“No, I won’t,” she said. “This bastard needs to rot in hell.”
“The sheriff might be able to get a DNA sample from the woods,” Duke stated. “It’ll take a while to get results back, but you never know when you’ll get lucky. It could help ID the bastard. Plus, you got a first name.”
“True,” she said. “But I only plan to stick around long enough to see your grandparents wake up.” She sounded so certain they would. “And then I’m packing up and getting out of Dodge.”
“Do you have to go so soon?” he asked, realizing she may have started the process before he arrived home. “Is there a job waiting?”
“No,” she said. “I think it’s best if I leave and clear my head. Coming back to Mesa Point, to the only place I’ve ever felt like I belonged, wasn’t the same this time around. Once I was here, I started working almost right away.”
“Speaking of work, doesn’t the sheriff need you here?”
“I guess,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t think Ackerman and I see eye to eye. And I’m considering buying land at some point. This job isn’t what I thought it would be.”
“Don’t let that jerk take this away from you,” he argued.
“The perp? He couldn’t. I’ve been thinking along these lines for a while,” she admitted. “I wanted to help people while feeling safe. But I don’t. I’m just as vulnerable as everyone else.”
“You’re trained and good at your job,” he countered. “But if it’s truly not what you want, then you’re smart to get out before you have too many years invested.”
A heavy feeling settled in his chest as he parked at the hospital. A sense of urgency moved him to exit the truck and then come around to Audrey’s side to open the door for her. He couldn’t imagine Mesa Point without her now.
With his grandparents’ conditions worsening, there was change in the air.
Chapter Twenty
Audrey walked beside Duke, leaning on him as they cleared the parking lot and hospital doors. She broke off at the ER where her boss sat waiting in one of the blue plastic chairs.
Sheriff Ackerman immediately stood up and walked to her. His gaze inspected the blood spots on her clothing.
“Will you be okay here?” Duke asked as he helped her sit down. Her boss took the seat beside her. “I need to sign consent forms.”
“I’ll make sure she’s all right,” Ackerman said. “I know I haven’t done a great job so far but that changes here and now.”
Duke nodded, then disappeared down the hallway. Audrey gave a quick rundown of what happened to the sheriff. Two of her coworkers were on scene in the woods, searching for the location Duke had described on the phone.
“Did you get a good look at the person who did this to you?” Sheriff Ackerman asked after listening carefully to the rest of her version of what happened. He would naturally be concerned about one of his own being attacked. He also had a bigger problem, in that a dangerous criminal was running around in his county. The Ponytail Snatcher targeted female deputies around the state, cutting off their ponytails. That had to be significant.
“It was dark, and my vision was blurry after being hit in the back of the head,” she admitted. “He was tall and strong as an ox. Thick, like football-player-type muscles.”
Ackerman shook his head as he took notes. His face pinched. “Your quick thinking saved your life. I didn’t mean to let you down by not giving you access to information. I was following protocol meant to protect law enforcement. In this case, it did more harm than good.”
“How many deputies has he killed?” she asked.
“Five, according to the FBI agent on the task force hunting for him,” Ackerman supplied.
“I was so close,” she said. “I let him slip out of my hands.”
“You lived,” Ackerman countered. “You’re the only one.”
She didn’t respond.
“You got further with the family than I did too,” he admitted. “Any other details come to mind while the attack is still fresh?”
“I couldn’t get a good look at his facial features except to say he had dark hair,” she admitted. “I know tall with dark hair in Texas doesn’t exactly narrow the field. He’s injured, though. That should help. I got a good piece of his shoulder.”
“Matches the general description Halsey provided,” he pointed out.
“True,” she agreed. “He might have been paying Jenson to forget he ever saw him or cover his tracks.”
“I checked the hospital, and no one has come in with a GSW to the shoulder. We might not have an exact description to work with, but that won’t stop me. I’ll put out a BOLO either way,” Ackerman said. “This perp is armed and dangerous. He’s nursing an injury. Word needs to spread immediately in case he shows up in another county seeking medical aid.”
He spoke quietly into the radio clipped to his shoulder as Duke rejoined them.
The sheriff made a good point. Audrey had already gone down the path of the perp most likely finding a shed near the lake to hole up in rather than leave a trail of blood everywhere or be seen in his current condition. That should make it easier to identify the man if someone came across him and knew to look for an injured person.
Audrey glanced up in time to see a wheelchair being pushed toward her by a concerned-looking nurse.
“Deputy,” the nurse said to her as she came around to help Audrey transition to the wheelchair. Without another word, she was wheeled into the hallway and then through a door that led to an open room with several curtains closed while Duke gave the sheriff his quick-and-dirty version of what happened.
An ER doctor met them in a small room behind a curtain. The badge on his white lab coat read Dr. Garcia.
The doctor immediately went to work, checking her over as he asked her to point out every spot she’d been injured. Garcia seemed to know better than to ask Duke or the sheriff to leave.
He stood there looking more bull than man with his muscled arms crossed over a solid wall chest. The doctor gave a nod of acknowledgment to Duke after he pulled the curtain closed. It occurred to her the two most likely knew each other.
Dr. Garcia worked methodically, cleaning and bandaging Audrey’s wounds. He gave her two shots to numb under her arm where he said she needed a handful of stitches. The numbing agents did their jobs. She felt nothing while he sewed her back together.
“Are you good to stay?” Ackerman asked Duke.
