His jaw clenched. It was beginning to look as if the skull was crucial to multiple investigations, but how? They already knew that the land on which the remains had been found was connected to the Lions of Texas. Captain Pike’s murder was also tied to that gang, so it was highly possible that this victim’s identity would lead to more evidence against the Lions. Other than stealing the skull outright, stopping or delaying Paige’s work was the gang’s only real option.
Which left the threats regarding the Alamo. As far as Cade was concerned, there was a good chance the Lions were behind those, too. Otherwise, why stall for time? What did they think Paige was going to discover? Or rather, who?
Paige gladly agreed to ride with the Rangers after they’d arranged for a tow truck to haul her pickup off the highway and deliver it to the Department of Transportation garage. By the time all that was accomplished, she was feeling a lot more like her old self.
To her delight, Cade had suggested that they could squeeze Max into the cab with them if he allowed the dog to sit at his feet. Paige occupied the middle of the seat, between the Rangers.
The sight of Max and Cade squashed into so small an area together was truly comical. “You sure you don’t want to trade places with me?” she asked him.
“No. You’re safer right where you are.”
She giggled. “Okay. If you change your mind, let me know.”
Max continued to wiggle happily until Cade was wearing more dog hair than Paige was, not to mention a little happy-dog drool on one knee.
“Thanks for the lift, guys,” she said with a grin. “Guess I should have agreed to ride with you in the first place, huh?”
The expression on Cade’s face was a cross between disgust and suppressed humor. “And I should have traded places with this mutt and climbed into the back where I’d be out of his reach. I’m going to have to borrow Daniel’s currycomb to clean myself up before I dare let the governor see me.”
His companion chuckled. “Yeah. And if I’d known I’d have so many passengers I might have parked this new truck and driven my old SUV. Good thing Rangers carry horse equipment as well as other gear.” He glanced at Cade’s clothing. “I’ve seen less hair on Captain Parker’s head.”
When Cade ordered “Hush,” Paige giggled.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’ll never tell. We all know there isn’t much left under his cattleman’s hat. He makes up for it with that magnificent mustache, though.”
“It’s not as good as Max’s,” Cade countered. “Don’t you ever comb this dog?”
“Of course I do. I could knit a sweater out of what I brush out.”
“I think you missed a bunch. So nice of him to share it with me.”
“Hey, you were the one who insisted we all had to stay together from now on. And that I couldn’t sit by the door. Not that I mind, considering.” She looked from one man to the other. “Where did you put my suitcase?”
“It’s in the back,” Daniel answered. “I figured it would be safer there than up here on the floor.”
“You’re probably right.”
In the distance, she caught sight of the capitol building with its decorative marble columns and copper-clad dome. That was where she was going. Her. Paige Bryant. The person who preferred solitude and anonymity above all else was about to enter the seat of Texas government and meet the man who ran the state. That concept boggled her mind.
Given a choice, she’d almost rather have been back among the faded bluebells—if she hadn’t also been in probable danger then, shivering when she remembered what Cade had said about his own accident and recalled the way the SUV had been pointed right at her.
Paige noted that Cade immediately cast her a quick glance so she made a point of smiling at him.
“Are you chilly?” he asked.
“No. I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“Positive,” Paige replied. “Nobody has doused any lights, grabbed me from the bushes, trashed my possessions or tried to make roadkill out of me and Max for at least ten minutes. I’m just peachy.”
The Rangers had little trouble gaining admittance at the capitol for their entire party, much to Paige’s amazement. Because the dog had balked at entering a private elevator, she and Cade were climbing the sweeping, marble staircase with him, the way most tourists did, while Lieutenant Riley went on ahead to brief the governor.
“This place is beautiful,” Paige whispered, awed. “So ornate and elegant.”
“The building was originally finished in 1888, after the first capitol burned to the ground. I remember not being very impressed when my father brought me here before the restoration in the 1990s. I think the preservation people did a great job, especially since they had to incorporate modern systems without changing the overall appearance of the place.”
“Wow. No kidding.” She craned her neck to gaze up at the red, Texas lone star inlaid inside the dome that topped the rotunda. “It’s so beautiful.”
“You live in Austin. Are you telling me you’ve never taken the tour of our own capital?”
“Nope. Never have. I kept meaning to but with work and all, I never seemed to get around to it.”
“Well, when this case is closed, maybe you and I should come back and make like tourists. How about it?”
“Maybe.” In the back of her mind she kept telling herself that the Ranger was just being polite, yet part of her couldn’t help wishing he’d actually meant the offer.
Once they were done with the current case, everything would change. She knew that. It always did. The last thing she wanted to do was see any investigation drag out longer than absolutely necessary. However, there was still a tiny voice in her mind urging her to make the most of this special time with Cade Jarvis and promising that there was nothing wrong with enjoying herself once in a while.
Paige smiled, turning away so he couldn’t see how pleased she was to be in his company. The entire scenario was unbelievable. Here she was, walking up a marble staircase practically arm-in-arm with the most handsome Ranger in Texas, on her way to see Governor Kingston, and she’d even been allowed to bring her best four-legged friend along.
Life did not get much better—or stranger—than that.
NINE
Daniel was already deep in conversation with the stately, gray-haired Governor Kingston when Cade and Paige joined them and were quickly introduced.
Tall and well-dressed, as befitted his position, Kingston grinned at Paige. “My pleasure, ma’am. I don’t often have such unique visitors.” He shook hands with her and gestured toward one of the burgundy leather chairs. “Please, make yourself at home.”
“Thank you.”
“Ms. Bryant is directly involved in a case I’m pursuing,” Cade explained when he noticed the governor’s eyebrows arch questioningly in his direction. “She’s our forensic artist. I’ve been assigned to keep her under close guard until her work is completed, so I brought her along.”
“I see.” Kingston smiled wryly. “Are there no other Rangers or Troopers available to look after her in your absence? If they’re all that busy, maybe I need to see about funding the hiring of more.”
Nobody had to tell Cade that his face was red. Not only could he feel the added warmth creeping up from his collar, his telling reaction was reaffirmed by the smug expressions on the other men.
“It’s complicated,” Cade said. “I—we—felt that it was best to keep this situation under wraps until we know more about who our adversaries are.”
Kingston eyed him. “I thought that was clear?”
“We have no direct proof of a connection, as yet. It’s just a theory.”
“A good one, I trust.”
“Yes, sir. If you want to discuss it in more depth, in private, I can take Ms. Bryant outside.”
Daniel rescued him. “I don’t believe there’s anything more to add, Governor. I’ve given you the details of the threat, as Mr. Zarvy recalled them. The Rangers will do our best to protect yo
u if you insist on going through with your plans to speak at the Alamo anniversary celebration, but it might be best if you thought about withdrawing.”
“Nonsense. The lieutenant governor and I will both be there.” He displayed a satisfied smile. “And, I’m pleased to tell you that we’ve recently gotten confirmation that the vice president will also attend.”
Cade’s eyes popped. “The vice president? Of the United States?”
“Yes,” Kingston replied, grinning wider. “I consider it a great honor to have him with us on the podium. After all, the 175th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo is a milestone. It’s a fundamental part of Texas history.”
Although Cade felt like cringing he kept his shoulders square, his jaw clenched. As if they didn’t already have enough trouble, now they were going to have one more dignitary’s welfare to worry about. Terrific.
Well, there was nothing he could do about it except execute his duties to the best of his ability. The rest was up to God. And the U.S. Secret Service, he added, stifling a grin. With all those branches of law enforcement involved, they’d probably end up tripping over each other by the time the celebration concluded.
Ideally, Cade thought, Paige would finish her reconstruction before then, the victim would be identified and that ID would lead them to making enough arrests that everyone in Texas would be considerably safer.
He huffed cynically at the turn of his imagination. When the Lions of Texas were involved, nothing was ever that simple. It seemed their favorite method of dealing with people who caused them trouble was to swat them like pesky mosquitoes.
Nothing like that was going to happen to Paige Bryant, he vowed. Especially not while he was on duty.
By the time Paige and the others got back to headquarters and they parted company with Lieutenant Riley, her office was no longer an active crime scene.
That was somewhat comforting until she set foot in what had once been her sanctuary. Now, not only could she see obvious damage to her computers and files, there was black fingerprint powder dusted over every usable surface. Her heart sank.
“I hardly know where to begin,” she said.
“With the easy stuff. Come on. I’ll help. You stand by the filing cabinets and I’ll pass the folders to you. Then you’ll be able to get to your computers and the safe without stepping on everything else.”
Paige blew a noisy sigh. “Okay. I guess that’s as good a plan as any.”
“You’re supposed to say, ‘Thank you, Cade. You’re the smartest guy in Texas.’”
“Oh?” She couldn’t help but smile when she saw his droll expression. The man could go from looking as if he could single-handedly whip a closet full of wildcats to being such a marshmallow that he’d be a pushover for anybody, even her.
“Okay, Ranger Jarvis. You are obviously the most brilliant Ranger there ever was and you should definitely be promoted to chief as soon as possible.”
“You mean senior captain. But I get the gist.” Chuckling, he hung his jacket over the back of a chair, then carefully crossed the room to the filing cabinets. “You don’t need to go that far. Let’s just say I plan to continue working my way up and maybe someday be worthy of leading the Rangers as ably as Captain Parker. I’d like to be half the man Gregory Pike was. He’d have made a great senior captain.”
“Losing him was a terrible shock to all of us.” Paige approached and briefly laid her hand on Cade’s forearm to offer moral support. “Poor Corinna told me her father was all the family she had.”
“The captain’s replacement, Ben Fritz, has been a lot of comfort to her since then.”
“Good. I didn’t have a chance to really get to know her well,” Paige said. “I wish I could have helped more.”
“Drawing that sketch of her stalker was plenty. All any of us can do is keep putting clues together till we have answers.” Cade stooped and began to pick up scattered folders, righting them to help her read the tabs as he handed them over.
Paige began to automatically restore her records while her mind darted in a dozen different directions. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. That’s why I think there must be a solid connection between all these attacks and the skull I’m going to be working on.”
“Obviously,” Cade said. “Trouble is, it’s like looking at this jumble on the floor. The answers may be there, but right now they’re so mixed up it’s impossible to sort them out. If I can’t make sense of it, nobody can.”
“Oh, really?” Paige’s eyebrows arched.
In response, his brown eyes sparkled and Paige was nearly lost in their appealing depths. “Never mind,” she said, hoping she wasn’t looking at him like a teenaged movie fan with a crush on a handsome star. “All I ask is that you keep me informed of anything new that might put me or Max in more jeopardy. Will you do that?”
When he nodded in affirmation, Paige thought she glimpsed a flash of emotion. It was so fleeting, so tenuous, she immediately doubted her conclusion. Cade was a rough, tough Texas Ranger, not some desk jockey whose biggest challenge was mowing his lawn on Saturdays. Rangers were men who faced death and danger all the time. They had a reputation for being able to wade into a perilous situation and defuse it with their mere presence. She’d heard so many stories to that effect that she didn’t doubt most were true.
Without another word, Cade began to gather stacks of files into his arms and pile them on a table. “Now what are you doing?”
“Making room for you,” he said flatly. “Doing it the other way is going to take too long. Sit down at your desk and see if your main computer needs repair while I pick up the rest of this stuff. That way, once we get the room straightened up, you’ll be able to dive right back into your work.”
“Very sensible,” Paige said, realizing with chagrin that she may have bruised his ego when she’d teased about his crime-solving ability. “Look. I’m sorry if I sounded as though I was doubting you. I really am thankful you’re here—for work reasons, of course.”
“Of course.” He began lounging with a hip against the edge of the table, arms crossed and peering at her as if she were a rare insect being examined under a microscope.
Paige folded her own arms and faced him. This was a standoff. He wanted her to admit that she liked having him around and she was loathe to do so. Nevertheless, she did feel she owed him honesty. “I was—I am—glad you’re taking time from your busy schedule to assist me,” she said, making a face when he started to give her that lazy, Texas grin of his.
He touched the brim of his hat. “Yes, ma’am. My pleasure, Miss Paige.”
“I told you…”
Before she could finish complaining he shook with subdued chuckles and relaxed his stance. “I know, I know. Sounds too much like I’m talkin’ to your granny.” He bent to gather more files. “So, tell me a little about your family. Do you have a granny?”
“Everybody has grandmothers,” Paige informed him. “Mine don’t happen to be living but I remember a little about one of them. She was a dear. A tiny thing with a temper that made my grandpa cringe.”
“Ah, you must take after her.”
“I beg your pardon?” Ready to take offense, she was surprised to see the twinkle in Cade’s eyes. He’d been teasing and she’d almost missed it because she’d been taking him too seriously.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I can be a little prickly at times,” she said. “I spend so much time working alone it’s apparently hard for me to accept the fact that I might need anyone’s help.”
“I don’t care if you have as many thorns as a giant saguaro,” Cade said, maintaining his grin. “You’re not going to get rid of me. Not as long as I think you need me around.”
“Is that a threat or a promise?” Paige asked.
She had to smile when he replied, “Both.”
Cade would gladly have driven anywhere to pick up whatever Paige needed to continue her work. Regrettably, although she had the facial recognition and reconstruction programs on
disc, she couldn’t reload them until her damaged desktop computer was repaired or replaced. She also informed him the 3-D laser scanner was broken and she needed it to fabricate a composite reconstruction of the skull on which to build the clay face. With her laser workstation down and obtaining a replacement at least a week away or more, they were totally stymied.
“How about having some of that work done in San Antonio?” Cade asked. “Can’t they make the same kind of scan?”
“Maybe, if they have a scanner that’s compatible with my systems or if somebody ran a complete MRI before you brought me the skull. I’d still want to double-check a mockup before I trusted its accuracy. My job may look artistic but it’s also hard science.”
He arched a brow and glanced at her studio. “You can’t even start when everything’s such a mess. If another lab can eliminate one or two steps for you, you should be glad.”
“I know. I’m just used to doing things my way.”
Amused, Cade grinned at her. “Yeah. I got that impression.”
His mood improved even more when she sighed in resignation and smiled back at him. “So, since I’m currently computerless, what do we do next?”
“First, we get you settled at the motel. I’ve arranged for a suite with connecting doors and locks on both sides, in case you don’t trust me.”
“I’ve already trusted you with my life,” Paige said. “Besides, I’ll have Max to guard me. You did get permission for him to be in my room, didn’t you?”
“Of course. Max is just as important as you are.” To Cade’s delight, that comment obviously pleased her.
“I can’t argue since I feel the same.” Paige wiggled her fingers in the sheepdog’s thick fur. “If that crazy driver had hit my truck when I stopped, and Max had still been inside…”
Face of Danger Page 8