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Jutting her chin, she faced the windshield. “You rub me the wrong way.”
He put the truck in gear. “That’s odd. I don’t recall laying a hand on you.”
Before she could think of a smart comeback, he stomped the accelerator and the truck shot forward, thrusting Andi back against the seat. She wanted to demand that he slow down, but remembered the last time that she’d commented on his driving he’d considered it a dare, and decided not to push her luck.
“What’s the situation at Pete’s Place?” she asked, hoping if she distracted him, he’d slow down on his own.
“Stabbing. Jarrod, the new rookie, responded to the call.”
“Something’s always happening at Pete’s Place. Ten to one it’s over a woman.”
“As much as I’d like to accept your bet, it would be like taking candy from a baby.”
She gave him a droll look. “I take it you don’t think it started over a woman.”
He took a turn on two wheels, then shook his head. “No. Fights over women usually take place nearer to closing time, when folks start to pair off.”
She lifted a brow. “Is that the voice of experience speaking?”
“No. Common sense.”
“Okay, if not a woman, then what do you think started it?”
He made a sharp turn into the parking lot of Pete’s and braked to a rock-spitting stop behind the patrol car already at the scene. “Most of the men who hang out at Pete’s are construction workers. My guess is that it’s a disagreement they brought with them from the job.”
She reached for the door handle. “Well, let’s see which one of us is right.”
It appeared that the entire bar had emptied into the parking lot to watch the fight. Customers and employees alike formed a human wall that Gabe and Andi had to shoulder their way through before finding their victim. He sat on the ground beside a truck, his back propped against its rear tire, holding a blood-soaked cloth against his left arm. More blood was spattered on his shirt and jeans. Jarrod, the rookie cop, was standing off to the side, shooting the breeze with the ambulance driver.
Setting her jaw, Andi stalked toward him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The rookie jerked to attention. “Nothing, sir—I—I mean, ma’am.”
“Well, that’s obvious,” she snapped, then pointed a stiff finger at the victim. “Do you realize that man might very well be bleeding to death while you’re over here flapping your jaws?”
“Uh, yes, ma’am. I tried to get him to let the paramedics load him up in the ambulance, but he won’t let anybody near him.”
Making a mental note to discuss later with the rookie his inability to control a scene, she turned for the victim, but found Gabe had beat her there. Judging by the conversation between the two, it appeared they knew each other.
“Hey, Dal,” she heard Gabe say. “How bad is it, buddy?”
“Pretty bad,” Dal said, then gulped and began to unwind the crude bandage he held on his arm. “He cut me deep.”
Andi winced as Dal exposed the gaping wound.
“It’s deep all right,” Gabe confirmed. “Looks like he sliced you clear to the bone. We need to get you to a hospital.”
Dal drew back against the tire and shook his head. “No. Ain’t got the money to ride in no ambulance. My brother Bill’ll be gettin’ off work soon. He’ll take me.”
“What time does Bill get off?”
“Works the four-to-eleven shift over at a convenience store in San Antonio.”
His expression grim, Gabe pushed his hands against his thighs. “I can’t let you sit here and bleed to death, while you wait on your brother.”
Dal kept his eyes fixed on Gabe, as Gabe stood. “I ain’t goin’ in no ambulance. I told you, I ain’t got the money to pay.”
“You’re not going in the ambulance,” Gabe informed him. “You’re going with me.”
Shocked, Andi watched as Gabe helped Dal to his feet. When he began guiding the man to his truck, she quickly fell in behind them.
“Who did this to you?” she heard Gabe asked Dal.
“Whitey. A guy on my crew. Had to fire him today. Can’t have a man on the payroll who thinks he can come and go whenever he pleases.”
Andi stifled a groan. Gabe didn’t so much as glance her way, but she heard his “I told you so” as clearly as if he’d shouted it at the top of his lungs.
Three
Andi didn’t question Gabe’s decision to personally escort Dal to the hospital. And she didn’t question him when he gave his own mailing address to the nurse on duty and told her to send him Dal’s bill. But by the time they were back in his truck and headed for her house, the questions were burning holes in her tongue.
“Taking a victim to the hospital isn’t part of the job,” she said, seeking a noncombative opening.
“I know.”
“So why did you do it?”
He stopped at a stop sign, waited for a car to cross the intersection, then drove on. “You heard him. He couldn’t afford an ambulance ride.”
“That’s not your fault, nor your responsibility.”
“No,” he agreed. “But I wasn’t about to let him sit there and bleed to death while he waited for his brother. I doubt you would’ve, either.”
“No,” she agreed, “but I sure as heck wouldn’t have offered to pay for his medical care.”
“He’ll make good the debt.”
She gave him a doubtful look. “Come on, Gabe. If he couldn’t afford to ride in an ambulance, do you really think he can come up with the money to pay a hospital bill?”
“Dal might not have the cash on hand, but he’s an honest man and a damn good framer. I’ve been wanting to build a storage shed behind the cabin.” He lifted a shoulder. “He can work off the loan.”
She stared, unable to associate this kind gesture with the Gabe Thunderhawk she knew. Or, rather, the Gabe Thunderhawk she thought she knew. His rep around the station was that of a tough cop, one who didn’t have to ask a perp twice for his cooperation. Most of them took one look at him and fell to the pavement, offering their wrists for the cuffs.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
She blinked, startled by the unexpected question, then frowned. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no. Why?”
He glanced at the rearview mirror. “Someone’s following us. Just wanted to make sure it wasn’t your boyfriend, before I tried to lose him.”
She whipped her head around to look out the rear window but couldn’t see anything but the glare of headlights from the car behind. “Are you sure he’s following us? He could be just headed in the same direction.”
“He’s been on our tail ever since we left the hospital. Hold on,” he warned. “We’re going to see how badly he wants us.”
She grabbed for the chicken bar as he spun the wheel to the right and took a corner on two wheels. When the truck leveled out to all four tires, he glanced at the rearview mirror again. “Must not want us too badly.”
He sped up and took the next left, doubling back to the street they’d originally been traveling on. He stopped at the intersection and looked both ways. “Lost him. He must’ve realized we’d made him.” He turned right and raced down the street, but whoever had been tailing them had disappeared from sight.
“Do you have any enemies?” he asked.
She frowned, remembering the bent screen she’d discovered at her house earlier that evening. “None that I’m aware of.” She glanced his way. “But why assume he was after me? He could’ve been following you. We’re in your truck, after all.”
“Maybe. Cops have more enemies than friends. Detectives even more. Has anyone you’ve put behind bars been released lately?”
She searched her mind and could come up with only one name. “Dudley Harris was released three months ago.”
“The wife beater?”
She flattened her lips as she recalled the details of the case. “One and the same. Served six months of a two-year sentence. Got out on good behavior.”
“Do you know where he lives?”
“I know where he used to live. His wife sold their house and moved away not long after he went to prison.”
“Smart lady.”
“Not always. She let him use her for a punching bag for years before we finally persuaded her to press charges.” She shook her head sadly. “She was scared to death of him. Made excuses for him all the time. Claimed it was her fault he knocked her around.”
“That’s not unusual in cases of abuse. Once the cops arrive, the wife usually changes her story and ends up taking the blame for what happened.”
“Yeah,” she agreed bitterly. “Because she knows if she doesn’t, she’ll get a worse beating after the cops leave.”
“Harris probably holds you responsible for him losing his wife and home. Could be he’s looking to even the score.” He pulled up in front of her house and shoved the gearshift into Park. “I’ll go inside and take a look around.”
She reached for the door handle. “If you think I’m afraid to go into my own house alone, you’re wrong. Dudley Harris doesn’t scare me.”
She climbed down, but when she rounded the front of the truck, she found Gabe waiting for her at the end of the sidewalk. “I don’t need your protection,” she informed him. “I can take care of myself.”
He opened his hands. “Who said anything about protecting you? My mother would skin my hide if she knew I’d dumped a lady on the side of the street without properly seeing her to her door.”
Scowling, she pushed past him. “Tell her you did. I’ll back up your story if she questions your honesty.”
He fell into step behind her. “I’d never lie to my mother.”
She shot him a frown over her shoulder.
He lifted his hands. “Even if I tried, she’d see right through the lie. I swear, the woman is a living and breathing lie detector machine. Growing up, she knew I was fibbing before I ever spun the yarn.”
In spite of her frustration with him, Andi had to bite back a smile as she dug in her shoulder bag for her key, imagining Gabe as a young boy. “I’ll bet you were a handful.”
“No more so than my brothers.”
She inserted the key in the lock, then glanced his way. “Brothers? As in plural?”
“Yeah. Five, to be exact.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Five?” At his nod, she released a long breath. “Wow. I can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up with that many kids in one house.”
“How many brothers and sisters do you have?”
“None. I’m an only child.” She turned the key and pushed open the door. When he would have followed her in, she shifted to block his way. “You’ve seen me to my door. Your mother will be proud.”
“Did I mention that she expected me to go inside and check all the windows and doors, and look under the bed?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Nice try, but if there are any bogeymen waiting for me, I’ll take care of them myself.”
He leaned to peer around her. “Is that your cat?”
She whipped her head around. “I don’t have a—”
Gabe used the distraction to slip by her.
Realizing she’d been duped, she flattened her lips in a scowl. “That trick is as old as I am.”
He started down the hall toward the kitchen. “You fell for it, didn’t you?”
She shut the door and marched after him. “This is ridiculous. I don’t need you to search my house.”
He flipped on the back porch light, then lifted the drape over the window above the sink to peer outside. “You’ve got a message on your answering machine. You might want to check it.”
Andi whipped her gaze to the telephone and was surprised to see that the message light was, in fact, blinking. Frowning, she hit the play button. Ten seconds of recorded silence was followed by a click.
He glanced her way. “Do you get a lot of hang-ups?”
Avoiding his gaze, she punched Delete. “No more than the next person.”
He dropped the drape and turned. “Has the number increased lately?”
“What is this?” she asked impatiently. “An interrogation?”
“Yeah. So do I need to get out the bright lights or are you going to answer my question?”
She sagged her shoulders in defeat. “Okay, so maybe I’ve received a few more than usual, but that doesn’t mean someone is gunning for me.”
He headed for the hallway. Andi charged after him. “Where do you think you’re going now?”
“To your bedroom.”
She stood in tight-lipped silence, watching as he peered under her bed, then opened her closet door. He shoved the hanging clothes to one side and looked in. When he was satisfied that no one was hiding there, he dragged the hangers back into place and started to close the door. He stopped, then reached in and drew something out.
