by Angi Morgan
“Pete?” Honey’s shaky voice broke through on the radio. “Pete, are you there?”
He could tell she was upset. “What’s wrong?”
“Jeff Davis County just called. They found our missing deputy’s car abandoned near the state park. You want me to send one of the new guys to check it out?”
“Negative. Ask Hardy to head over.” He released the button on the microphone.
“You need to go and I’m in the way,” Andrea said. “You can drop me off with Honey. I promise to be good.”
He pulled the car to the side of the road. “The Viewing Area is still three or four miles. I could drop you off, then hightail it back north.”
“Or?”
Something hadn’t been sitting right about the facts in this case. Too many coincidences. Too many orders issued. Too many gut feelings that he needed to be doing something active instead of reactive.
“Did I lose you, Pete?” Honey asked.
He spun the vehicle around and brought the microphone up to his mouth. “I’m here. Tell Jeff Davis County I’m on my way and ask if they can wait to move anything.”
“That’s what they wanted to hear, Pete. They’re searching for our deputy as we speak.” The radio clicked off and back on. “You still babysitting?”
Andrea rolled her eyes and shook her head. A laugh escaped as he answered, “That’s an affirmative.”
Honey laughed into the microphone. “Think they’ll find our deputy passed out on a park bench?”
“I’ll write the reprimand myself. On my way.”
Pete’s rash decision about bringing a witness to a crime scene would come back and bite him. He was certain about that. He was also certain she’d done her best to manipulate him with the make-out session and talk about second auditions. Andrea Allen sat next to him because she wanted to be there. She might have just hypnotized him or something with those large, dark blue eyes. Yep, this decision would definitely bite him in the end.
“I never stood a chance,” he mumbled aloud.
“Did you say something?”
“Yeah, stay in the car when we arrive until I give you permission to get out. Or I’ll put you in cuffs for your own protection.”
“Sure thing. That was a good breakfast burrito.”
Was she agreeing just a little too quickly? Changing the subject even quicker? If she wanted it changed, he could roll with that.
“Always is from the café. I’m thinking you should tell me what’s going on between you and your dad. Why are you afraid he’s going to take you home? You’re a little old for a runaway.”
“That’s funny, but not far from the truth. I’ve been running from my parents since I was twenty and wanted to change my major the first time.”
“You’ve changed more than once?”
“Not really. I let them talk me into completing three.”
“So you’re an overachiever. Will this be a fourth?”
“Not an overachiever as much as... Well, I feel more like a compliant child. I’m working on my doctorate in space studies and need to be here to finish up.”
“Sounds like a complicated relationship.”
“You know how parents and college are,” she said casually.
“Not really.” He repeated her words, wanting to avoid his life history as much as possible.
“You didn’t have to go to become a police officer?” She looked genuinely confused. “You’re looking at me like I’m a cat with two heads.”
“My dad has been sheriff in this county since I graduated from high school. He was a deputy before that. I’ve been around that office my entire life. I didn’t need any references or education except what he could teach me.”
“Is this all you ever want to do? Be sheriff?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“No, I’m sorry. I always have an uncanny ability to say exactly what makes people uncomfortable or just end up insulting them.”
“Well, now that you mention it...”
“Seriously, I apologize. I just meant...is being sheriff your dream or your father’s?”
“Both, I guess. I haven’t ever given it much thought. Everyone just assumed I would be.”
He hadn’t given it much thought until his dad’s heart attack and he’d been asked to step in. It was always one day in a future he assumed was way down the road. Now? His father’s bombshell had exploded and was a constant distraction.
He couldn’t dwell on that problem. Andrea was enough distraction for any man to handle.
“Not too many people have wanted the job. It’s a lot of territory and a lot of nothing. It’s just so excitin’ and all.”
“Now you’re just teasing. You’ve had alien visitors, a missing body, an attempted homicide and Homeland Security taking over an investigation all in less than twelve hours. I am very confident that everyone wants to be in your shoes.” Andrea smiled, teasing him at every turn.
“Yeah, I see what you mean.” He did have a decision to make about the election. Soon. But not before he needed to find a missing deputy and determine what was really going on in his county. And if he let this woman go before he had some basic questions answered, they might go unanswered for quite a long while.
He drove. Quickly, efficiently. He knew every shortcut not only in his county, but also to the north and east.
“I’ve always been told I’d achieve certain things. There are only problems when I assume I can go about them in my own fashion...” Her voice drifted off and she looked out the window.
“Sheriff, this is Honey. Where are you?”
He picked up the car radio. “About three miles south of Fort Davis.”
“They found Logan.”
He heard the shakiness to her voice. She wasn’t irritated—a tone he’d heard plenty of times from her being interrupted. She’d been crying. “What aren’t you saying?”
“It’s not good, Pete.”
“Are you talking about Logan Griggs?” Andrea asked, gripping his arm.
He nodded. “Why? Do you know him?”
“That’s Sharon’s boyfriend. She’s the woman I was covering for last night. They had a date. Do you— Do you think...?”
He knew what she didn’t want to ask. If they’d been returning from Alpine and were stopped by the same men who had tried to kill her...
“Both of your fathers are headed there now. Should I tell them you’re on your way?”
“Negative. They’ll find out soon enough. Inform the searchers there may be a woman missing.”
“Come again?”
“A UT student may have been with Griggs. Tell them and keep me posted.”
What a mess.
“Before you try to convince me to take you someplace other than to meet your father, we need to stop the secretiveness.”
“Absolutely. Do you really think Sharon was with him?”
“There’s more to your accident than you’re telling me. Homeland doesn’t send teams to investigate car accidents for six hours. Not even when daughters are involved. Now, what’s going on?”
“I...I swear I don’t know. Sharon asked me to cover for her at the last minute. That’s all. She had a date, didn’t want to watch for the lights, asked me to take pictures if anything happened and even let me borrow her car.” She raised fingers as she went through her mental list.
“Did you take pictures?” That had to be what they were after. “Where is the camera? I didn’t find one in the car.”
“I...I dropped it in the front seat when I dragged the man into the back. It had to be in the car. Do you think it got thrown out during the crash?”
“I made a cursory search in the dark, then followed your tracks and took you to the hospital.”
“Then those men followed you to the hospital.”
Pete turned the Tahoe into the state park entrance, eager to confirm that this accident was connected to the other. Dreading the sight of one of his deputies—and friend—being the victim
of a homicide. Dreading more that he knew it wasn’t an accident and that he needed to warn the woman next to him.
“Andrea, as more information comes to light, I have a gnawing feeling that none of this has been coincidence. I don’t think anyone followed me to the hospital. I think they were prepared for the possibility you might get away. That they expected you to be at the Viewing Area last night.”
She stared at her hands, shaking her head in disbelief. “No way.”
“Do you think they could be setting a trap to get rid of your father? Has anything like this ever happened before?”
“He’s only been DHS for a year or so, but no. Never.”
“You’re staying with me. I’m responsible for you. You will listen to me, understand? I tell you to stay in the car, you stay in the car. I tell you to do anything, you do it. Got it?”
A man had tried to abduct her, had knocked her across the room just hours ago and she hadn’t looked as worried as right now, staring at him.
“You can’t be right about this, Pete. But even if you aren’t, you’re beginning to scare me a little.”
“Well, damn. I meant to scare you a lot.”
Chapter Eight
Andrea waited in the car as instructed. Not because Pete had sworn her to obedience or issued orders. If waiting in the car hadn’t been the safest place physically, it was the safest place mentally. Logan’s body had been found not far from the car on the other side of the hill.
The car fire had brought the park rangers to the main road. They’d extinguished the dry brush before it had gotten out of control about the time she and Pete arrived. She’d put her face in her hands and refused to watch after Pete parked. She didn’t want the image of a wrecked car, possibly with charred bodies, forever in her memory. The fake ones in movies were bad enough to fuel her imagination.
The sunlight began chasing shadows away at the bottom of the nearby hills where officers searched for evidence. And for Sharon, who hadn’t returned to the observatory housing last night.
Plain, simple, old-fashioned apprehension had her short, practical nails digging into her palms. It built in her chest, clogging her throat until she wanted to jump from the SUV. She pushed the door open and was greeted by the horrible acrid smell of burning plastic. Dark smoke continued to billow into the sparse trees.
The guilt and uncertainty of what she should do played with her mind. Pete had scared her with his declaration before jumping out of the truck to identify Logan’s body.
Was she in danger if she stayed to finish her study? She swiped the tears trickling down her face. Sharon had been so full of life...
Had her young coworker died because those monsters thought it had been Pete returning her to the observatory? Was this her fault? What was she supposed to do now? Or had Sharon set her up to be kidnapped so they could manipulate the Commander?
After what they’d been through at the hospital, she trusted Pete to defend her and do it well. She respected his honesty along with his ability. She also appreciated that he wasn’t bossing her around because he could. He had every right, and he could have left her in a jail cell waiting on the Commander. She knew what her father would do. A decree would be made and if she didn’t follow his instructions to the letter, an agent or officer she didn’t know would enforce his orders.
Parents shouldn’t have that type of authority over their twenty-six-year-old children. Especially since she’d been paying her own way since her first degree. And most didn’t. She was the only person who gave her parents the authority. This was her life, but she had the feeling it was about to spin completely out of her control.
Six days was all she needed to finish her dissertation and get the dream job halfway around the world. Far away from Commander Tony Allen, former astronaut now working for the Department of Homeland Security. And farther away from Dr. Beatrice Allen, wife, perfect mother and foremost authority on the Brontë sisters in the United States.
Even with three degrees behind her, Andrea felt compelled to argue for a thesis on a once-in-a-lifetime star. She’d fought for her allotted time tracking it over the next week. Even though the observatory had been perfectly willing to record what the telescope found and send it to her, she’d insisted on being here. Personally overseeing the collection of data, trying to impress experts halfway around the world.
If she failed...what then? Another degree? In another subject? Another direction? Give in and teach with her mother? Hear all the reasons she’d failed because she’d chosen a terrible topic or that she must not have applied herself enough?
Her parents’ voices saying “I told you so” rang through her head. They’d been right too many times to ignore.
This was her last shot. One star was certain to rise over the next six days. The question was if she’d watch it from behind an international telescope or if she’d see it on TV designated by her father as secure.
Pete tapped on the driver’s window, and she unlocked the doors. “No, she’s with me and staying with me. Especially now.” He carefully set his hat in the backseat, kept the phone to his ear and made a motion for the keys.
While he was gone, she’d kept them in her hand. She placed the key in the ignition and started the car. Pete looked at her strangely and agreed with whomever he was talking to. Cell still to his ear, he put the car in gear and took off quickly, a cloud of dust billowing behind them.
“Two males. About a hundred yards from the vehicle. No, that’s not in question.” He paused, listening. “No, she’s not staying. I agree, not over the phone. I assume someone’s listening and I won’t risk it.”
“What’s not a problem?” she asked, but he hadn’t hung up and just waved her question aside.
“Yes, sir. I understand, sir.” Pete stuck the phone in his shirt pocket.
“I can tell that was my father. What are our orders now?”
“Your transport is meeting us at the observatory.”
“And I have no say in it.” She wanted to fight for her right to stay and yet...two men were dead.
“No, Andrea, you don’t. It’s obvious to everyone now that you were the target. The man beside Griggs in that ditch is the same one from the car.”
“And Sharon?” She’d barely known the young woman, but her heart sank under the guilt. Sharon was probably dead because Pete had taken her to Marfa instead of to the observatory. If it hadn’t been for Pete finding her when he did, she’d be dead, too.
Pete’s phone rang, squealing a hard-rock tune she loved before he tapped it and raised it to his ear. “Come on, Dad. Take it easy on the man and work with him. Right. You, too. See you at the ranch.”
Question after question rammed their way into her mind and needed to be asked as soon as Pete set the phone down.
“They thought they were us. That could have been you. Oh, my God, I can’t believe— I mean, I know what that suit tried to do last night, but it all sort of seemed surreal. You were there to stop him. What do we do now? I mean, I heard what you said, but are you taking me to the Commander? He’s going to ship me home on the first plane headed in that direction. Or any direction, for that matter.”
“Honestly, Andrea, you throw out so many questions that I don’t know where to start. They haven’t found your friend. Were you close?”
“Not really. I just can’t believe she’s dead.”
“The body from last night is an undercover agent working for your father.” His grip tightened on the wheel. He was obviously upset, too. “I’ll wait with you until your father’s helicopter arrives. He’s ordered—”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Someone’s trying to kill you. Two people are dead, maybe three. What do you mean you aren’t going?”
“I’ve waited two years for this one week. This one specific week. I’m scheduled to use the telescope for the next six nights. If I don’t, all of my research is useless.”
“And that’s more important than your life?”
“I have one shot
at this star.”
“In the right wind, one shot’s all any sniper needs.”
“You really believe that my life is in danger?”
“Yes. Or worse,” he mumbled, but she heard him loud and clear.
“Then I’ll go.” She really had no choice. The longer she stayed here, the more people she put in danger. Her father had loosely warned about threats a year ago when he was transferred. Until that very moment, she’d never believed anyone would actually threaten her.
Now she was indirectly responsible for at least one man dying. She couldn’t handle another—specifically Pete—losing his life, too.
“You’re not just saying the words that I want to hear. You’re going to leave when the time comes?” He reached out and tipped her chin upward. Her eyes raised from her hands and focused on the dimples apparent in his cheeks.
His smile relieved the apprehension, lessened the guilt, made her want to spar with him again. “Do you need me to pinkie-swear or something, Sheriff?”
“Acting sheriff, and no.” He rested the crook of his arm on the back of the seat between them. “So...um...I guess this will be it. I don’t suppose you’ll be back for another look at the stars anytime soon. I was sort of looking forward to that second audition.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
Chapter Nine
“If you know where this woman will be, why not just let the men shoot to kill?” Patrice Orlando strummed her extra-long nails against each other in a ghastly rhythm. “Homeland Security will surely bring in extra patrols we’ll need to avoid.”
“I’d like to find out what she knows before we disrupt months of planning.” He disliked repeating himself, especially to the same person.
He moved around his library, passing the multiple chessboards along one wall. If Patrice would satisfy her thirst—either for his wine or her delusion that she had any part in the decision making of this operation—he could achieve checkmate in three moves with board four. He contemplated his next play on chessboard one.
“But Homeland is involved now,” she whined.
He hated whiners, but she was necessary for a major component of his plan.