’m fine.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he murmured, his gaze on the notebook and whatever he’d jotted there.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve always been tough.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I don’t think that I said there was,” he pointed out, looking up from the notebook. “So, let’s get back to the questions. Your boyfriend wanted you to stay in Boston. You wanted to come to Sagebrush. He wasn’t happy about your decision. Is all of that accurate?”

“You’re like a dog with a bone, Lucas,” she muttered. She didn’t want to discuss Camden’s ultimatum with anyone, and she especially didn’t want to discuss it when she was woozy from pain.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Lucas responded easily.

“He might not have been happy, but Camden wouldn’t hurt a fly.” She didn’t add that he’d have been too afraid of ruining his designer suits to get into a physical altercation.

“I’d like to speak with him anyway,” Lucas said. No doubt he expected Emma to offer Camden’s contact information. She didn’t want to. The last thing she needed was a visit from Camden, and he’d been looking for an excuse to fly down and see her. Which she didn’t understand, since he’d hooked up with Leticia Anderson about three seconds after Emma had left Boston.

“Can I have his contact information?” Lucas prodded.

Emma rattled off Camden’s address and cell phone number. There was no sense fighting the inevitable. Lucas was like a force of nature when he got a thought in his head—completely unstoppable.

He scribbled the information in his notebook, a lock of dark hair falling across his forehead. He’d let his hair grow longer than when they were kids, and she had the absurd urge to reach over and brush her fingers over it just to see if it was as soft as she remembered.

“Is there anyone else who might have a grudge against you?” he asked.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m—”

A loud crash interrupted her words, the sound reverberating from the bathroom.

Bea!

Emma jumped up, the IV line ripping from her arm as she ran to make sure her aunt was okay.

FIVE

The night had been a disaster and the day wasn’t shaping up to be any better.

Emma had spent most of the early-morning hours sitting silently beside her aunt’s hospital bed. She’d spent the rest of them answering Lucas’s questions. Now, with the sun just passing its zenith, she and Bea had finally been discharged and could return home.

Unfortunately, home wasn’t where Bea wanted to go.

“You have to be reasonable about this, Bea,” Emma said for what seemed like the hundredth time. “You took a bad fall a couple of hours ago. There’s no way you should be walking around the mall.”