Lawton turned to Bishop. "What?"
Bishop turned his gaze heavenward. "Oh, for fuck's sake."
I glared at him. "You already said that."
Bishop looked toward Lawton. "She thinks I’m the other guy."
"What other guy?" I demanded.
Shrugging, Bishop gave a quick glance at the car in the driveway. "The guy in the trunk. Let's just say we intercepted him."
I looked toward the car too. My voice shook. "He's not, uh – "
"Dead?" Bishop said. "No." He turned his attention to the guy on the lawn. "And we better hope that one's not dead, either."
Lawton's jaw tightened. "Speak for yourself. I don't give a shit if he's dead."
"Obviously," Bishop said. "You search him yet?"
Lawton shook his head and made a move toward the guy.
"Hang on," Bishop said. "I'll do it."
"Why you?" I asked.
"Because given half a chance, Romeo here –" Bishop flicked his chin toward Lawton, "– would probably finish him off. Then we'd haverealtrouble on our hands."
I took in my surroundings, starting with the strange car with a body, hopefully alive, in the trunk, to the ski mask on the lawn, to the unconscious guy lying a few feet away. If this wasn't real trouble, I didn't know what was. I started to shake. Not just my hands, but my whole body.
Lawton, very gently this time, took my hand. "Come here," he said. "It's gonna be alright." He put an arm around me and nestled me close.
I gave a shrill bark of laughter. "Alright? Seriously? This is so not alright."
Bishop was pulling the ski mask from the guy's face. I squinted into the darkness and was slowly able to make out some of his features. I sucked in a breath. I couldn't be one hundred percent sure, but I thought I knew him.
Chapter 53
Lawton turned to face me. "Wasn't this the guy from yesterday? At the club?"
His blood-spattered face looked a lot different than the last time I'd seen it. But it sure looked like Brittney's date, or friend, or whatever.
I nodded. "I think so."
I touched my throat. I could almost still feel the knife, but I felt no cut, no blood, no anything, except remnants of my own fear.
Somewhere in the back of my brain, I heard a muffled sound. It might've been a sob. Or it might've been a whimper.
Slowly, I became aware that the noise had come from me, and that Lawton's strong arms encircled me tighter now, wrapping me in a cocoon of warmth and security as I completely fell apart.
He murmured comforting sounds into my hair, but now that I'd started, I couldn’t seem to stop. We stood like that for what seemed like a long time.
From someplace that seemed oddly far away, Lawton was saying something that seemed to require an answer.
With a final sniffle, I pulled back to look at him. "Sorry," I mumbled. "What'd you say?"
"I'm taking you inside."
I glanced toward the car. "But what about the other guy?"
