Eternal Hunter (Night Watch 1)

But Lee still wasn’t moving.

Wasn’t breathing.

Too late.

Again.

Story of her life.

And Lee’s death.

Erin watched the swirl of red lights fade away. The EMTs had gotten Lee’s heart started again, but they’d been grim about his chances for survival.

“How the hell did you two even know he was down there?” Antonio’s fierce voice. He’d arrived on the scene less than ten minutes ago.

Erin shook her head. The ambulance had vanished around a curve. “We…saw the car when we were passing through.”

She’d called 911 on her cell phone. Antonio wouldn’t be able to prove her story wasn’t legit. Provided, of course, that Jude backed her up.

Antonio grunted. “Uh-huh. What, the two of you decided to go for an early morning drive on this shit-forsaken road?”

“Something like that,” Jude murmured.

Thank you. He wasn’t going to tell Antonio about her dream. Good. The fewer people who knew, the better.

When am I gonna die, Erin? You know, right? You can see everything.

When am I gonna die? She’d been a freak show when she lived with her mother’s people.

The voices from her past needed to learn how to shut the hell up sometimes.

“Um…” Antonio scratched his chin. “These damn winding roads. Recipe for f**king disaster, especially with the rains we had.”

Erin stiffened. No, no, that wasn’t right.

Flawed.

Her father had been able to see all sorts of deaths. Those easy passings that came in sleep. Those tearful last moments surrounded by family and friends.

Not her.

Erin only saw the brutal deaths. Those caused by the hand of another. Blood-soaked.

Murders.

“I think you better check the scene.” Not an accident. No way. Not if she’d dreamed it.

“Why?” His gaze snapped to her. “What do you know, Jerome?”

She held his stare. “Check the scene.” If she was right, and Erin knew she was, there would be signs. Skid marks on the road. Paint from another vehicle on Lee’s car. Something.

Lee had been forced off the road. Left to die.

Not an accident. Not some bad slip of fate.

Deliberate. Cold.

The man had enemies, everyone knew that. But Antonio would have to find out just who hated the lawyer enough to kill him.

Antonio raised one dark eyebrow. “Rumor is…you and old Lee got into one hell of an argument in front of Judge Went yesterday.”

Erin tensed. Word traveled too fast in this town. “We’re lawyers. That’s we do. Argue. ”

“Umm…”

Now what was that supposed to mean?

“Just strikes me as odd. First the perp you’re after winds up slashed and smiling, and now the attorney who pissed you off in court is barely breathing.”

Her own breath caught. “You think I’m involved in this?”

“She was with me,” Jude said, voice dark and menacing. “All night.”

Antonio’s eyes widened, just a bit. But the guy didn’t look intimidated. More like impressed. His gaze darted over her.

“Like that, huh? Hunter, you work fast.”

Her face flamed. “You’re an ass**le, Antonio.”

He lifted a brow. “Got to question things, ma’am, especially considering the report that landed on my desk right before I got the call about this accident.”

Jude stepped toward him. “The blood from her house?”

“Uh-huh. It was a match, just like you thought.”

She glanced back and forth between the two men. “A match?” Oh, this wasn’t going to be good. She didn’t need the fist knotting in her gut to tell her that. Damn, damn, damn.

“The blood on your walls belonged to Bobby Burrows.”

Her eyes closed.

“Now why the hell would the stalker—you said you had a stalker after you—kill old Bobby and leave his blood dripping onto your pretty hardwood floors?”

“Because he’s a sick freak!” And he was giving Bobby to me as a present.

She’d gotten enough of his presents to know his routine. If someone pissed her off, if someone hurt her, he stepped in.

I keep you safe, when you don’t even know it.

Bile rose in her throat. She had argued with Lee. Antonio had that part right. Had the stalker ass**le been there, watching?

And she hadn’t even known it?

And, oh, hell, had he gone after Lee, too? Because of her?

“Has to be a reason the guy killed Bobby,” Antonio continued. “This shit’s never random.”

No, it wasn’t. She opened her eyes to find the captain watching her.

Weighing her.

“Think you might know that reason, Jerome?”

Her lips parted.

“Back off, Tony.” Jude shook his head and stepped forward. “This isn’t the time for this conversation and you know it. I’ll come to the station, check the report—”

“It’s her story I want,” Antonio said. “There’s a murderer out there, ADA. One who seems to have killed for you.”

Not the first time, either.

“There something else about this case you need to tell me?”

Jude glanced at her.

Erin shook her head. They were starting to attract attention. The other cops who’d arrived on the scene were eyeing them with outright curiosity, and, once the news about Bobby’s blood leaked—and it would leak—she’d be kissing her new life good-bye.

And she’d barely had time to unpack.

He’d found her too fast.

Or maybe he’d never lost her. Goosebumps rose on her arms.

Antonio’s eyes tightened to slits. “I want to know everything about this bastard, you got me?”

“Fucking ease up, Tony.” Jude’s hands fisted. “Don’t push this now. We’ll both come to the station, but not now.”

Not when they had such an eager audience.

Antonio gave a grim nod and spun on his heel, calling out to the uniforms, “Rake the scene! Every damn inch.”

After a beat of time, Jude turned to face her. “More secrets, huh, sweetheart?”

Her heart almost broke, but her chin lifted. “We can’t be sure that jerk after me had anything to do with Lee’s accident.”

But her instincts said he did. “Lee’s a defense attorney. Victims, criminals—they can all get pissed at him.”

“Pissed enough to try killing him?”

Maybe.

Or maybe her Romeo was out there, grinning his ass off. “Let’s get out of here.” She couldn’t stand out there with the cops and the wreckage any longer. She marched away, or tried to in the muck and mud, not waiting for him.