Texas K-9 Unit Christmas: Holiday Hero

His gaze shifted from Bea to Emma. He took in everything with one long sweeping look. Her hair...which she knew was sticking out in a million different directions, her faded oversize sweats and baggy T-shirt, her bruised and swollen cheek.

If she’d been a different kind of woman, she might have cared that she was a mess. She didn’t. Much. She touched her hair but resisted the urge to smooth down the wild strands.

“I’m making tea and scones. You want to come in the kitchen while I work? We can talk there.” She didn’t wait for him to respond, just hurried into the kitchen. She felt comfortable there. At home. She knew what to do with eggs and flour and sugar. She knew how to cook a roast and fry an egg. What she’d never been very good at was dealing with emotions and people and all the stuff that went with relationships.

Lucas followed Emma into the kitchen. She looked tired, her eyes deeply shadowed, her skin pale, the bruise on her cheek deep shades of purple and red. She’d left her hair loose and it fell to her shoulders in wild waves and curls, covering the stitches he knew were behind her ear.

“You should be lying down, not making scones,” he commented.

She looked up from the counter she’d been sprinkling with flour. “I tried that. It didn’t go well.”

“Why not?”

“It’s hard to rest when your brain is going a hundred miles an hour.”

“What’s on your mind, Em?” Lucas asked as he pulled a stool over and perched on it, watching while she measured flour into a bright yellow bowl. Henry raised his nose, sniffing excitedly.

“Down, Henry,” he commanded, and the dog collapsed onto the floor in a pile of lush soft-looking fur.

“What isn’t on my mind? Every time I close my eyes, I think about the guy who attacked me. The diner. I’m supposed to open soon, and I’m stuck here.” She gestured around the large kitchen. “With the way things are going, I’ll probably be stuck here for the rest of my life.”

“The rest of your life is a long time.” He grabbed a raisin from a box she’d opened, and she swatted his hand.

“Those are for the scones!”

“Sorry.” But he wasn’t really. He’d been at the office almost all day, tracking leads, looking through surveillance footage. He hadn’t eaten lunch, and all he’d had for breakfast was a bagel and a cup of coffee.

“No, you’re not.”

“You’re right.” He laughed. “How about I make it up to you?”

“How?”

“The diner has been cleared as a crime scene. My boss gave me permission to let you go back there.”

“Really? That’s fantastic!” She looked up from the bowl she’d been scooping sugar into, a hint of color in her cheeks and a broad smile on her face.

“Yes.”

“Great!” She whirled away from the counter. “I’ve got to get cleaned up so I can go over there. The scones will have to wait.”

She darted toward the kitchen doorway, but he snagged her arm and pulled her to a stop.

“Hold on, Emma.” His palm rested against the smooth, warm skin of her forearm, heat racing through his blood at the contact. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m already a day behind myself. I have a schedule, and—”

He pressed a finger to her lips, cutting off the words. “We have video footage from a surveillance camera near a downtown bus stop that Henry tracked your attacker to.”

The excitement faded from her eyes, and she tensed. “Do you think the guy is in it?”

“It’s possible. Three men boarded the bus about ten minutes after you were attacked. One looked too old to be our guy. The other two fit the description you gave me. Tall. Muscular. If you’re up to it, I’d like to take you to the station and have you view some still photos we pulled from the tapes.” If she wasn’t, he planned to bring the photos to her.

It was imperative that she see them soon. Lucas’s boss had recognized one of the men. The guy had a criminal record and had served jail time. He’d also worked for Arianna when she’d owned Emma’s diner. Lucas didn’t tell Emma that. He didn’t want to influence her perception, taint her view of the photos.

“I’m up to it,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll get changed and then we can head out.”

She walked out of the kitchen, her shoulders slumped. She looked defeated, and Lucas hated that he couldn’t change that. He’d wanted to come to Bea’s place with good news, but all he had was more questions than answers.

Hopefully, the video stills would yield more information. If Emma positively identified her attacker, they could get his picture out to the public and offer a reward for information leading to his arrest. If the guy was smart, he’d turn himself in. If he wasn’t, he’d try to hide. Either way, he was going to be found and he was going to be thrown in jail.

Lucas would make sure of it.

He snagged another handful of raisins and walked into the living room to wait with Bea.

EIGHT

Emma grabbed a pair of dark jeans and a thick sweater from her dresser and changed quickly, her heart beating a hard, heavy rhythm. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to look at the video stills. It was more that she didn’t want to be reminded of what she’d gone through. It was bad enough that every time she closed her eyes, she saw her attacker lunging from the darkness. She didn’t want to go through pictures, hunting for him.

She’d do what she had to, though, because she wanted the police to catch him and throw him in jail.

When she was done, she’d go to the diner, put in a few hours of hard work. That would clear her head, get her more focused.

“Emma?” Bea called from the hallway. “Are you almost ready? Your young man is waiting.”

“He’s not my young man!” she called. “And I’m coming!”

She grabbed her purse and cell phone and opened the bedroom door, nearly running into Lucas’s muscular chest.

“Oops! Sorry!” She backed up, stumbling a little in her haste.

He put a hand on her waist, holding her steady. “Careful, Emma. You don’t need any more injuries.”

“Not with everything I have to do in the next couple of weeks. It would be really difficult to run a diner from a hospital bed,” she joked, sidling past him, her cheeks hot for reasons she refused to acknowledge. After she’d broken up with Camden, she’d told herself she was done with men. Finished. Forever. No more relationships. Nothing was going to change her mind about that.

No one was going to change it.

Not even Lucas.

“We’re not going to let it come to that,” he responded as they walked into the living room. Henry was lying on the floor there, nose to nose with Fluffy. Apparently, the little dog had decided she wasn’t going to be eaten by the giant beast of a dog.

“We?” she met Lucas’s gaze, her breath catching as she stared into his dark green eyes.

“You. Me. The two of us,” he clarified, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering.

“I—”

“Are we ready?” Bea walked into the room, her coat on, an old leather handbag clutched in her hand.

“For what?”

“Church.” Bea smoothed her white hair and smiled. Obviously, she’d forgotten that it was Saturday. Again.

“It’s not Sunday,” Emma said wearily. “I have to go to the police station, Bea. Lucas needs me to look at some pictures so I can identify the guy who attacked me.”

“They have pictures?” Bea exclaimed. “I hope that means the police will find him soon. I’ll feel so much safer when they do.”

“We both will. Do you want to come with us?”

“I think I’ll just stay here and read.” She glanced at her watch and frowned. “Actually, I may have a meeting tonight.”

“Meeting?” It was the first Emma had heard of it.

“The knitting club at church. They make hats for the premature babies at the hospital. I haven’t been able to attend since my accident, so the ladies decided to come here this month. You did say it was Saturday?”

“Yes.”

“Then we must be having the meeting. I’ll just call Edna to be sure.” She lifted the old-fashioned rotary phone that hung from the wall near the kitchen, her brow furrowing. “I’m sure I know her number.”

“Hold on, Bea. I’ll get it.” Emma grabbed the church directory from a drawer in the coffee table and found Edna’s number. It only took a few minutes to confirm the knitting group meeting, another few minutes to make sure that the neighbors knew that Bea was going to be home alone. She helped Bea find reading glasses, handed her the book she’d been reading, let Fluffy outside and then back in. All with Lucas following her around, trying to help, making himself a part of what she was doing.

“Okay. I’m ready. Finally,” she said as she grabbed her coat from the closet.

Lucas took it from her hands, helped her into it. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

“Of course.”

“You’ve been doing a lot, Emma. Probably too much.”

“What choice do I have? I have to make sure Bea is okay. I’m the only family she has.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Not a thing. Unless you’re good at painting. The diner still needs another coat on the walls,” she said only half kidding.

“I’m a fair hand at painting,” Lucas replied. “I still paint my parents’ front porch every spring.”

“Do you really?” She smiled, remembering the times when they’d worked together, whitewashing the porch posts and splattering paint all over each other in the process.

“Sure.” He called for Henry and opened the front door. “Keeps my paint arm in practice, so when emergencies come up, I’m ready.”

Emma walked outside, cool clean evening air filling her lungs. It felt good, and she wanted to stand on the front porch for a while and just...breathe.

“Feels nice, doesn’t it?” Lucas said. “There’s nothing quite like Sagebrush in December.”

He flashed a smile, and Emma found herself returning it. Lucas had always had that effect on her. It had never mattered what kind of mood her parents had put her in or how difficult things had been at home; when she was with him, she’d felt happy.

“Come on. Let’s head out.” His fingers curved around hers. They were warm, the skin calloused and rough. He probably still hiked and climbed and did all the outdoorsy things they’d enjoyed when they were kids.

She’d given most of that up when she’d moved to Boston. Her schedule had been too hectic, her life too busy. The weather had played into it, too. Frigid temperatures for too many months. Mostly, if she were honest with herself, all the outdoor activities she’d loved hadn’t been as enjoyable without Lucas. She’d tried for a while. She’d even convinced Camden to take her hiking a few times. He’d spent most of the trek tracking their coordinates and spouting information about the local flora and fauna.

Fun times.

“You’re deep in thought,” Lucas said as he ushered her down the porch steps. “What’s on your mind?”

You, she almost said, but she was afraid of how that would sound and of what it might mean.

“Hiking and rock climbing and camping,” she said instead. “All the things I used to do before I moved to the frigid Northeast.”

“You missed those things, huh?” He opened the hatchback of a rusty old Ford and unlocked a dog kennel that had been secured to the bed of the truck. Henry jumped in, circling once before settling down.

“More than I realized.”

“Then we’ll have to do them again. Once you’re healed up.” He opened the passenger door, lifting her into the seat before she realized what he was doing.

“I could have gotten in myself,” she protested, her cheeks blazing.

“True, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as fun.” His hands rested on her waist, his face so close she could see gold flecks in his green eyes. “Sorry about the ride, by the way. My grandmother needed her sedan back.”

“Is that who the car belonged to? I didn’t think it was yours.”

“You know me well, Em.” He smiled, skimming a knuckle down her cheek.

“I knew you well.”

“I haven’t changed that much. I still love hiking, camping and rock climbing. I still love old cars and trucks.”

“You still love playing cops and robbers,” she added, and he laughed.

“That, too.” He closed the door, sealing her into the old truck. It smelled like leather and sunshine and something warm and wonderful that reminded her of Lucas.

When he got in the car, she wanted to tell him that. She wanted to say that she hadn’t ever forgotten the years they’d spent as best friends or the way he’d always been there for her. She’d lived through some of her toughest times in Sagebrush, but maybe she’d lived through some of her best, too.

He slid into the driver’s seat, the Stetson hat shadowing his face. “It shouldn’t take long to look through the stills. When we’re finished, I’ll take you to the diner if you want.”

“If I want? There isn’t much I’d like more, but you don’t have to take me there. Just drop me off back here. I’ll drive over myself.”

“I don’t think so, Emma,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That you shouldn’t be at the diner alone. Not after what happened there.”

“You don’t really think he’ll go back there, do you?”

“Until I know what his motive was, I can’t say, but I’d rather you be safe than sorry.”

He had a point, and with evening pressing in on the windows and darkness edging at the horizon, she didn’t think she wanted to be there alone. “You’re right.”

“I’m glad we’re in agreement.” He patted her knee, his hand settling there.

She didn’t pull away, but maybe she should have.

No men ever again. That had been her motto, but being around Lucas made her wonder if it was a motto she could live by. “You didn’t tell me what the evidence found on the ski mask was.”

“Because they didn’t find anything. Aside from the photos from the surveillance videos, we don’t have much to go on.”

“Maybe it was just a random crime. Maybe nearly getting caught scared the guy enough to keep him from committing another one.”

“Anything is possible,” he said. “But that’s not the way things usually work out.”

“Are you going to tell me how they do work out?” She stared out the side window as he drove through Sagebrush, watching as trees and houses zipped by. If Lucas was right, the guy that had attacked her was out there somewhere just waiting for another chance to strike.

“A person going after money is going to keep going after money. Someone out for revenge will keep looking for it. A criminal is going to keep committing crimes.”

“That’s a pleasant thought.”

“I don’t want it to be pleasant. I want it to be disturbing, because until you’re disturbed and worried, you’re not going to be careful.”

“Trust me. I’m going to be careful. I don’t want a repeat of what happened the other night.”

“That makes two of us,” he muttered as he pulled into the parking lot of the Sagebrush Police Department and parked near the building.

“Stay put until I come around,” he said as he got out of the truck.

She wasn’t one to wait for someone else to open doors for her, but dusk had fallen in deep shades of purple and blue and the corners of the parking lot were shadowy and dark. It reminded her of the parking lot behind of the diner. Anyone could be lurking in the darkness.

She shuddered, slouching down in the seat as she waited for Lucas to round the truck.

NINE

He’d scared her.

Good. That was what Lucas had been trying to do.

It wasn’t that he liked the idea of Emma being terrified. He didn’t. What he liked was the idea that she was going to be a little more cautious, play things a little safer.

She was silent as he led her into the police department, the bruise on her cheek a stark reminder of all she’d been through. He’d seen other bruises. When they were kids, she’d always been covered with them. Welts, bumps, deep contusions. She’d offered a million excuses, but he’d known the truth. Her parents were as abusive to her as they were to each other, their wild fights legendary in the trailer park where they’d lived.

“This way,” he murmured, leading her through a lobby and into a hallway. “I’m going to put Henry in the kennel while we look at the photos. They’re in Slade’s office. You know him, right?”

“Slade? He’s Bea’s neighbor. We’ve said hello a couple of times,” she said, her voice trembling just a little.

“Are you nervous about seeing the photos?”

“No. Yes.” She shrugged and offered a sheepish grin. “Maybe. I want to help find the guy who attacked me, but I’d like to forget him, too.”

“You think that’ll happen anytime soon?”

“Probably not. Every time I close my eyes, I can see him lunging out of the shadows.” She shuddered.

“I’m sorry, Em,” he said as they walked into the kennel.

“It’s not your fault.” She glanced around the small area. “Does Henry stay here when you’re off the clock?”

“He stays with me 24-7. I keep him in the kennel when I’m in the office.” He opened Henry’s kennel and the dog trotted in.

“And he’s happy there?” She looked dubious.

“As long as he knows that I’m coming back. Right, boy?”

Henry wagged his tail in agreement, woofing quietly.

“What kind of dog is he?”

“A shepherd mix. He looks an awful lot like a king shepherd, but I don’t think his bloodlines are pure,” Lucas responded as he ushered Emma back into the building. He knocked on Slade’s door, waiting impatiently for an invitation to enter. He wanted to find the guy who’d hurt Emma. He wanted to book him and toss him in jail and make sure he wasn’t released for years. The sooner he accomplished that goal, the happier he’d be.

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