Page 116 of Deathmarch

Chase tilted his face up to the sky, swore, then looked back at Harper. “All right. I’ll handle the mess here, you take care of Allie. You can file your report in the morning.” He cleared his throat. “I’m filling in for the captain.”

“He’s on his way back.”

“Good. But until he gets here, I’m still in charge. Anyway, now that Allie is safe, he might turn back around. You were involved in a shooting. I’m putting you on admin leave pending investigation. I’m going to need your weapon.”

Harper unfastened his holster and handed Chase the whole kit and kaboodle. Any other day, he would have given Chase at least some grief about it on principle, but not tonight.

“I have something else for you,” he said and reached into the glove compartment. He pulled out the blue file Mike had returned to him. The original thin file had thickened to almost two inches.

“What is it?”

“Eleven counts of sexual harassment, some of minors. I had Mike collect statements from the victims. It’s enough to arrest Dicky Poole when he’s released from the hospital.”

Allie gasped. She took Harper’s hand and squeezed. He wrapped his fingers around hers to keep her.

Chase glanced inside the folder, but only for a second before closing it again. “Any objection to me letting Mike handle this?”

“No. He should get the case. He pulled all this information together.”

Chase carried the folder and Harper’s gun back to his car and locked them in the trunk, before he hurried back. “Where are you taking Allie after the EMTs check her out?”

“My place.” Harper braced himself for pushback, ready to fight Chase on that.

Instead, Chase simply asked, “Allie?”

“Going home with Harper.”

“All right. I’ll come over in the morning to take your statement.” He flashed a pointed look at Harper. “You two are involved. We need to do this by the book.”

Harper raised an eyebrow. “We do everything by the book.”

“Damn right. And that’s how we stay out of trouble.” Chase began to walk away, but he looked back over his shoulder. “You take care of her.”

Harper planned on doing just that. Long term if she let him, he thought as the ambulance turned down at the end of the street.

Chapter Thirty-One

Allie lay back in the hot bath Harper had drawn for her, and she let the stress of the night melt out of her body little by little. Her ordeal was over. Dusty was in custody. Captain Bing had come over, then after making sure she was all right and having a long conversation with Harper in the staircase, he’d driven back to Quantico.

Broslin had rallied around Allie, if the countless casseroles in Harper’s fridge and freezer were any indication. Every available surface on the counter was covered with boxes of cookies. Apparently, while the town had waited for news of her rescue, the women had baked.And,according to Rose, two of the churches had held candlelight prayer vigils.

The mind boggled.

Home. The word bounced around Allie’s head, and she didn’t hate it.

“Everything okay in there?” Harper asked through the door she’d left open to a crack so they could talk.

And because Allie, not ready to be alone just yet, wanted to feel near him. The kidnapping had rattled her more than she wanted to admit. “The bath is great. Thank you.”

His phone rang. He picked it up. “Okay. That’s good. Thanks for letting me know.” A pause. “She’s all right.” Another pause. “Planning on it, bro.”

“Who was that?” Allie asked when the phone beeped, telling her he hung up.

“Dusty confessed on his way to the hospital. He thought he was dying. He wanted to get it off his chest.”

She shifted lower, so every part of her but her head was under water. “That’s good, right?”

“His lawyer will probably fight to have the confession thrown out, but we have enough evidence even without it. Mike found the stolen silver coins in a half-packed suitcase inside Dusty’s front door. His gun will probably match the ballistics for the weapon that was used to murder Lamm. I’m not worried.”