Husband Wanted (HC #1)

25: A Decision in the Daylight

The men took off running.

Most darted through the house, headed to the rear exit. Vincent, however, dashed towards the stairs even before their eldest brother yelled, "Find Phil!"

The sound of feet slapping marble – and then stone as they moved to the patio – and rasping breaths was broken by a second gunshot. This time it sounded muffled, or perhaps further away. The noise gave direction and speed to Matt who was in the lead, and he turned slightly to sprint along the path. Thomas was next behind him – slower only because he was unfamiliar with the landscape – and then Simon and Bart.

They were all close enough that they nearly collided when Matt came to a sudden stop atop the bridge.

Bart staggered to the side, narrowly missing barrelling into him, and cursed as he slammed into the railing. "Dammit, Matt, what are you-"

He looked up, towards the trees, and saw enough for his words to catch in his throat. There was a woman, struggling in the arms of a man, and another figure lying awfully still on the ground beside him. It was difficult to make out at that distance, but it almost looked as if there was a dark red stain spilling across the grass by the man's head.

Bart shoved his stunned brother to the side, and took off with a growl, charging across the earth towards the man that was manhandling his sister.

Both heads jerked up at him as the sound reached them, but the man did not pull apart or move in the slightest. His grip on Beth seemed to tighten.

Perhaps rage coloured Bart's view; it wasn't until he was a few strides away that he realised the man that held Beth was David. And that she wasn't struggling, merely quivering in her slippers and clinging to the man for support. David for his part looked pale, his chest moving in rapid, shallow breaths.

"The pistol..." David swallowed heavily, his head turning to eye the gun that laid forgotten by a tree, "It backfired. I ran at him and he... he hit his..."

Beth's grip tightened on David's lapels. "You protected us," she whispered evenly, the tremble in her body absent from her voice.

Bart frowned in surprise; David was not the only one offering support it seemed.

He skirted the pair as the other men stumbled up behind him, moving closer to examine the body lying to the side. He was still – deathly still – a situation explained by the bloody wound on the back of the man's head. It was fist-sized, with small flecks of – Bart leant closer to see clearly – bark embedded in the flesh. He found the injury's source in the closest tree, a trickle of blood winding down between the trails of sap.

Thomas was at his side when he turned back to the body. He bent, gripping the dead man by the jacket and pants to roll him onto his back. His face was all too familiar.

"The assassin," he murmured under his breath for only him, Bart and the body to hear.

The others didn't need the confirmation.

Simon tilted his head at the house behind them, his eyes meeting Matt's. "Tell Vincent what has happened and send for the constable."

Looking grim, the younger man nodded and took off at a jog back towards the house.

Beth spun on the spot, positioning herself between David and her brothers. Her face was blanched, but free from tears, and she pinned Simon with bright, intense eyes. "They will not arrest David." It was not a question. "He was defending us!"

For his own part, David looked startled by the possibility.

Bart was already shaking his head. "Fear not, Beth. It was self-defence, and the man was already known to the police. They must come out and take your account, but David will not be arrested." He sounded more certain than he was, but if they did arrest David, surely Vincent would find a legal loophole.