Oh, that didn’t help Dade’s anger to hear it aloud, and he wondered how Kayla was doing with this. Maybe she would come bursting into the room.
“Scare?” Dade challenged. “You fired shots at her. You tried to kill her.”
“No,” Flynn quickly disagreed. “The orders were to scare her, but Salvetti got trigger-happy and fired into the estate. That was his doing, not mine. Hell, I could have blown up the house today with her in it, but those weren’t my orders. I was just supposed to grab that baby and get out of there fast.”
It took a moment for Dade to tamp down the emotion, the anger. Nope, it was rage. He hated this slimy piece of filth in front of him.
“Why take the baby?” Even though Dade was sure he already knew the answer, he wanted this on tape.
Flynn dragged in a weary breath. “For leverage. Brennan figured his daughter-in-law would do anything, including keeping her mouth shut, to get that kid back.”
Yeah, that was what Dade had expected, but he hadn’t expected for it to feel as if someone had slugged him. Robbie and Kayla could have been hurt or killed.
“Why did Salvetti call Kayla’s cell?” Dade pressed.
“To make her look suspicious.” Flynn cursed. “But Salvetti wasn’t too bright because he wasn’t supposed to call me.”
Well, that explained that, and Dade believed the man was telling the truth. “What about Kayla’s sister? Was that call to set her up, too?”
“I don’t know.” Another quick answer. “Salvetti was taking his orders directly from Brennan, not me. So, I don’t know why he’d call anyone. Now, it’s your turn. Phone your cop buddies and get my boy out of lockup.”
Dade met him eye to eye. “If I do that, you’ll just recant all of this later. What I want is proof that links you and Salvetti to Brennan.”
Flynn looked up at the ceiling as if seeking divine intervention. Dade just waited him out, hoping the lawyer or Kayla wouldn’t come barging in.
“There’s something that ties Salvetti to a crime. If you dig hard enough, I’m betting you can connect the dots from Salvetti to Brennan. But if I tell you, you’ve got to promise witness protection for me and my boy.”
“You know I can’t make a promise like that, but I’ll see what I can do.” And Dade would. Because as much as Dade despised Flynn, he despised Brennan more and wanted to put him away for life. “What proof do you have?”
Flynn swallowed hard. “There’s a wall safe in my house in San Antonio. Inside there’s a gun with Salvetti’s fingerprints. That gun was used in a murder.”
Dade heard the voices in the front part of the building and figured the lawyer had arrived. “Connect the dots for me,” Dade insisted. “What does this gun and murder have to do with Brennan?”
Flynn leaned closer. “Salvetti has worked for Brennan a long time. Longer than me. And he was working for Brennan when this murder happened. My advice? Dig into it. Now, please call SAPD.”
Dade heard the hurried footsteps coming down the hall. Two sets. One belonged to Mason, he soon learned, and the others belonged to Darcy Burkhart, an attorney who had recently moved to Silver Creek. But Darcy was no stranger to Dade. No. She had been one of Brennan’s attorneys during the initial investigation.
“This interview is over,” the petite brunette said. She was a good foot shorter than Mason who loomed over her, but she still managed to have an air of authority. “I need to consult with my client.”
Dade got to his feet. “Your client just confessed to an assortment of felonies.”
Darcy stayed calm but fired a nasty glance at Flynn. “I need to speak to him alone.”
Dade nodded and used the remote device on the wall to turn off the video recorder as he was required to do. Client-attorney privilege. But Dade thought he might already have what he needed without any additional statement from Flynn.
“Make that call,” Flynn shouted out to him as Dade headed for the door.
“I will,” Dade lied.
He stepped out into the hall with Mason. The lawyer went in, and Dade waited until she’d shut the door before he said anything.
“We’ll need a search warrant for Flynn’s safe,” Dade instructed. “And we need Brennan back in custody.”
“It’s already in the works,” Mason assured him. “SAPD will pick up Brennan, and they’ll execute the search warrant the moment they have it in their hands. You think this will link us to Brennan?”
“I hope so.” And Dade hated that he sounded so pessimistic, especially when he realized that Kayla was right behind Mason and hanging on his every word.
“Flynn did confess that Charles hired him,” Kayla said.
“Yeah.” And that would get Brennan back in custody. Temporarily anyway.
Because she looked ready to fall flat on her face, Dade caught onto her arm and led her down the hall toward his office. “This Darcy Burkhart is a tough attorney,” Dade let Kayla know. “She could somehow get it all thrown out. That’s why it’s important for us to connect this so-called gun to a murder and then to Brennan. That’s physical evidence and could be a helluva lot better than just a confession from a man with a criminal record.”
“So-called?” she repeated. “You think Flynn lied about that?”
Oh, man. He hated to see her hopes smashed like this.
Dade took her into his office, made her sit in the chair across from his desk. He wished he could give her a shot of whiskey from the bottle he kept in his bottom drawer, but she would need a clear head because she still had to make a statement about the shooting. Instead, he handed her a bottle of water that he’d taken from the small fridge behind his desk.
“I’m sorry,” Kayla mumbled. She drank the water as if it were a cure for what ailed her, gulping it down so fast that it watered her eyes. Or maybe that was just more tears on the way.
Dade wanted to pull her into his arms for a long hug. He wanted her to lean on him. But that would be a dangerous mix right now because of the attraction. He settled for skimming his fingers down her arm.
“Everything new we learn just seems to complicate things,” she mumbled.
Yeah, it did. Dade would have preferred Flynn to give a clear, no-strings-attached confession, but instead he’d added this mystery gun to the mix. It might be critical, and it might be a smokescreen. But someone had to investigate it. That tied up manpower and resources when all those resources should be focused on picking up Brennan and canceling his bond.
Dade moved some things off the corner of his desk so he could sit. Not exactly touching Kayla but close enough. But Dade didn’t watch where he was sliding a stack of folders, and they bumped into the framed photo, knocking it over.
Kayla reached out and picked it up. She started to put it back, but she froze, staring at the picture.
“It’s my maternal grandfather, Sheriff Chet McLaurin.” The shot had been taken outside a brand-spanking-new sheriff’s office. Chet was smiling that good-ol’-boy half smile of his with his white Stetson slung low on his weathered face. “He was a legend around here before he was killed.”
“Killed?” she said under her breath. Kayla continued to study the photo.
“Yeah. He was shot twenty years ago while investigating a robbery. His killer was never identified or caught.” And after all these years, that sliced right through his heart. His brothers’, too. In fact, it’s the reason all the Rylands had gone into law enforcement. A case they couldn’t solve.
A wound that couldn’t be healed.
“I’ve seen this photo,” she said, tapping it.
Surprised, Dade took it from her and had another look, even though he knew every detail. “There’s one in Grayson’s office.”
She shook her head. “No, I saw it in Charles’s office.”
“What?” And Dade couldn’t ask it fast enough. “What was Brennan doing with that picture?”
“I don’t know.” She had more water and licked her lips. “About eighteen months ago, I was sneaking around in his
files. Looking for anything I could use to get Preston and him arrested. I knew that was the only way I could get out of…my situation. I’d just learned I was pregnant, and I was looking for a way to get out.”
Dade felt it again. That jolt of hatred for the Brennan men who’d made Kayla’s life hell.
“I remember the picture because it seemed out of place. I mean, there were other photos. Some mug shots. Some taken from a camera with a long-range lens. And then there was this one of the Silver Creek Sheriff’s office. I looked at it a long time, trying to figure out why Charles had it.”
Dade did the same now. He tried to see it with a fresh eye. His father was in the shot. His mother dressed in her Sunday best. Him, and all his brothers.
“Who’s that?” Kayla asked, tapping the image of the person standing next to him.
“My brother Gage.” Dade didn’t want to feel the resentment for his younger sibling, but he did. “He left home not long after high school and didn’t come back.” Gage had run out on the family. Just like their father. “He joined the CIA and was killed on a deep-cover assignment.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Kayla said softly.
Dade shrugged. “Thanks,” he mumbled and got his mind off Gage and back on the picture taken all these years ago.
Next to Gage was Mel, the current deputy, who was then just starting her rookie year. Two deputies, long since retired. The then mayor, Ford Herrington, who was now a state senator. And then Dade’s attention landed on the man at the far right of the happy group.
Winston Calhoun.
He was the assistant D.A. back then and had every right to be in the photo. After all, it was the grand opening of the Silver Creek law-enforcement facility. But because of Dade’s recent suspicions about Winston, his presence in the photo seemed a little menacing.
“Where are the files that had this photo?” Dade asked.
“In the storage room off Charles’s office. But it’s no longer there,” she quickly added. “I went back about a week later to see if I could find anything, and all the files were gone. I’m pretty sure Charles figured out I’d been snooping in there.”
Dade didn’t doubt it. Heck, Brennan probably had surveillance and knew what Kayla had done. It sickened him to think that the only reason Brennan had let her live was because she was carrying his grandchild.
The picture probably wasn’t enough to get an additional search warrant for Brennan’s place, but Dade would question the man about it when SAPD took him back into custody.
Which hopefully had already happened.
He reached for his phone to find out the status of that, but it buzzed before he could make the call.
“It’s me,” Mason greeted in his usual growl. “Brace yourself, little brother, because we got a problem. A big one. And the problem’s name is none other than Misty Wallace.”
Chapter Eleven
“What’s wrong?” Kayla asked the second Dade got off the phone.
His mouth went tight, and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before he answered. “It’s Misty,” he finally said. “Grayson had flagged her bank account. It’s routine when monitoring a suspect who might try to flee.”
Kayla was about to argue that suspect label, but Dade’s expression had her holding her tongue and waiting.
“About twenty minutes ago, Misty cleaned out her account. A detective at SAPD immediately tried to call her, but she didn’t answer her cell. So, the detective called her apartment. Misty’s roommate answered and told him that Misty had packed up and left.” Dade paused. “Kayla, she stole her roommate’s handgun.”
Oh, mercy. Not this. Not now. What the heck was Misty thinking? This would only make her look guiltier. If that was possible.
“SAPD is looking for her,” Dade added.
Of course they would, and then they would drag her back in for questioning. Kayla didn’t know which she feared most—that her sister was in danger or that Misty was running because she’d had some part in the two attacks.
Kayla’s breath broke before she could choke back the sound, and just like that, Dade was there, gathering her into his arms.
“She’s my sister,” Kayla managed to say. And that seemed to be enough explanation because Dade only made a sympathetic sound of agreement. “I want her safe. I don’t want her out there running around with a gun.”
Dade nodded. “We’ll find her.”
The fear must have flashed through her eyes because Dade shook his head. “Don’t go there,” he insisted. “We’ll find her and talk to her. That’s all.”
“Please,” she begged. “Tell them not to shoot her.”
“No need to tell them that because the cops know she’s scared and on the run. They’re trained to handle situations like this, Kayla.”
His voice was so calm, so reassuring, and Kayla believed him because the alternative was too hard to accept.
“It’ll be okay,” he promised.
Dade brushed a kiss on her temple and pulled back so they were eye to eye. That was always a dangerous stance for them because it also meant they were close to being mouth to mouth.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Kayla whispered. That included Misty, the attacks and, yes, even this bizarre attraction to Dade. “I’m terrified for my sister. And I miss Robbie so much. It breaks my heart to know that he’s in danger. He’s just a baby.”
“Yeah.” He used the pad of his thumb to swipe a strand of hair away from her face.
Like everything else, the embrace, the temple kiss, the simple touch—all those things seemed far too intimate. Ditto for the way Dade dipped his head. Kayla braced herself for a bone-melting kiss, but with Dade’s mouth and breath closing in on her, he only shook his head.
“Let me call Grayson and see how close he is to securing things with the new safe house.” Dade took out his cell, pressed in some numbers and then put the call on Speaker. “Grayson, it’s me,” he said when his brother answered.
“Everything is okay,” he immediately said. “I have two Texas Rangers en route, and once they’re here, I can head out to pick up some supplies. Then we can make arrangements to bring Kayla out here.”
She heard what Grayson said, but it was hard to concentrate because in the background she also heard her son. Robbie was laughing.
“I need to say hello to him,” Kayla insisted.
Grayson didn’t argue, and soon the sound of Robbie’s laughter got closer and closer.
“Hi, Robbie. It’s Mommy.” Kayla tried to keep the fear out of her voice. Not easy to do. But she obviously succeeded because Robbie squealed with delight.
“He’s being a really good boy,” Connie let her know.
That put a lump in her throat. “Tell him I love him and that I’ll see him soon.” Kayla moved away from the phone so that Robbie wouldn’t hear her cry.
Dade talked with his brother a while longer, and judging from the conversation, they were working out how she would be transported from town and out to the new safe house. Of course, she would have to be back in Silver Creek to testify.
If Charles didn’t get another trial delay, that is.
“You okay?” Dade asked when he ended the call. He slipped his phone in his pocket and pulled her into his arms.
“No.” Kayla didn’t even try to lie to Dade. Besides, he could see her tears. He kissed one of them off her cheek.
“Kids are tough,” he told her. “Robbie probably thinks this is some kind of adventure. He’s safe, and right now that’s all that matters.”
Dade was right. Thanks to Grayson and him, they had her son out of danger. And she, too, was safe in Dade’s arms.
“I keep ending up here,” she whispered.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Yeah. Eventually, we’ll have to do something about that.” But it didn’t sound as if he intended for that something to include staying away from her.
Just the opposite.
Dade lowered his head. Leaned in—
Just as t
here was a knock at the door. They flew apart, but not before their visitor got a good look at their near lip-lock.
“Nate,” Dade greeted his twin.
Nate nodded, but there was no greeting in his eyes or the rest of his body. He obviously didn’t approve of what he’d walked in on. And why would he? Nate still lumped her in the same category as Preston and Charles.
“We located Brennan,” Nate explained, sounding all-cop. “A Texas Ranger is escorting him here.”
Funny, when Kayla had seen Nate on the computer screen during Misty’s interview, he’d looked calm and in charge, but in person she could see the nerves right there at the surface. Nate had that Ryland intensity in spades.
“His lawyer has filed a motion to throw out Flynn’s confession,” Nate added.
Dade cursed. “On what grounds?”
“Ms. Burkhart claims that Flynn isn’t mentally stable, that he’s had several stints in psychiatric facilities, and that when you interrogated him, he was in need of his medication. She also says you exacerbated Flynn’s condition by lying to him about his son.”
Kayla wanted to curse, as well. “Please tell me he’s not going to walk,” she begged. “The man tried to kill us, and he put my baby in grave danger.”
Something went through Nate’s ice-gray eyes. Sympathy maybe because he, too, was a parent. “I’ll do everything humanly possible to keep him behind bars.” Nate wearily scrubbed his hand over his face. A gesture that reminded her of Dade. They weren’t identical, but they were alike in so many ways.
“What about the gun Flynn mentioned?” Dade asked. “Is the lawyer trying to kill the warrant?”
“She wasn’t fast enough.” Nate didn’t smile exactly, but there was some relief in his expression. “SAPD already has it, and officers are headed over to Flynn’s place now. The warrant allows them to search only the safe, though, so let’s hope Flynn wasn’t lying.”
Yes, and while they were hoping, Kayla added that maybe the gun could be used to put Flynn and Charles behind bars for the rest of their lives.
“Is this lawyer working to keep Charles out on bond?” Kayla asked.
“Probably,” Nate admitted. “But until the question of Flynn’s sanity is decided, we can act in good faith and hold Brennan. Of course, with his connections he might be able to find a judge who’ll speed through the sanity decision.”
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