It was my uncle Barton instead.
“Go back,” I shouted.
It was enough to make Steve pause.
“I won’t,” Barton said. “I can’t.”
Steve pivoted around. “Get over here, or she dies.”
“If you come, he’ll just kill us both.” I hoped I was getting through to him, but my heart sank as my uncle walked toward us.
He was two steps away when someone came out of the door behind him, holding a gun on Steve. “Drop it or die.”
I saw Steve look at the gun, and then judge the distance to the edge of the roof. It was clear he had no interest in paying for his crimes.
He started for the edge, but before he could get there, I drove the weeder into his thigh as he raced past me. We both screamed in pain, him for his leg, me for my shoulder, and we collapsed on the rooftop together.
Barton rushed to me, and before Steve could recover, my uncle pulled me to safety away from the killer, and the edge of the roof.
Chapter 21
“THANK GOD YOU’RE OKAY,” MY HUSBAND SAID AS HE rushed toward me. I was sitting in an examining room in the ER, having just gotten eight stitches for my shoulder wound. Barton hovered just out of sight. He had stayed with me the entire time, even riding in the ambulance with me.
Zach said, “I can’t believe I was wrong about Grady.”
“Steve had us all fooled until the last second,” I said, reliving the fear and pain of my experience. “Is he going to be okay?”
Zach smiled, but I could see tears tracking down his cheeks as he did. “He’s going to be limping for a while. You probably just should have let him jump.”
“I know it would have saved the taxpayers the cost of a trial, but I couldn’t let him get off that easily. Could you?”
“Ordinarily I’d say no, but in this case, I might have been willing to make an exception.” Zach turned and patted Barton on the shoulder.
“I hear you saved her life.”
“Not by any stretch of the imagination could you say that,” Barton said. “I was coming up to my garden for lunch when I saw blood on the doorknob. I hit my panic button, and my security chief came up and intervened.”
“Don’t let him get away with that,” I told Zach. “Barton had every chance to turn around and run, but he walked toward Steve while he was holding a knife to try to save me. That delayed him long enough for reinforcements to get there. He’s a hero.”
“I just did what any uncle would do for his niece.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it.”
Zach asked me, “Do you have to stay here overnight?”
“No, they’re going to clear me. I lost a little blood, but they gave me a tetanus shot and stitched me up, so I’m going to be a little sore.”
“Don’t worry; I’ll take good care of you.”
The door opened, and I was surprised to see my uncle Thomas come in.
“How did you get here so fast?” I asked as he hugged me.
“I had to come to Charlotte on an errand, and Zach called me. Are you okay?”
“I’m a little worse for the wear right now, but I’ll be fine.”
“Good.”
He turned to Barton, and I saw a look of panic in my prodigal uncle’s eyes. Thomas held out his hand, and Barton quickly took it. “Thank you, J.B.”
“You’re welcome.”
Thomas didn’t let go of his grip, though. “You evened the scales today as far as I’m concerned.”
“I keep telling everyone that I didn’t do anything.”
Uncle Thomas grinned at him. “So, does that mean you don’t want to get to know your little brother again?”
“I never said that,” Barton said, his voice trembling.
Thomas hugged him, wrapping Barton up in his arms. “Welcome home, J.B.”
THE BROTHERS LEFT TOGETHER, AFTER BEING SURE THAT I was being taken care of by my husband and the entire hospital staff.
Zach sat down in a chair beside the bed I was sitting on. “Who would have believed it?”
“What, that Steve was a killer?”
