Double the Trouble (Texas Trouble 3) (28 page)

Gabe let out a
relieved
laugh, then told her, "Of course you'd worry more about that damned car than yourself...Freddie might need a few band
aids, but I think he's okay.  I'm worried about you," he said as her hand moved up to hold his t-shirt to her head.

"I'm fine...my head hurts a little, but I don't think I have a concussion.  I've had enough of those to know...my head is pretty hard," she told him with a wry smile.

"That's something I know..." he chuckled, then pulled her to him for a hug. "And thank the good Lord for that."

Karlie pushed up to her feet, and Gabe put his arm around her waist to help steady her, as she walked over to the car then dropped to her knees beside the tire.  Holding the t-shirt to her head, she leaned under the fender well to look around. 

When she came back out, Gabe saw her lips were pinched and her face was even paler than it had been.  She sat on her butt and leaned against the door of the car.  "The brake line was cut," she told him in a shaky voice.
 

He dropped down
to take
a look himself, and saw that she was right.  His heart skidded to a halt, before kicking back up to warp speed.  Sirens in the distance told him the police and medics would be here soon, and he had plenty to say to them.  There was only one man he could think of that would do something like this, and when he found him, he was going to give him more than a piece of his mind.
  It looked like Jake Johnson had just upped the ante on his game to attempted murder.
 

Anger
rushed
through Gabe like a
raging river through a canyon
, and he grated, "
That bastard is going to pay..." then sat down beside her, and dropped an arm over her shoulders.

"C
alm down,
darlin'.  Even if we know
it was
him
in here," she
said and
tapped her chest,
then finished in a voice filled with fear and resgination,
"
W
e don't have any proof
.
"

"Well, we're going to find some...he's not getting away with this
,
"
Gabe told her then looked across the field to see medics headed their way with big boxes in their hands, followed closely by several officers...one of them in a Bowie Sheriff's uniform.  He groaned when he recognized Elmer.
  They were in between Bowie and Henrietta, so that's probably why he was here
.
 

When he saw Elmer stop in the field and keep
the
two
officers there
with him
talking, w
hile he
punctuated his conversation with
his
hands, his face full of excitement, Gabe lost control.  This was not the time or the place for Elmer's antics, he need the officers to focus on the situation here. 

"I'll be right back," he told Karlie through gritted teeth, then shoved up to stand and stomp across the field.  He stopped and talked to the medics for a second and pointed out Karlie telling them about her injuries, then he went to the hen party Elmer was holding a few yards away.

Gabe took a deep breath, so he didn't totally blast the squirrely deputy, then he told him in a firm tone, "Excuse me, Elmer...but I need to borrow these officers to talk about the
attempted murder
that just happened.  I think we've got it under control,
so
you can go back to the station."

Elmer's eyes widened in his thin face, and he whined, "But Gabe, I need to file a report..."

"You don't need to do a damned thing, I've got this," Gabe grated, "Go back to the station, Elmer and I'll be there shortly.
..tell Cole
what happened
.
"

The older of the two Henrietta officers pulled out a notepad and said
a little haughtily
,
like he wondered who the hell Gabe was talking to Elmer like that,
"What's your name, son?"

"Gabe Kelley, Chief Deputy of the Bowie Sheriff's Department," he told them man and shot Elmer a look.  "Go, Elmer..." he said again.  Elmer's face fell
,
then he turned around and walked back toward his car.

"What happened Gabe?" the man's tone was
a little
different
now since Elmer was out of the way, but not much.

"Someone cut the brake lines on the
Lincoln
, and we had to ditch it in the field," Gabe informed him and started walking back toward the car, where he saw Karlie being treated by the medics.

"You sure about that?" the other officer asked him as they drew near the car.

"Pretty damned sure," Gabe told him then added, "My girlfriend keeps her car in tip top shape, she's a mechanic and she said they were cut...but feel free to take a look yourself."

Getting down on his knees the officer peered behind the wheel, then got up and brushed off his knees.  "Yeah sliced straight through.  Any ideas who could've done it?"

"Her ex-boyfriend, Jake Johnson...it's a long story but he has a grudge, and he's a mean bastard.  You might want to check his alibi," Gabe suggested.

"Well, I would, but you are a half-mile out of our jurisdiction on the
Bowie
side of the line, so you'll have to take care of the investigation.  Might talk to Sheriff J
ackson and see what he suggests...how he wants to handle things,
" the man told him like he was a greenhorn.
  If this passing-the-buck laziness was typical of how the Henrietta cops did their business, Gabe didn't want them handling the investigation anyway
.

The man hadn't even asked where he thought the crime had occurred. 
It
had to be in the parking lot of the therapist's office in Henrietta,
Gabe thought,
since they'd made it there and the brakes were fine, which meant Jake Johnson must be following them.
  Their new computer system was up and running now, and Gabe fully intended to utilize it.

Although it galled him to do so, Gabe stuck his hand out to the man, then said, "Thanks for coming out, we'll take it from here."
  Both of them nodded, then headed back to their cars, not even stopping to check on Karlie's condition.  Gabe shook his head then walked over to her.  "How're you doing, darlin'?" he asked and watched as one of the medics put a couple of butterfly stitches over the gash near her hairline, right abo
ve
a
large purpling goose egg knot.

"You sure we can
't
talk you into letting us take you to the hospital to make sure you don't have a concussion?" the young medic asked her.

"No, I'm fine...thanks for patching me up, I'm good now," she assured them with what Gabe recognized as a forced smile.
  He did a walk around of the
Lincoln
and saw they'd blown a tire when they hit that ditch and the rim was bent.  Yelling over the roof of the car he asked her, "You got a spare, sugar?"

"I had to take it out to get my saddle and suitcase to fit in there, I had so much other stuff in there, it wouldn't fit," she shouted back at him. 

God forbid she should have taken the 'other stuff' out and made room for the spare, Gabe thought.
  He leaned inside the car and pulled out the keys to go see exactly what she had in there.  When he opened it he stepped back and said, "Holy, shit, baby...you living out of the trunk?"  The car had an enormous trunk, but it was packed full of what looked like a lot of household stuff, and odds and ends.

"What is all this stuff?" he asked her incredulously.

"Memories...my Uncle Jerry's awards, ou
r
photos growing up, and other stuff I didn't want to put in the trailer with Jake, because he'd have trashed
it
when he got mad at me.  I haven't
had time to
unpack it yet
in my room
at the Double B."

"I see why you couldn't fit the spare in here," he chuckled
then added,
"But that doesn't help our present dilemma...we need to get back to
Bowie
, and Freddie needs to be towed.
  My cell phone is out of juice.
"

"
Here use mine,
" she
told him, then thanked
the medics
, before
walking around behind the car to stand next to him and stare at the contents of the trunk as well.
 
Reaching inside her pocket, Karlie
pulled out her cell, then handed it to him.  "There's a tow truck in
Bowie
...Toby's I think...do you know the number?"

"I'll call Cole
,
and talk to him," he took the phone then walked to the front of the car away from her, while she got down on the ground and slid under the chassis to check out the damage evidently.

He dialed the number and Cole picked up on the first ring, "Karlie?" he asked his voice full of concern.

"No, it's Gabe...she's checking out the car.  Did Elmer fill you in?"

"He came in here like a tornado talking ninety to nothing about attempted murder, and said you and Karlie had an accident?  Didn't make much sense," Cole told him.

"Well at least he got the details mostly right.  Someone cut the brake lines on Karlie's
Lincoln
, while we were in Henrietta and we had to ditch it in a field to stop."

Cole hesitated a moment then asked him, "And you think it was Jake Johnson?"

"The brake lines were cut clean through, and I can't think of anyone else who would want to do that to Karlie's car...can you?"

"I don't really know her well enough to say
...did you ask her?" Cole asked him with a chuckle. "She does have a way of pissing people off, you have to admit."

"
Don't fucking talk about her like that, Cole...
this is not her fault!
" Gabe growled into the phone, then told him, "
That bastard almost killed us...how the fuck can you laugh about that?"

"Whoa, slow down, buddy...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to set you off.  We'll figure out who did it," Cole said in a conciliatory tone.

Gabe
noticed Cole didn't apologize for talking about Karlie like he had, he just apologized for setting him off.  Well
, Cole was way out of line, Karlie wasn't at fault here. 
"We're about a half-mile before the Henrietta town limits, can you send Cody out here with his tow truck to get us?"
he asked in a none too pleasant tone.

"Sure, I'll do that right now...see you in a bit."  Cole disconnected the line and Gabe angrily shoved the phone in his pocket. 
Walking back around the car, he saw Karlie standing by the trunk, and she was trembling, her eyes were filled with tears.  She must've heard his conversation with Cole.

He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, "This is not your fault, sugar...Cole, was just kidding around...he doesn't really believe that."

"Sure he does," she said against his chest, "I'm always screwing up, and making people mad, so it
is
my fault.  If I hadn't been stupid enough to get involved with Jake in the first place, I wouldn't be here right now.
..and you and Cole wouldn't be tied up in my mess.
"

Her silent tears wet the front of his shirt and he set her away from him to look into her eyes, and said in a low and lethal tone, "This. Is. Not. Your. Fault.  You had no way of knowing he was like that."

"His ex-girlfriend tried to tell me, warn me, but I blew her off, because I thought she was jealous
,
"
she
told him with a shake of her head then added, "I was stupid and it's hurt a lot of people, even my sister."