Free Fall Into Me by Linda Winfree Page B

head. “Really wished she’d stayed in the damn car.”
    “Who, Tori?”
    “Yeah.” He jotted the date and address across the top of the form. “He went crazy when he saw her.”
    “Probably blames her for…” Chris’s voice trailed away in an uncomfortable cough and Troy Lee looked up from his clipboard. Cookie’s Blazer slowed to turn into the lot. Unease slithered down his spine and coiled around his gut. Calvert was riding shotgun and even through the windshield the fury tightening his features was apparent.
    Troy Lee closed his eyes. Hell, this was going to be fun.

    Mark leaned on the counter and waited for a pause in Tori’s quiet, intense conversation with Maggie Stinson. Jittery anxiety still jumped in him, but Tori seemed all right. Movie trailers blared from televisions in each corner of the store, the noise making his skin crawl.
    Maggie pushed her thin hair behind her ears. “I’m going to wash my face.”
    “All right.” Tori smiled. “I’ll be right here.”
    He waited until Maggie disappeared into the backroom. “Are you okay?”
    A rueful expression crossed Tori’s pretty features. “Other than feeling like an idiot for not reading the situation better and almost getting Troy Lee hurt? I’m good.”
    He nodded, finally letting the relief have its way. He flicked a finger toward the door marked Employees Only . “How about Maggie?”
    “She’s really shaken up, and to make it worse, feels guilty for calling 911.” Her troubled brown gaze darted toward the front glass and her posture slumped. “Oh, Mark. Go stop that, please.”
    He followed the direction of her gaze. Sure enough, Tick stood with Troy Lee in the middle of the parking lot, giving him hell. His face flushed, Tick stabbed his index finger into the palm of his other hand. The kid wasn’t saying anything, his features set in a stoic mask, his gaze trained somewhere beyond Tick’s shoulder. Chris had retreated to the driver’s seat of his own patrol car.
    A sigh shook his shoulders. Obviously, Tick didn’t understand the concept of “lay off”. “Let me go see if I can calm Tick down.”
    He pushed the door open. At least Tick wasn’t yelling. Instead, he seemed to be speaking in the low, deadly tone he used in the interrogation room. Mark approached, noting the muscle flicking in Troy Lee’s jaw. Ten to one, the kid was chewing the inside of his cheek.
    “Do you understand how easily she could have been hurt?” Tick laid a hand across his side, where Mark knew the surgical incision ended.
    Mark clapped an easy hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Hey, Tick, go wait in the truck.”
    “What?” Tick stopped mid-harangue to stare at him.
    “Go sit in the truck.” Mark gestured toward the Blazer. “Now would be good.”
    Tick glared at him for a moment then threw his hands up and stalked toward the Blazer. Mark hooked his thumbs in his belt and studied Troy Lee. The blank mask remained in place; he continued to stare at the middle distance.
    “Better get Jed to lockup.” Rotating his wrist, Mark glanced at his watch. “Your shift ended twenty minutes ago.”
    Mouth tight, Troy Lee nodded. None of the tension drained from his stance.
    Mark darted a look at Troy Lee’s unit, Jed’s silhouette visible through the back window. “You did good, kid. Jed’s a tough arrest.”
    “Yeah.” He rolled his shoulders, each motion tight and uncomfortable. “Can I go now?”
    “Sure.” Mark watched as Troy Lee walked to his patrol car and slid into the driver’s seat. The young deputy wheeled around and pulled out of the lot. With a wave, Chris followed. Mark went to confer briefly with Tori before returning to his Blazer.
    In the passenger seat, Tick glowered, bouncing his thumb off his knee. Strain painted a white line about his mouth. “Is there a reason I’m waiting in the truck?”
    “Yeah.” He fired the engine. “Because I asked you to.”
    “Very funny, Cookie.”
    “Fine. You’re sitting in the