by Lee Taylor
Titus glanced over at Zane, then as if seeing Ryker and Griffin for the first time, he growled, “What the hell?” A dark frown creased his brow and his jaw tightened. He glared at Zane, then glanced back at the two tall men standing to the side. “I understand why you might be here, Zane, but why the hell are you two here? And who the goddamned hell are all those men surrounding Loomis’s car?”
Tanya whirled on Ryker, and the expression in her eyes, wide with surprise, morphed into anger. “Dad’s right. What the hell, Ryker? You fly out of our bed, saying you have an emergency. That some of your agents were in trouble. And . . . and you’re here? What the fuck . . . ”
When she shoved at Ryker, her eyes flashing dangerously, Zane put up his hand. “Don’t try, Ryker.” Heaving a hard sigh, he met the sheriff’s fierce glower. His voice was crisp. “I’ve had Loomis under an arrest-on-sight order for the last twenty-four hours if he came within a mile of Tatiana or Marcie and Max.”
Titus stared at him in disbelief, then glared at Ryker and Griffin. As rigid as his jaw was, his voice could have cracked cement. “And you two knew about it? His fucking arrest-on-sight order?”
Zane stepped between them. “Listen, Sheriff. I’m responsible. They only agreed because I implored them to. I needed their off-the-grid operators to help me protect Tatiana and Marcie and Max. I didn’t think my local guys could handle it.”
Titus slowly turned and met Zane’s troubled gaze head-on. His voice was cool, but the rage burning in his eyes could have taken down a forest. He spat out his words, each one a venomous rifle shot. “You arrogant son of a bitch. You asked your buddies to help you protect my daughter and my grandchildren, and you didn’t fucking call me in?” When Zane nodded in agreement, Titus cursed, “Goddamn you to hell, Zane.”
Before he could attack him further, Tatiana stepped in front of her father and shook her head. “No, Dad, no. It’s my fault, not Zane’s. I wouldn’t let him tell you. I made him promise that he wouldn’t . . . ”
Titus stared at her, his frown deepening dangerously, then asked carefully, “Promise he wouldn’t tell me what, Tatiana?”
She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her trembling lips in a hard, white line, then whispered, “Tell you that . . . that Arnold has been . . . bothering me.”
“What do you mean ‘bothering’ you? How?” When she just closed her eyes, not willing to meet his gaze, Titus turned his fury on Zane.
Seeing Ryker’s and Griffin’s fierce expressions, Zane shook his head, warning them off, not willing to undercut Tatiana. At his obvious reluctance to justify his actions, Tatiana grasped her father’s arm.
“Dad, you need to understand. Zane was furious. He insisted that I tell you. But . . . but I made him promise he wouldn’t, that if he did, I would never speak to him again.”
Titus’s expression was frozen in stone. Sucking in an audible breath, he said softly, danger undergirding every word, “What was Arnold doing, Tatiana, that you couldn’t tell me?”
When she just shook her head and buried her face in her hands, Zane stepped forward. “He was terrorizing her, Titus. Apparently has been for some time. He was here—in the house—when I brought her home last night. He was rabid with booze and likely crank. He’d run the babysitter off. Marcie and Max were crying, scared out of their minds. I don’t have to tell you after I was done with him, he left.” He added with a shrug, “Let’s just say he was lucky he could get into his car, much less drive.”
When Titus slammed his eyes closed and shook his head, Tatiana reached for his hand. Tears were streaming down her face. “I’m sorry, Dad. So very sorry. Zane was furious that I wouldn’t tell you. He warned me if I tried to hide anything from him, that in my wildest nightmares I couldn’t imagine the wrath of the sheriff of Cochise County combined with the fury of its district attorney. But . . . Dad . . . I couldn’t tell you. I was afraid of what —what Arnold would do to you if you knew.”
Titus came to attention enough to bark, “To me?”
“He said he would kill you and Tanya. I . . . I knew he would.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, the sheriff lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. “How long, Tatiana? How long has that cowardly piece of shit been threatening you?”
When she twisted free, refusing to meet his gaze, Zane stepped forward and put his arm around Tatiana’s slim shoulders. Tugging her next to him, he said bitterly, “From what I’ve been able to piece together, Sheriff, since she divorced him.” He added with a grim snort, “And if my gut is right, before that.”
“Sheriff Trouble, can I speak to you for a moment?”
Turning to see Tanya’s partner, Gunnar Sorenson, in the doorway banked by several uniformed officers, Sheriff Trouble’s bark was sharp. “What is it, Lieutenant?”
“Uh, sir, we found this on the ground beside Loomis’s car. Given the powder marks on the vic’s gut and the state of his pants, it’s clear he was shot at close range. From that and the fact we found these casings next to his car, I’d say it’s about ninety-nine-percent certain that this Ruger LC9 is the murder weapon.”
As he handed the hand-carved, silver-handled pistol to the sheriff, Zane felt as well as heard Tatiana’s shocked gasp. Seeing that the horror on her face was mirrored on Tanya’s, he looked to Titus. It didn’t take the sheriff’s forbidding frown to confirm that something was wrong, drastically so.
Tatiana stared up at her father, her flushed face paling drastically. Her voice was soft, barely audible. Zane had to lean down to hear what she said. He wished he hadn’t.
“When he was banging on the door, Dad, I was scared. I thought he was going to break in. I ran to the cabinet to get my gun.” She hesitated for a long moment, then whispered, “It wasn’t there, Dad. It . . . it was gone.”
A dead silence settled over the room. Gunnar Sorenson broke the troubled silence. “Uh, Sheriff, I also found this. It was on the seat beside him. Sorry, Sheriff Trouble, but I think it may be important.” With a hard sigh, he handed a cell phone to Titus.
Chapter 24
How did I get in your house?” An ugly recorded chortle filled the air, sending fire ants marching up Zane’s spine, a sure sign of imminent danger. The hideous voice continued. “You should know by now, Tatiana, that you’ll never be able to keep me out, keep me away from you. No matter how many times you change the locks.”
Tatiana’s voice over the phone was firm but strained. “I want you to go, Arnold. Now.”
Zane raised his hand. “Sheriff, turn it off for a moment. I need to understand what we are hearing.” He drilled Tatiana with a hard glare. “When was this, Tatiana? Last night? Today? Since I warned you what would happen . . . ?”
Tatiana shook her head. Fear racked her face. “No, no, Zane. Honest. It was two, three weeks ago. That night at the Bitter n’ Twisted. When Tanya and Ryker insisted I go with them. When . . . you came and sat down beside me. I . . . I didn’t know he recorded it . . . ”
“And he was here, when you came home? Inside the house, like he was last night? Waiting for you?”
When she closed her eyes and nodded, Zane shuttered his anger and motioned to Titus to turn on the recording. Arnold’s ugly snort was audible.
“Why should I leave, Tatiana? I know Max and Marcie are with your sister. Which leaves you alone tonight.” His chortle was sinister. “Besides, Tatiana, it been a long time since you and I have been together . . . alone. I couldn’t let this opportunity go by, now could I?”
At a loud crash on the recording followed by a broken cry from Tatiana, Zane grabbed Tatiana and held her tight against him. The sounds of a struggle replete with slapping sounds and her cries over the ether made the scene captured on the cell phone all too real.
“You fucking bitch. You think you can get away from me?” Arnold’s voice was thick with fury. “Where were you tonight, Tatiana? Who were you with? And why the fuck do you think you can come home after midnight?” His voice rose, became harsher. Her pained cry confirmed th
at he’d grabbed her. “Goddamn you, Tatiana, answer me! Who did you spread your legs for tonight? One of your sisters’ he-men? That fucking FBI agent of Tanya’s? Or Tara’s fiancé, the multimillionaire?” His voice dropped perilously lower. “Or am I hearing right? That you’re chasing after that big shot DA everyone says is hot for you?”
At the momentary silence, Zane struggled to breathe, praying it was over. When Tatiana clung to him, burying her face against his chest, it was clear that there was more to come.
Arnold’s hate-filled sneer was obvious. “That’s what you like, don’t you, Tatiana? Big, powerful men. I wasn’t powerful enough for you, was I? Not man enough. Not rich enough for one of the Trouble sisters, even the one who was my goddamn wife!” Arnold’s voice was ominous, riddled with hate. “You pretend to be shy, reserved, but you know what a hungry cunt you are. What a skaggy bitch you are.” His jeering voice vibrated with anger. “You’ll let anyone in your cunt, won’t you, Tatiana? Except me. Oh no, he has to be a big guy, an important guy to be good enough for a daughter of that asshole Sheriff Titus Trouble.”
There were a series of loud crashes, then Tatiana’s voice cut through the clamor. It was deadly cool. “Come one inch closer, and I swear to God I will shoot you.”
A gun blast shattered the silence. At Arnold’s shocked scream, Tatiana’s voice was so fraught with fury Zane barely recognized it.
“Get up, you fucking coward, and get the hell out of my house. The next time, I won’t miss. You have ten seconds to get the hell out of here, or so help me God, I will kill you.”
A scurrying sound confirmed that Arnold was running.
“Ten, nine, eight . . . ”
Following a short pause, Arnold’s threat was clear. “You fucking bitch. You don’t scare me. You’re too ‘principled’ a slut to kill me. You could never explain it to Marcie and Max. But so help me God, Tatiana, you say one word of what happened tonight to that fucking father of yours or your deputy whore sister, and I swear I’ll—”
Tatiana’s voice was cool, firm. “Four, three, two . . . ”
There was the sound of a slamming door, then silence.
After what seemed like a lifetime but was seconds at most, Tatiana turned to her father. Her voice was flat. “I could have told Arnold he didn’t have to worry. That I would never tell you or Tanya what he had done, why I divorced him.” She shook her head and blew out a weary sigh. “I promised myself that wasn’t going to happen. I knew if you knew what he was doing, you would kill him. If he didn’t kill you first.” She frowned, as if reminding herself of her plan, then shrugged wearily, “No, I decided a long time ago if anyone killed Arnold, I would.” Seeing the startled group staring at her, she shook her head and frowned. “Only I didn’t, did I? Someone else got to him first.” She frowned. “But how—how did they kill him?”
Unable to keep from stating the ugly truth, Zane said carefully, “They shot him. In addition to a bullet in his gut, the killer shot him in the groin, likely severing his penis.” At Tatiana’s shocked gasp, he added, “It would appear that the killer was making a point. In my mind, a rather specific one—to say the least.”
****
Zane held Tatiana next to him for another long moment, then met Titus’s gaze over her head. Nodding to Tanya, he motioned for her to go to her sister. Relinquishing his hold on Tatiana’s arm, he replaced his hand with Tanya’s. “Deputy Trouble, how about you take this shaking woman over to a comfortable chair and pour her a hefty shot of something strong. Meanwhile, I need to talk to the sheriff.”
Following Titus into the dining room, Zane motioned for Ryker and Griffin to join them. Zane acknowledged the pain on the sheriff’s face. Damn, how could the big man not be in agony? At least he’d had last night and today to work thorough his fury about Tatiana’s hideous relationship with her now-dead ex-husband. But the sheriff was learning the truth for the first time tonight. Even though he had to have suspected what had happened in her marriage, Zane was sure that her father had tried to convince himself it was over when Tatiana divorced Loomis.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Gunnar Sorenson standing at the side of the room, concern stamped on his florid face. Zane caught his eye and nodded to him. “Lieutenant Sorenson, please join us, if you will.” Waiting until Sorenson was in the room, Zane walked over and closed the dining room door. Turning to the four deeply concerned men facing him, he focused on the sheriff.
“I’m not going to pull any punches, Sheriff Trouble. We’re in a hell of a mess. As you well know, I am Cochise County’s chief prosecutor, and you are the county’s chief law enforcement officer. You are also Tatiana’s father, and I am the man who is deeply in love with her. But we can’t ignore the fact that, at least at face value, she is the most likely suspect in the murder of her former husband. Which presents us with an extremely challenging quandary.”
When Titus started to respond, Zane shook his head. “My apologies, Sheriff Trouble, before we discuss the case, please let me lay out the issues as I see them. And as I do, please know that the only person who is as challenged as you are by the circumstances facing us is me. With that caveat, as Cochise County’s district attorney, I’m not going to say anything that you don’t already know. But it is important that I get it on the record. As our county’s chief prosecutor, under normal circumstances, my office investigates crimes and, in cooperation with law enforcement, determines if criminal charges are warranted. If I decide they are, it is my job to convene a grand jury whose members decide if there is enough evidence to bring criminal charges. Depending on the weight of the evidence, it is then my job to file the charges and conduct a criminal trial in which I am the prosecutor.”
Zane stopped for a long moment. Glancing from one to the other of the four men who were staring at him, their concern palpable, he didn’t disguise his angst. “Look, we all know what we are facing.” Again holding up his hand to prevent Titus from speaking, he said, “Please, Sheriff, let me finish. We know that Tatiana is innocent, that she didn’t kill her fucking son of a bitch former husband. At the same time, we would be insane not to admit that the circumstances are more than disconcerting. To begin with, it will take about ten minutes in a decent investigation to document that Tatiana is a domestic abuse victim. Add the fact that her pistol was found virtually next to Loomis. In an hour at most, the forensic lab will declare that it was the murder weapon. And then there is a cell phone recording in which Tatiana warns Loomis that she will kill him if he attacks her again. Finally, if that isn’t enough, the perp shot him in the nuts, a sexually based assault in the most graphic sense. One that might be expected by someone that Loomis hurt in a specific way, such as abusing him or her.”
“So what the fuck do you want me to do, Zane, walk the hell out of here and arrest my daughter for murdering her goddamn fucking ex-husband?”
Zane stepped up next to the clearly distraught sheriff, then holding his gaze, said as calmly as he could, “No, Titus, as you well know, that is not what I want you to do. To confirm, we all know that Tatiana didn’t kill the motherfucker, but we would be derelict to the extreme to ignore some goddamned convincing circumstantial evidence.”
When the sheriff flushed darker, Griffin broke in. “Hang in there, Titus.” His voice was cool, serious. “Hell, man, you know Zane is ass-over-elbows in love with Tatiana. The last thing he wants is to see her accused of murder. But he’s absolutely right. The evidence, while circumstantial, is on its face damning as hell.”
Ryker seconded his stern friend. “Griffin’s on target, Sheriff. We can both testify to the fact that Zane likely prevented that fucking asshole from hurting—Christ, even killing—Tatiana. But as law enforcement professionals, we all have to toe the line. We need to do everything absolutely by the book so we don’t inadvertently do something that further compromises her.”
Sucking in a deep audible breath, then blowing it out, Titus dragged his hand across his flushed face and turned to Zane. Shaking his head, he didn’t
try to hide the moisture that was brimming in his slate-hard eyes. “My apologies, Zane. I . . . I shouldn’t have attacked you. You are the most efficacious DA I’ve ever known. Christ, you deserve to be as arrogant as you are. What’s your conviction rate? Seventy-five percent?”
Zane forced a smile to curve his lips although he couldn’t keep it there. “Actually, Sheriff, it’s ninety-five percent, but then, who’s counting. Look, Titus, you have to know—”
He stopped when Titus held up his hand. “Don’t bother, Zane. If anyone knows what a straight shooter you are, it’s me. You are, and always have been, unfailingly fair, if not frighteningly so. God knows I pity the poor perp who is in your cross hairs.”
When he hesitated, Zane took advantage of his obvious despair. “Sheriff, you haven’t had a chance to get your head around it yet, but you are the single smartest lawman I know, and you have to see that while the evidence is damning, it is also circumstantial. Given our obvious conflicts of interest, your deputy and the two of us are going to have to excuse ourselves from the investigation. I strongly recommend that after we turn the formal investigation over to Lieutenant Sorenson, you and I and these two former special operatives band together and find the person who did what every one of us would have if we’d had the chance. That is kill that goddamn son of a bitch who terrorized your daughter—the woman I’m deeply in love with.”
After several moments laying out next steps, a process in which Titus was as active as Zane had hoped he would be, Zane blew out a hard sigh. “In the mode of trying to put a party dress on a pig, while you have an accomplished second in Lieutenant Sorenson, Sheriff Trouble, in my office, the ADA next in the prosecutorial line-up is none other than Chloe Richards.”
Acknowledging their groans, Zane conceded. “I can’t pull her off for obvious reasons, but all I can say is that we’re going to have to guard our six as we never have before. Trust me, William Congreve knew of what he spoke when he declared, ‘Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.’ I might add that Assistant District Attorney Richards represents a much-too-large cadre of scorned women who will no doubt celebrate when they hear of the irony I’m facing.” He blew out a self-deprecating sigh. “Yet another confirmation for us profligate assholes of that tried and true admonition, ‘payback truly is a bitch.’ ”