“I hadn’t even finished setting up my rifle stance,” Leo adds with a bitter smile. “For a second there, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to take my shot, if push came to shove.”
“That was a close call.”
“Risky, too,” Dax tells Leo.
“Because I was in the line of fire?” I ask, a cold shiver blowing through me.
Leo shakes his head. “I wouldn’t have taken the shot unless I was sure you were out of the way. Luckily, you were just a smidge faster than the prick.”
“Will you be in trouble? You’re not law enforcement,” I say quietly, suddenly even more worried about Leo’s future.
He has Luke, he has us. I can’t bear the thought of losing him, not when we’re so damn close to an actual life together. Buthe just shakes his head while Dax and Beck exchange smiling glances.
“Carlos called the sheriff and had him come over to the hospital to deputize us,” Leo explains. “I fired that shot in full accordance with the law. It’ll go on record as an officer-involved shooting.”
“With the way things are going, I’ve got a feeling that Carlos is going to be our next sheriff, anyway,” Dax mutters.
I give him a troubled look. “How so?”
“Well, it turns out Jocelyn’s got dirt on pretty much every higher-up in law enforcement within the regional justice department,” Dax replies. “And she’s spilling her guts to an interviewing IA detective as we speak in exchange for leniency.”
“Leniency?”
Beck scoffs and shakes his head slowly. “You didn’t think she’d get away with everything she put you through, did you?”
“I still can’t believe she actually helped Marcus,” I say, a sadness to my tone.
“Apparently, Marcus approached her discreetly outside the courthouse early one morning,” Beck says. “It was right after Carlos decided not to book you. She asked Marcus to intervene, but he said he wanted to go easy, to see what you were up to. I’m pretty sure they were sexually involved, too. Jocelyn didn’t admit that outright, but the guilt was written all over her face.”
“Oh, I could puke,” I groan, genuinely nauseated. “Thenagain, it kind of tracks. Marcus was a manipulative bastard. He always found a way to get what he wanted.”
“We don’t know the rest of the details, but the bottom line is that Jocelyn collaborated with Marcus to get you away from us,” Beck says. “When she realized that he was the one behind the arson fires and heard about Carlos, she felt bad enough to come clean about what she had done.”
“We probably would’ve figured it out eventually,” Dax says, then lovingly runs his fingers through my hair. “But fortunately, she had the shred of a conscience left. She did the right thing in the end.”
I nod slowly before resting my head on his shoulder, basking in his affection. Leo can’t take his gentle eyes off me while Beck takes my blood pressure again.
“Okay, it’s dropping a little bit,” he says.
“That’s good, right?”
“It’s great. It means the little guys are doing just fine in there,” he replies and glances down at my belly. “I’ll feel a lot better after we run some tests and another ultrasound, though.”
“Oh, wow, I just realized,” I gasp, looking around at the scene.
“What?” Dax asks with a subtle frown.
“This string of tragedies has left Ember Ridge without a fire captain, without a sheriff, and without an ADA,” I say. “Looks like there’s going to be a few changes coming.”
Beck taps Dax on the shoulder. “You should start studying, brother.”
“For what?”
“For the captain’s exam.”
I nod with excitement. “Oh, wouldn’t that be awesome?”
“Carter has more experience,” Dax replies, shaking his head. “He came in from Jackson to take over.”
