Larson appeared from the back room, weapondrawn as he scanned the scene. Whipping his head around, Asherchecked the room again to ensure any threats were stillneutralized.
Sirens blared as backup arrived. Two morecops came rushing in and secured the scene. Pretty well trained fora small town.
Customers and employees of the bank startedto rise, most speechless and taking in the chaos. It had taken lessthan a minute for Asher and Larson to come in and take down therobbers. His eyes wandered the crowd, searching out the reason hewas here.
Stepping out from the far cubicle, Sophie’sfrazzled but smiling face melted him immediately. Closing thedistance between them in an instant, he pulled her against him andheld on until he was convinced she was safe.
Nuzzling against his neck, her breathing wascalm and steady. Unlike his. In the moment, he’d been the machinehe’d been trained to be.
Now, holding her, realizing how close he’dcome to losing her, he knew she was never going to be just afriend. If she’d been hurt…
“Asher?” Larson interrupted, voice calm,steady, and barely above a whisper.
Tucking Sophie at his side, he turned towardsLarson. Realizing he was still clutching the robber’s gun, hedouble checked the safety and handed it to the officer next toLarson for processing. “All good?”
Larson nodded. “Nice work. You have some timeto come over to the station to chat for a bit?”
Shit. Never good when a cop asks you that.His eyes strayed downward to the badge, noting that Larson wasn’tjust a cop, he was the chief. “Of course.”
Turning to Sophie, he raised his eyebrows inquestion, “You want to see if Jane can give you a lift home?”
She shook her head. “I can wait. I’ll comewith you. I could use some time to cool down before heading homeanyway.”
Larson nodded, “Why don’t I meet you both atthe station? The others will be taking statements from everyone inthe bank anyway, and it’s going to take a while for everyone hereto be cleared. Might actually be faster this way.”
“Thanks, Chief Larson. We’ll head rightover.” Sophie leaned against Asher as she gave the chief a tiredsmile.
“Chief Larson was my father. It’s Jonah. Seeyou in a few.” He winked and left to check in with the cops onscene that had already started their questioning.
Heading out the front door, Asher couldn’tseem to let go of Sophie. Not caring who they ran into or whatanyone thought, he clutched her hand and wasn’t letting go.
Jane stood outside the bank with a smallcrowd, anxiously wringing her hands until she saw the two of themcome out. “Are you okay? I heard the shots and came out as soon asI saw the police arrive.” Checking her nephew and her new partnerfor any sign of injury, she looked them up and down. Satisfiedneither were hurt, she threw her arms around the pair.
Not one to be rattled easily, Jane steppedback, took a steadying breath, and put her hands on her hips.“Well. I’m just glad you’re both okay.” Noting they were holdinghands, she added with a smile, gesturing, “I was going to hint toDenise that you two would make a nice couple. I see you beat me tothe punch.”
Shit. Sophie didn’t deny it. Verymatter-of-factly, she agreed, “I’m really glad you think so. Welike each other.”
Wincing, Asher pleaded, “Mind not sayinganything just yet? Pippa would kill us both.”
Laughing uproariously, pleasantly shatteringthe doom and gloom that hung over the crowd, Jane nodded inagreement. “I won’t say a thing. I nearly forgot about… you know.All that fuss she threw. As much as I love my niece, sort of servesher right. Her first friend worth keeping around happens to be sucha good match for you.”
Neither knew quite what to say. What did shemean by ‘her first friend worth keeping around?’ Well, Ashersupposed she really hadn’t had a genuinely good friend since theywere in grade school. What kind of friend snuck into her friend’sbrother’s bedroom in the middle of the night? Ouch, Pippa was goingto kill them both.
Jane watched his struggle to understand hercomments and winked. “You’ll figure it out. Just take good care ofeach other. I’m glad you’re okay.” Flitting back into FoothillsAccounting, Jane laughed the entire way.
Adrenaline crashing, Asher leaned gently onSophie, absorbing some of her strength.
***
Larson had been talking to him for an hournow. It had taken about thirty seconds to get her statement, thenshe’d been politely kicked out. She knew she could call Jane oreven Pippa to come get her, but she didn’t want to. This must haveadded to his stress level. She needed to stay, in case he neededanything.
The Foothills police station was actuallypretty nice. From the plaque she read above the set of chairs shewas planted in, it had been built over a hundred years ago and wasone of the first in the area. Classically constructed with woodworkeverywhere, wooden stairs and railing to a mysterious upper story,creaky hardwood floors, thick wooden doors. She could almost smellthe timber under the scent of the receptionist’s spaghetti.
Leaning back in the minimally cushionedwaiting chair, she tried to stimulate circulation to her low backagain. After her butt had formed a likely permanent indent in theflimsy foam and fake leather, she’d given up the effort to attemptto find a comfortable position. The receptionist gave her anothersweet smile, but still had no updates for her.
Her knee was going a mile a minute. Glancingat her phone, she remembered she’d run the battery down to aboutnothing. Tempted to bite her nails, she sat on her hands to preventa relapse. Well, another relapse. There wasn’t much left to chewanyway.
Finally, the door at the far end of theoffice opened, and she could see Chief Larson standing in the opendoorway. Jonah. He couldn’t be more than four or five years olderthan Asher. A bit shorter, hair neatly trimmed, full beard. Fit butstalky. Gentle eyes; that was a nice thing to see in a policechief.
