* * *
Adam reached out and grabbed for Claire as she toppled backward, but she slipped from his grasp and hit the porch with a loud thump. Still holding his gun, he leaned over and glared down at her. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Claire grabbed her ankle, massaged it with both hands and gulped a deep breath. He couldn’t tell if it was fear or anger behind the look in her flashing eyes. “I was coming to check on you. I was afraid they’d killed you or something.”
He tried not to smile at her remark, but it was impossible to keep a straight face. His mouth twitched from a frown into a grin, and he cocked an eyebrow. “Or something? Is that worse than being killed?”
The teasing tone of his voice appeared to pacify her some, and a small smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. She rolled her eyes and swatted at the hand he held out to help her up. “Never mind that. I was coming to check on you.”
“Then I suppose I should thank you, but I believe I told you to stay where you were until I returned.”
She nodded. “Yes, you did, but I’m sure you remember I’ve never been very good at taking orders.”
He stuck his gun back in his holster and shook his head. “No, you never have been.” He squatted down beside her, and his gaze raked her. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Are they gone?”
He nodded. “It looks like it. We can leave now.”
She sat up and stared at him. “Do you think Peter and James came back?”
“I suspect they were the ones. Who else would want to shoot us? But this makes no sense. James Lester doesn’t have a history of violence. Why now?”
Claire’s face warmed, and she stared down at her clasped hands. “It could be because of what I told them.”
He leaned closer. “And what was that?”
She took a deep breath. “That my father knew Peter had killed a man and that he was involved in some illegal activities. And I was going to see that he was brought to justice.”
Adam’s eyes grew large, and his mouth gaped open. “Why would you tell him such a thing?”
“Because it’s true, and I intend to do it.”
“But, Claire, he was going to kill you because of it, and it looks like they came back to finish the job.”
“Maybe they just wanted to scare us. At any rate, they might have gotten tired, or maybe they ran out of ammunition, or they thought no one could have lived through such a barrage. Who knows? But whatever the reason, they’re gone now.”
Adam sighed, reached down and picked her up again. “We’re not going to figure it out right now, so we’d better get you to that hospital. Hopefully this time we can get to the car.”
She stiffened as his arms tightened around her. “I really don’t need to go to a hospital. If you’ll just take me home...”
“Save your breath, Claire,” he interrupted. “We’re going to the hospital to see what a doctor says. And from the looks of things, you’re in no condition to argue with me.”
She clamped her lips together and glared at him as he carried her down the porch steps. He glanced around once more before he headed through the forest.
She didn’t say anything as he plodded through the thick growth of the woods and ducked under low-hanging branches, but he couldn’t help thinking about how close she had come to death tonight. If he hadn’t been there, she would now be lying next to the cabin with a bullet in her head.
Adam’s arms tightened around her at the thought. She shifted in his arms, and he loosened his grip. She didn’t have to say the words aloud. It was almost as if he could read her mind. She might be grateful to him for saving her life, but she would never forgive him for what he’d done. The best thing he could do was go home after she got medical attention and chalk Claire Walker up to one more mistake he’d made in the past.
* * *
Claire sat on the edge of the exam table and stared down at the elastic compression bandage on her ankle. A pair of crutches leaned against the edge of the table.
A knock on the wall outside the curtained-off exam cubicle caught her attention and she straightened. “Who is it?”
“Claire, may I come in?” Adam called out.
“Yes.”
He pushed the curtain aside and stepped into the small exam area.
“The doctor says you can leave now. Are you ready to go?”
She sighed and nodded. “I guess so.”
He frowned at the resignation in her voice and stepped closer. “What’s the matter?”
She pointed at the bandage and then the crutches. “How am I going to be able to go after Peter Willis if I can’t even walk on my own for at least thirty-six hours?”
He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “I’d say catching up to Willis is the least of your worries right now. Try to remember you’re lucky to be alive.”
He walked across the room toward her and reached out to help her down from the table. She pulled back and grabbed for the crutches. “I can handle this.”
He raised his hands and backed away. “Okay, if you say so.”
Claire leaned on the crutches as she slid off the table onto her good leg and then slipped the crutches under her arms. Holding her injured ankle up, she took a step toward the door. “See,” she said, “I can do it by myself.”
He stepped around her and opened the door. “Yeah, I know. You always were an independent kid.”
Her knuckles turned white as she tightened her grip on the crutches. “I’m not a kid anymore, Adam.”
“I know,” he said. “But this decision you made about going after a bail jumper doesn’t sound too adult to me.”
“Sometimes life can cause you to take desperate measures.” She pushed past him and into the hall.
He followed behind as she slowly made her way out of the ER and into the parking lot. Outside the ER door he stepped up beside her and pointed toward his car, which sat underneath one of the streetlights. “I moved the car from the entrance to that spot over there after I got you inside. If you’ll wait here, I’ll go get it so you won’t have to walk with your crutches.”
“No need for that. I can make it,” she said. She took a deep breath and headed toward the car.
“I don’t mind, Claire.”
“I know, but I need the practice of using these crutches.”
He sighed. “Whatever you say.”
She kept her eye on the car as she inched her way toward it. It hadn’t seemed so far when she’d first spotted it, but the distance seemed to grow with each step. When she finally reached the car, he held the door for her to climb inside before he closed it and went around to the driver’s side.
He glanced at her, but she pretended not to notice and preoccupied herself with finding the radio station she wanted. When she’d settled on one, she turned up the volume and leaned back in her seat. The sound of a Christian rock song filled the car.
Adam didn’t say anything until he pulled onto Highway 61 and headed back toward Memphis. Then he reached over and turned the volume down. “Not much traffic tonight.”
“No, but the casinos in the area are probably filled,” she said.
“I guess so.” When she didn’t answer, he shook his head. “So much for small talk,” he muttered