Czytaj książkę: «Trouble With A Badge»
Levi did something he was certain he would regret. He pulled Alexa into his arms.
Despite the situation, he felt the very thing he didn’t want to feel.
The heat.
Oh, yes. It was there mixed with all the fresh emotions and spent adrenaline from the latest attack.
“You don’t want this,” Alexa whispered.
Even though she didn’t qualify what she meant by this, Levi made a sound of agreement. He didn’t want the problems that could come from the attraction he was feeling for her.
But he did want her.
And he did something about it when she leaned back to look at him. He slipped his hand around the back of her neck and he kissed her.
It felt like a truck had hit him in the chest. Oh, man. He hadn’t wanted her to taste like something he was certain he could never get enough of. He’d wanted the kiss to satisfy this need stirring inside him.
Didn’t happen. The need soared.
Trouble
with a Badge
Delores Fossen
DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received the Booksellers’ Best Award and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. You can contact the author through her webpage at www.deloresfossen.com.
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To my amazing daughter-in-law, Dr. Tabitha Fossen.
Contents
Cover
Introduction
Title Page
About the Author
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Extract
Copyright
Chapter One
Was the killer already here?
Deputy Levi Crockett didn’t see anything or anyone suspicious, but he felt the twist in his gut, letting him know something wasn’t right. He eased his hand over the Smith & Wesson in his holster and stepped from his truck.
The winter air snapped at him, the bitter cold going right through his buckskin jacket and cowboy hat, but Levi kept walking. Kept making his way to the side of the Outlaw Bar. Not near the door. But to the back so he’d be able to see when or if the killer arrived.
The bar was within a half hour of closing, but eight vehicles were still in the parking lot. No one was inside any of them though. No one he could see anyway. The vehicles likely belonged to the cocktail waitresses and bartender. Customers, too. Maybe one even belonged to the killer.
And not just any ordinary killer, either.
But the Moonlight Strangler, a serial killer.
If the tip from the private investigator was right, the killer had staked out this bar as the site of his next murder and would be arriving any minute now.
Too bad Levi hadn’t gotten more notice from the PI or he could have arranged for a better net to catch this dangerous snake. However, the call had come just a few minutes earlier when Levi was on his way home to his family’s ranch. He’d literally been driving right by the place, and that was why he hadn’t even bothered to call for backup.
Not yet anyway.
He would though if he saw or felt anything to confirm that the PI was right. After all, one of his brothers was the sheriff. Another was a deputy. And they could be there in less than twenty minutes if Levi needed them. Still, this was one killer Levi preferred to take care of himself.
Because it was personal.
This killer had spilled family blood, and he was going to pay and pay hard for what he’d done to all those women he’d murdered.
Levi eased into the shadows away from the pulsing neon bar lights and he listened. Waited. It was hard though to pick through the sounds of the crackling lights, the wind and his own heartbeat drumming in his ears.
But somewhere there was the sound of an engine running.
Because the driver had the headlights off, it took Levi a moment to realize the car wasn’t approaching from the street, but rather from the back of the bar. No road there, just a park-like area that the local teenagers used for making out. It could also be the very route a killer would likely take.
Before the car eased to a stop, Levi whipped out his gun and took aim. He froze. And not because of the weather.
A person stepped out of the car, the watery lights just bright enough for him to see her face. Not the Moonlight Strangler, but someone he did recognize. The pale blond hair. The willowy build.
Alexa.
Of all the people Levi thought he might run into tonight, Alexa Dearborn wasn’t anywhere on his radar. Heck, she shouldn’t be anywhere near him, this bar or the town of Appaloosa Pass.
Because she had a bounty on her head.
Word on the street was that the hired guns who were after her had orders to shoot to kill.
It’d been five months since Levi had last seen her. Marshals had whisked her away into WITSEC to an unnamed place. Given her a change of name, too. But five months wasn’t nearly long enough for the memories to fade.
Bad memories.
Of a woman strangled to death. Paige, his brother’s wife. And Alexa was right smack dab in the middle of those nightmarish memories and images that began to jolt through him.
Yeah, this was personal all right.
“I’m sorry,” Alexa said, her voice trembling.
The rest of her had to be trembling, too, since she wasn’t wearing a coat and it was just below freezing. Her jeans and thin blue shirt were hardly fit for a midnight visit on a winter night.
Levi had no idea why she was apologizing, but it did occur to him that she was the reason he was here. “Did you have a PI make a call to me about the Moonlight Strangler?”
She paused, then nodded. “I couldn’t think of a faster way to get you here, and I needed to talk to someone I can trust.”
“You can’t trust me,” Levi grumbled.
But he instantly knew it was a lie. The deputy’s badge on his belt wasn’t just for show. He was the law and would uphold it no matter what the cost.
Even for Alexa.
“I can’t stay out here long. I have to get back.” She glanced behind her.
Levi wasn’t sure where back was for her. “Then you’d better start explaining why you’re here because I’m in a hurry, too.” He’d just pulled a long shift and wanted to get home.
Actually, anywhere away from Alexa, and a long shift didn’t have anything to do with wanting to put some distance between them. He couldn’t look at her without thinking of Paige.
“I still had your personal cell number, but I was afraid you wouldn’t answer if you didn’t recognize the caller. Or that you’d hang up if you knew it was me.”
“Is this explanation going somewhere?” he snapped.
“Yes. I tried calling you at San Antonio PD,” she said after she cleared her throat. “I didn’t tell them who I was, but they said you didn’t work there any longer, that just this week you’d taken a job here in Appaloosa Pass.”
It was his third day on the job as a deputy. Levi had put a decade of city law enforcement behind him so he could come home and devote more time to catching the Moonlight Strangler.
Well, that was the official story anyway.
Other things had played into it. Things he had no intention of discussing with Alexa, even though, in a roundabout way, she was part of that unofficial story.
“I didn’t want to risk calling the sheriff’s office. That’s when I called the PI, James Moser,” Alexa added a moment later.
It didn’t surprise Levi that Alexa would remember the PI who’d helped Levi with the footwork on some investigations. After all, James had done a couple of jobs for her, too, when Alexa had still been running her private investigations agency.
“And you talked James into calling me with fake info about a serial killer so I’d meet you here.” Levi cursed. Not just because he wasn’t going to catch a serial killer tonight, but because he was a thousand percent certain he didn’t want to hear anything else Alexa had to say.
“Something went wrong,” she said, taking a step closer to him.
Alexa gave another wary glance over her shoulder at the car she’d parked. She’d left the engine running.
“Why are you here?” he pressed, figuring that’d give him the answer to a lot of his questions and clarify her “something went wrong” remark.
The cold air mixed with the slow breath she blew out, creating a wispy fog around her. “I think there might have been some kind of breach at WITSEC. I think my identity could have been compromised.”
“This is the first I’m hearing about it.” Of course, he wasn’t exactly in the WITSEC loop. “Are you in danger?”
A burst of air left her mouth. Almost a laugh. But there was no humor. “Oh, yes.” Another glance over her shoulder. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time, but I need your help.”
Levi was guessing this was connected to the reason she’d gone into WITSEC in the first place. Because she would soon testify against a very dangerous man.
Marcos Culver.
And Marcos would have his hired thugs kill Alexa if he found her. Heck, he might kill her himself just for the fun of it.
Bottom line—Marcos would do whatever it took to prevent her from testifying at his upcoming trial. Even though the police knew Marcos was connected to another dangerous criminal, a cop killer who’d also been arrested, Alexa was literally the only person who could put Marcos behind bars.
“I’ll call my brother,” Levi said, reaching for his phone so he could call Jericho, who was the sheriff. “He needs to know what’s going on so he can take you into protective custody.”
But reaching was as far as he got. Alexa practically lunged at him and caught his wrist. Not the smartest thing she could have done because her hand landed in his zipper area.
Their gazes met.
Held.
Before she drew back her hand as if she’d been scalded. “You can’t tell anyone I’m here,” Alexa insisted. “I don’t know who’s in on this.”
That wasn’t just fear he saw in her eyes. It was terror. And Levi figured they weren’t just talking about the possible WITSEC breach now.
“In on what?” he demanded.
“Everything,” she said on a weary whisper.
All right. That got his attention. Of course, his attention hadn’t strayed too far from Alexa since he’d seen her step out of the car. And it wasn’t because he didn’t trust her.
“If you don’t want me to tell anyone, including the sheriff,” he snarled, “then what exactly do you think I can do for you?”
“It’s not for me,” she mumbled, and with her grip still on his arm, she began to lead him toward her car.
Levi got a bad feeling then. One worse than he already had. “You didn’t make some kind of deal with the Moonlight Strangler, did you?”
That stopped her in her tracks, and when she whirled back around to face him, it wasn’t just terror in her eyes. There was what appeared to be confusion. Some hurt, too.
“I know you don’t think much of me.” No longer a mumble. Her words were crisp like the air. “But I wouldn’t have brought you here to be killed. I already have enough Crockett blood on my hands.”
Yeah, she did.
And while Levi didn’t believe she’d just hand him over to a killer, that still didn’t get him to lower his gun.
“You should know up front that I stole a car,” Alexa said. “And that’s not even the worst of it. It’s possible I killed a man earlier tonight.”
That stopped him, as well. “You did what?”
Alexa swallowed hard. “Or at least he might be dead.”
Levi motioned for her to keep going with that explanation, but Alexa only tried to get him walking again. When he stayed put, she said something under her breath he didn’t catch.
“He was a bad man,” she finally continued. “And he murdered someone. He would have done the same to me if I hadn’t bashed him on the head with a flashlight.” Again, she tried to get Levi moving.
He didn’t budge. “What man?”
She huffed, shook her head. “I don’t know who he was. A hired gun, I’m sure. And, no, I don’t know who hired him. Not yet anyway. But I will find out.”
That last bit sounded like some kind of threat.
“The guy wasn’t alone, either,” she continued. “He had a partner.”
“You really think he’s dead?” he asked.
Alexa pushed her hair from her face. “I’m not sure of much of anything right now other than he came after us. I hit him, stole his car and left him at the gas station at the edge of town. It’s closed for the night.”
No one had called in a dead body on his watch. Of course, that gas station wasn’t exactly in city limits, and that meant Levi needed to get someone out there ASAP to check on the guy.
“If he’s not dead, he could have followed you,” he pointed out.
“Yes, he could have. And so could his partner. That’s why it’s not a good idea for us to be in the open. Follow me and I’ll explain everything.”
Levi just gave her a flat look. She was definitely shaking now. Probably freezing her butt off, but maybe the cold would only get her talking faster, because he wasn’t going anywhere with her until she gave him some answers.
“Why come to me?” he snapped.
She stared at him as if the answer was obvious. “Because if there was a breach at WITSEC, then whoever’s behind it would figure that you and your family are the last people on earth I’d turn to.”
He couldn’t argue with that. So, it must have taken something pretty darn bad for Alexa to make this trek to Appaloosa Pass.
Alexa led him to the back side of the bar. No lights here, but there was enough of a snow moon that he could better see the dark car. Likely the one Alexa claimed to have stolen. And yes, the engine was still running.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Levi insisted when she tried to get him closer to the vehicle. “In fact, I’m doing something I should have done the moment I laid eyes on you.” He took out his phone despite the fact she tried to stop him again.
“You can’t call anyone,” she insisted.
“We’ll see about that. I’m calling Jericho right now. He might not like you, but he’ll protect you, and he’ll do what it takes to get you safely back into WITSEC.”
Alexa got right in his face. “Please. Don’t. Just get in the car with me and I’ll explain everything. Please,” she repeated when he hesitated.
Damn.
Levi cursed his hesitation. He also cursed the fact that he was affected in even a small way by her tacked-on please. Or maybe it was just the desperation he could see in Alexa’s eyes.
But desperate why?
To stay alive?
If so, why hadn’t she just taken off in the stolen car and stayed hidden until she was sure it was safe to surface?
Judging from the way Alexa’s gaze drifted to the car, the answer was inside.
Levi tightened his grip on his gun and went closer, not sure what he might see. No one was in front, but a heap of blankets was on the backseat.
“She’s dead,” Alexa said, and a hoarse sob tore from her throat.
The tears came. Man, did they. And Levi cursed himself again when it caused him to reach for her. A gut instinct.
One he resisted.
Barely.
“Who’s dead?” he asked. He tipped his head to the blankets. “And is the body on the backseat?”
Alexa sucked in her breath and made another sob. “Tasha’s dead. The man at the gas station killed her when he found us. We’d gotten away. We thought we were safe. But we were wrong. I was wrong,” Alexa corrected. “Her body’s at the gas station, too.”
Hell. Two dead bodies. “What’s Tasha’s last name?”
“McKenna. That’s her real name. But she’s been in hiding for the last couple of months and using a couple of different aliases.”
Yeah, he was definitely calling this in.
But the sound stopped him. A whimper of some kind. And then Levi saw the movement of the blankets.
He reacted fast, shoving Alexa aside, trying to get to the injured or dying woman. Alexa had said this Tasha was dead, but someone was definitely alive and moving. Maybe in need of immediate medical attention.
Levi threw open the door, bracing himself to see blood and heaven knew what else. However, it wasn’t an injured woman in those covers.
It was a baby.
A newborn from the looks of it.
“You have to protect her,” Alexa said, her voice trembling. “You have to tell everyone she’s yours. That I left her with you for safekeeping.”
And before Levi could even react, Alexa turned and started running away from him.
Chapter Two
Alexa heard Levi curse. He also called out for her to stop.
She didn’t.
Couldn’t.
If these hired killers were after her, then the best way to save the baby was for her to get as far away as she could. If the men had been after only Tasha, then having Levi lie would keep the baby safe. Either way, it was best if Alexa got out of there fast.
Alexa’s eyes were already burning from the bitter cold and the tears she was fighting. Her heart already thudding in her chest. Her legs felt like lead, but she ran as fast as she could.
It wasn’t nearly fast enough.
Levi used his football running-back skills from high school to catch up to her within a matter of seconds, and he latched on to her shoulder to whirl her around.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he snarled.
“What I have to do to keep that little girl safe.”
That clearly wasn’t a good enough answer, but Alexa didn’t want to take the time to explain. She tried to bolt again. Levi didn’t let that happen. He latched on to her, hard, and practically dragged her back to the car. He pushed her against the cold metal of the door and pinned her there with his body.
Which wasn’t cold.
Something she shouldn’t have noticed.
“Start talking,” Levi demanded.
Alexa shook her head. “There isn’t time. You need to get the baby to a safe place now.”
But he didn’t budge. And even in the dim light she could still see the glare he aimed at her. “You had a baby?”
There was plenty of skepticism in his voice. Probably because he didn’t consider her the motherly type. It was reasonable. She’d never considered herself that way, either. Not with her stellar gene pool and mess of a life.
“She’s Tasha’s baby. She gave birth to her three days ago. In secret. She’s been hiding from a stalker.”
“Tasha,” he repeated. “The dead woman at the gas station.”
Levi cursed again and let go of her so he could take out his phone. No doubt to call someone she didn’t want him to call. “Don’t you dare take off again.”
Alexa didn’t attempt it, mainly because Levi still had her pinned to the car. He wasn’t overly muscled. More on the lanky side. But it was clear he was in good shape, probably because of the backbreaking work on his family’s ranch.
“Please don’t call anyone and tell them I’m here,” she begged. “I think the man who killed Tasha has a police radio. And even if he’s dead, his partner could still be monitoring the calls. I don’t want anyone to know that the baby’s Tasha’s. I want everyone to believe she’s yours. Ours,” she added.
“Ours?” he challenged.
She nodded. “I know we were never even close to being lovers, but no one other than us knows that. Whoever killed Tasha might not go after the baby if they believe she’s your daughter. Please. Just do this to protect her.”
In addition to the renewed scowl Levi gave her, she could also see the debate going on in his stormy brown eyes. He stared at her from beneath the brim of his black Stetson.
“Get in the car,” Levi ordered through clenched teeth. “I’ll drive the baby and you to the sheriff’s office, and I’ll call my brother on his personal phone so it won’t be on the police radio. Then you can tell me everything, and I mean everything.”
Not everything.
She couldn’t do that. But maybe she could tell him enough to convince him that the newborn on the backseat needed him and his lie. After that, Alexa had to get the heck out of town or else she would put the baby in danger again. It was only a matter of time before Marcos Culver or those thugs found her.
Levi opened the driver’s side door and practically stuffed Alexa in, moving her to the passenger’s seat. Alexa immediately checked on the baby, who thankfully had gone back to sleep. Maybe she would stay that way until Levi had her in a safe place.
Which likely wouldn’t be the sheriff’s office, not for long anyway.
Though that was the call Levi made as he pulled out of the parking lot of the Outlaw Bar. Alexa prayed this wouldn’t turn out to be a fatal mistake. She kept watch around them, looking for anyone suspicious and wishing that she had a gun. Too bad she hadn’t been able to get the one from the man who’d attacked them.
“Jericho,” Levi said when his brother answered. “I need you to send one of the night deputies out to the gas station on Shaw Road. There might have been some kind of attack.”
Even though Levi didn’t put the call on speaker, Alexa had no trouble hearing Jericho’s answer. “What kind of attack?”
“Just check it out. My source isn’t reliable.”
That was a generous way of putting it. And his doubt was deserved. After all, she’d lied to Levi and the Crocketts before.
It hadn’t turned out well.
However, she wasn’t lying about the attack. It’d happened, all right, and Alexa figured it would take a couple of lifetimes to get the images of the attack out of her head.
“I also need you to find out if there’s been a breach at WITSEC,” Levi added a moment later.
Jericho paused, no doubt wondering what the heck this was all about. “Give me a minute and I’ll see what I can find out. I’ll call you right back.”
She held her breath, hoping that Levi wouldn’t mention her name. He didn’t, thank goodness. But he continued the drive to the sheriff’s office. Soon Jericho would see her. And he wouldn’t be any more pleased about this situation than Levi was.
“You can’t tell the marshals I’m here in Appaloosa Pass,” she said to Levi when he put away his phone.
“Give me one good reason why.”
“Marshal Elroy Lockwood,” she provided right away.
Levi knew him, of course. And knew him well. Because Lockwood worked with Levi’s other brother, Chase, who was also a marshal. Lockwood had also helped investigate certain aspects of the Moonlight Strangler case. Of course, every law enforcement agency in the state had gotten involved in that investigation in some way or another since the killer had been operating for more than two decades.
“What does Marshal Lockwood have to do with this?” Levi asked.
“Maybe everything. I think he’s dirty and trying to hide his involvement in some criminal activity. He could have been responsible for my WITSEC identity being compromised.”
And more.
Lockwood could have been responsible for Tasha’s murder and those two goons at the gas station.
Levi shook his head, mumbled some profanity. “You have concrete proof that Lockwood’s dirty?”
“No, just some talk from CIs, but I can’t risk you trusting him. Not until you have Violet in a safe place.” Alexa tipped her head to the baby. “If you tell everyone she’s Tasha’s, at best she’ll be turned over to Child Protective Services since Tasha doesn’t have a next of kin. At worst...” She had to take a deep breath. “At worst, the killer might come after the baby, too.”
Before Levi could give her any assurance that wouldn’t happen, his phone buzzed, and he answered it while he continued to drive. Continued to keep watch, too. Good. Alexa didn’t want that hired thug coming back for another attack.
“It’s Jericho,” Levi relayed to her right before he answered the call, but like before he didn’t put the call on speaker. So Alexa moved closer, hoping to hear what the hard-nosed sheriff had to say.
“I’ve got someone on the way to the gas station to check it out,” Jericho explained. “And there’s nothing about any problems at WITSEC. Should I specifically ask about April, though?”
April Landis, a woman in WITSEC who had an even more personal connection to the Crocketts than Alexa. Because April was pregnant with Chase Crockett’s child. It didn’t surprise her that Jericho would want to make sure April was okay. Even though Alexa didn’t actually know April, she also wanted to make sure April was safe. Both April and she had found themselves in the dangerous situation of having to testify against men who were linked through criminal activities. Alexa could get one man convicted. April, the other. But both April and she had to stay alive first.
“Ask but don’t make any waves just yet,” Levi answered. “I don’t want April alarmed unless I’m certain there’s something to be alarmed about. As I said, I’m not sure I can trust my source.”
Jericho paused. “This doesn’t have anything to do with...anyone else we know, does it?”
Even though Jericho hadn’t specifically mentioned her by name, Alexa knew he was referring to her. The venom in his tone said it all. The sheriff hated her as much as Levi did. She could also include his entire family in that hate fest.
And she deserved every bit of it.
“I’ll be at the sheriff’s office in about ten minutes,” Levi told his brother. “I’ll explain everything then.” Levi hung up and took the road to lead them into town. “And you’ll explain everything to me,” he added to Alexa when he hit the End Call button.
Where to start?
Better yet, how much to say?
Or not to say.
“This morning I went over to Tasha’s to see the baby and her. She’d just gotten out of the hospital, so I thought she could use some help. While I was there, these two armed men showed up and tried to muscle their way in. Tasha and I escaped with the baby, but the men fired shots at us.”
Mercy, the sound of those bullets was still echoing in her head.
“Tasha was in WITSEC, too?” he asked.
“No. I met her after my relocation to Austin and we became friends. She’d been in hiding because of a stalker she couldn’t shake. A guy named Scottie Norse. According to her, he’s a violent, dangerous man, and Tasha was afraid he might try to hurt the baby or use the baby to force Tasha to be with him.”
“A stalker,” he repeated. “Is that Scottie’s baby?”
“No,” she repeated. “According to Tasha, she’s definitely not Scottie’s. And I believe her. She showed me a picture of Scottie so I’d know who he was if I ever saw him around, and Violet doesn’t resemble him at all. Tasha said the baby’s father was a guy named Brett Mendoza.”
“So, how was Tasha involved with Scottie then?” he asked.
“Tasha said she dated him for a while but broke off things when he became abusive. She had him arrested after he assaulted her, but he didn’t spend any time in jail. It was his first offense, and he’s got money and connections. Tasha moved, started seeing another guy, got pregnant, but then he was killed in a car accident.”
He stayed quiet a moment. “So, maybe Lockwood isn’t dirty. Maybe the dirt is from this scumbag stalker who sent the gunmen after Tasha.”
“Maybe,” she mumbled.
Alexa couldn’t rule it out, but she couldn’t rule herself out, either. After all, there was a reason she was in WITSEC, and she hadn’t exactly stayed out of things since she’d been given a new identity.
“Tell me more about these men who attacked you,” Levi insisted.
“I didn’t recognize them. We escaped in Tasha’s SUV, and the men came in pursuit. They chased us for over an hour before they caught up with us at the gas station. That’s when they said we should just surrender, that it wouldn’t do any good for us to escape because they had contacts and listening devices in the local law enforcement offices.”
“And you believed them?” he asked.
She nodded, not trusting her voice for several seconds. “It’s not hard to plant bugs or monitor the police radio.”
He made a sound that was possibly of agreement. Because he knew it was true. Most small-town police stations didn’t do routine sweeps for listening devices.
“If you tell everyone the baby’s ours, then Scottie won’t have a reason to come after her,” Alexa spelled out.
“If I tell everyone she’s ours, then it’s going to stir up trouble in my family,” he countered.
Definitely. “I’m very sorry about that. But until I know more about the attack, it’s the best way to keep Violet safe.”
He didn’t argue with that. Not verbally anyway. She braced herself for the questions that Levi was no doubt ready to ask.
But Levi didn’t ask her anything.
That was when she realized he had his attention nailed to the rearview mirror.
That put her heart right back in her throat, and Alexa whirled around in the seat to see what had put that look of concern on his face.
An SUV was coming up behind them.
“You said you stole this vehicle,” Levi reminded her. “But what would the other hired thug be driving?”
“Probably Tasha’s SUV. We used it when we escaped from the apartment in Austin. It’s dark green.” She studied the vehicle behind them, but the headlights were too bright for her to see much.
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