Читать книгу: «Out of Time», страница 3

“I trust all my coworkers, but I can’t say I know them all well. We have yearly reviews and criminal background checks every two years.”

“And you gave me a list of all the Alamo Rangers who will be working March 6, right?” His brow furrowed as he rifled through the folder.

“It’s here.” Susannah pulled out the last sheet, holding it out to Levi, her eyes widening as he snagged her hand instead of the paper. He turned it over, traced the scar with his finger.

“That was quite a cut.”

“It was.” She tugged her hand away, resisting the urge to hide it behind her back.

“A defensive wound?” he asked, but he didn’t need to. Susannah was sure he’d seen dozens of wounds just like it.

“Yes.”

“Are you going to make me keep asking questions until I come up with one you’re willing to answer, or are you going to go ahead and tell me what I want to know?”

“What do you want to know, Levi? How many times I was stabbed? How many times Aaron choked me into unconsciousness? How I managed to survive after he sliced open my stomach?” The words spilled out, her frustration spilling out with it. Not frustration with Levi. Frustration with herself, with her scars, with the sick feeling of dread that came every time she talked about that night.

“It’s a good thing he’s dead, because if he wasn’t, I’d kill him.” The rage in Levi’s voice took her by surprise, the heat blazing from his eyes, cooling her temper.

“He was sick. I don’t think he even knew what he was doing.”

“No amount of sickness can excuse this.” Levi grabbed her hand, touched the scar again, his finger so gentle, tears welled up in her eyes.

She blinked them away.

“You’re right, but we’re not here to talk about my scars or about Aaron. How about we keep that in mind?” She tugged away, thrust the paper into his hands and poured another sugar into her coffee.

She had no intention of drinking it.

She felt too sick, her stomach churning, her mind filled with a thousand memories she’d rather forget.

She’d always prided herself on her ability to read people, to know criminals from upstanding citizens. But she hadn’t known with Aaron. Hadn’t even suspected until he started calling her twice a day, driving by her house for no reason at all, making himself too much a part of her life. By that time, it was too late.

She shivered, cupping her hands around the coffee cup.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t keep pushing.” Levi took the cup and placed it on the desk, then lifted her scarred hand to his lips, pressing a tender kiss to the ridged flesh.

She shivered again. For different reasons. For reasons she wasn’t even sure she dared acknowledge.

“I guess being curious just goes with your job.” She tried to laugh, but it fell flat.

“That isn’t why I’m asking questions, Susannah.”

“Then why are you?”

“Because I care. Because thinking of you hurt tears me up inside. Because I’d give anything to go back and change what happened to you.”

“You can’t. I can’t. It happened. I’m living with it, and that’s a whole lot better than the alternative. So please, let’s just get back to work.” She pressed her hand to her stomach, taking a step away.

He didn’t respond, just studied her silently, his eyes still blazing with fury and with something else. Something her heart responded to, leaping in acknowledgement and doing the kind of happy dance it hadn’t done in years.

“Susannah? You here?” Chad called out from the chapel, and she did what any self-preserving, scared-of-the-dark, twenty-eight-year-old would do when facing down a man like Levi.

She ran.

FIVE

Levi let Susannah go.

He needed to get control of his emotions before he faced the rest of the Alamo Ranger team. He knew it, and he took his time sliding the loose page back into the folder.

What do you want to know, Levi? How many times I was stabbed? How many times Aaron choked me into unconsciousness? How I managed to survive after he sliced open my stomach?

Susannah’s words seemed to hang in the air, echoing through Levi’s head.

How many times had she been stabbed? How many times had she been choked? How had she survived?

He wanted to know, and he didn’t want to know.

Because knowing wouldn’t change anything.

It would only make him wish more desperately that he could have been there to save her.

He clenched his fist to keep from slamming it into the wall, knowing that his rage did no good. He’d felt the same sick helplessness after Gregory’s death, had spent weeks trying to control the rage that drove him.

“Ranger McDonall, it’s good to see you again.” Chad walked into the office a few steps ahead of Susannah, his salt-and-pepper hair damp and slicked away from a broad forehead.

“You, too,” he responded by rote as he met Susannah’s eyes. Her cheeks had lost their color and wisps of dark hair had escaped her clips. She looked pale, but lovely, her emerald gaze clear and bright and filled with emotions Levi couldn’t quite read.

A man in his mid-to-late twenties hurried into the office behind her. Wiry and tall, he had a stooped-shoulder gait that belied his youth.

“Marcus! I’m glad you could make it back this morning. How’s the wife?” Chad patted him on the shoulder, and the younger man offered a sickly smile.

“Not good. The doctor said the baby is going to come early. We’re just hoping he doesn’t come too early.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve been praying for all of you.” Susannah touched Marcus’s shoulder, her scarred hand resting there for a moment before she pulled it away, her gaze jumping to Levi.

What do you want to know, Levi? How many times I was stabbed?

He thought he could read the question in her eyes, thought he could feel her reluctance to share more of her nightmare. He wanted to touch her hand again, tell her that the only thing he wanted to know was how he could help her heal.

He’d failed Gregory Pike, but he would not fail Susannah.

“Sounds like the rest of the crew is arriving. Let’s move the meeting out into the chapel. There’s more room there.” Chad’s comment pulled Levi back to the moment and the job.

He hadn’t wanted to take the Alamo assignment. If he’d been given a choice, he would have passed it on to someone else. Now, as Susannah took a seat beside him, he couldn’t help wondering if a divine plan was playing out; God bringing two friends together again just when they needed each other most. Friend helping friend. It had the ring of redemption to it.

“I know some of you have plans for later this morning, so let’s go ahead and get started.” Chad addressed the group, his face lined with fatigue. He gave a quick summary of the previous night’s events, then went over protocol, reminding his team that closing the Alamo properly was the only way to keep it safe from vandals. “So, here’s the question. Are any of you missing your key?”

There was a quick rush of “no’s,” followed by silence.

Were any of the Rangers lying?

“This is serious business, people. We need to know how that gate was opened.”

“Is it possible Susannah left it unlocked?” An attractive brunette spoke up, her gaze shifting from Chad to Susannah and then to Levi. She smiled, the gesture easy and inviting.

A few years ago, Levi would have answered the invitation with a smile of his own, an offer of dinner, maybe even a few months of dating. He’d wanted different things then. A little fun. An exciting woman to spend time with. A few hours of forgetting the stresses of work.

“Of course I didn’t.” Susannah responded with confidence, and the brunette offered a patronizing smile.

“It would be easy enough to forget, Suz, and it’s not like anything was taken or the compound was harmed. If you did forget, it’s not a big deal.”

“I didn’t forget.”

“No. You didn’t.” Chad cut in. “I watched the surveillance tape. It clearly shows you locking the gate. An hour later, someone else unlocks it from the street and walks onto the compound. A few minutes after that, Mitch shows up and walks in.”

“Mitch?” Marcus spoke up, his brows furrowed.

“Homeless guy. Likes to hang out here when he drinks,” the brunette offered.

“I don’t think I’ve seen him around.”

“Probably not. He likes to hang out when Susannah is here.”

“Do you have the tape? I’d like to see it,” Levi interrupted.

“I called the local police in to have a look at it, and they took it in as evidence.”

“Did you get a visual of the perp?”

“Nothing definitive. The guy was average height and lean. He had a baseball cap covering his eyes and something else distorting his features. Looked like a nylon mask of some sort.”

“I’d like the name of your contact at the San Antonio P.D. I’ll need to look at the tape.” Levi jotted down the name and phone number as Chad dictated them.

“I told the officer in charge that she should be expecting you to contact her, but I’m not sure you’ll glean much from the tape.”

“Maybe I won’t, but it’s at least something to go on. That’s a lot more than we had last night.” Levi smiled and stood, ready for the meeting to adjourn. It was closing in on seven, and he wanted to take a trip to the police department before he met with Zarvy.

Not that he was gung ho about meeting with the cattle baron. If he’d had his way, he’d have left all contact with the Alamo Planning Committee to Ben Fritz. As the new captain of Company D, Ben had a little more diplomacy in him than Levi.

“Give me a call if you discover anything new, will you?” Chad stood, too, and a murmur of conversation followed.

“Of course. You ready, Susannah?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She offered a half smile and walked out of the compound. Levi followed, inhaling the pungent scent of the river and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. It reminded him of the years he’d spent working in a bistro on the River Walk. He’d known even then that he wanted to be a Texas Ranger, and he’d never second-guessed his decision to leave San Antonio to pursue his degree, hadn’t thought twice about it when he’d been assigned to Company D and moved back to San Antonio. He’d known those things were part of God’s plan for his life. Lately, though, his career path seemed as empty as his apartment.

He frowned, not sure why he was thinking in that direction. He loved his job, loved his small apartment, but ever since Greg’s murder, he’d felt the emptiness of his dreams and known that life was too finite to pour everything into a job.

“You’re frowning.” Susannah spoke quietly, and Levi met her gaze. She looked pensive, her shoulders and neck tense with anxiety.

“So are you.”

“This whole thing is really bothering me. Someone has the key to the Alamo, someone who doesn’t have authorization, and we have no idea who. I’ll be the first to admit I’m worried.” She took off her Stetson and smoothed an errant strand of hair.

“Worries don’t do anything but cause wrinkles and indigestion. That’s a direct quote from my Grandma Ida,” he offered, and was pleased at Susannah’s soft laugh.

“I remember Ida. She was quite the philosopher.”

“She was also right. Worrying about this won’t change it, Susannah. All we can do is keep searching for answers, keep following leads and pray that we find our perp before the opening ceremony.”

“If this is about the opening ceremony, why come into the compound last night? Why give us a heads-up that someone has the key?”

“Good questions, and I don’t have answers to them. Yet.”

He put a hand on her lower back, steering her toward his car.

“We’d better find some answers quickly, because I have a feeling Hank Zarvy is going to be demanding a lot of them. There’s no way he hasn’t heard about what happened last night.”

“Doesn’t matter what he’s heard or what he demands. He can’t get blood from a turnip.”

“Another Ida-ism?”

“Of course.”

“Funny, I hadn’t thought of her in years, but now that you’ve brought her up, I remember her vividly. She used to sit on your front porch knitting sweaters and coaching our street-hockey games.”

“You know what I remember?” He opened the car door, waiting while Susannah got in.

“What?” She looked up into his eyes.

“I remember that you were the best goalie on the hockey team. No one could get a puck past you.”

“Yeah, and I still have the scars to prove it.” She laughed and shook her head. “You guys were brutal.”

“Would you rather we have let you off easy?” He got into the car, started the engine.

“I would have taken your heads off if you’d tried.”

“You were quite a kid. One of the bravest, most determined people I knew.”

“I guess I was.” Her voice had gone quiet, the animation seeping out of it.

“You still are, Susannah.”

“You don’t know what I am.”

“I know what I see. A woman who fought death and won. A survivor who won’t let fear get the best of her.”

She laughed, but this time there was no humor in the sound. “Like I said, you don’t know what I am.”

“Suz—”

“We’re keeping things professional, remember? Treating each other like coworkers rather than friends.”

“That’s going to be difficult since we are friends.”

“Were friends. Now, we’re two people who knew each other a long time ago.”

“Ouch,” he said lightly, pulling out onto the road.

“I’m sorry. That didn’t come out the way I meant it to.”

“Then how did you mean it?”

“We have a job to do, Levi. Discussing the past won’t get it done.”

“We have a job to do, and we’ll be spending a lot of time together because of that. It seems like the past is going to come up. Whether we want it to or not.”

“Maybe you’re right, but there are things I won’t discuss. Things that are private and that I don’t want you or anyone else digging into.”

“I’m not planning on digging.”

“You’re asking an awful lot of questions for someone who isn’t.”

“Maybe you just feel that way because you have things you’re trying to hide.” He pulled into the police station and parked the car, turning to face Susannah. She looked pale in the early-morning light, her eyes deeply shadowed.

“I’m not hiding anything. I’m choosing not to discuss it.”

“Why?”

“Because…” She shook her head, her lips tightening into a straight line. “I don’t owe you an explanation. Even if I did, we don’t have time for it. We need to watch the tape and get to our breakfast meeting. I don’t think Zarvy will be happy if we’re late.”

“I’m not sure I care how Zarvy feels.” But he got out of the car anyway, letting the subject of Susannah’s secrets drop. That was the way she wanted it, and he respected her too much to insist on anything else.

It didn’t take long to check into the San Antonio Police Department. It took a little more time to meet with Officer Sharon Stanford. Petite and energetic, she hurried them into a conference room, gesturing for Levi and Susannah to take seats as she pulled the security tape from a plastic evidence bag.

“Glad you came by this morning. I’ll be out of the office for the next couple of days. Daughter is having a baby, and she wants me to fly to Houston to be there for the birth.” She shoved the tape into place but didn’t play the footage.

“Is this your first grandchild?” Susannah seemed willing to make small talk now that the talk had nothing to do with her.

“No. It’ll be my fifth. Of course, I’m just as excited as the first time. This one is supposed to be a girl. The other four are boys.” Officer Stanford pulled a small recorder out of a desk drawer and set it on the table. “Seeing as how I have you both here, I thought I’d go ahead and interview you. We’ve opened a case at the request of Chad Morran and the Alamo Planning Committee. I need to hear your version of how things went down last night. Mind if I record our conversation?”

“I don’t. How about you, Susannah?”

“That’s fine.” Susannah tapped her fingers against the table, anxious, it seemed, to get on with things.

“Want some coffee or tea before we begin?”

“We have a breakfast appointment with a member of the Alamo Planning Committee in less than an hour, so we don’t have a lot of time,” Susannah responded, and Stanford nodded.

“I understand completely, and I’ll have you out of here in no time. Unfortunately, I need to interview you separately. If one of you wants to follow me, the other can stay here and watch the surveillance tape.”

“I’ll come with you.” Susannah stood and stretched, her right hand open, the scar bright purple and deeply ridged.

A defensive wound from an attack that had nearly killed her.

The rage he’d tamped down threatened to rise up again, but Levi couldn’t allow it. He needed to focus on the tape, find out if any useful information could be gleaned from it.

Susannah and Officer Stanford left the room, and Levi scowled, pushing Play and watching as the previous night’s events played out. The tape was grainy and dark, but Susannah was clearly recognizable as she approached the gate and locked it. He fast-forwarded through an hour of nothing, pausing the tape when a shadow appeared outside the gate. He leaned close to the small screen, wanting to take in as much detail as he could.

He was about to play more of the footage when his cell phone rang. He answered quickly, his gaze still on the screen.

“McDonall.”

“Levi? It’s Gisella.” Texas Ranger Gisella Hernandez’s voice carried across the line, and Levi straightened in his seat, turning away from the screen.

“It’s a little early in the morning for a phone call, isn’t it?”

“It’s closing in on seven-thirty, Ranger, and we’re both up and active, so why not?”

“You didn’t know I’d be awake when you called.” He stated the obvious, and she laughed.

“True, but I’ve been pacing this hospital room since four this morning. I need news. Any news.” After being wounded in the line of duty, Gisella had been assigned to work at the hospital, guarding the only witness to Greg’s murder, Quin Morton. Obviously, the gig wasn’t nearly as exciting as she’d have liked.

“Wish I had some to give you. The Alamo is exactly what we expected. The security team is on the ball, but there are some holes we’ll need to fill.”

“I’d love to be there to help fill them,” she muttered, and Levi grinned.

“Feeling antsy?”

“Feeling as if guarding our key witness is a waste of time. Brock keeps telling me to take it easy. Let things play out. He should know that isn’t how I work,” she grumbled, and Levi smiled. Gisella had found her perfect match in DEA agent Brock Martin. Together, they’d brought down several low-level members of the Lions of Texas, closed an area of the border being used as an entrance for the Lions’ drug trade and struck a blow to its operations.

“Quin’s still not talking?”

“Not unless you count repeatedly pointing to the picture of the Alamo as talking.”

“He must be aware of how close we’re getting to the ceremony.” Levi hadn’t been to the hospital in over a week. Being there was too frustrating. Morton had been critically wounded the day Gregory Pike was murdered, and there was no doubt that he knew exactly who the shooter was. Unfortunately, he’d been in a coma for months. Even after he’d regained consciousness, he’d been unable to talk and was too weak to write.

“Must be. He seems more agitated. He must have a lot he wants to say,” Gisella responded.

“Then let’s hope he’s able to say it soon. What are his doctors saying? Are we any closer to him being able to speak?” Levi’s gaze drifted back to the surveillance tape. Just a little more information. That’s what they needed, but that seemed to be the story of their investigation into Gregory’s murder. Every stone they turned revealed another stone waiting to be lifted.

“They’re saying the same thing they always do. It’s going to take time.”

“Time we don’t have if there really is something going down during the ceremony.”

“We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

“Right,” he responded, not wanting to point out the obvious—they didn’t always figure things out. Company D had spent months searching for Greg’s killer. During that time, they’d uncovered a drug ring and curtailed its activities. They’d identified a body and solved the mystery of restaurateur Axle Hudson’s disappearance and murder.

What they hadn’t done was find Pike’s killer.

“You’ll keep me posted on any new developments as we get closer to the ceremony, right?” Gisella asked.

“You know it. Take it easy.”

“If I take it any easier, I’ll die of boredom.”

Levi chuckled and said a quick goodbye, pushing Play on the video monitor and watching as the gate swung open. A shadowy figure walked into the compound, keeping his face turned away from the camera. Someone who knew it was there, then. Someone who did not want to be recognized.

An Alamo Ranger?

Maybe.

The guy was tall and lean, dressed in dark pants and a thick jacket, a ball cap pulled low over his face. Chad had been right. It looked like the perp had nylon pulled over his face. His nose was mashed by it, his features blurred.

He turned his back to the camera, walking in what Levi thought was the direction of the chapel. He’d never shown up there. At least not as far as Levi knew.

Moments later, the guy was back, moving quickly, something in his hand. A stick? Levi paused the tape, using the computer to blow up the image.

Not a stick.

A rose. Long-stemmed.

Just like the one Susannah had found on her car.

Everything in Levi stilled, and he blew the photo up as much as he could. The image was distorted, but the rose was still clear.

A warning rather than a gift?

“What’s that?” Susannah stepped back into the room, Officer Stanford just a few steps behind her.

“Looks like a rose. He didn’t have it when he walked in, though. Can’t believe I missed it. Guess since nothing was reported missing, I wasn’t looking for him to be carrying something out.” Officer Stanford frowned.

“He couldn’t have taken it from the gardens. The roses haven’t bloomed yet,” Susannah said quietly, and Levi knew she was thinking about the rose on her car. The one they’d left lying on the pavement. He hadn’t bothered picking it up. Maybe he should have.

“Is there anywhere else on the compound where he could have gotten one?”

“No.”

“Then he had to have it with him when he walked in. Maybe under his jacket.”

“Strange,” Officer Stanford said, but Susannah didn’t seem to hear.

“I need some fresh air.” She pivoted, racing from the room before Levi could stop her.

“I’ll come back for the interview another day.” He ran after her, Officer Stanford’s protest echoing in his ears as he followed Susannah down the hall and out into the cool winter day.