“Yes, you get to go,” she said with a smile. “And play with that nice little boy again.”
Truth to tell, she wished she were headed for a pleasant evening of socialization instead of an inquest. Marsha was a lovely person. And the child was darling.
Jamie set her jaw. His daddy wasn’t bad, either, once you got past the chip on his shoulder. Before he’d learned her identity, he’d been pleasant. Tender. Even joyful, particularly when he’d gone out of his way to catch and look after Useless-Ulysses. The mistake took her by surprise. Made her shake her head and grin. That man had gotten under her skin, all right. It would be nice if his current presence didn’t feel like a touch of poison ivy.
Still smiling and thinking about rejoining Shane in the parking lot, she scooped up her little dog, tucked him under one arm and pulled the door to her room shut with a bang.
Ulysses stilled. The beginning of a growl made his tiny body vibrate.
Jamie Lynn froze. Listened. Waited to see what her pet sensed that she had missed noticing.
The nape of her neck prickled. Goose bumps tingled along her arms and a shiver traced her spine. She was not alone.
Slowly swiveling her neck, she glimpsed movement out of the corner of her eye. Before she could get a better look, a meaty hand clamped over her mouth and a deep voice rumbled, “Don’t make a sound.”
At that point the command was unnecessary because Jamie’s voice failed her. Simply drawing breath was hard enough. Fear paralyzed her. Stole strength from her limbs and thoughts from her mind.
“You need to leave town,” the man ordered.
His mouth was so close to her ear she could feel his hot breath on her cheek and smell alcohol. That was how her brother had smelled all too often in his late teens, another reason why he’d been a prime suspect for the fatal hit-and-run.
Remembering R.J. was enough stimulus to raise Jamie Lynn’s ire. She stiffened. Tried to break free.
The man’s grip tightened, pinching her face.
She began to make noise, a whine growing louder behind her closed lips.
His “Shut up!” was menacing and then some.
That was apparently enough to set off Ulysses because the little dog’s growl became a fierce bark.
The attacker loosened his grip on Jamie to reach for the dog and was rewarded by a bite. Cursing, he shook his bleeding hand and took a step backward.
Jamie unleashed a scream that rattled the windows in the exterior hallway. She bolted, shrieking as she ran.
By the time she reached the end of the hall, she was almost as breathless as she’d been after the fire.
Someone grabbed her. She swung her purse and connected with a thunk.
“Hey. Cut it out. It’s me!”
She had to blink repeatedly to focus on Shane and take in her new reality. All she could do was point and stammer, “He, he...”
Shane tried to set her aside. “No! Don’t leave me.”
* * *
Although every fiber of Shane’s being wanted to give chase to whoever had frightened her, he heeded her panicky request. “All right. Tell me what happened.”
“A man. Outside my room. He grabbed me.”
“Did he hurt you?” Shane studied her face. “It looks like he slapped your cheek.”
“No. He held his hand over my mouth really tightly and it pinched.”
“Did he say anything?”
Shane saw her dark eyes widen as she looked into his. “Yes. He told me to leave town!”
“All right. We’re calling the police.”
“Again? They’re going to think I’m looking for attention if I keep having to involve them.”
“Would you rather let whoever is doing this get away with it?”
“Of course not.”
He could tell that she was starting to regain her self-control because she’d released the fistful of his jacket fabric and started to ease away, blushing so brightly the injury to her face almost disappeared.
Urging her into the motel office, he told the clerk to call 911, then started back outside.
Jamie Lynn made a grab at his sleeve. “Where are you going?”
“To look for clues.”
“Don’t you think that’s best left to the professionals?”
“My dad taught me how to behave around a crime scene. Where, exactly, were you when the guy grabbed you?”
“Right outside my room.”
“6-B?”
“Yes.”
“Had you stepped away from the door?”
“I’d turned around to check the lock. You know, jiggle the knob to make sure the door was locked. That’s when Ulysses started to growl.”
“Good. Anything else?”
“Yes!” The excitement in that single word gave him added hope.
“What did you just remember?” Shane asked.
Jamie Lynn began hugging and petting the dog she still held tucked under one arm. “Ulysses bit him!”
She directed lavish praise on her faithful pet and began to coo, “What a good little boy you are. Yes, you are. A sweet, sweet boy.”
“Did he draw blood?”
“What?”
“Blood. Is there a chance the dog’s teeth broke the skin? Or was the man wearing gloves?”
“Um, I don’t think I felt gloves. It all happened so fast I’m not totally positive.”
“All right. In that case I’ll wait for a deputy. I wouldn’t want to step on the only drop of blood left behind and ruin evidence.”
“Shouldn’t you phone your mother and tell her we’ll be late for supper?”
“You’re still going? Even after this?” The incredulous look she sent his way provided the answer before she spoke. He clenched his jaw.
“Of course I’m going. I meant what I told you and Marsha. I’m not going to let anybody scare me off. If they’d wanted to kill me they could have done it a few minutes ago and you wouldn’t have suspected a thing until you got tired of waiting and came looking for me.”
“That’s probably a valid argument.”
“Of course it is. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, I doubt that the fire was meant to be fatal, either. When they couldn’t find me inside, I think they assumed I’d escaped and torched the house to cover their tracks.”
“What about the shooting in front of the old police station?”
“They missed me then, too.”
“Because it’s hard to fire accurately from a moving vehicle,” Shane argued. “That truck was speeding so fast it almost turned over when it skidded around the corner.”
“Meaning, you believe I’m in real danger?”
He rolled his eyes as he drawled, “Well, yeah.”
“Opinion noted,” Jamie Lynn said. She pointed toward the street. “Looks like the cavalry is here. If I get to know these officers any better, I’m going to have to start baking