Читать книгу Hidden Witness - Beverly Long - Страница 10

Chapter Four

Raney twisted, brought a knee up, connected with something and used every bit of strength in her arms to push the man backward.

It was enough to buy a few seconds and give Chase a chance to leap across the space that separated them. She saw the knife go flying and within moments, Chase had the man on the ground, his knee in his chest and his gun pointed at his head.

He turned to look at her. “Are you hurt?” he asked. His eyes were dark, flashing with anger.

She managed to shake her head.

Chase looked down at the man. “Who the hell are you?” he asked, his voice hard.

The man squinted his eyes. “Get off me,” he said. “You’re heavy.”

Raney took a closer look at the man. He’d surprised the heck out of her. She’d just gotten a drink of water when she’d heard a noise behind her. She’d turned, seen the man and the still-open back door, and realized that she was in a world of trouble.

Chase had walked in just in the nick of time.

Chase used the palm of one hand to knock the man’s head back against the dirty kitchen linoleum. “Start talking.”

“You need to get out of here,” the man said. “You need to get out of my house right now.”

Raney saw the change in Chase’s eyes and realized that he’d figured something out. Good, because she didn’t have a clue what was going on.

Chase let up on some of the pressure on the man’s chest but he didn’t let him get up. “Lloyd?” he asked.

“How do you know my name?” the man asked.

“I’m Chase. Chase Hollister.”

“I know you,” the man said. He smiled.

Chase looked up at Raney. “This is Lloyd Doogan. He’s my stepfather’s biological son.”

“So you’re sort of related?”

“I don’t generally think of it that way.” He looked back down at the man. “Lloyd, I’m going to let you get up. I’m not giving you back your knife. You need to sit, so that we can have a conversation.”

Chase was speaking deliberately and didn’t move until the man nodded his understanding.

Lloyd got up and sat. He looked at Raney. “Who are you?”

“Her name is Raney,” Chase said, jumping in. “My wife.”

Lloyd seemed to consider this. “I thought you were one of those teenagers from town. The ones who are always causing trouble.”

Teenager. Granted, she wasn’t dressed for success in her shorts and tank top, but she surely didn’t look sixteen. Chase turned his head but not before she caught a glimpse of a smile.

“Hey!” she challenged.

“I think it’s a compliment,” he said, somewhat sheepishly. He turned back to Lloyd. “This house never belonged to Brick. He was just living here after my mom died. This house doesn’t belong to you now. It belongs to my brothers and me.”

Lloyd didn’t answer. But he was frowning.

“Do you understand, Lloyd?” Chase pushed.

“He told me I could live here,” Lloyd said. “A couple years ago. Said he bought me a bed and everything. But then he got mad about something, I don’t even know what. All I know is that he stopped talking to me, told me I couldn’t come here no more. That ain’t no way to treat a son.”

Chase didn’t say anything.

“I hated him. I really did,” Lloyd added.

“I imagine so,” Chase said quietly.

Even Raney was tracking now. They might not be blood but these two men shared something.

Chase looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with her. “Lloyd,” he said, his eyes still locked on her. “I need to talk to Raney. I need you to stay in your chair.”

Chase pulled her to the side, keeping her back to Lloyd, which allowed him to keep his eyes on his stepbrother.

“I don’t know Lloyd well,” he whispered. “But I’m sure he really did think you were trespassing in his house. Now, that didn’t give him a right to go at you with a knife,” Chase said, his tone hard, “and if he’d managed to hurt you, we’d be having a very different conversation.” He paused, looking back at Lloyd, then at her again. “We have a choice to make. We can call the police or we can pretend this never happened.”

Calling the police would attract attention to them, which was what they didn’t want to do. Plus, Chase would likely be putting his stepbrother in jail. By the looks of him, she thought it might be possible that the man wouldn’t have the resources to post bail.

“I’m not hurt,” she said. “No harm done, right? Although we may want to make sure that we confiscate his key to the back door,” she said, nodding at the silver key on the floor near Lloyd’s feet. “Let him go,” she added.

“You’re sure?” Chase asked, his eyes searching her face.

She nodded.

“Thank you,” Chase said simply.

He moved around her and sat down across from his stepbrother. “Lloyd, do you understand that I could call the police? That you would be the one in trouble because we belong here?”

Lloyd nodded.

“Do you understand that you can’t come back to this house?”

Lloyd nodded again.

“I need to hear you say it,” Chase prodded.

“I won’t come back,” Lloyd said. He shifted his gaze to Raney. “I’m sorry, ma’am, if I scared you.”

Ma’am? She liked it better when he thought she was a teenager. “Raney,” she corrected.

Chase picked up the key. “Lloyd, is this your only key to the house?”

“Yes. He never knew I had it,” Lloyd said. “I sneaked into the house one day about a year ago and took it off his dresser.”

She saw Chase swallow hard. “Lloyd, I’m not going to call the police. I’m going to give you back your knife and you’re going to leave the property and you’re not coming back. And if you happen to see Raney again, you’re going to treat her nicely, right?” Chase picked up the knife and laid it on the table, near enough for Lloyd to reach. He was watching the man closely and Raney was confident that he was still conflicted about letting him go.