Trouble with a Badge

by Delores Fossen

  “Are those two connected?” Mack asked immediately. “Because I sure didn’t find anything to link them.”

  “Probably not, but Tasha’s stalking ex, Scottie Norse, was just here at the ranch, and he claimed to have something. If he has anything at all, I doubt he’ll bring it in person, but if he does, watch out. The guy’s got a very short fuse.”

  “Will do.”

  “I also need to see if we can get a court order for security footage from the Norse building in San Antonio. I suspect Scottie was there as he claims, but I need to verify his alibi.”

  “I can get started on that,” Mack assured him. “I got something on Brett Mendoza and that loan shark, Nick Perryman. They’re not full reports yet, but I found enough to know there’s a problem. Mendoza’s dead all right. Not a car accident, though. His car exploded when he started the engine, and it’s being investigated as a homicide.”

  Sweet heaven. Alexa didn’t know Mendoza, but Tasha had cared deeply for him. Plus, he was Violet’s father.

  “Please tell me Scottie’s a suspect,” she said.

  “Definitely, but he has an ironclad alibi for the day of the blast. Of course, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have hired someone to do it. Dallas PD is looking for a paper trail that could lead to Scottie.”

  A trail she was betting Scottie had hidden well.

  “And Perryman?” Levi asked Mack.

  “Definitely a loan shark. Nothing to indicate, though, that he was so riled at Tasha that he’d go after her, but SAPD’s going to ask around and see if they can dig up anything. I’ll call you if I get something.” With that Mack hung up.

  Alexa wouldn’t hold her breath for anything on a connection between Perryman and Tasha. People who ratted on loan sharks didn’t have long lives.

  “What about the info Scottie claimed he had about the Moonlight Strangler?” Alexa asked Levi.

  “Again, it could be a lie. If Scottie doesn’t take anything to the sheriff’s office, I was serious about those obstruction of justice charges.”

  That probably wouldn’t keep Scottie behind bars for long, but it would be a start. Of course, the man might have actually found something. The Moonlight Strangler had a habit of writing letters to various people. That could have happened even though Alexa wasn’t sure how the killer could have crossed paths with Scottie.

  “It wouldn’t have been hard for Scottie to learn I’ve been working to find the Moonlight Strangler and that I would want anything anyone had about him,” Levi said. He moved away from her and went to the window. Probably to make sure Scottie wasn’t returning.

  But Alexa also got the feeling it was because he wanted to put some distance between them. He definitely dodged her gaze.

  “I want to find the Moonlight Strangler,” he added. “I want to avenge Paige’s death.”

  Alexa nodded. “I understand.”

  That was an understatement, since she blamed herself for what had happened to Paige. But Levi blamed himself, too. He’d been on the task force to catch the Moonlight Strangler, and in his mind he would always believe he had failed.

  A failure that had caused his brother’s wife to be murdered.

  Levi turned, putting his back to her. “SAPD highly encouraged me to leave the force. According to my lieutenant, I’d become obsessed with finding the Moonlight Strangler. I couldn’t argue with that. I am obsessed with it.”

  Yes, so was she. And it had probably indeed affected Levi’s other cases. It had certainly affected her life. Her judgment, too.

  “I swore to Jax that I’d find Paige’s killer before the anniversary of her death,” Levi continued. “I only have six months left and I’m not any closer to finding him now than I was when Paige was killed.”

  Not that he’d needed to tell Alexa the timeline. Paige had been murdered the month before Alexa had been forced into WITSEC.

  “As you know, I was investigating the Moonlight Strangler before Paige was ever killed. And you know the reason,” she said.

  Levi nodded. “He killed one of your childhood friends.”

  “Not just a friend. Trisha Duncan. My best friend. She was like a sister to me.”

  Another nod. “And you promised her family you’d find him.” Levi paused. “Promises are sometimes very hard to keep.”

  They were, but that didn’t mean she would just give up. “Has the Moonlight Strangler contacted your sister, Addie?”

  She saw the jaw muscles tighten on the side of his face that was visible to her. Something that usually happened whenever she asked about his family. Levi probably didn’t want her to think of anyone in his family as a possible link to the killer.

  But the link was already there, and it was a huge one.

  His parents had adopted Addie when she was a toddler. Levi’s father had been the sheriff at the time and had put Addie’s DNA in the databases. Finally, years later, and long after Levi’s father had passed away, there’d been a match for Addie’s DNA.

  Addie’s biological father was the “unsub” or unknown subject that the press had dubbed the Moonlight Strangler.

  From everything Alexa had heard, the news had caused a firestorm in the Crockett family with Levi and his brothers all scrambling to protect her. Addie’s now husband Weston had done the same. But there’d been no threat to her from her birth father. No threat to Addie’s biological brother, Cord Granger, either.

  “The Moonlight Strangler called Addie a couple of months ago,” Levi answered finally. “The conversation’s been analyzed six ways to Sunday, and there are no clues as to his identity. He did say, though, that he wouldn’t come after Addie, and so far he’s kept that promise.”

  Of course, Levi would trust that promise about as far as he could toss a house. Alexa felt the same way. As long as the Moonlight Strangler was out there, his sister and the rest of his family were in danger.

  Ditto for Alexa being in danger as long as Marcos was around.

  With the trial still a month away, that meant she’d have to stay in hiding. Alexa also knew there was something else she had to do.

  “If Scottie believes Violet is ours, she should be safe,” she said. “But it certainly won’t protect her from Marcos. He could come after me again, and Violet could get hurt. That means I have to put some distance between her and me.”

  Levi turned, stared at her. “You heard what I said to Jericho about finding a safe house and someone qualified to guard Violet.” He glanced around, no doubt emphasizing the cramped quarters. “We can’t stay here much longer, and besides we don’t know what we’re doing when it comes to taking care of a baby.”

  Alexa couldn’t argue with that last part. Not completely anyway. After multiple tries, she’d finally gotten Violet’s diaper to stay on. Levi had dropped the first bottle he’d fixed, but he’d managed to hang on to the second one.

  “We both suck at burping,” she grumbled. It’d taken her a half hour just to get a tiny burp from Violet. Alexa hadn’t meant what she said to be funny, but the corner of Levi’s mouth lifted in a smile.

  A short-lived one.

  “I’ll miss her,” Alexa went on. “I mean, I haven’t been around her that long, but I’ve gotten attached to her.”

  “Yeah,” Levi agreed. He seemed both surprised and annoyed by that attachment.

  “Do you want kids?” she asked. More surprise, this time in his eyes, and after their holding session, it sounded, well, intimate or something. “It wasn’t an invitation,” Alexa added, causing him to smile again. “I’m just curious.”

  “One day, yes. I want kids. You? And that also wasn’t an invitation.”

  Except his smile sort of made her feel as though it was. Of course, that was her stupid body’s way of seeing it, and it was the wrong way. Levi might feel the same attraction for her that she did for him, but ther
e was no way he’d act on it.

  Was there?

  Alexa didn’t even get a chance to let herself play around with that notion. Levi’s phone buzzed, and she saw Jericho’s name on the screen. Like the other call from Mack, Levi put it on speaker the moment he answered.

  “Did Scottie show up?” Levi asked right off.

  “No. Not yet.” And Jericho’s gloomy tone had Alexa’s stomach tightening. “But I do have news. You should probably come on in to work since I have Marcos in an interview room.”

  “Marcos?” Levi and she asked in unison. It was Levi who continued. “Why is he there?”

  “Because he’s a suspect in what has now become a murder investigation.” Jericho paused. “Levi, we’ve found two bodies.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Where’s Marcos?” Levi asked the moment he and Alexa stepped into the sheriff’s office.

  “Interview room,” Jericho answered, tipping his head to the far end of the hall. “Come on. Let’s go in my office. That way if Marcos or his lawyer comes out, they won’t see Alexa or the baby.”

  It was a good plan. Well, not good exactly. Nothing about this fell into the good category.

  Of course, Levi hadn’t wanted Alexa or Violet anywhere near Marcos, but he hadn’t exactly had a lot of options about bringing them into town. Jericho had wanted Alexa to view the live feed the medical examiner would be sending so she could possibly confirm if the two DBs had any part in the attacks. Plus, she still needed to give them statements for their investigation.

  Levi had debated leaving Alexa and the baby with the ranch hands while he came to the office to view both the ME’s feed and do those reports. However, considering that Scottie could still be around and might be watching the ranch, Levi hadn’t wanted Scottie to make a return visit.

  That meant Levi had brought Alexa and Violet along with him.

  Normally Levi would have considered the sheriff’s office a safe place, but with a possible killer under the same roof, no place was safe. Especially not for Alexa and the baby. He’d soon have Violet’s safety remedied, though, because the protection detail would arrive shortly to whisk her off to a safe house.

  It was the right thing to do.

  Levi knew that in his head, but for some reason he hated the notion of handing her off to people she didn’t know. Of course, just hours earlier Violet hadn’t known him, but still it stung. The only thing that was making this palatable was he was certain it was their only option for keeping the baby safe.

  Once they were in Jericho’s office he shut the door, locked it and turned the computer screen in their direction. It only took a few key strokes before the images of a dead body appeared on the screen.

  Not Tasha as Levi had first thought it would be.

  This was a man. A stranger. But judging from the gasping sound Alexa made, he wasn’t a stranger to her.

  “That’s the man I hit with the flashlight,” she said. “The one who came after Tasha and me at the gas station.”

  Since Alexa looked a little unsteady while she still had Violet in her arms, Levi helped her into one of the chairs by Jericho’s desk. Jericho went a step further and took the baby from her, easing Violet into a carrier seat that he had brought over from the hospital.

  “Show us the next body,” Jericho instructed the ME.

  Levi put his hand on Alexa’s shoulder, hoping it would help brace her for the worst—seeing Tasha’s dead body.

  But again it wasn’t Tasha.

  It was another man.

  Alexa’s breath came out in a rush and she nearly went limp with relief. “That’s the second man who attacked us.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured. We got immediate hits on both sets of fingerprints,” Jericho explained. “Their names are Hector Litton and Charlie Hagerman. Ring any bells?” he asked Alexa.

  “No. Who are they?”

  “Part-time bouncers and full-time criminals. Judging from their arrest records, they liked to beat up people who owed money to various loan sharks around the area. Both also once worked for Marcos. That’s why Marcos is in the interview room with his lawyer right now.”

  If only Marcos would spill something about this, but Levi doubted they’d get anything remotely resembling a confession from the man.

  “Where’s Tasha’s body?” Alexa asked.

  Jericho shook his head. “The CSIs are still searching the area.”

  So, Tasha could still be alive. Because it didn’t make sense to dump her away from Litton and Hagerman. Of course, that led Levi to the big question of who had dumped those two?

  “We’ll process the bodies and see if there’s any trace that’ll connect them to Tasha,” Jericho explained.

  Alexa stared at the screen where she could now see both dead thugs. “So, I did kill that man,” she said under her breath.

  “Did you shoot him?” Jericho quickly asked.

  Alexa met Jericho’s stare. “No. I didn’t have a gun. I hit him in the head with a flashlight.”

  Jericho tapped the first man’s head on the screen. “Blunt force trauma wasn’t the cause of his death. A bullet was. It entered right at the point of the injury you gave him so that’s why it’s a little hard to see.”

  Levi hadn’t spotted it right off, but after taking another look, he saw it.

  “A bullet killed the second guy, too,” Jericho went on. “Both point-blank range, and there are no defensive wounds, which means they likely knew their killer.”

  Alexa looked up at Levi, likely wanting him to come up with a solid reason why this had happened, but he only had theories. Well, one theory anyway that Alexa wasn’t going to like.

  Levi put his theory out there for her to hear. “If Tasha faked her own death, then she could have hired these two to do the job. And then maybe she killed them so they couldn’t be traced back to her.”

  At least Alexa didn’t jump to nix it. Not immediately. But then she glanced at Violet. “Tasha wouldn’t have put the baby in danger.”

  “Maybe she didn’t.” Levi turned to Jericho when Alexa huffed. “Alexa and I have already discussed the possibility that Tasha used fake bullets and blood to make it look as if she’d been murdered. She could have done that to escape Scottie for good.”

  “Is Tasha capable of murder?” Jericho asked.

  “No,” Alexa snapped, but then she shook her head. “Unless she’s been playing me for these past months.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time you were played,” Jericho reminded her.

  Alexa flinched but couldn’t deny it. The Moonlight Strangler had tricked her into meeting him the night he’d murdered Paige. And while that meant Alexa didn’t have a good track record in this department, Levi wasn’t one hundred percent sure that Tasha was still alive.

  “Scottie could have hired those men to kill Tasha, and then Scottie could have killed them,” Levi admitted. “He might want everyone to believe Tasha is still alive and that she’s a killer. That way he walks for her murder and the attack on Alexa and me.”

  “Thank you for believing me.” Alexa got to her feet, and in the same motion she hugged him. Not something Levi and Jericho had expected.

  Jericho scowled first at Alexa and then at Levi when Levi didn’t push her away. However, Levi did move Alexa to the crook of his arm so they could continue this conversation face-to-face with his brother.

  “Of course, if Scottie was only after Tasha, then that probably means Marcos attacked you,” Jericho said. “Or Lockwood. Does Lockwood have a reason to go after you on his own? By that I mean does he have a personal reason for wanting you dead?”

  “Yes,” Alexa admitted. “When I worked for Marcos, I saw the names of the people involved in his illegal activities. Most were aliases, and one could have been Lockwood. I don’t have anything
to prove that, but maybe Lockwood believes with the PI’s help that I’m close to connecting the dots. That’s why I didn’t tell Lockwood the PI’s name because I was afraid he might go after him.”

  “Lockwood would if he’s dirty.” Jericho moved a writing tablet and pen to the edge of his desk. “Give me the name of the PI. I’ll see what I can find out.”

  Alexa didn’t hesitate. She jotted down the name, James Moser. The very PI that Levi had used sometimes when he worked as a San Antonio cop.

  Even though Levi knew that Alexa had been in contact with James, he hadn’t realized until now that James had also been the source for what Alexa had heard about Lockwood. Of course, James was always on the lookout for ways to earn some extra cash with talk that he heard from his seedier clients and the bar he frequented. The bar was a hangout for all sorts of lowlifes, and James had given Levi plenty of reliable information in the past. Some of it, though, had turned out to be rumors. It was always a challenge to sort out the truth.

  “I’ll do some checking,” Jericho said looking at the name. He clicked off the computer images. “We’ll need to follow up on Scottie and Lockwood. Plus, I’ll need to deal with the sociopath up the hall.”

  Marcos.

  “Can I listen in on what he has to say?” Alexa asked.

  Levi saw the debate in Jericho’s eyes. A quick one. “I’ll get Dexter to stay in here with the baby. That way she’s not near the interview room. You and Levi can watch Marcos through the observation mirror.”

  Even though it went against his brother’s grain to cooperate with anything having to do with Alexa, it was a wise decision to have her listen. Alexa was a former PI after all, and she knew Marcos. She might be able to pick up on something that Jericho might miss.

  Jericho called Dexter, and he didn’t open the door until the deputy knocked. “Sorry, but you got babysitting detail,” Jericho said to Dexter. He grabbed some pictures of the dead men off his desk. “While you’re in here, make some calls and find out what you can about a PI named James Moser. Don’t make waves for him and don’t connect him in any way to Alexa.”