7

Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run

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Chapter 393 Bang! Bang! She Shot Him Down.

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Tara was trying to think fast and decide what to do. She could hear Scarlett counting.

"Scarlett, could you start over and count to one hundred?"

"OK," Scarlett called.

Josh Kohn knew his life was on the line and he had seconds to save himself. He didn't think he would be lucky enough that the blonde whore would forget how to count to a hundred.

"Tara, I'm sorry for all this."

"You're only sorry that I shot you before you could rape me."

He continued to talk, but Tara didn't hear him. He would just tell her that he would go away and leave her alone.

Did she have the guts to kill Josh? If she could be sure that he wouldn't try to attack her again, it would be a simple decision. She would let him live. She hated him, but that wasn't reason enough to kill him.

Suddenly she remembered something he'd said that she'd buried in her mind. He rented a cabin for two weeks. He was planning to take her there. It was obvious that he was going to keep her there as his prisoner and do whatever he wanted to her. At the end of the two weeks, he was going to kill her to keep her from going to the police.

The thought of what was going to happen to her in those two weeks helped steel her resolve. She couldn't show this man any mercy. He had no mercy or decency in him.

Scarlett was right about him not facing much if any prison time for his attack on her. He hadn't hurt her enough to please law enforcement. The bastard could talk his way out of it. It didn't matter that David Hale and Wayne Unser would believe her. It would come down to some assistant district attorney who wouldn't care about a woman without injuries trying to press attempted rape charges on an ATF agent. It would be the old he said she said. Kohn would probably not face any charges for what he tried to do to her.

Even worse he could say she shot him without cause. That was just the kind of thing the slimy Josh Kohn would try. She could end up being the one on trial for attempted murder. The thought made her feel like she was going to throw up.

He was going to keep coming for her. With his ego, he would kill her because he thought he was too smart to get caught. If anything, this would make him more determined to hurt her because she'd fought back and shot him. He would have to have his revenge on her.

That made it easier to shoot him in cold blood or as Scarlett put it preemptive self-defense. It didn't seem like much of a choice now. It was either Josh Kohn or her.

Tara saw the story in her mind. They fought over the gun and it went off. She was in shock over what had happened. He went into the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel to hold to his bullet wound. She was still afraid he was going to come after her again. He tried to grab her and she shot him.

OK, that story wouldn't work. If he'd gone into the bathroom, he would have left a blood trail. That was the kind of detail that could trip her up. As afraid of Kohn as she was, she was more afraid of going to jail.

She got him the towel and tossed it to him. In order to call for help, she had to walk past him. She was afraid to walk past him because he was slumped against the wall, but she suspected that he was acting more injured than he was and was planning to grab her as she walked past him. Finally she got up enough courage to walk past him so she could call for help. That was when he lunged and she shot him again. She thought that through and it would work.

"I'm going to call for help," Tara said.

His lips twisted into a contemptuous smile.

"I knew you didn't have it in you to hurt me."

That's when she shot him square in the chest. He slid down the wall to the floor and was dead by the time he hit the ground.

Tara screamed automatically.

"Tara are you OK?" Scarlett called from the entryway.

"I'm in the bedroom. Kohn attacked me."

Scarlett walked down the hall again, this time walking slower. There wasn't any reason to hurry. There was no one to help.

"What happened?" Scarlett asked looking at Kohn collapsed at the base of the wall.

"He tried to rape me. I pretended that I liked him again. His gun was on the nightstand. I reached for it. We fought over the gun. My finger was on the trigger and I pulled it. It was pointing away from me. I didn't know it was at an angle that would hurt him. I thought if I fired the gun, he would be surprised enough to loosen his hold and I could pull the gun free. That's what happened.

"He stood up and I could see that he was wounded. I went into the bathroom, grabbed a hand towel and tossed it to him. I didn't know how wounded he was. I was afraid if I walked past him, he would try to take the gun and shoot me. He was angry that I'd shot him. As I walked past him, he lunged and I shot him."

"Perfect story," Scarlett said. "You can button your shirt up and I'll be sure to mention it was unbuttoned when I came into the room. Come on let's get out of this room and I'll call the police."

"You really think this is going to work?"

"You speak your truth and it is the truth. You saved your life."

Tara buttoned her shirt as they walked into the kitchen.

"Where's your phone?" Scarlett asked.

"I don't have a landline."

"Me neither," Scarlett said pulling her cell phone out of her purse. She dropped the shopping bag with the scrubs on the kitchen table.

"I'm scared."

"That's natural. Don't second guess yourself. He attacked and you defended yourself."

Tara was a little angry with Scarlett for not calling Jax to fix this for them. She didn't want to have to go through the investigation and everything that entailed. It would have been so much simpler if Jax had just killed the man and gotten rid of his body.

Scarlett called 911. The dispatcher needed to verify the address. Scarlett asked Tara for the address to verify it. She ended the phone call because she was afraid Tara was going to pass out.

Scarlett led Tara to a kitchen chair and made her sit down.

"You will get through this," Scarlett said. "It's going to be hard, but it will be worth it. You won't have to spend the rest of your life in fear."

Scarlett went to the door when the police officers knocked. She told them briefly that Josh Kohn attacked Tara and she was forced to defend herself. The officers went into the bedroom to check on Kohn to see if they needed to call an ambulance or the coroner.

Charming didn't have a homicide detective. There were few murders. The small number that did occur were usually a result of domestic violence. It would take awhile to get the coroner and a crime scene unit out to the house. The personnel would have to be called in from home. David Hale arrived twenty minutes after Scarlett called 911. Procedures stated that the chief or the deputy police chief was called out to any major crime scene.

Tara was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee that Scarlett had made her. Her hands were still shaking.

"I never wanted this to happen," Tara said tearfully to Hale.

"Give me a minute and I'll come talk to you," he said heading for the master bedroom.

"Tara, there wasn't anything you could do," Scarlett said consolingly. "You couldn't let him kill you."

"OK. It's going to take awhile to get the scene processed. Let's go to the station and I'll take your statement," Hale told Tara when he returned to the kitchen.

"Do you want to stay with me tonight?" Scarlett asked Tara.

"I'm going to need a statement from you. I would prefer it if you two weren't in communication until that happens. It's going to take awhile with Tara. Can you come in tomorrow?"

"I can come by late tomorrow afternoon," Scarlett said.

"That's fine," Hale said.

"I'll just stay at a motel for the night. I just feel like I need to be alone to kind of process everything that has happened."

"Why don't I pack you a bag?" Scarlett suggested.

"I keep a bag of clothes with a toothbrush and grooming stuff in the trunk of my car as part of emergency preparedness," Tara said.

"Is there anything I can do?" Scarlett asked.

"No, you're OK to leave," Hale said.

"Give me a minute to put away the cookie stuff," Tara said. She returned the cookie dough to the refrigerator. Scarlett helped her put cookies into plastic bags before she left.

"Will they lock up?" Tara asked Hale.

"Yeah, they'll lock up and I'll leave an officer outside."

"Thanks," Tara said softly. Her eyes filled with tears. "I never wanted this to happen."

"I'll give you a ride to the station. I don't want you to drive in your emotional state."

"In one of the police cars?"

"No. We'll go in my car."

Tara nodded. She felt like she was in a nightmare. She was angry at Scarlett all over again. Scarlett should have called Jax and let him handle this for her. She saved his life. He owed her.

Now, if she made even the smallest mistake, she could end up in jail.