Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

Judith ignored his actions, although he saw her glance once to his hand sliding into her bag. She was too busy examining him for injuries.
    He shot you. I know he did. I saw him.
    Her anxiety spilled over, the emotion spreading to the gathering crowd.
    I’m wearing a vest, honey. I knew Ivanov was still alive and I figured he’d come at me. I had too much to lose not to take a few precautions. Let’s just keep that to ourselves.
    Jonas had already stepped forward and kicked Ivanov’s gun away from the dead man’s outstretched hand. Following every precaution, the sheriff quickly cuffed Ivanov’s hands behind his back.
    “I think he’s dead, Jonas,” Judith said, her voice gentle, filled with compassion.
    “I’ve seen men still alive after taking six or seven bullets. You never know.” He reached to check for a pulse, but with half of the back of Ivanov’s head gone, it was a moot point.
    He spoke into his radio, answered a couple of questions and turned his attention to Stefan. “You all right?”
    “I don’t know yet,” Stefan said, managing to look very shaken. “Give me a minute. And thanks. You saved my life.”
    “You hit?” Jonas persisted.
    “No. Yes. I was wearing a vest because I didn’t have my bodyguards with me.”
    Jonas’s gaze sharpened. “You wear a vest often?”
    Stefan nodded. “More than I’d like.” He appeared to work hard to control his breathing.
    “Judith, go sit on the steps of the art gallery,” Jonas ordered. “Inez, if you’d sit on the porch there, I’d appreciate it. And Frank, please go sit in the patrol car until the others get here. I just shot and killed his man, there’ll be an investigation and we want it by the book.”
    Inez raised her chin. “I’ll sit in the patrol car,” she stated firmly, reminding Jonas silently that Frank had already suffered that indignity and didn’t need to do so again. “Judith, honey, you take the porch and get out of this wet fog.”
    The sheriff waited until the other witnesses had done as he asked. “I’ve got my recorder on,” Jonas advised Stefan. “Can you tell me what happened?”
    “It all happened so fast, I honestly don’t exactly know,” Stefan continued, making a show of allowing the sheriff to help him into a sitting position. “Maybe Frank or Inez can tell you. I just saw the old man come up out of his blanket with a gun. He was muttering a lot to himself when we stopped earlier. Judith spoke to him, but he really didn’t answer her. He must have been ill and thinking he was in the war or something.” Stefan ran a shaky hand through his hair, pulled it away covered in blood and visibly winced.
    Jonas pulled open Stefan’s bloody shirt and whistled. “Good thing you were wearing this. That bullet would have killed you. We’ll have the EMTs take a look at you.”
    “Just hurts like a son of a bitch. Man, I’m sorry you had to shoot him, but if you hadn’t, I don’t know how much longer I could keep him from turning that gun on me. I could see it inching around and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.”
    “Can you get to your feet?”
    “Yeah. I’m just a little shaken.” Stefan stood up. He managed a wan grin, flicking a quick look toward Judith on the enclosed porch of the gallery. She had her tote bag next to her. “I haven’t done this sort of thing since I left the service and that was far longer ago than I want to admit to.”
    “I’ve got to pat you down for weapons. You have any on you?”
    Stefan made a quick assessment, but he was certain he’d gotten all them transferred to Judith’s tote bag. He submitted to Jonas’s quick, but thorough weapons’ sweep. In the distance, sirens could be heard.
    Stepping back away from Jonas he shook his head, looking down at the dead body. “Thanks again, man, you definitely saved my life. I only spoke to the old man a couple of times. Gave him coffee once and a few bills I had in my wallet. I don’t know what any of us did to provoke this. Judith noticed he was acting sick and talked to him about going to a doctor. Maybe that’s what set him off.” He let the words tumble out fast, as if he couldn’t stop talking.
    Jonas crouched beside Ivanov. “This isn’t Old Bill. Have you ever seen him before?”
    Stefan took a good look at Ivanov’s face. He frowned and shook his head, shrugging. “If I have, I don’t remember. I travel a lot and I make a lot of enemies.”
    “You thought he was trying to kill