The words lit something inside her. This man had pretended to rescue. Shane actually did. “He saved you.”
“I know. I was frozen.” His voice sounded far away and stilted. “Could only stand there.”
Realizing he wasn’t arguing with her or blaming Shane sucked the rage right back out of her. “Me, too.”
Some of the haze cleared from Frank’s eyes. “Is that what happened to you the other night?”
She shivered at the memory and the new one that would haunt her for days...maybe longer. “Close.”
“So this is all about the website.”
Last week she might have let the comment pass. Not today. “No, Frank, it’s about the men who lied and got called out on the website. One or more of them did this. Blame the right thing.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
“I do.” She did. Knew it to her soul. She’d brought this danger into her life. She’d put Shane in peril. Shane and everyone in the park. Anyone who came near her. “And this time when they get caught, the punishment will be way more than public humiliation.”
Frank’s body froze. “What do you plan to do?”
That was easy. “Stop them for good.”
Chapter Eleven
Shane couldn’t shake the rage that threatened to plow him under. The men in Makena’s life had her teetering on the edge of danger. He’d stepped out to give her space. To keep the need inside him from spilling out. The logic had made sense back then, but now he wondered if distance had done anything but cause more trouble.
He still wanted her. Kissing her, touching her, sleeping with her. It all had been so easy and felt so right. Then the bullets started flying and danger signs flashed and he fell back on the only way he knew to operate—he backed away. The cycle was making him nuts.
He blew out a long breath as he paced the parking lot. After the gunfire ended he’d performed a quick injury check of the people standing nearby. Most were shaken up, but none were injured.
Satisfied, he’d headed out here. Even now, police sirens echoed in the distance as they raced to the scene. Between the noise and calls from potential victims, an entire crowd of law enforcement should show up within minutes. Pretty soon he’d see the lights and then he’d lose control. If there was some piece of evidence to find, he needed to do it now.
Another glance in Makena’s direction eased some of the anxiety slamming into him. She sat on the picnic table bench and watched over Frank and a few of the other people who roamed around, waiting for the police to arrive.
Frank... Shane couldn’t place that wild card. The guy claimed to have some renewed sense of purpose after being exposed for the fraud he was. He acted as if he’d found a pool of integrity, but he possessed all the nervous tics of a man two inches from being caught in a lie. Not a good sign.
Shane vowed to wait and see what Connor’s investigation turned up, but Frank had moved up on Shane’s list of suspects. He did not trust the guy and certainly did not want him near Makena. Now was fine because Frank sat with his head down and looked ready to drop out of fear or guilt or whatever else was jumping around inside him.
Two Good Samaritans had the parking lot blocked off and were stopping new cars from pulling in. Shane had given them the directions and was relieved they followed them without question. Speaking with authority tended to work in these situations. Trouble made some people more willing to follow law-and-order commands. Brought out an inner protective streak Shane leaned on right now to keep the parking lot emptied out.
That allowed him to search. He kept up his pacing, up one line of cars and down the other. He wasn’t clear about what he was looking for—evidence of the shooting or an idea of exactly where the guy had stood. He had an idea but would need Cam to come in and work some trajectories to be sure.
He got to the approximate spot. Cars took up most of the spaces, which made it a good place for a shooter to aim and then duck without a high risk of being seen. That didn’t answer the questions about why here, out in the open, and who had been the target. Shane assumed Makena, but it could have been him or even Frank. Someone was intent on hiding something in this case, and who knew how far he or she would go to make that happen?
The scrape of a shoe against loose gravel had him turning. A footstep. Just one and then nothing, as if the person froze or dropped. Shane looked from one side to the other. Listened for any sound as he tried to pick up a sign of who else might be out there. That hadn’t been a trick of his mind. He’d heard something. Someone close by.
Without making a sound, he crouched down. He didn’t move so much as a pebble as he ducked beside the car and scanned the ground. He spied the visitor immediately.