Cage eased around the corner of a building. One of the shooters stood just outside the bar while the other was still presumably looking for him. Cage ducked back and flattened himself against the wall.
After a moment, he glanced around the corner again. A squad car raced up the street and slid to a halt at the curb. A man in a khaki uniform and aviator glasses got out and propped his arm on the open door. After he and the gunman conversed, the cop strolled leisurely over to the bar and glanced inside.
So much for getting help from the state police, Cage thought grimly.
As he continued to watch, the second gunman came jogging out of a nearby alley. While the three conferred, another vehicle pulled up behind the squad car.
Cage recognized the expensive SUV. It was the same one hed seen earlier, passing through town.
Two men in dark suits and sunglasses got out. Cage was pretty sure they were cops, too, but a little higher up on the food chain.
One of the gunmen stepped forward and pointed to the bar, then gestured toward the alley from which hed emerged a few moments earlier, undoubtedly trying to explain how hed let a witness to the shooting get away from him.
The men in dark suits listened without comment, then the taller of the two reached up and removed his sunglasses. Turning, his eyes traveled slowly over the buildings across the street, as if some instinct drew his gaze straight to Cage.
Cage jerked back, but not before hed gotten a good look at the mans face. Hed never seen a crueler expression or a colder pair of eyes, and that was saying something considering the lowlifes hed encountered.
It was only a matter of time before they found out who he was. Only a matter of minutes if they already had his cell phone. Or found his car.
As the five men fanned out, Cage decided it was time to get the hell out of Dodge.
Slipping behind the buildings along Main Street to the garage, he grabbed a couple of water bottles from Lesters cooler and headed out of town the same way hed come in.
GRACE! SHERIFF STEELE, I mean. Are you okay?
I think so. Grace was sitting on the bottom stair massaging her right ankle when the front door burst open, and Ethan Brennan rushed in. Ethan worked in the county clerks office and was a friend of Lilys. Platonic friend, she insisted, but it had taken Grace about two seconds in Ethans company to figure out he had it bad for her sister.
He was just shy of thirty and cute in that intense, techno-geek kind of way. Shoving his dark glasses up his nose, he hurried over to Grace. What happened?
Good question, Grace muttered as she turned and glanced up the stairs. Had someone really pushed her from behind, or had it all happened so fast that shed only imagined the hand on her back, the face at the top of the stairs?
Luckily, the suitcases that had tumbled down with her had somewhat cushioned her fall. Grace gingerly rotated her ankle. It wasnt broken, thank goodness, but she was already starting to feel the bumps and bruises where shed been banged around on the stairs.
She looked up into Ethans anxious face and mustered up a shaky smile. What are you doing out here anyway?
He held up a large envelope. Lily asked me to come by and drop off some papers. When I didnt see her car, I thought she might be down at the barn, so I checked there first. Then I came back up here and I found the front door ajar. I got a little nervous His cheeks reddened. I probably shouldnt have just barged in like that.
Its okay.
I didnt know what to think when no one answered my knock
Ethan, its fine. Im sure you were worried about Lily.
His blush deepened as his gaze slid away from Grace. He glanced around at all the suitcases strewn about the foyer. What did happen here?
I fell down the stairs.
You His gaze lifted to the staircase behind her and widened. All the way down? Youre lucky you didnt break your neck!
No kidding.
How did you manage to do that?
Not break my neck?
Fall, he said seriously.
Grace paused. Did she really want to get into her suspicions with Ethan? With anyone, for that matter. Best just to keep her mouth shut until she had a chance to look around. Im not sure how it happened. Maybe I hooked my heel on the rug or something. I had my arms full and couldnt see where I was going.
His gaze went back to the suitcases. Soyoure leaving?
Im just moving into town. Maybe you could give me a hand with all this stuff.
Be glad to. Just let me put this somewhere first. He placed the envelope on a table near the stairs, then turned back to Grace. Its for Lily, he said.
So you said.
He gave her a sheepish grin that Grace found adorable. How could Lily not just eat him up with a spoon?
Are you sure youre okay? He offered her a hand as she got to her feet.
Just a few bruises. See? She put weight on her ankle. No permanent harm done.
Thank goodness. First Sheriff Dickerson and now you. People might start to think theres a curse on this town.
Well, we wouldnt want that, would we? Graces attention was caught by a passing shadow out one of the side windows. A few minutes later, she heard footsteps on the porch, and then Lily appeared in the doorway.
Her dark hair, which she wore in a braid down her back, was slightly askew and she appeared out of breath. She had on jeans and a cotton shirt, which had become the unofficial uniform of the deputies in Criminal Investigations except on days when they had to appear in court.
The lax dress code had bothered Grace at first, but after a few days of coping with the heat and the rugged West Texas terrain, shed eased up on her expectations.
Since Grace hadnt heard a vehicle drive up, she had to assume that Lily had been there all along. While Grace had been talking with Ethan, her sister would have had plenty of time to go down the rear staircase and out the back door, then make her way around to the front of the house.
Grace tried to check the direction of her thoughts. Did she really think her own sister had pushed her down the stairs?
Whats going on? Lily asked as she stepped through the door.
Your sister just fell down the stairs, Ethan blurted.
Really? All the way down? Her eyes collided with Graces. Lily didnt seem overly concerned, or even surprised, to hear about the incident. In fact, Graces stomach churned at the passive expression on her sisters face.
I told her shes lucky she didnt break her neck, Ethan said.
Well, you always did have all the luck in the family. Lilys cool gaze swept back to Grace. What was it Mama used to say? The more things change, the more they stay the same?
But Ethan shifted uncomfortably.
What? Lily snapped.
You dont
She put a hand on her hip. I dont what?
Grace could have been seriously hurt, Ethan said.
But she wasnt. Were you, Grace?
Im fine.
Of course you are. No one knows better than you how to take care of Number One. Am I right?
If you say so. Grace wasnt about to rise to Lilys bait. She had no intention of airing their dirty laundry in front of Ethan Brennan or anyone else. It was bad enough that Lily could barely remain civil at work.
But she wasnt. Were you, Grace?
Im fine.
Of course you are. No one knows better than you how to take care of Number One. Am I right?
If you say so. Grace wasnt about to rise to Lilys bait. She had no intention of airing their dirty laundry in front of Ethan Brennan or anyone else. It was bad enough that Lily could barely remain civil at work.
Her sister spotted the envelope Ethan had put on the table and pounced on it. Is that for me?
Its all in there, Ethan said. Everything you requested
Thanks. She glanced inside the envelope, then placed it back on the table. As she turned, she made a point of toeing one of Graces suitcases out of her way. So youre splitting, huh?
Thats what you want, isnt it?
Lilys gaze lifted, and the coldness in those gray depths sent a shiver down Graces spine. You have no idea what I want. You never did.
Suddenly, an image of that face at the top of the stairs came back to Grace. She couldnt say with any certainty that it had been Lily up there peering down at her, and she wanted desperately to believe that it had not been. But dread tightened like a fist around Graces heart. What if it had been Lily?
What if her own sisterhad just tried to kill her?
THE DESERT WAS NOT an ideal place to hide, Cage soon discovered as he made his way back to his car.
Putting the manual transmission in neutral, he pushed the vehicle as far out into the barren landscape as he could manage. He hated like hell to abandon it. That car was about the only thing he owned free and clear these days. But in his current fix, there wasnt much else he could do.
Getting out his map, he decided the best way to evade his hunters was to stay off all roads that led into or out of San Miguel. There was another highway about ten or fifteen miles due west across the desert where he might be able to find a phone or hitch a ride.
He glanced up at the blazing sun. Hed be crossing in the heat of the day, but he had two water bottles and he damn sure had the will to live.
Down on his luck was a helluva lot better than dead, Cage decided as he buried the license plates from his car and the contents of his glove box in the sand.