Читать книгу High-Risk Reunion - Margaret Daley - Страница 12

FOUR

After lunch, Tory left Michelle with Cade’s uncle and a deputy and climbed into the rented SUV to head to her office to pick up her files. The second Cade sat behind the steering wheel, she asked, “What’s wrong? Have you heard anything from Paul or the sheriff?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Oh, you tried to hide it, and I’m sure you did from Michelle but not me and probably not Ben. You get this hard glint in your eyes as though you’re preparing to take on the world. I didn’t say anything because Michelle doesn’t need to know the sordid details of this case, but I’m sure you’ve heard something I’m not going to like.”

“I keep forgetting you know me well—” he slid his gaze toward her “—and some things haven’t changed since we were teenagers. Paul came to the house.”

“When?”

“Right after you went to the kitchen.” He backed out of the garage and drove toward the highway.

“You should have gotten me. I’d rather hear firsthand any news of what’s happening.”

He stopped before pulling out onto the road into town and twisted toward her. “Let me make this clear. I’m the investigator on this case. Not you. I’ll keep you informed as soon as I can, but that’s only because you are the district attorney.”

Anger bubbled to the surface. “No, the only reason you’re appeasing me with information is because I may know information that can help you solve the case. Oh, and if I want to be guarded by someone else, that means Michelle will be too.” She stopped talking before she said something else and faced forward. She felt the stab of his gaze, but she didn’t look at him. Both Michelle’s life and hers were on the line. There was no way she wouldn’t be actively involved.

He threw the SUV into drive and headed in the direction of El Rio. When they neared the crash site, Tory saw more law enforcement officers in the field on Cade’s ranch with crime scene tape around a location.

Now she knew why Paul had come to the house earlier. “Who did they find?”

“Judge Parks in a shadow grave.”

All her earlier anger vanished as reality slammed into her. He was presiding over the Mederos trial. “How did he die?”

“Execution-style. After his body is examined at the morgue, Paul thinks the time of death will be narrowed down but right now best guess is that it occurred between five in the afternoon and nine at night.”

“I saw him on Friday as he was getting into his car. He was looking forward to his hunting weekend—away from the rat race as he said.”

“You may have been one of the last people to see him alive.”

A shiver flowed through her. “Are you going to stop?”

“Yes.” He parked behind a patrol car. “I can have a deputy guard you.”

“No, I’ve been to crime scenes before. It looks like they’re wrapping it up.”

“Before we go, I wanted you to know Paul told me that they found that your brake line had been cut on your car, probably when I saw the biker check your car out. Paul had it towed to the police compound to thoroughly go over your Chevy. He’ll have your brakes and anything else fixed.”

If she had driven her car home with Michelle inside last night, how long would it have been before her brakes failed? “How can we prevent that happening to your car?”

“I’ll take care of that. Let’s go. We have a lot to do this afternoon.”

Her mind numb from everything that had occurred in the past day, Tory traipsed across the pasture to where yellow police tape was strung up. The medical examiner knelt next to a body on the ground. This was the hardest part of her job. In murder cases, she always went to the crime scene. She wanted to make sure she saw firsthand what had occurred. It gave her a better feel for the crime and helped her when she was prosecuting the case. She wanted the jury to remember the victim and that the person needed justice.

Cade joined Paul and Sheriff Dawson a few feet from the body. “I want a copy of all the photos taken as soon as possible. The death of a judge will cause ripples in Austin.”

The police chief removed his cowboy hat and raked his fingers through his thick brown hair. “Good thing you haven’t been on the case from the beginning. Everyone involved in the Mederos case has been notified and procedures are in place. I’ve asked the Texas Ranger office in San Antonio for more manpower.”

“Good. We’ll need a guard on the new judge who’ll be taking over the Mederos trial.” Cade glanced between Paul and Tory. “Is the main witness still secured?”

Paul plopped his Stetson on his head. “When the judge was found, I called the US Marshals’ office overseeing Dietz’s protection. He’s fine, and they’re aware of what’s happening here.”

Sheriff Dawson pointed to a deputy nearby. “That’s Collins. I’m putting him on desk duty at the station until this is resolved. He could be a target if Mederos’s gang is going after people on his case.”

“The same with Lieutenant Sanders.” Paul hooked his thumbs in his belt. “So if you want to talk to him, you’ll need to do it there. In fact, he’ll be interviewing Mederos this afternoon.”

“What about the officers’ families?” Tory wouldn’t put anything beneath Mederos.

“Collins doesn’t have any in the area.” The sheriff motioned to the man to join them.

“Sanders is sending his family away as we speak.”

“Shouldn’t he be with them?” If she lost Michelle, Tory’s life would fall apart. She had to do what she could to make sure Mederos went to prison, but even that wouldn’t stop the violence from the members of the gang. She would go after each one until the threat was gone.

“I wanted him to leave with them, but he said he wants to work with you and Cade to nail Mederos. He assures me they’ll be safe where he’s sending them. He isn’t telling anyone where they’re going.” Paul nodded at Collins and the sheriff as he passed them to talk to the medical examiner.

“Ranger Morgan, this is Deputy Collins,” the sheriff said.

Cade shook the officer’s hand. “I’ll come see you at the sheriff’s office. I understand you’ve had a number of encounters with the biker gang these past few years. Joe Buckner is Mederos’s second-in-command. I’ve dealt with various gangs in my different assignments, but I want to know everything about this one. The sheriff told me you’re the best one to fill me in on the gang.”

“Yes, sir. This execution-style murder has Buckner stamped all over it. Although not ever convicted, he has been suspected of one murder recently in an adjacent county and several others when this gang operated out of El Paso. He’s as ruthless as Mederos.”

“Good to know. Lieutenant Sanders is interviewing Mederos this afternoon. I’ll contact you after that.” He turned to Tory. “Ready to go? Your secretary is probably wondering where we are.”

“I told her to start boxing up my cases if she got there first.”

As they hiked back to the rented SUV, Tory glanced over her shoulder as the black body bag was zipped with Judge Parks inside. He was a good man who had been the perfect person to oversee the Mederos trial. He didn’t have any family and he was tough on crime. Maybe that was the reason Judge Parks had been murdered.

When she slipped into the passenger seat, she massaged her temples.

Cade rounded the front of the car and settled behind the steering wheel. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine when this is over and Michelle is safe.” But as she said that, the throbbing evolved into a pounding against her skull.

“We still need to talk about what happened between us fifteen years ago.”

“I know.” She dug into her purse and pulled out her migraine medicine. After swallowing a pill without the benefit of water, she closed her eyes and hoped the rumbling in her stomach would subside. “But not now.”

“One of your migraine headaches?”

“Yes, I still have them from time to time.” Intense stress could bring one on. Over the years she had practiced deep breathing and other techniques to keep the tension at a bearable level.

“Then we’ll wait, but not too long because I want to be part of Michelle’s life.”

Her first impulse was to say no. Years ago he’d made his choice and now needed to live by it. At the very least they should hash out what happened all those years ago. She couldn’t avoid it since she was stuck with Cade for the foreseeable future. Instead of replying, she stayed quiet with her eyes closed against the bright light. If this weren’t so important, she would have asked him to take her back to the ranch. But she needed to be part of this investigation in spite of the hammer striking against her right temple.

* * *

At the police station Cade paused at the entrance to Paul’s office. He’d pulled the blinds and turned off the light as Tory lay down on the couch across from the police chief’s desk. As a teenager, Tory hadn’t had many migraines, but when she did, it was best if she was left alone in a quiet, dark room. When they were at the courthouse in her office boxing up her files, he’d wanted to take her back to the ranch after she’d gone to the restroom and thrown up. He knew this was a bad one, but she wanted him to at least be involved in the interview of Mederos. And the quicker that happened, the quicker they could leave and return to the ranch.

“I’ll be back soon.” Cade put his hand on the door handle.

“Make sure it’s recorded,” she whispered, her eyes closed.

“Anything you want me to ask him?”

“Ask him what he thinks he’ll gain by killing the judge and others associated with the trial.”

“You think he’s going to answer that?”

“No, but I want to know his reaction since news of Judge Parks’s murder won’t be out in the press until next of kin is notified.”

“Good idea. Rest.” Cade quietly closed the door and let the police chief’s secretary know where he would be, then made his way to the room where the interviews were being recorded. Paul and Lieutenant Sanders were inside waiting for him.

“How’s Tory?” Paul asked when Cade joined them.

“Hurting, and not just because of her migraine.”

“When Judge Parks was selected for the Mederos trial, she was elated. She respected him and knew he would do a good job.” Paul glanced from him to Sanders. “Y’all ready? Our boy has been sitting impatiently in there—” he nodded his head toward the TV on the desk “—for the past twenty minutes. We discovered he doesn’t like to wait, which we’ve used to our advantage.”

“If Tory didn’t need to return to the ranch, I’d suggest leaving him for another twenty minutes,” Cade said with a grin. “Or longer.”

“And you need to talk to Deputy Collins this afternoon too.” Paul took the chair in front of the TV to monitor the interview.

“I wish I’d been in on this case from the beginning, then you two wouldn’t have to spend so much time getting me up to speed. Ready, Sanders?”

“Yes, I’ll let you take the lead. Maybe someone new might be able to get something worthwhile out of Mederos. According to him, he’s a businessman who would like to be left alone to run his business.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he does,” Cade said, thinking about the past twenty-four hours and how close Michelle, Tory and him came to being killed or injured seriously.

Cade let Sanders enter the interview room first, even delaying a few seconds before he followed. He wanted to see if Mederos gave a different reaction to his presence. The tattoo-covered man seated at the table, handcuffed to it, shifted his black gaze to Cade with a slight narrowing of his eyes. Assessing. Calculating, as only a handful of criminals he’d dealt with in the past had done. As his chin went up a notch, Mederos dismissed Cade and swung his attention to Sanders.