Deadly Texas Rose

"Don't move or I'll kill her."Deputy Sheriff Eric Butler did as he was told, since the mustached stranger standing about five feet away had the new waitress at the Courthouse Cafeacute; held against her will and a revolver pointed at her head."We're all cool here," Eric said, nodding toward all the other customers and the three or four employees who had just minutes before been laughing and talking."Nobody wants to get hurt today." He silently prayed, asking God to keep everyone safe."That's good," the dark-haired, sweating man said, his head bobbing up and down. Then he slanted his gaze around the room where he had ordered the kitchen staff to gather with the customers. In the kitchen, unattended food sizzled and burned on the griddle. "Everybody here, listen to the officer."Acting on instinct, Eric held his hands away from his body and stared down the shaking man, wondering what kind of idiot would try to rob a restaurant right across from the courthouse in the tiny East-Texas town of Wildflower. Any number of cops and sheriff's deputies ate here every day, and any smart criminal would have scoped the place out in advance to save both himself and everyone else grief.Of course, desperate people did desperate things, and this man seemed very near the brink. Eric took in the scene and tried to decide how best to handle the situation.Cat Murphy, the petite, no-nonsense owner of Cat's Courthouse Cafeacute;, stood just to the left of the man holding waitress Julia Daniels near a wall that gave the culprit a bird's-eye view of both the entrance door and the kitchen. Cat's expression showed shock, but her eyes held a kind of resolve that didn't bode well for the grungy-looking man who'd disrupted the last minutes of the lunch hour. Cat had been married to a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. And given that Julia Daniels was related to Cat and had moved here about five months ago at Cat's request, Cat sure wasn't going to stand by and let anything bad happen to her. That made her not only dangerous but impulsive, too, Eric reasoned.But right now he was more worried about Julia. He liked her a lot, had even thought about asking her out on a date. So that made him just a tad dangerous, too. Not impulsive like motherly Cat, yet dangerous just the same. But he had to protect Julia and everybody else in here, somehow. Help me, Lord.The other diners had stopped eating to stare with fright at the man and woman in the corner of the room. And Eric's buddy and fellow deputy Adam Dupont was sitting across from Eric, his trigger finger itching from the way the pulse was pounding in his jawline."Steady," Eric whispered to Adam. "He looks real serious about using that gun.""Shut up!" The robber's fidgety, shifting gaze moved from Eric to Adam. "I mean it, man. You two need to take out your guns and slide them across the floor."Eric glanced at his friend, sending Adam a silent message. Then he nodded. Best not to argue with the man holding the gun to the blonde's head. Besides, she looked as pale as a ghost, her big gold-green eyes widening each time the gun was pressed harder against her temple.Carefully, with one hand in the air, both deputies took out their weapons. "Okay," Eric said. "I'm gonna send them both your way."The robber nodded, then waited, watching intently as Eric did as he'd promised. The only sound in the tiny cafeacute; was that of weapons hitting linoleum and fat hitting the grill as the guns flew across the black-and-white-patterned floor."What do you want?" Julia managed to ask the man, her tone shaky.The man holding Julia glanced around, hesitant at first, sweat popping out on his forehead. He eyed the back of Julia's head so close to his own, then glanced around the restaurant as if he were looking for something or someone. Then his gaze skittered to the counter near the kitchen."I need some cash," the burly man replied, lifting his chin toward the back ofWorth, Lenora is the author of 'Deadly Texas Rose', published 2008 under ISBN 9780373442751 and ISBN 0373442750.