Tag: crime

“What was that?” Sarah gasped beside him like someone jumped up from the backseat.

“Someone’s following us,” Cooper replied, “trying to take us out.”

“Take us out? Why?”

“That, darlin, I don’t know, but I can tell you one thing.”

“What?”

“I’d love to find out.” It felt like somebody was targeting him, the body at the haunted house, the break in at Sarah’s, now someone running him off the road. Someone wanted something from him, but he had no idea who or what they wanted.

The car behind them slammed into them again, and he tried to figure out a plan.

“What should I do?” Sarah asked.

That made him smile. She might describe herself as a scaredy cat but she’d protected herself from the intruder in her house, and now here she was offering to do what he needed to help get them out of this situation.

“Ever fired a gun?”

“N-no,” she stammered.

“Point and pull the trigger,” he explained, she probably wouldn’t hit anything but she could at least distract the driver enough that they could hopefully get away. “Call 911 first,” he said handing over his phone and weapon. “They’ll be able to trace us so leave the call connected but put the phone back down and take the gun.”

Sarah did as he’d asked, she called 911, put the phone down in the center console, then took the gun and twisted in her seat. “Should I fire it?”

“Yes, put the window down and just shoot at the car, aim for the tires.”

Again she did as he asked, opening the window, aiming the weapon, firing it at the other car.

It didn’t seem to slow it down.

The car came at them again.

Hitting them harder this time and the gun flew from Sarah’s hands, falling out the window.

Another hit sent the careening towards the edge of the bridge.

They were going to go over.

Cooper fought the car, almost had it straightening but another ram from the car behind them had them crashing through the guardrail.

For a moment they seemed to hover in the air.

Then they were falling.

Sarah screamed.

And then they hit the river.

“Hey, Darlin, you can come out now.”

The sound of the voice had Sarah sobbing in relief, and she ran to the door, threw back the locks, ripped the door open, then threw herself into the arms of the one person she seemed to trust.

“You came,” she said, pressing her face against his chest.

“You called,” Cooper said, his voice light and soothing despite the fact she knew he had probably been at the police station as long as she had, or perhaps longer, and he had to be exhausted. Yet he’d come here because she’d refused to open the bedroom door for anyone else.

She hadn’t meant to cause him extra trouble, she knew she was nothing to him, but she had been thrown into some nightmare and Cooper was the only person who made her feel safe.

“Thank you,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him hard.

“You’re welcome.” He hugged her back, and didn’t seem in a hurry to release her so she didn’t move away. “Someone broke in here, huh?”

“He was here waiting for me,” she said with a shudder.

“I don’t like it. Thats twice today you’ve been caught up in something dangerous.”

“I don’t like it either,” Sarah said with another shudder.

“You need to tell the cops what happened and then I’m taking you to a hotel. Something feels … wrong,” Cooper said.

She had the same feeling.

Like somehow what had happened at the haunted house was related to someone breaking into her house. Did the killer think she’d seen something incriminating?

An hour later, with a bag packed with clothes to last her a few days, Cooper helped her into the passenger seat of his car.

“So, Sarah, tell me something about yourself,” Cooper said, shooting her one of his easy smiles.

“Well, I’m a bit of a scaredy cat, but I love my job as a teacher, and candy, I love candy, oh, and I absolutely loathe shopping, I buy everything online so I don’t have to go into a store if I can help it.”

Cooper chuckled. “I’m with you on the loathing shopping.”

“Thank you for coming, I know I shouldn’t have asked for you, but I trust you,” she admitted.

“Its really no worries, Sarah, I couldn’t stop thinking about you anyway.”

She gasped. “You couldn’t?”

“Nope.”

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you either.”

Coop sighed, then took his eyes off the road to meet her gaze. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that I found that woman’s body,” he told her. “And I don’t think its a coincidence that someone was waiting in your house to kill you.”

“What do you think is going on?” Sarah asked even though she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the question.

“I think someone is messing with me.”

Before she could say anything else headlights flared behind them, and then something rammed into Cooper’s car.

Cooper groaned as he rolled over, his ringing phone had woken him. It felt like he’d been asleep no more than an hour and a glance at the glowing clock on his nightstand confirmed it had only been fifty minutes since he’d climbed into bed.

He debated ignoring the call, but it could be work, and he couldn’t do that. Stifling a yawn he reached over and snatched up the phone. “Hello?”

“911, What’s your emergency?”

“Huh? You guys called me.”

“Oops, sorry, been a long night,” a tired woman’s voice came down the line. “Is this Detective Mark Cooper?”

“Yes,” he replied, wondering why the 911 call center was calling him.

“I have a Sarah Sundra on the line, she called to report that someone was in her house, we have officers on the scene but she’s refusing to open her bedroom door for them, says the only person she trusts is Detective Mark Cooper.”

Panic coursed through him at the thought of Sarah in danger and he was already climbing out of bed and searching for clothes as he asked, “What’s her address?”

The 911 operator rattled off an address. “I’ll tell Ms Sundra that you’re on your way.”

“Thanks,” he said, then hung up. Sarah lived just two streets over from him, and less than five minutes later he was pulling up outside her house. There was a cruiser sitting on the street, lights flashing but sirens turned off, and a middle aged male officer met him at Sarah’s front door.

“You the Detective she’s asking for?”

“Yes. Is she injured?”

“She says no, she’s locked in the bedroom, looks like someone tried to break down her door.”

The officer nodded at the stairs and Cooper took off up them. “Sarah? Its Coop,” he called out as he approached the battered door.

A second later it was flung open and the small blonde was throwing herself into his arms. “You came,” she said sounding somewhat surprised.

“You asked for me.” In his mind it really was that simple, he hadn’t been able to get Sarah out of his mind, there was something intriguing about her, something that filled him with a desire to get to know her better. While he hated that it was under these circumstances it seemed like he was going to get the opportunity to do just that.

Sarah paid the cab driver, then climbed out and closed the door behind her. As the car drove off into the night, she stood on the sidewalk staring at her house

She knew she should go inside, but something was stopping her.

It had been a long night, she’d spent hours at the police station being interviewed, Camryn had hooked up with a guy and refused to come pick her up, she’d had to take a cab home, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the sexy cop.

She never did more than daydream about guys she found attractive, she was way too shy and self conscious and men picked up on that and avoided her like the plague. It was no different with Cooper, she’d never see him again, never run her fingers through his brown locks as he kissed her, never stare deeply into his soulful brown eyes, never make love to him. Not that she’d do any of those things if she did see him again either.

With a sigh she trudged up the brick path leading to the porch, rummaging through her bag for her key. As soon as she stepped inside Sarah knew something was wrong.

It was cold.

She hated being cold, left the heater on from beginning of October through to the end of April and didn’t regret it one bit when she got her electricity bill. But it felt now like she was stepping into a freezer.

Uneasy, she walked through the house, stopping dead in her tracks when she entered her kitchen.

The back door was open.

Sarah was spinning around to flee when a huge figure dressed all in black burst out of her laundry room and came running straight for her.

She screamed and turned, running up the stairs. She knew she should head for the front door but she got scared in her house alone at night and her bedroom door had five locks on it. If she could get in there then she’d be safe and she could call for help.

There weren’t a lot of things she was good at, but she could run and she was fast. Sarah darted up the stairs, taking them two at a time, veered down the hall and reached the open door at the end of it. Just as she slammed it closed and slid the first lock into place she heard her would be attacker slam into the door.

With shaking hands she closed the other four locks then retreated to her enormous canopy bed, curling up in the middle of it. As she pulled out her phone to call for help it seemed like fate intervened again and she’d get one more chance to see her sexy cop.

“So what exactly happened?”

Cooper looked up at his partner Walt and Walt’s girlfriend Becca entered the interview room. It was the first time he’d found himself in one but on the other side of the law. Although between himself and his partner he was the friendly one, the cheerful one, the one who made jokes and put people at ease. Today though he was feeling a little depleted in the good mood department.

Walt, who used to be the very definition of gruff, grumpy, and unapproachable, hadn’t been able to stop smiling since he met Becca almost three months ago. Cooper was happy for him, for both of them, but seeing the pair so happy and in love made him miss his wife. She’d been gone four years now but the pain hadn’t lessened.

“Found a dead body in the haunted house,” he replied, pasting on a smile he didn’t feel.

“Only you could go to a haunted house and wind up being questioned about a dead body,” Walt said, clearly amused.

“Do they really think you killed that woman?” Becca asked, looking more sympathetic than her man.

Cooper held up his uncuffed hands. “If they did I’d be getting booked right about now.” It had taken several hours but at least he seemed to have convinced the cops it was simply a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Ready to get out of here?” Walt asked.

“Thought you’d never ask. And thanks for hanging around guys.”

“Of course,” Becca said, sliding an arm around his waist. “Want to stop somewhere for a late dinner on the way?”

“Raincheck, sweetheart, I just want to go home, shower, and fall into bed.”

“What did I say about calling my girlfriend sweetheart?” Walt grumbled, pulling Becca into his arms and kissing her.

Coop smiled at them both, a flash of the pretty blonde with the huge green eyes caught him off guard. Sarah. The stunning but terrified woman from the haunted house. Why was he thinking of her? Fate had thrown them together tonight, but he’d never see her again.

That shouldn’t leave him feeling lost and yet it did.

For four long years he hadn’t been ready to date, hadn’t looked at a woman past a casual fling, but Sarah … she sparked something in him he thought had died along with his wife.

Shaking off the odd feeling Cooper focused on his friends. Pretty Sarah wasn’t going to make a reappearance in his life, so why did he feel like fate wasn’t finished with the two of them yet?