Birthright

used fists, feet, elbows, knees. They rolled over dirt, grappling, clawing. Something sharp dug hard into Callie’s back, and her eyes watered with the bright pain as her hair was viciously yanked.
    She scented blood, tasted it, then kicked in blind fury as she was lifted straight up into the air.
    She couldn’t separate the sounds that rose around her. She could see nothing but the woman on the ground, people gathering around her. She kicked back, hard, then went down again with a thud. Even with her arms pinned she fought to free herself so she could fall on Dory again.
    “Stop it! Goddamn it, Callie, stop or I’m going to have to hurt you.”
    “Let go of me. Let go! I’m not finished.”
    “She is.” Jake tightened his hold, struggled to get his own wind back. “From the looks of it, I’d say you broke her nose.”
    “What?” The mists were clearing. Her breath was in rags, her hands still fisted. But the wild rage began to level. Blood was spilling out of Dory’s nose, and her right eye was already swollen. As Leo tried to mop up the damage, Dory moaned and wept.
    “She’s the one,” Callie panted out. “She’s the one.”
    “I got that part. If I let you go, are you going to jump her again?”
    “No.” Callie sucked in a wheezing breath. “No.”
    “Hell of a tackle, Dunbrook.” He loosened his hold but didn’t release her. It took some maneuvering to shifthimself so that he crouched between her and Dory. After a brief study of her face, he winced. “Man, look at you. She landed a few.”
    “I don’t feel anything yet.”
    “You will.”
    “Move aside, Jake. I’m not going to hit her again, but I’ve got something to say to her.”
    Cautious, he kept a hand on her shoulder, moved enough for her to lean past him.
    “Shut up.” Though she looked directly at Dory as she spoke, everyone else dropped into silence. “The tackle was for Rosie.”
    “You’re crazy.” Still weeping, Dory held both hands up to her bruised face and rocked.
    “The nose, that’s for Bill. The black eye, we’ll give that to Dolan.”
    “You’re crazy, you must be crazy.” On a pathetic sob, Dory held up her blood-smeared hands as if in plea to the rest of the team. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
    “Any other damage,” Callie continued, “we’ll just chalk up to you being a lying, murdering bitch. And what’s to come is for what you helped do to my family.”
    “I don’t know what she’s talking about. She attacked me. You all saw it. I need a doctor.”
    “Jeez, Callie.” Frannie bit her lip and huddled behind Dory. “I mean, jeez. You just jumped on her and started punching. She’s really hurt.”
    “She killed Bill. And she put Rosie in the hospital.” Her hand snaked out, grabbed Dory by her torn shirt before anyone could stop her. “You’re lucky Jake pulled me off.”
    “Keep her away from me,” Dory pleaded as she cringed back. “She’s lost her mind. I’m going to have you arrested.”
    “We’ll see who spends tonight in jail.”
    “I think everybody should calm down. I think everybody should just calm down.” Bob raked his fingers through his messy hair. “That’s what I think.”
    “You’re sure about this, Callie?” Leo demanded.
    “Yeah, I’m sure. They’ve got your mother, Dory. But you know that already. It’s all falling apart on you. It startedfalling apart when Suzanne recognized me. You worked hard to keep it together. You killed to keep it together. But you’re done now.”
    “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Well.” Leo let out a windy sigh as he got to his feet. “Let’s call the police and sort this out.”
    J ake dabbed antiseptic on the claw marks along Callie’s collarbone. He’d moved her away from the rest of the team, leaving them tending to Dory.
    He glanced over his shoulder, noted that Bob was patting Dory’s shoulder and Frannie offering her a cup of water. “She’s smart, and she plays a good game. She’s working on convincing everybody you went after her out of the blue.”
    “It won’t stick. Doug and Lana have Dorothy Spencer in Charlotte. That’s enough of a connection to convince Hewitt to take her in for questioning.”
    “She’s not here alone.”
    Callie hissed out a breath. Lana’s call had wiped everything but Dory out of her mind. “I wasn’t thinking. I just acted. But damn it, Jake, she would’ve gotten away. She was heading for the cars. She’d’ve been gone if