High-Risk Reunion

by Margaret Daley

  “I wanted him to leave with them, but he said he wants to work with you and Cade to nail Mederos. He assures me they’ll be safe where he’s sending them. He isn’t telling anyone where they’re going.” Paul nodded at Collins and the sheriff as he passed them to talk to the medical examiner.

  “Ranger Morgan, this is Deputy Collins,” the sheriff said.

  Cade shook the officer’s hand. “I’ll come see you at the sheriff’s office. I understand you’ve had a number of encounters with the biker gang these past few years. Joe Buckner is Mederos’s second-in-command. I’ve dealt with various gangs in my different assignments, but I want to know everything about this one. The sheriff told me you’re the best one to fill me in on the gang.”

  “Yes, sir. This execution-style murder has Buckner stamped all over it. Although not ever convicted, he has been suspected of one murder recently in an adjacent county and several others when this gang operated out of El Paso. He’s as ruthless as Mederos.”

  “Good to know. Lieutenant Sanders is interviewing Mederos this afternoon. I’ll contact you after that.” He turned to Tory. “Ready to go? Your secretary is probably wondering where we are.”

  “I told her to start boxing up my cases if she got there first.”

  As they hiked back to the rented SUV, Tory glanced over her shoulder as the black body bag was zipped with Judge Parks inside. He was a good man who had been the perfect person to oversee the Mederos trial. He didn’t have any family and he was tough on crime. Maybe that was the reason Judge Parks had been murdered.

  When she slipped into the passenger seat, she massaged her temples.

  Cade rounded the front of the car and settled behind the steering wheel. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll be fine when this is over and Michelle is safe.” But as she said that, the throbbing evolved into a pounding against her skull.

  “We still need to talk about what happened between us fifteen years ago.”

  “I know.” She dug into her purse and pulled out her migraine medicine. After swallowing a pill without the benefit of water, she closed her eyes and hoped the rumbling in her stomach would subside. “But not now.”

  “One of your migraine headaches?”

  “Yes, I still have them from time to time.” Intense stress could bring one on. Over the years she had practiced deep breathing and other techniques to keep the tension at a bearable level.

  “Then we’ll wait, but not too long because I want to be part of Michelle’s life.”

  Her first impulse was to say no. Years ago he’d made his choice and now needed to live by it. At the very least they should hash out what happened all those years ago. She couldn’t avoid it since she was stuck with Cade for the foreseeable future. Instead of replying, she stayed quiet with her eyes closed against the bright light. If this weren’t so important, she would have asked him to take her back to the ranch. But she needed to be part of this investigation in spite of the hammer striking against her right temple.

  * * *

  At the police station Cade paused at the entrance to Paul’s office. He’d pulled the blinds and turned off the light as Tory lay down on the couch across from the police chief’s desk. As a teenager, Tory hadn’t had many migraines, but when she did, it was best if she was left alone in a quiet, dark room. When they were at the courthouse in her office boxing up her files, he’d wanted to take her back to the ranch after she’d gone to the restroom and thrown up. He knew this was a bad one, but she wanted him to at least be involved in the interview of Mederos. And the quicker that happened, the quicker they could leave and return to the ranch.

  “I’ll be back soon.” Cade put his hand on the door handle.

  “Make sure it’s recorded,” she whispered, her eyes closed.

  “Anything you want me to ask him?”

  “Ask him what he thinks he’ll gain by killing the judge and others associated with the trial.”

  “You think he’s going to answer that?”

  “No, but I want to know his reaction since news of Judge Parks’s murder won’t be out in the press until next of kin is notified.”

  “Good idea. Rest.” Cade quietly closed the door and let the police chief’s secretary know where he would be, then made his way to the room where the interviews were being recorded. Paul and Lieutenant Sanders were inside waiting for him.

  “How’s Tory?” Paul asked when Cade joined them.

  “Hurting, and not just because of her migraine.”

  “When Judge Parks was selected for the Mederos trial, she was elated. She respected him and knew he would do a good job.” Paul glanced from him to Sanders. “Y’all ready? Our boy has been sitting impatiently in there—” he nodded his head toward the TV on the desk “—for the past twenty minutes. We discovered he doesn’t like to wait, which we’ve used to our advantage.”

  “If Tory didn’t need to return to the ranch, I’d suggest leaving him for another twenty minutes,” Cade said with a grin. “Or longer.”

  “And you need to talk to Deputy Collins this afternoon too.” Paul took the chair in front of the TV to monitor the interview.

  “I wish I’d been in on this case from the beginning, then you two wouldn’t have to spend so much time getting me up to speed. Ready, Sanders?”

  “Yes, I’ll let you take the lead. Maybe someone new might be able to get something worthwhile out of Mederos. According to him, he’s a businessman who would like to be left alone to run his business.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure he does,” Cade said, thinking about the past twenty-four hours and how close Michelle, Tory and him came to being killed or injured seriously.

  Cade let Sanders enter the interview room first, even delaying a few seconds before he followed. He wanted to see if Mederos gave a different reaction to his presence. The tattoo-covered man seated at the table, handcuffed to it, shifted his black gaze to Cade with a slight narrowing of his eyes. Assessing. Calculating, as only a handful of criminals he’d dealt with in the past had done. As his chin went up a notch, Mederos dismissed Cade and swung his attention to Sanders.

  Cade had seen other criminals with a cocky attitude become so overconfident that they underestimated his tenacity. He took the chair next to Mederos, crowding the man, while Sanders sat across from the criminal.

  “To what do I owe this little chat? As much as I like getting out of my cell once in a while, you won’t get anything from me without my lawyer present.” Mederos smirked.

  “That’s okay. While we’re waiting for him, Ranger Morgan and I thought we would have a little chat between us. You can sit back and nap if you want.” The detective’s voice dripped with his scorn.

  Cade lounged in his chair as though he was here to catch up with a friend. “I can’t wait until the regular season starts for the San Antonio Spurs at the end of October. I’ve got tickets for the opening game. That’s only weeks away. Do you follow them?”

  Sanders chuckled. “I hope all the way to the NBA championship.”

  While they discussed their favorite players, Mederos yawned wide, revealing the gold fillings in his teeth.

  Cade slid a glance at Mederos. “I guess you aren’t a basketball fan. Is soccer your game?”

  “I prefer shooting at my target range on my property. It’s a lot more entertaining.” Contempt filled his features as Mederos closed his eyes as if he didn’t have anything better to do but take a nap.

  Cade ignored the criminal and continued talking about the Spurs’ chances of winning.

  On cue Sanders’s phone rang. He checked who was calling, then stood. “Lab results might have come back on the truck. I’ve got to take this.” He left the interview room as he said into the phone, “Really? This could be our break on the judge’s case...” He closed the door on the rest of the conversation.

  Leaving Cade
alone with Mederos—as they’d planned. The only indication that the head of the biker gang heard was a slight shift on his chair. His eyes remained closed. Too bad the man couldn’t fold his arms over his chest to emphasize his lack of interest.

  Sanders returned in a minute and took his seat again across from Mederos. “Not the lab results but good news.”

  “Great. I want to wrap up the case as soon as possible.”

  Mederos slowly opened his eyes. “If this is supposed to interest me, it doesn’t. I’d like to go back to my cell until my lawyer arrives.” He sounded bored, but there was something in his expression, a tic in his jaw, that gave him away.

  “Sure, we’ll fill in your lawyer. We have a lot to talk about. You can go take that nap you seem to need.” Cade looked at Mederos as if he were inspecting a cockroach right before he stomped on him.

  “Honestly, I don’t think we even need him here. Anything he’d have to add would only be a lie.” Sanders put his hands on the table and started to rise.

  “I’d clap if I could, but my hands are—” Mederos sneered “—tied up at the moment.”

  Cade threw back his head and laughed. “You are so right, Sanders. How he got to be the head of a ga—business is a mystery to me. Not much upstairs.” Cade tapped his temple.

  Thunder descended on Mederos’s face, and he sat forward. “One day I’ll show you how I did it. You have nothing on me. I know what happens in this county—even while in jail.” A cocky grin lifted one corner of his mouth higher than the other.

  The lieutenant leaned across the table. “Oh, then you already know about Judge Parks’s murder. Interesting, since you’re isolated in your cell,” Sanders said in a mocking tone.

  Cade squeezed his hands into fists. The detective wasn’t supposed to reveal the identity of the murdered man. Cade scrambled to save things. “But since you know everything that goes on in the county, you already know whose fingerprints we have tying him to the murder.”

  Mederos relaxed back. “Since I have an airtight alibi, why should I care? Although when I see the guy, I’ll congratulate him.”

  Sanders came up out of his chair and grabbed Mederos’s shirt, dragging him toward him. “You’re a lowlife.”

  Cade put his arm up to loosen Sanders’s hold. “I’ll take it from here, Lieutenant Sanders. Go cool off.”

  One hand still in a tight grip, Sanders narrowed his eyes on the gang leader. “Fine. It’ll be fun watching Mederos’s little brother go to prison.” Sanders released his hold and shoved the criminal down into his chair. “You can have him, Morgan.” The lieutenant stormed from the interview room, nearly bowling over Sam White, Mederos’s lawyer, a shark with a reputation to work for whomever could pay his high fee.

  “What’s going on in here?” White came inside, closing the door after Sanders left. “You are not to question my client without me being present.”

  “Have a seat. We’ve been chatting while waiting for you to show up.” Cade checked his watch. “Mederos, I’d be worried that your attorney can’t get here faster.”

  “I was talking with Police Chief Drake about the murder of Judge Parks.” White took the only other chair in the room, the one Sanders had been sitting in across from the gang leader. “You can’t seriously think my client had anything to do with his death.”

  “Not directly unless he can be in two places at the same time, but definitely a conspirator.”

  “On what evidence?”

  “The latent prints left in the van used to transport Judge Parks’s body to the dump site. They were Pedro Mederos’s fingerprints.” Cade turned his attention to the gang leader whose face reddened. “Your baby brother was sloppy leaving his prints on the truck’s tailgate handle. I would have thought you’d taught him better than that.”

  Jumping to his feet, Mederos exploded with a string of curse words, his cuffed hands balled. “No one taunts me and gets away with it.”

  “Is that a threat?”

  Mederos thrust his face into Cade’s, but he didn’t step back. His gaze drilled into the killer’s. “No one that works for me killed Judge Parks, especially Pedro. I have no reason to kill the judge. One is as good as another.”

  Cade wasn’t going to get into an argument with Mederos. “I didn’t expect you to confess to setting this hit up, but we have enough to hold Pedro on the murder.”

  “I tell you, my bro didn’t do it. Someone else killed the judge.”

  Cade stared into his black eyes. Mederos’s gaze made Cade pause. What if he was telling the truth?

  * * *

  Cade sat at his dining room table, staring at one of Tory’s files. His eyes burned as though someone had thrown sand into them. He closed them and immediately an image of Tory splashed across the screen in his mind. The second he’d returned to the ranch after the interview with Mederos, Tory had gone to lie down, her face pale, her eyes dull with pain. He’d wanted to help her up the stairs, but she wouldn’t let him. He had to content himself with watching her trudge up the steps, clutching the banister as if it was the only thing keeping her upright.

  In the past thirty-six hours his life had changed drastically. His daughter was asleep in one of his bedrooms. His first love, Tory, and once he’d thought his only love, was in another room. He hadn’t imagined that would happen when he’d taken the position in El Rio. He’d given up on love years ago and instead focused his life on his job. But now he had the toughest task he’d ever faced—keeping Michelle and Tory alive.

  And he wasn’t going to do that if he couldn’t figure out what was going on. After talking with Deputy Collins, he’d wondered if Mederos was telling the truth about the judge. Collins said that Pedro wouldn’t do anything like that unless his brother had ordered it. The deputy had actually been surprised that Pedro’s prints were on the truck’s tailgate handle. Mederos only cared about a few things—money, power and Pedro. Mederos would have sent one of his other men. His younger brother, more like a son to Mederos, was only eighteen. But Cade had seen his share of young boys who were murderers.

  Cade swigged the last of his cold coffee, closed one file and opened another. Matthew Thorne. Released two months ago from prison for armed robbery. He had been Tory’s first case as the county’s district attorney. Cade knew how Tory felt about anyone who robbed a place with a gun. That case must have triggered memories of her best friend dying in a bank heist. He added Thorne’s name to the list of ex-convicts to track down.

  He leaned back in his chair and peered at his empty mug. If he was going to do any more work tonight, he needed a lot of extra caffeine. He pushed to his feet and walked into the kitchen to make more coffee.

  While it perked, he rubbed behind his dog’s ears. She was curled in a ball on her bed in the utility room. Bella hadn’t given birth to her babies yet but any day. “At least Uncle Ben will be here. I imagine I’ll be tied up a lot in the next week.” He’d found the mutt next to his car in a small town outside Houston two years ago. Still a puppy, she’d clearly been fending for herself and not doing a good job. Bella’s ribs had been showing her lack of hunting skills. He couldn’t not take her home with him.

  When he returned to the kitchen, he lounged against the counter, trying to clear his mind for a few minutes while the scent of coffee infused the air. The house was quiet—too quiet. He needed to keep moving. After checking the lock on the back door, he made his way through the first floor, inspecting every possible entry into his place. He’d already done this a couple of hours ago and nothing had changed. At the living room window, he paused and peeked outside at the deputy’s SUV parked in front of his home. He dropped the blind slat and turned to go refill his mug.

  Tory stood rigid in the entrance, barefooted with dark circles under her eyes. “Where’s Michelle? I thought we were sharing a bedroom.”

  “She didn’t want to disturb you wit
h your migraine. I put her in another room upstairs.”

  “Oh, good.” She relaxed the tense set of her muscles. “I smelled the coffee. I could use some.”

  Although not messy, her hair was tousled enough that he didn’t think she’d brushed it before coming downstairs. He moved toward her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I was tied to a Tilt-A-Whirl. But I’m better than I was.”

  “How’s your headache?”

  “Down to a dull throb. At least I’m not thinking a jackhammer is trying to split my skull apart. Is everyone else asleep?”

  “Yes. Uncle Ben and Michelle went to bed. My uncle will relieve me in a couple of hours.” He wanted to run his fingers through her hair. Instead he balled his hands and started for the kitchen. “I could use more coffee. I didn’t think the smell would wake anyone up.”

  “I’m tired, but not sleepy.” As she passed the dining room table, she glanced at the pile of files. “Have you gone through all of them?”

  “I still have a few more.” In the kitchen he took down a mug for Tory, poured the coffee and gave it to her.

  She took a slow sip and winced.

  “Uncle Ben makes the best. I don’t. Add sugar and cream. They help disguise the bitter taste.”

  After they both doctored their drinks, Cade decided to sit at the dining room table rather than the kitchen one. He needed the files around him to remind him their association was strictly business. They were only together because she and Michelle were in danger.

  Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that.

  She drank some more coffee. “You’re right. Much better, if you like cream with a coffee flavor. And I do.” A small smile graced her full lips.

  For a split second, the memory of them kissing before he left for the Middle East inundated him with emotions he’d blocked from his thoughts for years. Love. Wanting. Needs.