You Belong to Me – 78

 

 

Unlocking the door, Scott entered first, dropping to one knee, his gaze and his gun moving right to left. He saw Travis standing in the kitchen doorway, holding a pistol and a large knife. Just as Scott shouted, “Drop your weapons,” the stalker fired. Scott rolled to the side at the same instant, shooting back. His bullet hit Travis in the thigh. A second one, fired by one of the officers, caught the stalker in the shoulder.

 

That didn’t stop Travis from firing one more time as he fell. The shot went wild, shattering the coffeemaker on the counter.

 

“Damn, I just bought that,” Scott growled as he got to his feet.

 

Screaming with rage, “He belongs to me, not you!” Travis tried to lift his gun, only to have Scott wrest it from his grip, along with the knife.

 

Seconds later Darin and the officers with him descended, their guns trained on the stalker. Darin was on the two-way, and in two minutes, EMTs entered the apartment.

 

While the EMTs worked on Travis’s wounds and eased him onto a backboard, Darin read him his rights. Then, under heavy guard, the EMTs loaded Travis onto a gurney and rolled it out of the apartment.

 

Finally Scott relaxed—marginally—muttering, “Now I need a cleanup crew” as he looked at the blood on the floor and spattering the wall beside the kitchen door. He smiled slightly. “I’d offer everyone coffee, but….” He waved a hand toward the shattered glass carafe on the counter.

 

“Better that than you,” Darin pointed out. “He had plans for you from the look of it. There’s rope and another knife on your coffee table.”

 

“Was he stupid enough to think I’d just walk into his waiting arms? He had to suspect I’m a cop once he found the drawings at Ms. Stewart’s place.”

 

Darin shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. As Corey pointed out this afternoon, he followed you there. Perhaps he thought you’d spotted him, called the police, and they sent you to her. Since you and Corey were seeing each other, you’d obviously know what was going on. Either way, Mr. Harford was obsessed with eliminating you, just as he did Mr. Reynolds. It will be interesting to find out why he was so fixated on wanting Corey all to himself.”

 

“You won’t know if you don’t go question him.”

 

“That won’t happen until he’s in recovery, in a well-guarded private room at the hospital. You know that.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I’m just—”

 

“Reacting to all that’s happened. Understandable. You might want to call Corey and let him know it’s over now.”

 

“Call? Hell, I’m going over there.”

 

Darin chuckled. “I thought you might.”