Faith's Sheriff (Montgomery Family and Friends) (10 page)

She finally spotted her phone on the floorboard near the door.  She unbuckled her seatbelt and fumbled around until her fingers closed around the comforting piece of black plastic.  She didn’t even think about calling 911.  The only person on her mind was Cole, with trembling fingers she hit the speed dial button that would connect her with the one person she knew could make her feel safe. 

****

Cole was feeling antsy.  He hadn’t been this eager for a date since, well never.   Faith had gotten under his skin early on and now she was quickly working her way into his heart.  He was in such a hurry to see her again that he was already on his way to the Wakefield’s house even though he was going to be almost an hour early. 

His mobile phone buzzed and he pushed the button on his hands free device to answer the incoming call.  “Hello, Sheriff Duncan speaking.”

“C-Cole,” Faith’s strained voice whimpered into the phone.

Cole’s heart started thudding in his chest from the unmistakable fear in Faith’s voice. 

“What’s wrong honey? Where are you?”  Cole wasn’t that far from the Wakefield house.  He hoped she was nearby.  The need to be with her and protect her from harm clawed through him. 

A strangled sob erupted from the phone and into his ear.  The sound twisted his gut and his heart.

“I’m at the c-c-creek near Caroline’s house.  A t-truck ran me off the road and my car rolled down the s-shallow embankment.”  Faith let out another wretched sob.  “Hurry Cole I heard a door slam.  I think he’s coming to finish the job!”

“Hang on Faith!  Press the car horn and don’t let off of it.  Make as much noise as you can.  It might distract him until I can get there.  I’m on the way baby, hold on!”

Cole heard the shrill sound of a blasting horn through the phone.  “Good girl, stay on the line with me Faith, no matter what, and if you see your attacker and recognize him give me a name.”  Cole turned on his hazard lights and pressed the accelerator down as hard as he could until it touched the floor.  Then he grabbed his radio and put a call in to the dispatcher at the sheriff’s office.  He quickly explained what had happened and requested backup and an ambulance in case Faith was seriously injured.

He didn’t want to think about all the bad things that could be happening to Faith right now, but all kinds of horrible scenarios crossed his mind anyway.  He had to reach her in time.  He just had to.  He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her.

Faith’s head which already hurt from the accident was really pounding now with the earsplitting sound of the horn all around her.  She trusted Cole though and she was going to do what he said.  She wasn’t going to stop making noise until help arrived or her attacker found her and rendered her helpless or dead.  

Cole took the last turn before the bridge on two wheels.  “I’m almost there, Faith.  Hang on baby.” 

“Hurry, Cole, hurry!”

Cole saw the white pickup truck speed off from the scene of the accident just as the bridge came into sight.  He thought about chasing after the bastard for just a split second, but Faith needed him.  Justice would have to wait.  Faith and her wellbeing were more important.  The simple truth in that statement shook Cole to the core, but he didn’t have time for deep reflections.  He had to get to Faith. He had to see with his own eyes that she was going to be okay.

Cole brought his SUV to a screeching halt and jumped out of the vehicle before it had stopped rocking.  He didn’t pay any attention to the mud that was caking on the sole of his favorite boots.  He had one goal and that was to reach Faith as soon as possible.  He could still hear the blaring of her car horn.  He hoped that was a sign that Faith’s attacker had fled the scene instead of finding her and causing more harm.   

Cole scrambled down the bank and to the battered piece of metal housing Faith.  He looked through the driver’s side window and straight into her wide and frightened eyes.

Faith’s gaze darted around the car.  She didn’t want the attacker sneaking up on her.  Suddenly Cole appeared in the window nearest to her.  The hand pressing down on the car horn was starting to cramp and she thankfully moved it away from the steering wheel.  She opened and closed that hand several times while she used the other hand to press the button to automatically unlock the doors.  She felt the door being wrenched open and she practically spilled out of the mangled hunk of metal and into Cole’s arms.

She felt two strong arms embrace her in a fierce hug.  She allowed the warmth and hardness of Cole’s surrounding body to seep into her own body.  It gave her both a sense of comfort and overwhelming peace.  Being held by Cole felt right.  It felt more right than anything she’d ever experienced before.  The intensity of her feelings for this man might have scared her under normal circumstances, but there was nothing normal about her life right now.

She looked into Cole’s deep brown eyes and everything in the world disappeared except for the two of them.  Her lips parted of their own accord and she leaned even closer into his body.  Just another half an inch and their bodies would be fused tightly together.  Faith wanted that more than she wanted anything else in that particular moment of time. 

Cole could feel Faith’s body yield to his until they fit together like two snug pieces of a puzzle.  Her lips parted in an invitation that he couldn’t resist.  He lowered his head until their lips were barely touching and froze.

Faith saw Cole’s face moving toward her and she closed her eyes and waited.  She felt his lips brush against hers with just the lightest touch.  She held her breath and pressed closer.  It still wasn’t enough.  She wrapped both arms around his neck to deepen the kiss.  He tasted like mint and his kiss reminded Faith of a warm lazy summer day spent under the sun. 

Cole’s body reacted to the soft curves pressed against it and he could feel the growing bulge behind his zipper.  This was getting way out of hand.  He’d set out to comfort her not ravish her on the spot.  He ripped his mouth away from hers.  He had to get control before he totally lost it. 

“I need to make sure you’re okay, Faith.”  He slowly and gently moved both hands up and down the entire length of her body.

Faith was overcome with embarrassment.  She lightly slapped his arms away.  “I’m fine Cole, just a bump on the head from where it hit the steering wheel.”  Yes she’d been through a very traumatic experience, but that didn’t give her the right to throw herself at Cole.  What must he be thinking of her right now?

Cole cupped her chin in one large strong hand and tenderly lifted her head until she had to look him in the eyes. “I’ve gotten good at reading you, Faith.  You have nothing to be ashamed of.  I want you just as much as you want me.  Believe me, Faith.   It’s taking every ounce of self-control I own right now to keep you out of my arms.” 

A siren sounded in the distance.  “This is not the place or the time, but soon Faith, soon.”

Faith gave him a shy smile.  “I was looking forward to our date.  I guess it’s off now.”

“Nope, just postponed,” he promised.  “I radioed dispatch and had an ambulance sent out here for you.  I think I hear it now.  Let’s get you up to the road, so the paramedics can examine you.”

“I’m okay really.  I just want to go back to….”  She sniffed.  “I don’t have anywhere to go,” she suddenly realized.  “Cole, I can’t go back to Caroline’s house.  That truck followed me out of our neighborhood and then deliberately ran me off the road.  There’s no way it was an accident or a random act of violence.”

“No you can’t go back to the Wakefield’s house, but don’t worry.  I have the perfect safe house for you.”  He’d made up his mind about that and he would bulldoze over any of her objections if and when they came.  His main goal was to keep her safe and he was going to do it on his own terms.

Cole put an arm under Faith’s knees and scooped her up into his arms. 

Faith let out a surprised squeak of alarm.  “What are you doing,” she demanded.  She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight.

Cole carefully picked his way up the embankment and to the side of the road.  “I’m taking you to meet the ambulance.”

“Well that’s obvious, but I’m quite capable of walking by myself.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” he shrugged.  “You took a pretty hard hit on the head and that bank is steep and slippery.  There is no need to take any chances.”  Not with anything as precious as you, he silently added.  He didn’t say it out loud, because that was a conversation that was going to have to wait.

Faith didn’t get a chance to respond, because the ambulance and a deputy arrived at the scene and organized chaos broke out.  Suddenly she had two paramedics and a deputy demanding her attention.  Three people were shooting out questions faster than Faith could follow much less answer.  It was too much, and Faith buried her face into the smoothness of Cole’s dress shirt.   

Cole moved around the three men and briskly walked to the ambulance.  He waited for one of the paramedics to open the door and then he gently sat Faith down. 

“She hit her head on the steering wheel when her car ran down the embankment.  Please check her over and make sure that’s the only injury she sustained.” 

“Cole I’m fine, really.”  Faith was pretty sure nothing was broken and she didn’t feel like being prodded by two strangers.

“Well we’re going to make sure of that.”  He turned back to the paramedics.  “This was not an accident.  The sheriff’s department is going to want a very thorough report on her examination and any injuries she might have sustained, no matter how minor.”  He looked straight into the eyes of one paramedic and then the other.  “If she has a scratch so tiny you need a magnifying glass to see it I want it documented.  Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir, we’re on top of things Sheriff Duncan.”  One paramedic took out a blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around Faith’s upper arm while the other began asking her questions.

Cole saw that Faith was in capable hands.  He pulled his deputy to the side and out of everyone else’s range of hearing.  “She was intentionally run off the road.”  He pointed toward the creek.  “Her car is down there.  Make a report and take plenty of photographs.  Have someone look for specks of paint and any other forensic evidence that might exist and then have the car towed to the parking lot behind the sheriff’s department.”

Deputy James Palmer scratched his chin and then looked from his boss to the young lady in the back of the ambulance.  “Sheriff, it seems to me things are really starting to heat up in the Tome case.  Calls have been coming in all day long about Richard Tome.  He was spotted near his old house, the elementary school, and Joyce Montgomery’s house.”

Cole nodded.  Right now everything in his gut was telling him this was the work of a desperate killer not an ex-husband with control issues.  “Richard Tome is at the top of my suspect list.  However law enforcement in Georgia is still trying to track down Ms. Riley’s ex-husband.  I can’t rule out Patrick Riley until I know whether or not he has an alibi.  The fact that he hasn’t been tracked down yet does make me wonder. ”

“I agree,” the deputy said.  “We can’t rule out any suspects yet, but I got a report of a stolen truck a few minutes ago.  It was taken from Tome’s neighborhood.  And he was spotted there by several people this afternoon.”

Cole’s frown deepened.  “Faith said she was followed from her house by a white pickup truck.  Tome, Faith, and I all live in the same neighborhood, at least we did before things went crazy.”

Palmer wasn’t an idiot.  He’d seen the way his boss looked at Faith Riley.  This was more than professional or neighborly concern.  “What is going to happen now?”

“Faith is staying with Kyle and Caroline Wakefield.  That’s why she was out this way.  They live on this side of the lake.  She can’t stay with them now.  This is too close to their house and Tome might be able to find her there.  I’m going to take Faith to a safe house until we can find Tome and her ex-husband, and the danger has passed.”

“That’s probably for the best,” the deputy agreed.  “Anything else you need me to do?”

“Have someone patrol near Joyce Montgomery’s house every hour or so.  She’s fostering Tome’s daughter.”

The deputy raised a brow.  “Do you think Mrs. Montgomery and the children might be in danger?”

“I doubt it,” Cole said.  “Joyce has a state of the art security system that only the best of money can buy courtesy of her son-in-law.  Remember her daughter Aubrey is married to rock star Matthew Hampton.  After Abigail’s ex-husband walked in and terrorized Abigail and her two children, Hampton wouldn’t let Aubrey back in that house until a security system was installed.  There’s no way Tome could get inside Mrs. Montgomery’s home without alerting the sheriff’s department, state law enforcement, and a private security company.”   

Cole gave the deputy a few last minute instructions and then shook hands with the man.  He had done his duty, now he was free to concentrate on Faith. 

He walked back to join the group in the back of the ambulance.  One paramedic was busy cleaning the cut on Faith’s forehead.  The other was still asking her questions and scribbling the answers down on the paper attached to his clipboard. 

“How’s it going,” he asked the paramedic with the clipboard. 

“Everything seems to be okay Sheriff Duncan.  She had a three inch cut on part of her scalp and forehead, but it wasn’t too deep.  No need for stiches.  She has a small bump and possibly a slight concussion.  Her pupils are normal and there is no nausea or vomiting.  She should probably go to the hospital for further treatment and an MRI scan, but she’s refusing.”

Cole didn’t like the sound of a trip to the hospital.  It was a security nightmare, but he wasn’t taking any chances with her health and he wasn’t going to let her be careless either.  “I tell you what.   Go ahead and get all the information you need for your report and then I’ll take her to the hospital myself.”

Both paramedics looked relieved.  They quickly finished what they were doing and then happily turned the reluctant patient over to the sheriff.

Cole scooped Faith into his arms and carried her over to his SUV.  He opened the front passenger door with one hand and then gently deposited her onto the front seat.  “You’re going to the emergency room and that’s final,” he told her.  “I don’t want any arguments.  I’m going to radio ahead and tell them I’m bringing in a witness in protective custody.  That way we can get in and out as fast as possible without anyone else being the wiser.”