Vanessa Gray Bartal - Lacy Steele 07 - Icy Grip of Murder Read Online Free

do
anything about it.”
    “Do you really think the element of
surprise is best here?” she asked. She left Kimber’s shop and began trotting
toward Michael’s.
    “Lacy, I don’t want you involved in
this,” Jason said.
    “I have to go,” she said, hanging
up. The men were approaching the door faster than she would be able to make it
to Michael’s shop. She put forth a burst of speed and began sprinting, the
uncomfortable underwear both digging into her hip and hanging on by a thread.
She made it to Michael’s before the men, but was too breathless to speak.
    “Hey, is it doughnut day?” Michael
asked.
    Lacy shook her head, bracing one
arm on the counter for support. “They’re here,” was all she was able to rasp
out. Jason was right; there was nothing either of them could do to avoid what
was about to happen, but not warning Michael, not being there to lend a hand,
felt disloyal.
    “Who?” he asked, but then he saw
them. They entered his shop warily, hands at their sides, ready to reach for
the weapons hidden under their jackets. Lacy hovered closer to Michael. He
shoved her away.
    “You’re getting slow in your old
age, boys. Took you longer than I thought to find me,” Michael said. He sounded
cocky. Lacy realized she hadn’t heard him use that tone since he first moved to
town.
    “We had some help,” one of the men said.
    Michael’s smirk didn’t shift, but
his lashes fluttered, the only outward sign that the remark had been processed.
    “Are we going to do this the easy
way?” the other man asked.
    “Easy for who?” Michael said. His
glance slid to Lacy. He seemed to either be trying to tell her something or ask
her something, but she had no idea what. The tension in the room was palpably
high.
    “Ma’am, step away, please,” one of
the men said.
    “No,” Lacy said.
    “She doesn’t take direction well,”
Michael said. “That’s why I like her.”
    Everyone came to a standstill,
frozen in position. Lacy stood beside Michael, trying to ignore the stitch in
her side and remain upright. Across from them the two officers were coiled and
ready to pounce. Whether they meant to pounce on her, Michael, or both, she
didn’t know. Before she could find out, Jason entered the Stakely building and loomed
in the doorway.
    “How’s it going?” he asked. He was
using the voice, the one he used to soothe out of control people, the one he had tried on Lacy once when she was in a bad
mood. He had learned the hard way never to try it again.
    “It would be better if the lady
would move about ten feet to the left,” one of the officers said.
    Jason looked at Lacy. She shook her
head. “That’s probably not going to happen,” he said as he began easing into
the room. “But I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. I think we can do this
with no injury to Lacy, an innocent, yet frustratingly stubborn, bystander.”
    There were undercurrents Lacy
didn’t understand, either some sort of man-speak or code. Whatever it was,
Michael seemed to understand it. His gaze slid from Jason to the two officers
to Lacy, and back to the officers. Maybe it was Lacy’s imagination because his
smile didn’t falter, but he seemed to sag in defeat. He held out his hands. “No
need to be unfriendly after you came all this way.”
    One of the officers stepped quickly
forward and handcuffed him.
    Lacy stepped forward, too. “This is
a mistake. Michael didn’t do it.”
    “Your female fan club never fails
to amaze me,” one of the officers said.
    Michael gave a nonchalant shrug,
his smile unwavering. Lacy wasn’t fooled. He was afraid; he had to be. He had
come to their town to get away from the false accusations, and now he was being
arrested for murder.
    “I’m telling you that you’re
wrong,” Lacy tried again. “Michael would never hurt anyone.”
    The officers ignored her. Jason was
shooting her warning glances, trying to tell her to keep a cap on her temper.
Lacy was trying, she really was, but