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“Yes, of course. I called nine-one-one as soon as we got to Edith’s. The police should be here any minute. I hope.” She drew in an audible breath. “Just come over, Zack. Please.”
“I’ll be right there. You’re still at Edith’s?” Edith Denton lived in the nearest apartment to Laurel. She was a widow and basically another grandmother to the kids. From time to time she’d take care of the kids, and Zack knew she and Laurel were close.
“Yes.”
“Good. Stay there until the cops tell you it’s okay to come out.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
“I’m leaving now.” He hung up and Travis immediately started asking questions. Zack held up a hand. “The cops are on the way and she and the kids are at Edith’s. Jesus, Travis, she was robbed at gunpoint.”
“Shit! I knew this would happen. That apartment complex is an open invitation to being robbed. It’s just a fucking miracle she hasn’t had a break-in before now.”
“I agree, but I suggest you don’t lead with that. She’s upset enough already. She said she and the kids were okay. Aside from being scared out of their minds.”
Starting for the hangar office, Travis said over his shoulder, “I’m coming too. I’ll follow in my truck.”
By the time Zack and Travis reached the complex, the police were there. In fact, it looked like most of Whiskey River’s police force had shown up. Zack and Travis went straight up to Laurel’s apartment. They had to go through the cops who were trying to keep people out, but Adam Wells was one of them. Since he knew Zack and Travis and their relationship to Laurel, they were allowed to pass.
Laurel was standing outside her apartment, talking to a man when they arrived. Though he wore street clothes, Zack recognized him as Dan Winters, one of the Whiskey River police detectives. Zack tapped Laurel on the arm and she turned to him and more or less threw herself into his arms. “Oh, Zack, I’m so glad to see you. And you too, Travis,” she said, releasing Zack to hug her brother.
“Detective Winters,” she said, turning to him, “do you know Zack Bannister and my brother Travis?”
“Yes, we’ve met, but it’s been a while,” Winters said. The three men shook hands.
“Don’t let us interrupt,” Zack said. “We wanted Laurel to know we’re here.”
“Detective Winters was asking me to describe the robbers, but I already told the nine-one-one dispatcher what they looked like,” she said, sounding a little put out.
“Yes, ma’am,” Winters said. “But I’d like to hear it again. You might remember something else. Anything you can tell us can help to identify the intruders. Tattoos, scars, clothing, even their shoes,” the detective said. “After we talk, I’d like you to go to the station and talk to one of the officers to see if we can get a sketch of the suspects.”
“You mean talk to a sketch artist?”
“No, ma’am. Whiskey River’s not big enough to need a full-time sketch artist. But Jenkins is good and he should be able to get a reasonable idea of what these men looked like.”
“All right. But I only saw them for a few seconds. We ran as soon as they came into the room.”
“You’d be surprised what you remember,” the detective promised. “I’ll have someone take you to the station as soon as we’re finished.” He then drew her aside and began jotting notes as she described what had happened.
While they talked Zack looked around and realized there was a hole in Laurel’s door. At his eye level. And another one even higher up. “Are those what I think they are?” he asked Travis, motioning to Laurel’s apartment door.
Grim-faced, Travis nodded. “Looks like bullet holes to me.”
Laurel came to stand with him after she and the detective finished talking. “You said they had a gun. You didn’t tell me they shot at you,” Zack said to her, his tone deadly quiet.
“I haven’t had time. It missed. It was way over my head.”
“There were two bullet holes,” Zack said grimly. “Two.”
“The bullets went through the door and are embedded in the wooden post beside the apartment across the way,” Winters said, motioning to Edith’s apartment. “CSI will be here shortly and they’ll retrieve them.”
Zack didn’t answer but pulled Laurel back into his arms. He tightened his arms around her as she clung to him. What if Laurel or one of the children had been hit?
“Can you take Laurel to the station?” the detective asked. “She wondered if she could go with you rather than an officer. That’s fine with us.”
“Yes, I’ll take her.”
Laurel let go of him and he released her reluctantly. “Travis, the kids are with Edith,” Laurel said. “I’m going to tell them I have to go down to the station. But after I leave can you—”
“I’ll take care of them,” Travis interrupted. “Don’t worry.”
A short time later they walked to his car. Zack said nothing, afraid he couldn’t speak without yelling. And the last thing Laurel needed was for him to yell at her. But damn it, she’d been shot at. And she hadn’t said a word about it. Would she have, if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes? Laurel…and Cody and Katrina…the babies. They could have been killed. All of them could have been killed.
