“No matter what?”
Trapper held his father’s stare. “No matter what.” He turned and walked out.
“Hello, it’s Hank Addison.”
“I saw your name on the ID,” Kerra said. “I hope you’re not calling with bad news.”
“No, it’s good. You were kind enough to ask me to call you if things went south, but I thought you’d like to know that my dad was released. We just got him home. He’s irritable, but okay.”
She smiled into the phone. “Irritable is a good sign, I think. I know you’re all relieved.”
“I tried to reach Trapper to let him know, but Dad says he’s changed his phone number.”
“I’ll pass along the news. He’ll be glad to hear it.”
“I’m ashamed of myself for hitting him.”
“Even he admitted that he had it coming.”
“Still.” He paused, then, “Well, I won’t keep you.”
“Actually I’m glad you called. I went online and found the website for your church. The architectural renderings of the new tabernacle are most impressive. My schedule is in flux right now, but after I return to work and things settle down, would you agree to my doing a feature story on the church? If the stats on the website are true—”
“God would hold us accountable if we fudged on the stats.”
She laughed. “Would you agree to letting me do a story?”
“Absolutely.”
“Not so much from a proselytizing standpoint, but as an aspect of area growth. That kind of thing.”
“I’ll figure a way to work in the proselytizing without anybody noticing.”
“Great, then. I’ll be in touch, but in the meantime, please notify me if something of special interest occurs, and I’ll try to—” She broke off when she heard footsteps approaching the door. “Sorry, Hank. I need to run. I’m glad your father is doing well. Thank you for letting me know.”
She disconnected just as the lock clicked and Trapper pushed open the door. Seeing her, he stopped short of clearing the threshold. He looked around the room, taking in her bag on the floor in the corner, her laptop open on the table where she sat, her handbag on the dresser with a few articles scattered around it.
When he came back to her, his eyes were glittering with anger, his jaw set.
She stood up and faced off with him. “I forgot my toothbrush and had to come back for it.”
He remained immutable.
“I bribed the manager into giving me an extra key. It cost me a ten-dollar bill and my autograph. Once I was here, I saw no reason to rush off.”
He didn’t even blink.
“You should have gotten stitches to close that cut.” She motioned to the Walmart sack clutched in his right hand. “I hope you at least bought Band-Aids.”
Nothing.
“All right, I know you’re angry to find me here after trying to get rid of me, but I’m here, and I’m not leaving.” In a gesture of defiance, she flicked a strand of hair over her shoulder. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Remember you asked.” He came in and slammed the door shut.
Chapter 27
As he stalked toward Kerra, he dropped the Walmart bag and shrugged off his coat. Reaching behind his back, he unclipped his holster. It was still in his right hand when he took her by the shoulders and propelled her backward toward the bed.