She had. Part of her wanted to continue the resistance, too. If she fell in love with his family like she had Grady, and then he dumped her for someone with less baggage and more sheriff’s wife potential, Ronnie would be in a much worse position than her current destitute state.
The radio inside his truck crackled to life. “Calling Sheriff Harrison. Come in, Sheriff.”
He cursed and stepped around her, reaching inside the open window. “Harrison here.”
“We have a 10-80 involving an off-duty deputy and a Volvo registered to a female named Kathryn Morgan. Backup has been requested in the alley behind the Moose Lodge and the old Stage Stop Grocery building off Butterfield Street. Please advise with instructions for the deputy.”
Grady frowned at Ronnie.
“What’s a 10-80?” she asked.
“Chase in progress.”
“Dang it, Katie! Not again.”
He pushed the button. “I’m on my way.” He tossed the radio back inside. “Your damned crazy sister,” he grumbled and skirted her, rounding the front of the truck.
“It’s Butch’s fault.” Ronnie beat him inside the cab.
He paused on the verge of climbing behind the wheel. “What are you doing?”
“Going with you.”
“Veronica, get out of the truck.”
“Sheriff, that’s my pregnant sister giving your deputy chase. Get your ass behind that wheel and drive.”
* * *
Natalie caught up with Kate at the front of the Volvo, grabbing her cousin by the jacket. “Kate! Hold up, for chrissake. We need a plan.”
A breeze whipped through the alley, swirling dry leaves and a plastic bag around in a small dust devil and then battering them into the cinderblock wall of one of the buildings.
Deputy Dipshit opened his pickup door and scrambled down out of his behemoth, stumbling when he landed due to the two-foot drop from the running board to the asphalt. “You’re under arrest!” he yelled. He reached up inside his pickup. When he stepped back, he was holding a handgun.
The SUV’s driver’s side window rolled down. The sunlight glinted off the top corner of the windshield, making it hard to see anything more than a dark shape inside.
Natalie pulled Kate behind her, blocking the pregnant loonybird from Deputy Dipshit. She raised her hands. “Everybody calm the fuck down!”
“Freeze, asshole!” Kate yelled, taking aim in the SUV’s and Deputy Dipshit’s direction with the Taser gun from under Natalie’s raised arm.
Natalie frowned at the Taser gun. Cheese and crackers! Somebody was going to catch lead today.
“Which asshole are you talking to?” she asked Kate. The guy in the SUV or Deputy Dipshit, who was striding their way with his arms wide and swinging like a big dumb ape.
Out of the corner of her eye, Natalie saw something flash inside the SUV. A long rifle barrel eased out the open window.
“Gun!” Natalie stepped back, bodily forcing Kate to do the same.
But the barrel took aim in the other direction.
Deputy Dipshit froze, his eyes widening.
Nothing moved but the dead leaves. The plastic bag scraped along the asphalt.
Natalie’s focus dipped to Ernie’s handgun. Was he going to raise it and shoot? If he did, she and Kate were at risk of catching some crossfire.
A popping sound broke the silence.
The deputy grabbed his neck. “What did you … ?” He pulled out a red dart. “Kate Morgan, I’m going to … ” Ernie’s knees gave out. “You stupid … ” His eyes rolled back. Then he pitched forward, landing face first on the pavement.
Kate tugged free of Natalie’s hold and raced toward the driver’s side of the SUV. “Get out of the vehicle now!” she yelled, sounding like she’d recently graduated from the police academy.
“Kate!” Natalie ran after her cousin.
As they reached the SUV’s open window, the passenger-side door opened and the guy in the green shirt climbed out.
He closed the door and stared at them through the passenger-side window, sizing them up. Another breeze whooshed through the alley, making his hair stand up in tufts. He may have liked John Denver, but he looked more like Buck Owens.
Kate aimed the Taser, seeming to forget there was a closed passenger-side window between the guy and her. “Tank sends his love, dickweed,” she yelled, adding under her breath, “Natalie, go get him.”
“With what? My ninja nunchucks?”
Kate huffed. “Distract him while I zap his ass.”
“How? My juggling skills are rusty.”
The guy took off running toward Ernie’s truck with a definite limp.
Kate cursed and ran around the back of the SUV, chasing after him with her Taser leading the way.
“Kate, wait!” Natalie raced to Deputy Dipshit, who was still taking a catnap. She grabbed his gun and sprinted after Kate.
She caught up with her cousin a block away around the front of the building. Kate was holding her side, cursing.
“Are you two okay?” Natalie asked, pointing at Kate’s baby bump.
“We’re fine. I just got a stupid cramp. I can’t run like I used to. You need to go after him. You’re way faster and he’s moving slow, thanks to that limp.” She frowned down at the gun in Natalie’s hand. “Where did you get that?”
“From your pal, Ernie. Here.” Natalie held the gun out to Kate.
“You keep it.”
“Take it and give me your damned Taser.” She snatched Kate’s Taser gun from her and shoved the handgun in her cousin’s hand. “Go back and call 911. We need help.”
Natalie took off after the suspect, hoping her cousin didn’t have her chasing down an innocent man with a Taser gun.
“To your left!” Kate yelled from behind her.
She followed Kate’s instruction, catching a glimpse of a green shirt about a block ahead. Kate was right, the guy wasn’t moving very fast. That limp had gotten even worse from when he’d first started out. Tank must have really done some damage.
Natalie cranked up the speed, going into her high school track 100-meter dash mode. Her feet slid around more than usual in the tennis shoes she’d borrowed from Claire, but her legs held strong.
Up ahead, the killer climbed a six-feet tall
