appreciate your confidence in me, sir. I don’t think I have a choice. I don’t have the skills or patience to sit and wait. And isn’t it against some type of regulation or something? Don’t we need to involve a female DPS officer to be on her protection detail?” Garrison was marching back and forth across his grass.
“You’re the one insisting that she needs protection without evaluating if what she saw is admissible in court. Or what’s in that case you locked away. How dangerous do you think the threat to her is?”
Garrison stopped pacing. His smile was gone, and he suddenly looked grown up. The white teeth he’d flashed all evening put her at ease, but it made him look much younger.
“From everything you’ve told me about these two families, they shoot first and never bother to ask if it’s the right person. If they find her, they will kill her, sir.”
“You’re right, and she’ll be safe. I’m giving you the option, son. Keep your word and be a part of her detail. Or you nail these bastards once and for all. As I said before, the Tenoreno family released a blurred picture of you both to the media. They’re going to find the fake background information we set up for you to get the job. It won’t take them long before they track down your cover phone. We need a decision and need a plan.”
Kenderly wanted to crawl through the tiny window and shout at both the men. They were making decisions about her life without asking her anything. She wasn’t running off with Garrison Travis to hide. But she also wasn’t stupid enough to go home. Without money or a place to live, the Texas Rangers were her best chance to stay alive.
“That ID got me on the grounds. The pictures will get me back inside. Regarding Kenderly, there isn’t a choice here,” Garrison said so seriously it scared her. “Without me, you don’t have a connection to the shooter. If Kenderly comes forward, it will blow the entire operation. It’s the closest we’ve been to bringing these crime families down in years. If they join forces, we might never get the chance again.”
“As of today, the Tenorenos and Roscos were falling behind the cartels. Together...” Captain Oaks shook his head with the implication. “They’ll either kill each other, taking a lot of other people along the way. Or they’ll be strong enough to control seventy percent of organized crime in Texas.”
“There’s only one choice, then. I go back inside. Try to convince them I was just running for my life when the shots started. It would help if I had something of value to trade. I don’t see anyone making an identification from the pictures. I’ve got my fingers crossed there’s something in that jewelry box that Isabella thought was worth smuggling out with Kenderly.”
She couldn’t see the captain’s face, but she did have a good look at Garrison’s dissatisfied expression. He shoved his hand through his sandy-blond hair. He’d changed into jeans and a button-down shirt. She’d seen his badge ready to go on the kitchen table before he slid it into his back pocket.
“We’ll do the initial Q and A here. We both need to hear her answers firsthand. You could come to headquarters but—”
“Got it. The fewer who know about Kenderly Tyler, the better.” Garrison looked more relaxed.
Why he should be...she had no idea. He was planning on returning to the Tenoreno house surrounded by men with guns...and more guns.
“I’ll make a call and get a video camera here. Then we’ll get started. You okay with your cover story about why you left in such a hurry?” Captain Oaks asked.
“Easy to explain. Shots start flying, and I’m not hanging around. It might take longer to wrap my head around officials thinking I might have something to do with the murders. I’m not usually the one being hunted. I’m more the hunter type. But I can fake it.”
“You’re our best bet to discover the true reason for the assassinations. We can assume they don’t know about the real murderer.” The captain bent down to pet Clementine. “But he knows about you.”
“And Kenderly. We both saw him.”
“That was quick thinking to get the pictures. Maybe something will come from it. Having evidence of the murderer is your best way to get back in to see Tenoreno. He should be extremely interested in your photos.”
“I don’t understand why the wives were killed and not the crime bosses. It doesn’t make sense. I heard shots at the back of the house, but couldn’t get to both.”
The captain clamped a hand on Garrison’s shoulder, stopping him. The younger man didn’t flinch or try to get away. It seemed friendly enough, fatherly in fact. “It’s not your fault, Garrison. No one predicted they would be murdered.”
“If I’d only been a couple of minutes earlier.”
“According to what you told me, more lives would have been lost if you were a couple of minutes later.”
“But—”
“No buts in this line of work. It was out of your control. We move on.”
Kenderly liked Captain Oaks. She had no idea what some of the things they were talking about meant, but she liked him just the same. Taking his wise words to heart, she also needed to move on. There wasn’t anything she could do about the past. She couldn’t go back and change time or rush in and save Isabella.
All she could do was help find her friend’s murderer.
* * *
“WHERE DO WE START?” Kenderly sat at the kitchen table, her hands clasped together so tightly her knuckles were turning white. “Do you need for me to write out my statement? I looked for a tablet. Oh, but I didn’t go through anything. Sorry, I promise I wasn’t looking through your things.”
“It’s okay.” Garrison wanted to hug her and calm her down again. But that wasn’t happening in front of his captain.
“Miss Tyler,” Oaks began, “we’ve sent for a video camera and plan on recording your statement here. If I take you downtown, too many people will know we have you in protective custody. We’d rather continue without spreading that knowledge. That okay with you?”
Kenderly nodded and moved her hands to her lap until she swiped at a tear with the back of her knuckle. She’d washed her face. Gone was the heavy makeup he’d become used to in a very short time. Without it she looked younger.
“I have to confess... I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the bathroom window was open. I could hear a few things.”
“Like what?”
Garrison let the captain lead the discussion. He tried to keep a solemn look on his face out of respect for the two women who had died and the seriousness of the current situation. But just sitting there, Kenderly had a way of making him smile. Or the way she tugged at the stretchy skirt jerked him back to the memory of his hand on her thigh.
“I’m not sure I know what you meant by extracting. Who? Were you there to get Isabella away from that horrid man she was married to?”
She’d turned to Garrison, looking for an answer. He popped away from leaning on the wall next to the living room. Taken totally off guard, his mind had been on the soft flesh that had been beneath his fingers. The question had him staring straight back at his commanding officer.
