In Zach's Arms (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 1) Read online

  The place was covered in different colored threads and patterns of some kind. The man himself was a bit of a surprise and, clearly, a cross dresser. His hair was slicked back and he wore men’s jeans, but a flowered sweater. His blue eye shadow matched the color of the sweater.

  “May we ask what you’re doing in Flagstaff, sir?” Wolfe kept a straight face.

  “Why is it anyone’s business what I do?” His hands were on his hips as he looked around.

  “Because you live in the same building as Elizabeth Russell and there is an ongoing investigation into the break-ins at her unit,” Wolfe explained.

  “Well, I don’t have anything to do with that. Barely even know the girl.”

  “We understand that, but still, it is an odd coincidence that you showed up in the very place she is…during an investigation.”

  McCreedy shrugged and looked confused. Convincingly confused, to Zach’s trained eye. “I saw the girl leave the other day, sure. Never asked her where she was going because it’s none of my business. Just like my trip here is none of your business. A man needs a bit of privacy now and again.”

  “But why here specifically, sir?”

  The older man sighed and took a step over to the table with a small mound of patterns. He picked one up and also took a business card from a neat stack at the center. “I do cross-stitch. Every year I come up to Flagstaff for the art festival.”

  Several of the local cops nodded, evidently knowing about the art fest.

  “I sell my stuff from home. That’s how I make up the difference in the pittance the government gives me and my retirement. But every year, I come to the festival and see old friends and grab new patterns.”

  And dress like he wanted without the neighbors knowing, Zach thought.

  “I see,” the Sergeant said. “You understand we were just checking it out. For the safety of the woman.”

  McCreedy nodded. “Terrible business. She’s a lovely girl. I’ve been trying to find a wig in the color of her hair. Have you seen her hair? It’s simply gorgeous.”

  Zach had heard enough. McCreedy wasn’t the guy. He was a harmless art buff who liked to dress in women’s clothing and do cross-stitch. Zach sighed. It would have been easier if it had been him.

  He backed out of the room, catching the Detective’s eye when he did. Wolfe followed him outside.

  “He isn’t involved,” Zach said.

  Wolfe shook his head. “No. This guy’s harmless.”

  “You have any other leads yet?”

  “Still waiting on DNA to come back.” He shoved his hand into his hair. “I’ll stay and finish up here. Tell Elizabeth that we will catch this guy.”

  Zach nodded and turned to cross the street. The feeling of being watched was gone. Whoever it was had lost interest for the moment. He didn’t like not knowing who the enemy was or where they were coming from.

  It made him edgy.

  Beth’s lips were pinched and her shoulders tensed when he reached the truck. He shook his head, “It’s not him.”

  “How can you be sure?” she asked.

  “Because he’s here for a cross-stitch festival and looks very comfortable in women’s clothes.”

  “Wow,” Jesse said.

  “Yeah, he makes an ugly woman.”

  Beth huffed out a quick breath and he could see her slowly relax. He hated that this was keeping her stressed out. Zach wanted her happy and focused on him. And moving in with him. That was step one. Marriage and kids were a battle he’d fight later on. He’d be happy if she’d finally agree to just live with him.

  Permanently.

  Chapter 13

  “It’s a diversion,” Zach said. His tone was low and angry.

  Elizabeth looked up from her computer. They’d been home for several hours and she’d been writing while Zach worked at the table on his laptop. She had been jarred out of her story when Zach’s cell rang.

  “Of course I’m not leaving, but you’d better get over there and see what the damage is. Yeah, got it. Call me.”

  “What happened?”

  He looked like he was controlling the impulse to crush his phone. Dark brows formed an angry line and the tic in his jaw had started. “Someone started a fire in the back of our business.”

  “Oh my God.” Jerking to her feet, Elizabeth went and put her arms around him and pressed her face into his chest. “This is because of me.”

  “Jesse is heading over now to see what can be salvaged.”

  “I’m so sorry. If it wasn’t for me, none of this would be happening.”

  Ramming the phone into his back pocket, Zach shook his head. “None of this is your fault, Beth. Not one bit of it, do you hear me?”

  Looking into his stormy eyes, she could only nod. She hoped to appease him because it was her fault. If they lost the building, it would be because of her and her rotten luck in attracting the attention of a psychopath.

  Elizabeth sometimes wondered if her life was cursed. The only thing convincing her that it wasn’t was standing in front of her.

  “Okay,” she let out a strained laugh. “None of this is my fault. But you should go with Jesse.”

  Even before he shook his head, she knew he wasn’t about to leave.

  Then his phone chirped. Yanking it out of his pocket, he answered, “What now?”

  Elizabeth followed when he went and pulled open the front door. The black plume of smoke outside couldn’t have been from town. That was too far away. This looked like it was coming from the road.

  “Goddammit! I’ll be right there with some extinguishers.”

  “What’s on fire?” she asked.

  “The mailboxes out front and several of the big pines. Jesse needs me out there. If we don’t get those out, and fast, it could turn into a forest fire.”

  “You need to go. We’re surrounded by woods here and I don’t want your home to burn. Or Jesse’s.”

  She watched his face while he struggled with the need to stay and protect her and his need to get that fire out.

  “Go. I’ll be fine. You showed me how to use the gun in the table by the door. I can protect myself with that. I promise.”

  Obviously making his decision, he pulled her close and kissed the breath right out of her.

  “Stay inside and stay safe.”

  “I will.”

  He ran through the house and gathered up the three fire extinguishers inside while calling the fire department to tell them of the fire and the address. Elizabeth stayed out of the way and, when he turned at the door to look at her, she got up on her tip-toes and gave him another quick kiss.

  “Go.”

  She stepped outside, put her hands in her jeans pockets and turned her face up into the brightness of the sun. Zach was at a dead run toward the column of smoke. She watched until he was out of sight and then she turned to go back into the house.

  Zach was right. She was safer inside under lock and key while he did his best to contain that fire. A faint rustling from the bushes pulled her head around to the far side of the porch. She squinted and saw a figure emerging from the foliage.

  “Well, well. Lover boy finally left you alone for a moment. How fortuitous.”

  “Damn it, Mike! What do you mean you lost him?” Zach roared into the phone.

  He started pacing, listening to his end of the conversation. “All you had to do was babysit for a couple hours.”

  Jesse stood still, listening to Zach’s side of the conversation. His face was covered in ash and grime. Zach was sure his face matched. The mailboxes were out, but they couldn’t reach the fire creeping up the tall pines and hitting the canopy. The lack of wind was helping, but if the fire department didn’t get there soon, it was going to spread.

  And now this shit. It was game time and they were already behind.

  “Pray, Mike. Pray that nothing happens.”

  Zach hung up and faced his best friend. “It seems Detective Wolfe has had a little evasive-maneuver training. Mike lost him in
traffic.”

  “Shit.” Jesse tensed and then went calm. “Call it, Zach. Where do you need me?”

  Jesse’s Jeep was parked nearby, since he had been planning on going into town to check on the business. Zach never gave the business any more thought and neither did Jesse. This was about protecting one of their own—Beth.

  “I need you to check the perimeter. You’re the best tracker and I need to know if someone has been on my land. Go in quiet and ready. The bastard might already be here.”

  “Got it.”

  “Jess,” Zach started, “Mike said his contact got ahold of him. DNA finally came back and confirmed our suspicions. He was able to pay off the right people, but Mike found an old report that confirms his involvement with a previous murder case. So watch your ass.”

  “Always do,” Jesse said. “Go to your lady, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  Then he melted into the bushes, making his way toward the cabin. Silent and deadly, Jesse would meet up with him back at the house.

  Zach turned to go back to the cabin and felt the hair on his neck stand up. His instincts had saved his life more than once. Shit, he was already here. Zach could feel it. He took off at a dead run, dialing Jesse’s cell.

  “He’s already here,” he said when Jesse picked up. He didn’t have to say anything more as he concentrated on getting to the cabin as fast as he could, knowing Jesse would have his back. He did what he’d told Mike to do.

  He prayed.

  “What are you doing here, Jeffery?”

  Elizabeth was stunned to see him walking around the porch. His eyes darted back and forth before settling on her. He was dressed for hiking and his coat and pants had snags and leafy debris on them. It was the look of someone who’d been out in the woods for a while. Even his normally neat hair was in disarray.

  “I needed to check on the progress of the book. For the editors,” he murmured. “You understand, right?”

  “You could have called to get that. You didn’t have to come all the way out here.”

  Chills raced down her spine when his eyes finally made contact with hers. The Jeffery she knew wasn’t there. Only madness and cruelty looked back at her.

  “You haven’t been taking my calls, now have you? You ran off to play whore.” He spit out the words venomously. “So I decided to pay you a visit, since you’re my favorite client.”

  She flinched at the word and tone, but tried to keep him talking. “How did you find me?”

  “You gave me your address, remember?”

  “I never gave you this address, Jeffery.”

  “Hmmm, must have been your nice landlady.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “You always call after I’ve left the office. I wonder if you do that on purpose?” he questioned, almost to himself.

  Oh God, please let Zach come back soon.

  Elizabeth edged backward toward the front door. There was something wrong with Jeffery. Seriously wrong. Why hadn’t she seen it before? She had to get to the gun.

  “Elizabeth, my dear, you need to stop moving toward the door,” he said, all pretense gone from his voice as he calmly pulled a small black revolver from the pocket of his coat and pointed it straight at her.

  “W-what are you doing?” Elizabeth stammered. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s very clear, darling. You ran away before I could fully express my affection for you. And don’t worry, I’ll forgive you for your little—indiscretion. Of course, I’ll have to kill him. You need to understand that we are meant to be together. You and me.”

  “You broke into my apartment, didn’t you?”

  Even seeing the madness in his eyes, she needed to hear it from him…hear that he was the one making her life hell.

  “I wanted you to know that you had my full attention. I hoped you would realize how much you mean to me.” His tone was even, but his eyes were flat and cold. He still had the gun pointed at her as he narrowed his eyes.

  “Why did you get the police involved?” He asked the question, but didn’t seem to need a response from her. “I told you I would help you with someplace to stay. I could’ve taken care of everything for you.”

  Jeffery was gone and something else was in his place. Elizabeth didn’t know when it had happened but he was ‘out there;’ he didn’t realize how bizarre his actions were. He kept talking about how she was the perfect woman for him and that he knew it the first time they met. Calling him crazy would only make matters worse, so she kept her mouth shut.

  “I should have listened to you, Jeffery.”

  Fear coiled through her stomach. She had to keep him talking.

  They both heard the crunch of gravel from the front of the house. Someone was driving up. Jeffery gave a start and swiveled his head and the gun in that direction, giving Elizabeth the moment she’d been waiting for.

  She took off in a full sprint toward the sound of the car, hoping that it was Zach and Jesse.

  “Stop running, bitch.”

  Elizabeth put her head down and kept going. She ran in a zigzag, hoping that Jeffery wasn’t a marksman with his handgun.

  Detective Wolfe jerked to a stop and was getting out of his Crown Victoria as she raced toward him.

  “Gun! He’s got a gun,” she yelled.

  He immediately pulled his own weapon and dropped into a crouch. “Get down.”

  Elizabeth had almost reached him when he started shouting and the shots rang out. Searing pain tore through her upper right arm, throwing her off-balance and sending her face-first into the gravel. The next shot went whizzing over where her head would have been and slammed into Detective Wolfe’s chest.

  He stumbled back and got one shot off that went high and wide. Her vision blurred, but she thought she heard Zach’s voice. She wanted to see his handsome face so badly that she might have imagined hearing his voice.

  “Zach,” she whispered.

  Sound muffled as the ringing in her ears increased and her stomach rolled and pitched. The pain in her arm overwhelmed her and the coppery smell of blood mixed with gun powder stung her nose. Her last thought before surrendering to unconsciousness was that she hoped she didn’t throw up on Zach when she finally told him that she loved him.

  “No!”

  Zach launched himself, hitting the man hard in the back, using his superior size and the element of surprise to force the smaller man to the ground. The man rolled and hit Zach in the jaw, trying to knock him off and bring his gun up to fire.

  “I’ll kill you. You defiled her,” he screamed.

  Madness gave him strength as Zach wrestled with him in the gravel. He squirmed, hitting out and kicking his legs. Zach punched him with one hand while keeping the hand with the gun pointed harmlessly out into the forest.

  Jesse was there in an instant, having moved from his position in the thick brush. Jesse kicked the gun from Jeffrey’s hand so hard that Zach thought he heard the bone crack. Jeffery’s agonized scream and the odd angle of his wrist confirmed the break.

  He thrashed and bucked. Zach punched him hard in the center of his chest, causing the air to whoosh out of his body. Then, he leaned forward with a forearm against Jeffrey’s throat, cutting off any remaining air.

  It only took a couple of moments before Jeffrey stopped struggling, his eyes rolled back and he went unconscious. Zach was up and running to Beth as soon as he felt the body under him go limp.

  “Shoot him if he so much as twitches,” he yelled back at Jesse.

  “He’s not going anywhere,” Jesse responded.

  “Beth,” he whispered.

  Zach landed on his knees next to her and pulled her into his arms. She was so white she was almost translucent and had scratches on her cheek and forehead from the fall. She still hadn’t come around, so Zach used that moment to do a body check for breaks.

  Finding none, he gently moved her arm towards him so he could check the gunshot wound she’d sustained. He ripped her sweater and saw the bullet had gone clean through the fleshy pa
rt of her upper arm, missing bone and major arteries.

  Sighing with relief, he hugged her fiercely saying, “Come on, baby, wake up.”

  “Thanks for the caring, Steele,” came a hoarse voice.

  “You shouldn’t even be here, Wolfe,” Jesse said, coming into the conversation. He dropped down next to where the Detective was leaning against his car to check the status of his wounds.

  “You should have picked him up as soon as DNA came through,” Zach snarled. “Instead, you left him loose and he was able to get here.”

  “You were wearing your vest. Good. That’s the first smart thing you’ve done so far,” Jesse broke in while he peeled the detective’s shirt off. “You got lucky.”

  “We have procedures and protocols, Steele. Besides, the crafty bastard had already skipped town when the damn results came in. I figured he was here somewhere, since he obviously had the address,” Wolfe snapped, ignoring Jesse. “How’s Elizabeth doing?”

  “She’s been shot, that’s how she’s doing.”

  “Why’d you have someone tailing me?”

  “I heard you were a hot-shot in the department and I wanted to make sure you had back-up in case you were tempted to try and arrest that maniac by yourself. Plus I didn’t like that you had a prior connection with Beth.”

  “I’m touched, Steele. And I didn’t even know about that until I started looking into her past.”

  “Don’t be. I just didn’t want you to fuck this up.”

  “If anyone cares, I called for the local cops and an ambulance,” Jesse announced.

  A soft moan stopped the arguing. All three men looked at Elizabeth. She opened her eyes and grimaced in pain. He couldn’t help himself, he smiled. She was going to be okay.

  “Why are you smiling?” she groused.

  “Because you’re not dead.”

  She blinked, confused. “Why does my arm hurt?”

  “You were shot. How do you feel?”

  Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked around. When she saw her agent, her breath caught and the tears rolled down her cheeks. Jesse had him tied up and he was still unconscious.