As Joanna clung tighter to her grandmother, Cody came into the waiting room and paused by the entrance, his gaze seeking Liliana’s. She rose and followed him into the hallway. The look on his face unnerved her. A troubled look.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, a tic in his jawline jerking.
“Samuel is pressing charges against your sister for attempted murder. The chief is taking his statement right now.”
“Samuel’s lying, Chief.” Liliana stood in her boss’s office early the next morning, shaking with such anger that she crossed her arms over her chest.
“But your sister has confessed she did it.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s saying. Did you get a look at her?” Liliana didn’t know what to do. Had Elena defended herself or had Joanna tried to protect her mother? Early this morning at the hospital, she couldn’t get a straight answer out of her sister and Joanna had retreated into herself, quiet, not saying much at all.
“That’s what I have down here. But it won’t take long for him to be out on bail because he was injured, too.”
“If Elena did it and I’m not saying she did, she was only defending herself. That’s why he is injured. A few cuts on his arm isn’t the same as what Elena has gone through with that man.” Liliana leaned into the desk, gripping its edge to keep from swaying too much. Her mind spun.
“Go home. Get some sleep.”
“I can’t do that. What if Samuel gets to Elena?”
“I’ve got Officer Vega with her at the hospital. She is safe until we can figure it all out. You won’t be able to help her if you don’t get some sleep. You’ve had to deal with a lot these past couple of weeks. I don’t want to see you back here until you’ve rested. Understood?”
“What about the smuggling case? Isn’t Bart Collins being transported back here from Laredo?” She was afraid if she slept she would not wake for the next two days.
“Ranger Jackson will interview him along with an ATF agent.”
“Fine.” Then she would go home, take a shower, and go back to the hospital. Her mama needed to be relieved so she could be with Joanna and Sammy. Rest, no matter what the chief said, wouldn’t happen until Samuel was behind bars permanently. She headed for the office door.
When she stepped out into the main room, it was empty except for the chief’s secretary. Juan shuffled into the area from the back hallway. His gaze captured hers. Support poured from him, silently conveyed. He had started toward her when Cody entered the station. He spied her and came toward her. Exhaustion marked deep lines on his face from his own long hours on the job.
“Wanna talk?” Cody’s expression wrapped her in comfort.
It threatened her composure, and there was no way she wanted to break down in the middle of the police station. “Yes . . .” No other words would come out.
At that moment, Officer Hudson escorted Samuel into the main room. Her brother-in-law snared her with a pinpoint look—arrogant, intense, full of malice. One corner of his mouth tilted up in a smirk that went right through her. She fought the tears clogging her throat, the words of anger cramming her mind all at once. Her hands balling at her sides, she took a step toward him.
Cody grasped her arm and halted her forward progress. “Don’t give him the satisfaction. Let’s talk in the back.”
She glanced at his hand on her then back up into his eyes. Again, comfort blanketed her, and for a few seconds she forgot that Samuel was in the room, striding toward the exit. Toward freedom.
Cody tugged on her arm. She turned toward him and allowed him to lead her to the break room in back. The sound of the front door slamming closed reinforced the injustice occurring with Samuel’s release as if he was the victim, not Elena.
Seated on the old leather couch in the break room, Liliana couldn’t stop the trembling that moved from her hands through her whole body, anger propelling it at an alarming speed. Taking possession of her.
Cody cupped her quivering hands and held them tightly as though his strength could flow into her to calm the fury assailing her from all sides. “I heard what Elena told the chief.”
“I was there and couldn’t stop it. I tried, but she insisted she knifed Samuel. This was after she talked with Joanna alone. I’d gone to bring some items she wanted from her house. That was a ruse to get me out of the room. When I came back, Joanna wouldn’t say anything one way or another about what happened and Elena confessed to hurting Samuel. When I tried to talk to her, she asked me to leave. She started crying and the doctor had to sedate her. I came down here to convince the chief she was protecting Joanna.”
“Probably, but her fingerprints were on the knife from when she’d taken it from Joanna.”
“Or Elena could have used it earlier. There were other fingerprints that were smeared. Those could be Joanna’s when she defended her mother. Why would Joanna say she did it, if she didn’t?”
“To protect her mother.”
Liliana shook her head. “I was with Joanna in the kitchen. She wasn’t lying about that.” The tears she’d suppressed welled up and jammed her throat. She swallowed hard but couldn’t dislodge them. They filled her eyes and spilled out. “This is all a mess. All I want is for my sister to be safe and happy. She is neither of those.” She pulled a hand free and wiped it across her cheeks, but nothing stopped the sorrow she felt deep in her bones.
Cody pulled her against him. “Somehow we’ll work this out. Elena is not going to suffer any longer at the hands of her husband. It just happened less than twenty-four hours ago, and she isn’t thinking straight.”
Biting down on her lower lip to keep the sobs inside, Liliana listened to the beat of his heart beneath her ear, his declaration, and wished it was true. “You can’t guarantee that. Samuel is wealthy and has power in this town. He can persuade people to his way of thinking. I’ve seen it. With Elena. With others.”
“I’ve dealt with his kind before. They aren’t invincible.”
Liliana drew away. “He thrives on lording himself over others, and he has the money to back it up.”
Cody cradled her face and looked deep into her eyes. “He won’t do anything to Elena. Now that the accusation has been made, he won’t draw attention to himself.”
“No, he’ll bide his time until people forget. He’ll find a way to get to Elena. He’s a bully. Like the ones your son dealt with. They feed off others’ fear. It makes them feel superior. I lived with a father like that. I made a change. Elena didn’t. That’s all she knows.”
The realization chilled Liliana, but she focused on the heat from Cody’s palms on her cheeks and it warmed her. In that moment, the emotional connection between them strengthened. This man in a short time had become important to her. He wasn’t like other men she’d dated. She’d shared a part of herself she didn’t with others—her childhood, and he’d given her a part of himself.
“Every time I try to control my life it seems to backfire.”
The rough pads of his thumbs caressed her face. “That’s because we can’t control our life totally. The only one who is really in control is God. Once we realize that, we can give it over to him and not fight life so much.” His mouth quirked up. “I’m not quite there. I’m still learning how to do that.”
He tugged her toward him and laid his lips on her forehead, nothing but support in the brief kiss, meant to reassure her she wasn’t alone. When he leaned back and seized her full attention, she realized she was falling in love with this Texas Ranger—the feeling both scary and heady at the same time.
The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway outside the door. Cody’s hands slipped away from her face, and she sat back in her chair as Officer Hudson poked his head into the room.
“Bart Collins is here.”
“I’ll be there. Let him stew in the interview room for a while.” As Hudson left, Cody peered back at Liliana. “Ready to talk with Collins?”
“I’ve been ordered to go home and rest by the chief.”
“A good
suggestion.” His thumb caressed across the damp skin under her eye. “Things will be clearer when you do. I’ll let you know what Collins says.”
“I appreciate that.” She decided not to tell him she wasn’t going to stay at her house. Cody would be on the chief’s side. She couldn’t rest until she made Elena see what she was doing to herself and her family.
He stood and offered her his hand then pulled her to her feet. “I’ll call later. Try to get some sleep.”
“Sure.”
“I know it won’t be easy but it’ll help you when dealing with your sister. C’mon. I’ll walk you to your car.”
“No, go on and talk with Collins. We need to settle that case. We still have the murders to solve. I don’t think he was behind them.”
“Neither do I, especially since I talked to some of the ranch hands and he has an alibi for the first and fourth one. Your sister has an officer outside her room at the hospital, the doctor is keeping her sedated and letting her injuries heal, and your mother has just taken your niece and nephew to Al’s place. That’s where I’ve been, getting them to Al’s. He’ll watch out for them,” Cody said as he walked toward the hall.
“Thanks. I know the chief is making sure everything that can be done is being done.”
He squeezed her hand then released it and turned toward the interview room. Liliana made her way toward her desk to get her purse. A shower and a clean set of clothes would have to suffice. She would go see Joanna and Sammy then stay with Elena until she could persuade her to tell the truth.
“Are you El Jefe?” Cody finally asked as Bart Collins danced around every question he’d asked so far.
“I may be the boss at the ranch, but that’s all.” The chain rattled as Bart moved his arm. “I’m an innocent man. I want these cuffs off me.”
“Not gonna happen. You ran. Why?” Cody wasn’t convinced Collins was El Jefe as Dave Bond implied. The man wasn’t smart enough to run the whole operation.
“I decided to take a little vacation. There’s no law against that.”
“I don’t need you to confess. I have three guys ready to testify against you. You were part of the gun smuggling ring. We found the gun you used to shoot Ranger Garcia in your house at the ranch. Your prints are on it. We do check out crawl spaces.”
Collins flinched and studied his clasped hands. “I don’t know how it got there. Nor my prints on it.”
“Keep it up. Your digging yourself in deeper. Personally I’m fine with that. You tried to kill a friend of mine. We’re really after the boss, but since you don’t want to cooperate . . .” Cody rose.
Collins lifted his head. “What kind of deal will you give me if I tell you?”
“A reduced sentence. You’ll still do time just not as long as you deserve.” The words tasted sour in Cody’s mouth, but he wanted the person behind the gun smuggling ring. They knew the weapons and ammunition were going to the Chihuahua cartel, but who brought Roberto Cruz into this country? Who was the brains behind the operation? He was even more convinced it wasn’t Collins.
Álvarez’s foreman stared at Cody for a long moment. “Okay. You’ve got a deal. Alfredo Flores.”
The man who had helped them, leading to Miguel’s part in the whole operation. “Do you have any proof?”
“He keeps records. You’ll have to find them. They’re at his house somewhere.” He shook the chains again. “Now can I get these cuffs off?”
Cody nodded toward Officer Robertson. “Sure. This officer will take them off you after you’re back in your cell.”
Cody left the interview room and went to the chief’s office to tell him the news and coordinate paying Flores a little visit before the man realized Bart Collins had been captured. As Chief Winters was obtaining a search warrant for the former foreman’s house, he glanced at the wall clock in the main room and noticed the interrogation with Collins had lasted longer than he thought. Not wanting to disturb Liliana, he’d wait to call her until the chief got the search warrant and they made their move on Flores. Knowing Liliana, she wasn’t sleeping, but maybe she was taking time to regroup.
Knowing her. In these past two weeks he had gotten to know her. And care for her. But he was wary of that feeling. He’d known his wife—or at least he’d thought he had. He’d thought she’d known him and accepted what he was—a law enforcement officer whether a highway patrolman or a Texas Ranger. She never did.
Liliana is different.
Yeah, she was. He didn’t want to be hurt again, though.
The front door swung open and Mrs. Martinez came into the station. The urgent look on the woman’s face alerted Cody. He detoured and headed toward her.
“Is something wrong, Mrs. Martinez?” Cody asked before Officer Hudson said anything.
“Maria remembers more. She woke up this morning screaming. When I went into her bedroom, she sobbed and threw herself at me. When I could calm her down, she told me she dreamed about the man coming to get her. She kept saying she heard a dragging sound coming toward her. She thought she would die, too.”
“Where is Maria? I’d like to talk to her.”
“I left her at home with my husband. He didn’t want me to come here. But I told him this has to end. Our daughter is scared.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes, she remembered because the man here was dragging his foot across the floor yesterday.”
“Which man?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t say anything else. But if you talk with Maria, please do it at the house. My husband won’t let me bring her down here again. He was livid I did yesterday.”
“Go home. I’m going to do some checking with the chief then someone, probably me, will come to interview Maria again at your house.”
Mrs. Martinez glanced around her. “Please keep this quiet.”
“No one outside the officers will know.”
After another quick sweep of the station, Mrs. Martinez hurried outside and collided with Sean coming inside with a snack of food from the restaurant across the street. As the young man moved into the station, he still limped slightly, his booted foot scraping against the tile floor. Had Sean been here yesterday when Maria was here? Was that the sound she heard that reminded her of the killer?
Sean took a container from the sack and placed it on the secretary’s desk. She smiled at him and also took the chief’s breakfast then paid Sean.
Cody cut a path across the room and blocked the man’s way. “You often bring breakfast and lunch over here, don’t you?”
Sean nodded, his eyebrows slanting down.
“What time did you come yesterday?”
The wrinkles on Sean’s forehead deepened. “I—I— dooon’t—know.” He stared at the floor a minute then murmured, “Noo—n.”
“That’s the only time yesterday?”
He bobbed his head once, then stepped around Cody and strode toward the exit.
The sound his left foot made coupled with his speech patterns caused Cody to ask, “Sean, where were you Friday two weeks ago around ten in the morning.”
Sean peered over his shoulder. “W—work.”
When the young man left, Cody got the number of the restaurant from the secretary then called Sean’s employer.
Parked around the corner from the car Samuel borrowed at the bank, I watch him watch Liliana’s house. She’s inside. What’s he going to do? I can’t let this monster do anything. I fumble behind my seat under some blankets for my rifle and clasp the stock.
A movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. Liliana is leaving her place and walking to her car. As she backs out of her driveway, Samuel starts his car and follows her. I drop the rifle back under the covers and crank my engine.
Samuel is up to no good. I need to protect Liliana from that man. Rid the world of him.
Cody hung up from talking to the owner of the restaurant across the street. Sean couldn’t be the killer. He had been working when three of the people had been murdered.
The only time he hadn’t been on the job was when the coyote, Victor Ruiz, was killed. He wasn’t the man Maria was describing.
Then who was it? Cody suddenly surveyed the large room. Officer Hudson came out of the chief’s office. The secretary was at her desk eating her breakfast. Juan was here earlier. Juan dragged his foot because of his cerebral palsy. He slurred his words. He was always in and out of here and probably was yesterday. He was around a lot, so often he went unnoticed.
Cody surged to his feet and covered the distance to the secretary. “Where is Juan?”
“He left a while ago. Wasn’t feeling well. Most probably because of all his worry over his nephew. Do you need him? He’s home by now.”
“No. Thanks.” Cody rushed toward the door, digging his cell out of his front pocket.
Liliana knew Juan well. Before he did anything, he wanted to talk with her. He called her house. No answer. Then he punched in her cell number.
Pick up, Liliana.
“How are Joanna and Sammy?” Liliana asked as she stepped into Al’s house.
“Quiet. Too quiet. They’re watching TV. Your mama has been holding Sammy while Joanna sits right next to her, sucking her thumb. Joanna may be in front of the TV, but she isn’t seeing what’s on it.”
“I’ll talk with her.” She headed toward the sound of the television coming from the back room.
Halfway there her cell rang. She stopped and answered it.
“I think the guy we’re after is Juan.”
“Juan Castillo? He wouldn’t hurt anyone. He’s kind. He’s—it can’t be him.”
“Where are you? I called you at home.”
“Al’s. I thought I would talk with Joanna before going to the hospital.” She spoke low into the phone so the kids and her mother wouldn’t hear.
“Why does that not surprise me?”
“Because you know I can’t rest until this is settled one way or another.”
“I’m heading to Al’s. We need to talk. I still think it’s Juan. Mrs. Martinez came into the station. Maria remembered the killer dragged a foot. Juan does.”
Shattered Silence: Men of the Texas Rangers Series #2 Page 27