Chain of Custody

by Carol Ericson

  Nash grunted. “That’ll be the day. Why would the person who killed Fillmore and stole your drugs take the baby?”

  Emily had her own theories, which probably matched Nash’s, but neither one was going to blurt out anything in front of these two. The farther they kept away from Wyatt, the better. And the more she and Nash kept them talking and thinking they were all in this together, the better.

  Gustavo shook his head. “What is it about that baby? I know why we wanted him, but why did Fillmore want him and why did the people who killed Fillmore take him instead of killing him?”

  Emily flinched. “Brett wanted him because he was the baby’s father. That’s obvious. That’s why you wanted him—to force Brett’s hand.”

  “Maybe that baby had more value than we realized.” Gustavo renewed his grip on Nash’s gun. “That’s why you’re going to tell us where he is and who took him. We’ll find our product in the bargain.”

  “There is no bargain.” Nash reached down and scratched his ankle. “We don’t know who stole your stuff and we don’t care. We want to find the baby.”

  “And that’s—” Gustavo tipped his head toward Danny “—where our worlds collide. You’re going to look for the baby, and you’re going to keep us informed so we can collect what’s ours. We’ll even let you have the brat.”

  “You’ve been smoking too much of your own product if you think I’m going to help a couple of soldiers for Las Moscas recover the drugs they illegally smuggled across the border.”

  “You’ll help us, Agent Dillon, because if you don’t, we’ll kill this pelirroja.” Danny flipped her hair with the barrel of his gun.

  Emily jerked away, and Danny smacked her across the face with the back of his hand—just in case she’d forgotten they were actually on opposite sides of the law. Tears sprang to her eyes, and through her blurry vision she saw Nash scratch his left ankle again—where he’d removed a knife from a holster outside of Brett’s trailer.

  “Hey!” Nash shouted. “There’s no need for that. You’re gonna make me think we can’t work together. If you’re not gonna take care of her, I’m not gonna help you.”

  A smile stretched Gustavo’s lips. “I like where this is going, Agent. We’ll keep la pelirroja safe and sound while you use your connections to find that baby—and our drugs. You keep one. We’ll take the other.”

  “Don’t I get a say in this?” Was Nash’s plan to get the thugs to separate the two of them so they could each go one-on-one? She knew without a doubt Nash had something up his sleeve...or rather up his leg.

  She studied Danny’s dilated pupils. She could take this guy, but not while Gustavo had a gun on Nash.

  She continued. “Nash, do you really believe Las Moscas will allow either of us to live after this? You? A Border Patrol agent?”

  “We won’t allow either of you to live right now if you don’t agree to cooperate, so I guess you take your chances.” Gustavo nudged Danny. “Get her out to the car.”

  “He’s right, Emily.” Nash tapped his left knee. “Think about the baby. They have no use for the baby once they get their drugs. He can’t be a witness. We have to trust that they won’t harm him.”

  Okay, that had to be a signal. There was no way Nash would ever tell a member of Las Moscas that he was right.

  “Listen to him, la pelirroja. We’ll keep you comfortable while he locates the baby. Then we’ll release you.” Gustavo’s eye twitched, and Emily knew he was lying, not that she needed an eyebrow to tell her that.

  “Go with him, Emily. Do what he says.”

  Another signal if she ever heard one. It’d be a cold day in hell before she ever did what this scumbag told her to do.

  “All right, but what are you going to do to him?” She leveled a finger at Nash. “Don’t hurt him.”

  “Hurt him? He’s going to help us. We’re going to work out a few things while you wait in the car, and then I’m going to join you and leave him here so he can get to work.” Gustavo spread his hands. “Cooperation, sí?”

  Emily stood up suddenly, and the gun flashed in front of her.

  Danny said, “You move when I tell you to.”

  “Got it.” She stared into Nash’s face. “You do what you have to do. I can take care of myself.”

  Danny jabbed her in the back with the gun. “Move.”

  She walked to the front door, her muscles coiled, ready for anything on one word from Nash.

  When they stepped onto the porch, she asked in a loud voice, “Where’s your car? We didn’t see it when we drove up.”

  “Shut up.” He gave her a shove from behind and she tripped.

  A low growl reverberated in the air, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

  Something scrambled from beneath Nash’s truck, and Danny took a step back. A white flash barreled toward him, and as Denali sank his teeth into Danny’s leg, he screamed and got off a shot.

  While he hopped on one leg, Denali attached himself to the other. Emily sprang up, wrapped her arms around Danny’s middle and tackled him.

  Two shots popped off in the house, but she closed her mind to what might be happening inside.

  Danny’s arm flailed at his side as he tried to take aim with the gun, which he’d held on to but in an awkward position.

  Still on top of him, Emily kneed Danny in the groin and then lunged for the gun. Their hands twisted into an intricate dance to gain control of the weapon.

  She ground her teeth together as the gun began to turn in her direction.

  “Hold it, or I’ll blow your head off.” Nash’s voice cut through the life-and-death tension, and the man’s body went limp beneath her.

  She peeled the gun from his hand and rolled off him, panting in the driveway.

  Denali whined and licked her face.

  “Nash, are you all right? What happened in there?”

  Nash strode toward them, handcuffs clinking as they dangled from his fingers. “When we heard the commotion out here, I made a move for my knife strapped to my leg. I was able to stab Gustavo, get possession of my gun and shoot him. He’s dead.”

  Danny swore, and Denali bared his teeth and stood over him so that the drool from his tongue dripped onto his face.

  Emily rose to her hands and knees and then stood up. She held out her hands for the cuffs. “Do you want me to do the honors?”

  “Do you remember how?”

  “Just like riding a bike.” She took the handcuffs from Nash, commanded Danny to roll over and cuffed his hands behind his back. She placed her shoe on his neck. “Stay there.”

  Nash already had his phone out. “I’m calling the Paradiso PD right now.”

  “Were you just playing dead, boy?” Emily patted Denali’s head. “You came back to life with a vengeance.”

  “Is that what happened?” Nash tucked his phone in his pocket. “I heard this idiot scream, but I wasn’t sure if you did something to him or he did something to himself.”

  “Neither case.” She scratched Denali behind the ears. “When we came out of the house, Danny pushed me one too many times. Denali must’ve already come out of his unconscious state and immediately went on the attack. When he did, I saw my chance and I went on the attack.”

  “Good job, both of you.” He cupped her face and kissed her cheek, which had started throbbing from the slap she’d received inside the house. “I hope you didn’t believe I was ever going to allow them to take you away.”

  “I didn’t believe it for a minute. I always knew you had a plan—you were behaving way too meekly.” She touched her fingers to her hot cheek.

  “You, too.” He tapped his own face. “You need ice for that.”

  “Those two obviously didn’t know anything about—”

  “Shh.” Nash put a finger to his lips and glanced down at Danny, still prone in the gravel with
Denali standing guard.

  She flipped the gun around in her hand, crouched beside Danny and cracked him on the back of his head with the butt. He passed out with a grunt. “Now we can talk.”

  Nash raised his eyebrows. “I can see where you would have problems on a PD with your methods.”

  “I already figured I’m not cut out to be a cop.” She handed the gun to Nash. “They didn’t know anything about Lanier.”

  “Didn’t appear to, unless they were keeping that piece of info to themselves. We knew they were after Brett, but we finally learned why. He’d stupidly intercepted one of Las Moscas’ mules at the border. Did he really think they’d let him get away with that?”

  “Maybe that’s why he hatched the blackmailing scheme with Jaycee. He planned to return the drugs to Las Moscas.”

  “They probably would’ve never let him live after that—or they’d force him into becoming one of their mules. That’s what they do—human fodder.” His eyes narrowed as he peered down at Danny. “I’m glad you knocked him out.”

  “So, Lanier, or whoever works for Lanier, took Wyatt and probably took the drugs, too.”

  “Lanier isn’t doing his own dirty work.” He stroked her hair. “Look how he used you.”

  “I wonder if Lanier knows his flunky stole those drugs.” She snapped her fingers. “Maybe we can use that information to get Wyatt. If Lanier’s hired killer stole those drugs and didn’t tell his boss, he wouldn’t want his boss to find out, would he?”

  “No, but he wouldn’t want his boss to know he helped us find Wyatt, either. And there’s one small detail. We don’t know who the hit man was.”

  “Hit man?” Emily snorted. “I think you’re elevating the guy’s credentials. If the killer stole those drugs, he’s probably another junkie like Brett.”

  For the second time in the past twelve hours, sirens blared through the night.

  Denali lifted his head, and his ears quivered.

  Nash patted the dog’s furry side. “You can go inside, boy. You’ve done a good job tonight. Wait until I tell Clay.”

  Emily had transferred Brett’s GPS app from his phone to hers, and she dragged her phone out of her back pocket to check on Wyatt...or at least Wyatt’s car seat. “Wyatt is still in the same spot. Do we tell the police tonight? Do we tell Espinoza?”

  “I think we have to, Emily.”

  “They don’t know Brett’s recent history like we do. They won’t know the significance of this tracker. They won’t have the same urgency.”

  “Maybe not, so we tell them and then we go to Phoenix ourselves. We’re private citizens, or at least in this capacity I am. We don’t need a search warrant or probable cause. We can get the jump on this, and Espinoza can come in later and tie things up with a bow.”

  She pinched his sleeve. “Do you think that’s how this is going to end, tied up with a bow?”

  “I’ll do my damnedest to make sure of it, and I know you will, too.” He nodded toward the emergency vehicles pulling into his driveway. “But first things first.”

  The Paradiso PD flooded the scene, along with Border Patrol. Danny came around just in time to be arrested and loaded into the back of a police car.

  Emily finally followed Nash into the house, where Gustavo’s body lay in the kitchen, blood spreading out from beneath his facedown body onto Nash’s beautiful hardwood floor. She had more sympathy for the floor. She only regretted not witnessing Nash take him out.

  The police had plenty of questions for her and Nash, and they had to confiscate Nash’s weapon. The Border Patrol put him on leave immediately, which would save him from taking another vacation or personal day to go up to Phoenix.

  By the time Espinoza showed up on the scene, the sun was rising and the medical examiner had loaded Gustavo’s body in the van.

  The only thing left to do was clean that floor.

  As Emily went through the questions and the explanations, she kept her phone cupped in her hand and kept checking on that red dot. With Espinoza here, she knew they’d have to turn that information over to him. Would he make light of it? Perhaps it would be to their advantage if he did. Then they’d be free to pursue the leads without being hampered by protocol.

  That was what she’d hated most about police work. Proper procedures always hampered true justice.

  Emily’s heart fluttered as Nash shook Espinoza’s hand and drew him close. She glanced down at her phone again and sucked in a breath.

  The first contact from Marcus Lanier since she’d told him she was working as Wyatt’s nanny. She swept the message open, and a tingle of fear crept up her back as she read the text.

  Her head jerked up, and she zeroed in on Nash and Espinoza.

  Then she rushed toward them to stop the conversation at any cost.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Espinoza shifted his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. “Do you believe that these Las Moscas soldiers didn’t kill Fillmore? I can see them going in there looking for their drugs, and once they figured Fillmore didn’t have them, they killed him. Wyatt was already gone because the person or persons who kidnapped him didn’t know about any drugs and left Fillmore alive after they took the baby.”

  Nash followed the path of the toothpick for a few seconds before he answered. “That could be. Every word that comes out of their mouths is suspect.”

  “They must’ve really believed you could get a line on Jaycee’s baby to risk coming to a Border Patrol agent’s house and kidnapping your...friend. Why is that? Why do they think you know where the baby is?”

  Nash scratched the scruff on his chin and opened his mouth.

  Emily butted her way between the two of them and clung to Nash’s arm. “When are they going to be done here, Nash? I’m still a nervous wreck. I just want to get back to Phoenix and forget this whole thing.”

  Nash snapped his mouth shut and studied Emily’s face. She winked at him.

  Was he supposed to know what that meant? If she thought he was about to tell Espinoza about the GPS tracker on Wyatt’s car seat, she’d interrupted that moment for a reason. One thing he knew for sure was that Emily Lang was no nervous wreck after cracking Danny in the skull with his own gun.

  “I think they’re ready to wrap it up, right, Detective?”

  “We are. Ms. Lang, do you have any idea why these two men thought you and Nash knew who took the baby?”

  She turned toward him, her hand at her throat. “I have no idea. If we knew where Wyatt was, we’d tell you right away. Maybe they thought it was some other drug dealer who Nash had in his sights.”

  “They’d be wrong.” Nash folded his arms with Emily’s fingers still digging into his bicep and covered her hand with his.

  Espinoza clapped his hat onto his head. “We’re almost done. We’ll question Danny Trujillo, for all the good it’ll do. We’ll see if it was his gun that shot Fillmore, so that’ll be a start. He does have a silencer on it. Damn shame about that baby. Don’t get why the lowlife who killed Fillmore didn’t just leave the baby there, but thank God we didn’t find the baby dead.”

  Emily closed her eyes and swooned against Nash’s shoulder, but Nash didn’t think she was faking it this time.

  He shook his head at Espinoza, and the detective grimaced and said, “We’ll be out of your way.”

  “I’ll be off duty for a few days and maybe out of town, but not far. Call me if you need anything else.” Nash held out his hand to Espinoza to hurry him along.

  Ten minutes later, only the crime scene tape hanging limply outside and the bloodstained floorboards inside gave any indication that a man had died here and another had been hauled away.

  When Nash finally closed the door, Emily pounced on him.

  “Oh, my God. I’m so glad you didn’t spill the beans about the GPS on Wyatt.” She pulled his arm and dragged him to the couch.r />
  “I gathered that. You stopped me just in time. I was about to reveal all. Now tell me why we didn’t.”

  When they sat down, Emily tapped furiously on her phone and crooked her finger at him to have a look at her display.

  “Read this. It’s from Marcus Lanier.”

  Nash took the phone from her and read the text message out loud. “‘I have the baby safe and sound. All you need to do to get him back is tell that Border Patrol agent to delete the file Webb sent him and forget about its existence. If you involve the police, the baby will disappear. Let me know when this is done and I’ll let you know where to pick up the baby.’”

  Nash dropped the phone, his blood thumping hot through his veins. “What the hell is this about?”

  “D-do you know what file he’s referring to? Who’s Webb?”

  “I know what file he means and Special Agent Bruce Webb is the guy in finance who sent it to me, but how does he know about Webb and that file?” Nash dug a hand through his hair. “The information in that file has the potential to show his connection to Las Moscas and his money-laundering efforts on their behalf.”

  “You have to do it, Nash. You have to get rid of it so we can get Wyatt back.”

  He whipped his head around. “Do you trust Lanier? He lied to you from the beginning. Do you really think he’d release Wyatt unharmed if I destroy evidence of his criminal activity?”

  Her green eyes widened, and the freckles stood out on her pale cheeks. “What’s the alternative? Refuse and send Wyatt to his death?”

  “Was that what this was about all along?” Nash clasped his hands behind his neck. “It couldn’t be. Lanier had no idea Jaycee would leave the baby with me. I doubt he even knew of my existence before this.”

  Emily held up her hands. “I didn’t tell him about you. When I informed him that Jaycee had dropped off the baby with an old friend, I didn’t tell him your name or your occupation.”

  “Why not?”

  She lifted and dropped her shoulders quickly. “Just a feeling—a feeling that you were the good guy and Lanier has a lot of money to throw around if he doesn’t get his way.”