One Tough Texan

by Barb Han

  “You want me to take him?” Joshua offered, unsure of how to hold a baby or toddler, whatever this little guy was. He held his arms out and the little boy leaned toward him. Joshua took that as a good sign. “Come here, buddy.”

  Surprisingly, Alex didn’t scream. Joshua bounced up and down anyway for good measure.

  “Who have you got there?” Dallas asked, turning his attention toward the little boy. His brother had had a crash course in parenting after meeting and falling in love with a single mother. He and Kate were now proud parents of a little boy by the name of Jackson who she’d adopted before meeting Dallas. He had already declared his intention to officially become Jackson’s father after the wedding. Joshua may not have been around the ranch as much as he felt he should be, but he’d been around enough to witness the changes in his older brother, the happiness and peace having a family of his own brought.

  “This is Alex,” Joshua said, and then introduced Alice. He’d barely noticed that the room had gone silent and everyone’s attention shifted to Alice and the baby. “There’s another one just like him in the other room named Andrew.”

  “Twins?” Dallas asked as their brothers took turns welcoming the newcomers.

  Joshua nodded.

  “I’m not touching that one.” Dallas’s hands came up in the surrender position.

  In that moment, in that room, Joshua felt like he belonged right where he was.

  “Bottle’s ready,” Janis announced. “Can I do the honors?”

  Alice smiled and said, “Yes.”

  Which was probably a good thing because Marla walked in a few seconds later with Andrew and Alice had to get busy making another bottle. Once Marla was settled with Andrew, feeding his bottle, Joshua handed Alice a fresh cup of coffee.

  Everyone sat at the table together for the first time in weeks. And also for the first time, Joshua felt like he was right where he was supposed to be. A moment like this was rare and like snow on the ground in Texas, it wouldn’t last. He’d get restless and need to get back on the job.

  Speaking of which, he turned to Alice. “We’re clear to examine the crime scene.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The air was cold, the sky a foreboding shade of gray. Alice shivered to stave off the chill.

  “Tommy hasn’t shared any information from the crime scene with you, has he?” she asked Joshua as they pulled up.

  “They’ve picked up a lot of prints and other DNA evidence,” he said, which could tell them which rooms Isabel had been in. Alice already knew she’d been there based on the necklace find.

  “Hopefully, they’ll be able to link these crimes to Perez,” she said, holding on to the thought that all wasn’t lost. Bad men had been taken off the streets. Eighteen girls had been rescued and were beginning a journey toward healing.

  “Since they tried to torch the trailer, he’s checking the database to see if he can get a hit on similar crimes in the Southwest,” Joshua said.

  “Maybe they’ll find other locations,” she said. It was a smart move and something she would’ve done in order to learn everything about the man she was pursuing. The more she knew, the easier it would be to anticipate his movements. Perez was still out there, somewhere. She scanned the cul-de-sac as she exited the Jeep. And he knew where Isabel was.

  The sun hid behind the clouds, lights were out inside the ranch-style house, giving it an eerie quality.

  Alice pulled her jacket closed tightly in an attempt to keep the biting wind from penetrating as she ducked under crime scene tape and crossed the yard. It was day five of her burn and her nerve endings were waking up. Her forearm hurt and she refused to take anything stronger than an ibuprofen, needing a clear head.

  The lack of activity, the quiet, was a stark contrast to her earlier visit. Walking inside the house made chills run up her spine. She’d been to dozens of crime scenes in her career and this one was right up there with the worst of them. Places like this had their own feel, as if the horrors carried out there imprinted the air, the walls. It was as though terror and desperation had a physical manifestation that couldn’t be cleared out by opening the windows and airing the place out.

  Alice stepped inside the too dark living room. Neither she nor Joshua would open the curtains. Both would tread lightly at the scene on the off chance investigators needed to return. The room had an old brown plaid sofa, something that looked left over from the seventies, off to one side. There was a card table and chairs. All the laptops had been confiscated, the data being pored over by technical experts.

  The place had a filthy half frat, half junkyard feel. Stacks of newspapers were on the floor and the center of the table. She shuffled into the kitchen where there was a coffee maker and a microwave. Dirty dishes filled the sink along with a few cigarette butts and there were a couple of flies buzzing around the empty pizza boxes on top of the counter. The place looked and smelled like it hadn’t been cleaned in months. She doubted it had ever truly been scrubbed. She had an urge to throw on plastic gloves, grab a bucket and some soapy water and scour the place clean. The dirt could be wiped off; those were temporary marks. Her urge had so much more to do with what lay beneath the surface, what a bucket of soap and water couldn’t erase.

  “Looks like the team swept the place pretty well,” Joshua said. He was taking the scene in for himself and Alice could feel his eyes watching her for a reaction, maybe a breakdown. He stood beside her in the otherwise empty room.

  The tremors started slowly and from a place deep inside her. Thoughts of Isabel in this horrible scene assaulted her. These were exactly the kinds of weaknesses she’d suppress if she stood there with anyone else. But this was Joshua. He was so tall, so muscled, and yet all of his strength came from within, like he had a bottomless well to draw on.

  Alice turned to face him. He didn’t seem to need her to spell it out. He just held her. His arms circled her waist as she buried her face in his chest. She didn’t know if the holidays had her feeling vulnerable or the fact that this crime scene hit her right at home, but she needed him in a way she’d never allowed herself to need anyone.

  The scene they’d walked into was something out of a horror show and her personal connection to it had her rattled to the core. And yet, standing there with Joshua, his arms around her, leaning into his towering strength, Alice finally knew what it was to feel safe. Isabel had had her family. She’d gone to sleep with this feeling every night. And Alice needed to return that feeling to Isabel.

  The ranch had three bedrooms and no basement thanks to the shifty clay soil in Texas. It was a similar deal in Arizona. Using her phone’s flashlight, Alice walked into each room. All were similar, a bed with a tether, blankets scattered on the floor and those damn buckets that had probably been taken outside and rinsed out once a day. There were cosmetics in the bathrooms and bindings in the showers so that the girls could be tied up and left alone. A few nice outfits hung in the closet of the master. The others had been boarded up. There was very little in the way of furniture. Pillows, blankets and towels scattered across the filthy gray carpet. Alice wouldn’t let an animal live there, let alone a young girl. Another wave of gratitude hit her at the thought of eighteen girls going home. There was so much heat on Perez he wouldn’t strike again anytime soon. For the moment, his operation was on lockdown. That fact brought another wave of thankfulness.

  Alice studied the beds, the walls of each room. Inside the bedroom farthest from the main living quarters, she dropped to her knees beside the bed and searched for any clues. Beside some of the beds were notches in the floorboards. What did they mean? The obvious answer was a girl marking the days she spent in that room. There were other scratches, too. At least one was a set of initials. The marks in the last bedroom were different from the other two. Instead of straight up and down marks like ticks, they had more of a pattern. Alice snapped a picture so s
he could study it later. Her phone buzzed in her hand, startling her.

  “I need to see you,” Fischer said before she had a chance to utter a greeting.

  “What is it, Fischer?” she asked, the urgency in his tone not exactly a welcomed sign.

  “In person or no deal,” he practically grunted. More of his manipulation tactics. Well, no thanks.

  “Tell me on the phone or not at all,” she said, not willing to play games.

  A sharp sigh issued through the line.

  “There was only one set of prints on the necklace and they belong to your friend,” he finally said. At least he’d cut to the chase.

  “She was here. I had no doubt it belonged to her.” No one had stripped the necklace from Isabel and that was the first positive thought. So, had Isabel taken off the piece of jewelry in hopes that Alice would find it? She’d be smart enough to realize leaving a trail would help Alice find her. Keep hoping, sweetie.

  “This isn’t the right time but I need to talk to you about our boys,” Fischer said.

  “Okay.” She’d received confirmation that she was on the right track in looking for Isabel. She was close. For the first time in a long time she felt a very real sense of hope, like this might not end with her finding a body. Everything else could be recovered from. Alice was living proof. She glanced up at Joshua. He was a comforting presence. And for the first time, she saw a future.

  “When?” Fischer asked.

  “Now.”

  “Like right now?” he asked.

  “There’s never going to be a good time for me to talk to you,” she said. “So, tell me what’s on your mind.”

  “I should see them,” he said low into the phone.

  “That’s probably a good idea.” She’d be more enthusiastic if Fischer hadn’t used the one word that made it seem like he was only asking out of obligation...should. More confirmation that she and Fischer would never be on the same page in life. His job would always be more important, would always come first. Alice was career minded. She understood devotion to the job. This was something different. It was more like hiding from real life in a career.

  “You didn’t cash the checks,” he said.

  “No.” She didn’t owe him an explanation.

  “I’ve been saving the money anyway,” he said. “Didn’t feel right about keeping it.”

  “How about I let you put them through college?” she asked, letting him off the hook from the day-to-day.

  “Deal.” There was a lot of relief in that one word. “Alice. Be careful with this investigation. I’m doing everything I can to help you but there’s only so much I can do and my superior is pushing me to arrest you.”

  She ended the call, stood and asked Joshua to take her home.

  * * *

  JOSHUA OPENED THE door to his place—a place he’d basically avoided moving into save for his bed—and navigated through stacked boxes to his kitchen. All the basics were there for making coffee. He ate most of his meals on the go or at the main house. And he noticed how embarrassingly little he had in the way of real supplies. Up to now, a microwave and a basic plate would’ve covered all his needs. He wished he’d done a better job of making the place presentable now that Alice was there.

  His house could best be described as a rustic log house. It had four bedrooms, which he’d protested at the time it was built, only one of which was furnished. Before meeting Alice, four had seemed like overkill. Now, he wished he’d furnished them all so she and the kids could stay over instead of at the main house.

  Furniture was sparse. There was a sofa in the middle of the living room. He’d positioned it to take advantage of the fireplace. There were a few bar chairs huddled under the granite island. His mother had spared no expense with the finishes and Joshua suspected she’d done that to entice him to move home sooner.

  Now that Joshua really thought about it, his apartment in Denver had had a similar unfinished feel, barely any furniture and not enough kitchen supplies to cook up a decent meal. He’d worked evenings and ate out most meals. He’d kept a decent coffee maker, and a guest room with a bed in case one of his brothers came through town.

  “I love this place,” Alice said as she took in the tall beamed ceilings in the living room.

  “I’d like to say that I had a hand in building it but that would be a lie. My mother oversaw all the details,” he admitted.

  “It fits your personality to a T,” she said, walking into the kitchen, eyeing the chestnut cabinets and stainless steel appliances. She smoothed her hand across the island. “And this granite is just...perfect.”

  “Thank you.” It shouldn’t matter so much that a stranger liked the place. “You want a cup of coffee?”

  She nodded as she settled into a seat at the island. He could see in her expression there was a lot rolling around in her mind.

  “It might be helpful to go over what we already know,” he said, handing her a fresh cup, ignoring the thought that having her at his place made it feel more like home. He chalked it up to this year being odd without his parents and that was true enough but there was so much more he didn’t want to analyze. His life had other complications. He still hadn’t figured out how he was going to tell his brothers about the call he’d received from the FBI that afternoon asking him to come in for an interview.

  It’s just an interview, he told himself like there would be any discussion if they offered a job. He had every intention of taking it on the spot. He’d wanted to be with the FBI since he was old enough to know what the letters stood for. Even so, he felt like a liar for not telling his brothers. Or Alice, a voice reminded.

  Alice took a sip of the fresh brew. “I keep thinking where she could be and come up empty.”

  “What about the picture you took at the crime scene? Any thoughts pop into your mind as to what those marks are about?” he asked.

  “They aren’t consistent with the ones in the other rooms and that makes me think they’re significant. Or maybe hope’s the right word.” She shrugged. “Fischer said Isabel’s necklace was found in the same room.”

  Otherwise, the trail to Isabel had gone cold and Alice was becoming discouraged.

  “How about the piece of jewelry?” he asked.

  “The necklace didn’t have any prints other than hers, so that leads me to believe she was the one who took it off. I have to think that was on purpose, especially since the necklace is intact.”

  “Agreed,” Joshua said, taking a seat next to her at the counter.

  “Which leaves us with the fact that we know she was there but we have no idea what happened to her next.” There was so much pain in Alice’s eyes, so much tension outlined in the brackets around her mouth. “I’m not sure I like this part better.”

  “It might take the tech guys a few days to figure out what’s going on, but they’re the best and I have every hope they’ll find what we need,” he said.

  “And that should be reassuring except that there could be unimaginable horrors happening to her right now and I can’t stop it.” Alice’s shoulders deflated as despair sank heavy.

  Joshua gripped his mug.

  “I know I shouldn’t obsess over it and I should stay positive, but how can I not?” she asked, frustration rising. “This is the closest I’ve been to her in weeks and I can feel it in my bones. I’m missing something and if I can put that final piece together, I can find her.”

  “Everything that can be done is happening right now,” Joshua said in an effort to soothe her. His words seemed to have the opposite effect.

  Alice smacked her flat palm on the granite. “If that were true, she’d be home right now.”

  * * *

  ALICE KNEW FOR certain that if she were a better detective Isabel would be safe right now. There was nothing the cowboy could say to convince her oth
erwise. “I know you’re trying to be helpful but I have to face facts.”

  “And those are?” He folded his arms and leaned against the counter.

  “Being here isn’t helping find Isabel,” she said flatly. The reality was that she couldn’t get too comfortable, not while Isabel was still out there missing. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Being with my boys brought me back from a dark place and I’m grateful for that.”

  “But?”

  “You’ve done everything you can and the rest is up to me. You’ve helped me get this far but my arm is improving and I need to get out there on my own.”

  “If he gets to you, it’s game over,” Joshua said. “You know that, right?”

  “I can’t care about that right now.” That wasn’t entirely true. Alice twisted her hands together. She had two boys in the main house who desperately needed her. It wasn’t like there was a father around. She was all they had, for better or worse.

  “Then what about Alex and Andrew? Stay here for them,” Joshua said.

  “And what? Be the kind of mother who can’t look herself in the mirror?” She took a deep breath to ease her tension. Didn’t work. “That’s exactly how it will be if I don’t find her.”

  “I get that,” he said, his voice calm. And that probably angered her even more. He was too calm when she wanted to scream.

  “No, you don’t. You’ve never caused a child to lose both of her parents and then be pushed into the foster care system,” she said a little too loudly.

  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

  “Words can’t take away the pain,” she fired at him, anger building inside her like an out-of-control storm. Talking about the past wasn’t something she’d ever done with anyone, not even the sheriff and his wife. They’d accepted her for who she was and taken her in, showed her kindness. But they’d never forced her to speak of the horrors she’d experienced. Now that she was older she realized there had to have been a file on her somewhere and she was certain that both the sheriff and his wife had read it. Maybe that’s why they hadn’t forced her to speak about her past.