The effects of the stun gun continued to fade. My body no longer felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. If I could create a distraction, I could keep the two of them from getting hurt. The problem was I needed to move quickly, and I wasn’t sure how well my muscles would cooperate.

“You poisoned the women in Homer, but what about the women here?” Jonah asked, his voice cracking. “How did you kill them?”

She laughed. “It was so easy. I used my taser on them. The first one died of a heart attack, but the others had to be smothered as they laid there incapacitated.”

“What about the windows?” Mason asked. “Why were their windows closed and their air conditioning turned off?”

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I wanted them to see how hot hell was going to be when they got there.” She turned back to me. “I have special plans for you.”

“I changed my mind,” I said. “I don’t want someone as evil as you to pray with me.”

Anger filler her eyes, and her open hand connected with my cheek. But as she hit me, she lowered the gun. Then next thing I knew, Mason dropped his shotgun and both men lunged for her, all three of them falling to the ground and wrestling. A gunshot filled the room, and everyone stopped moving.

“Mason!” I cried.

I heard a moan, and Jonah rolled to the side, holding his arm. Blood seeped through his sleeve, and he looked like he was about to pass out.

Mason still lay on the floor with Rhonda. My breath caught in my chest as I waited for him to move. Finally, he pushed up off the floor with one hand and groaned, holding her gun with the other. “I’m getting too old for this nonsense.”

Rhonda rolled from her stomach to her back, her face a mask of hate as she stared at me.

“Mason, thank God… I thought…” I started crying harder. Sirens sounded in the distance.

Mason knelt in front of me, fear in his eyes. “Are you okay?”

I nodded and winced.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” he teased, but his hands began to shake as he untied me.

Ernie and another officer rushed through the doorway, then headed straight for Jonah.

“Not him,” Mason barked, pointing to the floor. “Her!”

They pulled Rhonda to her feet as Mason turned back to me. “I’m taking you to the hospital. Do you want to go in the ambulance or my car?”

“Your car.” I didn’t want to go, but I knew there was no point arguing with him. Besides, it looked like Jonah needed the ambulance more than I did.

Mason took my hand, paused when he noticed the ring on my left finger, and then put an arm around my back so he could help me outside. “What did she do to you, Rose?”

I forced myself to walk without falling on my face. “I think she tased me in my house because I felt a jolt of electricity before I passed out and woke up in the back of car. The second time she tased me was in Jonah’s kitchen.”

“And the side of your head?”

I shrugged. It seemed obvious enough.

We rode the short distance to the hospital in silence, mostly because I kept trying to fall asleep, but Mason always woke me up, asking me some stupid questions. When we got to the hospital, he didn’t even find a parking space. He pulled right up to the emergency room’s sliding doors. He opened the passenger-side door for me, and I looked up at him in annoyance. “You’re not supposed to park here.”

“This is one of the few perks of my thankless job. Don’t tell me you’re going to begrudge me that.”

When we got through the door, Mr. No Nonsense was back. “I need someone to look at her immediately. She keeps trying to go to sleep, and I’m not sure if it’s the effects of the stun gun or her head wound.”

Someone brought a wheelchair and made me sit in it while they took me behind the double doors. Mason stayed in the waiting room, and I protested all the way back. When they tried to lift me up on to the gurney, I refused to cooperate. “I want Mason back here with me.”

The nurse’s eyebrows lifted in confusion. “You mean Mr. Deveraux? I’m sure he’ll be back to question you later.”

“No, I want Mason Deveraux. My friend. Just tell him. If you don’t, I’m gonna get up and leave right now.”

The nurse shook her head and looked at the aide who was helping her. “Go see if Mr. Deveraux wants to come back.”

Mason came through the door moments later with a look of disapproval that turned to relief when he saw me. “You’re nothing but trouble, Rose Gardner.”

I tried to laugh, but it hurt my head. “You know you like me this way.”

His smile fell. “Usually, but you scared the shit out of me tonight.”

“I had the shit scared out of me too.”

The nurse watched our exchange in annoyance, and then her eyes widened as they landed on my hand. “I didn’t know you were engaged, Mr. Deveraux.”

Mason glanced at the ring on my hand again. “Rose isn’t my fianc�e. We’re just friends.”

She looked relieved as she picked up my chart. “Well, that’s good to know for the rest of us single girls out there.”

“You’re still the second most eligible bachelor in Fenton County,” I teased, but my heart wasn’t in it. Mason’s reaction to my ring bothered me.

“Second to Brody McIntosh, of course.” But the teasing was gone from his voice too. Mason sat in the chair by my bed. “I suppose congratulations are in order.”