out if there’s been a breach at WITSEC,” Levi added a moment later.
Jericho paused, no doubt wondering what the heck this was all about. “Give me a minute and I’ll see what I can find out. I’ll call you right back.”
She held her breath, hoping that Levi wouldn’t mention her name. He didn’t, thank goodness. But he continued the drive to the sheriff’s office. Soon Jericho would see her. And he wouldn’t be any more pleased about this situation than Levi was.
“You can’t tell the marshals I’m here in Appaloosa Pass,” she said to Levi when he put away his phone.
“Give me one good reason why.”
“Marshal Elroy Lockwood,” she provided right away.
Levi knew him, of course. And knew him well. Because Lockwood worked with Levi’s other brother, Chase, who was also a marshal. Lockwood had also helped investigate certain aspects of the Moonlight Strangler case. Of course, every law enforcement agency in the state had gotten involved in that investigation in some way or another since the killer had been operating for more than two decades.
“What does Marshal Lockwood have to do with this?” Levi asked.
“Maybe everything. I think he’s dirty and trying to hide his involvement in some criminal activity. He could have been responsible for my WITSEC identity being compromised.”
And more.
Lockwood could have been responsible for Tasha’s murder and those two goons at the gas station.
Levi shook his head, mumbled some profanity. “You have concrete proof that Lockwood’s dirty?”
“No, just some talk from CIs, but I can’t risk you trusting him. Not until you have Violet in a safe place.” Alexa tipped her head to the baby. “If you tell everyone she’s Tasha’s, at best she’ll be turned over to Child Protective Services since Tasha doesn’t have a next of kin. At worst...” She had to take a deep breath. “At worst, the killer might come after the baby, too.”
Before Levi could give her any assurance that wouldn’t happen, his phone buzzed, and he answered it while he continued to drive. Continued to keep watch, too. Good. Alexa didn’t want that hired thug coming back for another attack.
“It’s Jericho,” Levi relayed to her right before he answered the call, but like before he didn’t put the call on speaker. So Alexa moved closer, hoping to hear what the hard-nosed sheriff had to say.
“I’ve got someone on the way to the gas station to check it out,” Jericho explained. “And there’s nothing about any problems at WITSEC. Should I specifically ask about April, though?”
April Landis, a woman in WITSEC who had an even more personal connection to the Crocketts than Alexa. Because April was pregnant with Chase Crockett’s child. It didn’t surprise her that Jericho would want to make sure April was okay. Even though Alexa didn’t actually know April, she also wanted to make sure April was safe. Both April and she had found themselves in the dangerous situation of having to testify against men who were linked through criminal activities. Alexa could get one man convicted. April, the other. But both April and she had to stay alive first.
“Ask but don’t make any waves just yet,” Levi answered. “I don’t want April alarmed unless I’m certain there’s something to be alarmed about. As I said, I’m not sure I can trust my source.”
Jericho paused. “This doesn’t have anything to do with...anyone else we know, does it?”
Even though Jericho hadn’t specifically mentioned her by name, Alexa knew he was referring to her. The venom in his tone said it all. The sheriff hated her as much as Levi did. She could also include his entire family in that hate fest.
And she deserved every bit of it.
“I’ll be at the sheriff’s office in about ten minutes,” Levi told his brother. “I’ll explain everything then.” Levi hung up and took the road to lead them into town. “And you’ll explain everything to me,” he added to Alexa when he hit the End Call button.
Where to start?
Better yet, how much to say?
Or not to say.
“This morning I went over to Tasha’s to see the baby and her. She’d just gotten out of the hospital, so I thought she could use some help. While I was there, these two armed men showed up and tried to muscle their way in. Tasha and I escaped with the baby, but the men fired shots at us.”
Mercy, the sound of those bullets was still echoing in her head.
“Tasha was in WITSEC, too?” he asked.
“No. I met her after my relocation to Austin and we became friends. She’d been in hiding because of a stalker she couldn’t shake. A guy named Scottie Norse. According to her, he’s a violent, dangerous man, and Tasha was afraid he might try to hurt the baby or use the baby to force Tasha to be with him.”
“A stalker,” he repeated. “Is that Scottie’s baby?”
“No,” she repeated. “According to Tasha, she’s definitely not Scottie’s. And I believe her. She showed me a picture of Scottie so I’d know who he was if I ever saw him around, and Violet doesn’t resemble him at all. Tasha said the baby’s father was a guy named Brett Mendoza.”
“So, how was Tasha involved with Scottie then?” he asked.
“Tasha said she dated him for a while but broke off things when he became abusive. She had him arrested after he assaulted her, but he didn’t spend any time in jail. It was his first offense, and he’s got money and connections. Tasha moved, started seeing another guy, got pregnant, but then he was killed in a car accident.”
He stayed quiet a moment. “So, maybe Lockwood isn’t dirty. Maybe the dirt is from this scumbag stalker who sent the gunmen after Tasha.”
“Maybe,” she mumbled.
Alexa couldn’t rule it out, but she couldn’t rule herself out, either. After all, there was a reason she was in WITSEC, and she hadn’t exactly stayed out of things since she’d been given a new identity.
“Tell me more about these men who attacked you,” Levi insisted.
“I didn’t recognize them. We escaped in Tasha’s SUV, and the men came in pursuit. They chased us for over an hour before they caught up with us at the gas station. That’s when they said we should just surrender, that it wouldn’t do any good for us to escape because they had contacts and listening devices in the local law enforcement offices.”
“And you believed them?” he asked.
She nodded, not trusting her voice for several seconds. “It’s not hard to plant bugs or monitor the police radio.”
He made a sound that was possibly of agreement. Because he knew it was true. Most small-town police stations didn’t do routine sweeps for listening devices.
“If you tell everyone the baby’s ours, then Scottie won’t have a reason to come after her,” Alexa spelled out.
“If
