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“You should ride with Remy,” Jacques said.
Danny touched his arm and shook her head. “I’m riding with you.”
Using a T-shirt he kept in the backseat gym bag, he brushed loose shards from the window. When he handed Danny up into the SUV, he gently closed the door to keep more glass from falling inside the vehicle.
Jacques slipped into the driver’s seat and sat for a long moment, his fingers gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
“Hey,” Danny said. “Are you all right?”
He nodded and then shook his head. “No. That could’ve been you in that ambulance.”
Her brow furrowed. “But it wasn’t.”
“Only by a few inches.”
“But I wasn’t hit.” She gave him a crooked smile. “Covered in blood, not mine, but I’m fine.”
“I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
“I would’ve gone without you,” she insisted. “Look, we have to be getting closer. Whoever doesn’t want the truth to get out is growing a little more desperate to keep that from happening.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. You might not be so lucky next time.” Jacques started the engine and shifted into drive. Silence reigned throughout the trip back to the boat factory.
Jacques, Remy and Danny brought Swede and Hank up to speed on a video call and filled them in on what had happened. They shared information from Sarley’s cell phone, including his phone number, the number used to text him, and screenshots of the messages.
“I’ll drop the cell phone off at the sheriff’s office,” Remy said. “You two should get out of here and get some rest.”
Jacques nodded and escorted Danny out to his SUV. Every time he saw the empty space where the passenger window had been, his stomach churned.
Back at the boarding house, Jacques was extra vigilant about checking for intruders and locking doors behind them.
Danny strode in and kicked off her shoes, seemingly less affected by almost being shot. Though her hands shook as she laid her purse on the tiny table, she didn’t seek a dark corner to hide in.
“You were amazing,” he said.
She frowned. “At what?”
“The way you handled the situation,” he said.
“Lives were at stake,” she said. “I couldn’t fall apart.”
“You could have, but you didn’t. You were ready to return fire without hesitation. And you probably saved Sarley’s life by administering first aid.”
“If not me, one of you would’ve done it.” She shrugged. “It’s all part of the training.”
“But Sarley stalked you and broke into your apartment.”
Danny’s lips twisted. “For rent money.”
“You’d think there’d be easier ways to earn a dollar.”
“Yeah. There aren’t a whole lot of jobs in the rural parishes. Desperate men take chances.” She glanced at the blood coating her shirt. “Sometimes, they pay for them.” She met Jacques’s gaze. “I’m getting a shower. Do you have more of those frozen dinners?”
“I do,” he said. “I’ll get them started while you wash up.”
Danny retreated into the bathroom.
Jacques went through the motions of preparing their food, though he wasn’t sure he could eat. He was physically sick to his stomach over how things had gone down.
