Stolen Redemption (Texas SWAT, #2)

by Bristol, Sidney

  He was a damn fucking broken record.

  “Are you sure someone is coming?” she asked.

  “Yeah, dispatch said someone was on the way.” He turned his head and indulged in looking at her.

  Her hair was loose, falling to just brush her shoulders. Her clothes were a little rumpled. Worry lines marred her brow. He hoped they could change all of that.

  “We’re going to take care of this. Promise.” He reached over and took her hand in his.

  Her fingers curled around his palm and she squeezed him back. They sat like that for several moments, hand in hand.

  It was hard to believe she’d gone through all the crap her family had put her through and come out a decent human being. He’d done a bit of searching on her parents, digging into her past, and what he learned was horrifying. She had to have a strong sense of character to not fall victim to her parent’s ways.

  “What?” She blinked at him.

  “Sorry. You’re just so pretty first thing in the morning.”

  “Stop.” Her lips curled into a smile, easing the lines of worry, and she ducked her head.

  “How’d you turn out so good?” he asked.

  “I’m not good.” Her thumb stroked the back of his hand.

  “Better than your parents.”

  “That’s not hard.” She shifted to lean on the console, their shoulders almost touching.

  “Still, it must have been difficult.”

  “Not really. I mean, I think the reason I turned out so different from Dominick is because my parents mostly ignored me so they could focus on him. He was the son, the favorite child, the one who would carry on the family name and take over the business. I was a spare. A girl. They didn’t have any use for me.”

  “That must have been hard.”

  “It was.” The smile vanished, and she stared at the floor. “I had Rosie.”

  “Want to tell me about her?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “What was she like?”

  “She was... She had this attitude. She was just like her dad that way. Her full name was Rosetta, and she was the oldest kid of four. Her brother was two years younger and the favorite. We went through a lot of the same stuff. There was this plan to move away together, be free. When we were seniors in high school, she was dating this Puerto Rican guy her parents didn’t know about. That’s what got her killed.”

  “Because she was dating someone that wasn’t Italian?”

  “I guess? I never really understood the whole thing.”

  “Hey.” He squeezed her hand until she looked at him. “Don’t go back there, okay? You’re here. With me.”

  A police cruiser rounded the end of the street, marking the end of this conversation. Nothing about Rosie’s murder sounded right. There was more going on there than anyone knew about and maybe ever would.

  He squinted, trying to make out the officer behind the wheel.

  Given Trevor’s personal connection to Dina, he couldn’t make the report. There was a process to uphold so that they made sure it was all done properly. Which meant telling someone else about last night. He didn’t know how far she’d go in sharing the story, but he hoped they could get to the bottom of this.

  “That looks like Casey,” he said.

  Good.

  He’d hoped one of the SWAT guys would be the responding officer. This whole situation needed a sensitive touch and the guys he’d worked alongside in the toughest of situations were the ones he trusted most.

  “Come on.” He lifted Dina’s hand and gave her knuckles a quick kiss.

  They’d only done a walk-through of the yard since arriving. One look at the splintered door jamb with the door wedged it shut, and he’d known they needed an officer here handling this.

  “Walters. I should have known,” Casey called out as he climbed out of his police car.

  “What are you doing on shift this morning?” Trevor waited for his friend on the sidewalk.

  “Four call in’s. Long story. Figured I could help out on a short shift since last night was a whole lot of nothing.” Casey shook his head and stopped on the sidewalk. He glanced at the house then at Dina standing at Trevor’s side. “What’s going on here?”

  Casey recognized her. It was obvious from the narrowed gaze and slight downturn of his mouth.

  Anyone who’d been at The Hole that night would know who she was. There was no getting around that. Before much longer word would spread that Trevor had finally tracked down his mystery girl.

  “Morning, ma’am.” Casey nodded at Dina and offered his hand. “I’m Officer Smith.”

  “B-and-E.” Trevor nodded at the house. “I just looked around to make sure no suspects were still inside. We’ve been waiting on you.”

  “Hi.” Dina took Casey’s hand and glanced at Trevor.

  He wasn’t sure what name she’d want to give, so he was keeping his mouth shut. She’d told him her story, but she might not be ready to come clean to the world. This whole situation with her was fraught with traps and pitfalls.

  “Okay. I’ll check out the inside then we can get out of this heat and see what happened.” Casey strode toward the front door.

  “Here. Wait in the truck. Lock the doors and keep the air on.” Trevor thrust his keys at her before jogging to catch up with Casey snapping pictures of the broken doorframe.

  He reached out and jabbed his finger in a hole the size of a golf ball.

  “This thing’s almost rotted out.” He frowned at the door. “God damn, how is this place standing? You know this rot’s going to be all over this place.”

  “It looks to me like they used some kind of tool to force the door open.”

  “Yeah, there are scratch marks here. Probably a crowbar of some kind. It wouldn’t take much.” Casey glanced over his shoulder. “I see you found your girlfriend, Romeo.”

  “The bedroom window was cracked. I don’t know if she left it that way or if they might have gone out the back.” Trevor’s best play was ignoring the Romeo cracks. Ever since he’d started trying to find the woman who called herself Iris, the guys had busted his balls over it.

  “I see how it is.” Casey sighed and pocketed his phone. “Here’s hoping the roof doesn’t fall in on me.”

  He grasped the doorknob and using his shoulder forced the door open.

  The roof didn’t fall and there was no other apparent damage.

  “They must have closed this to keep anyone from reporting it. Given that she knows the suspects, they might have hoped to lure her back or something.” Trevor studied the door, the height of the scratches.

  If he were busting in a door, he’d have the bar braced lower for the best leverage. But, if what Dina said about Little Tony was right, he was a big guy. He’d have the tool higher.

  “Stay here and keep an eye out,” Casey said.

  Trevor tamped down on his urge to follow Casey through the house, checking each room and the garage. That was SWAT training driving Trevor. When on patrol they did calls like this by themselves, not that there was a lot of crime in this part of Ransom. With Trevor being off-duty and without his gear he was more of a liability if he tried to help.

  He studied the room instead, taking in Dina’s private retreat.

  The large, flat screen TV rivaled any he’d ever seen. It had to be at least eighty inches or more. The sofa was comfortable and inviting looking. A side table had an empty wine glass, a glass of half-drank water and a bowl sitting on it, almost as if Dina were about to sit back down. The coffee table was clear of anything, which seemed odd. The rest of the living room, dining area and kitchen seemed dominated by tchotchkes. A vase here, candles there, some sort of bird statue thing. The bare coffee table was strange.

  “All clear,” Casey called out a few minutes later.

  Trevor turned and waved at the truck.

  “I don’t see any other way they might have exited the house.” Casey re-entered the main living area of the house. “Do I want to know
what you’re getting yourself involved with this time?”

  Dina’s feet thumped on the front porch and her shadow stretched across the living room.

  “Shit.” She pushed past Trevor and rushed to the coffee table. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

  “What is it?” He pushed the front door shut as best he could.

  “My laptop and phone are gone.” She grabbed the side table and pulled it out.

  “What are you looking for?” Trevor got as close as he dared.

  Dina leaned over the arm of the sofa.

  “My externals are still here,” she said.

  “External, what?”

  Casey glanced at him.

  Was that supposed to mean something to either of them?

  She hauled what looked like a big, black cube out from the hidey-hole created by the sofa and table. She sat there, cradling the object with the power cord draped over her shoulder.

  “As long as I have this, I’m okay.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples. “I can remotely kill both the laptop and phone. I just need my spare computer.”

  “Can you do it from my phone?” Trevor pulled it out of his pocket.

  “Yes.”

  “Here.”

  He no longer had the same reservations as he did last night. She was focused on protecting herself and she wanted justice. Those were two things he could support.

  She took his phone, her thumbs working furiously.

  “Can someone walk me through what happened for the report?” Casey glanced from Trevor to Dina, a frown on his face.

  Dina paused her typing and glanced at Trevor.

  He wanted to help her, but she had to be brave. The truth was the only way this was going to be resolved.

  She glanced at Casey.

  “One minute?” she asked.

  “Sure. Mind if I sit?” He gestured at an armchair.

  “Go ahead.”

  “What are you doing, exactly?” Trevor asked.

  “I can wipe my laptop and phone remotely. Turn them into paperweights.”

  “Damn, that’s a nice trick.” Casey settled into the chair, a pen and paper in hand.

  “There.” She set Trevor’s phone on the coffee table then folded her hands.

  Trevor rocked back on his heels.

  She glanced up at him, lips parted. He wanted so badly to tell her it would all be okay, that he had a plan, but he had to stop that kind of cycle. If Dina wanted free of this, she was going to have to do it herself. He’d be with her every step of the way supporting her, but he had to stop trying to fix people’s problems for them.

  He circled the coffee table to sit next to her, and she reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze.

  She trusted him. That was a massive first step.

  Dina pinned Casey with a serious stare. “Before last night will make any sense, you need to know a few things about me.”

  Trevor braced himself for the story all over again. Now that he understood it was a whole lot worse. But she’d gone through it all and come out a stronger person. She might be young, but she was wise. She knew the cost of making the right choice and living with it. She was still doing it.

  And that was what he loved about her. The thing that made him want to stick with her. Dina had already been through the bad stuff. She might need a little help now, but she’d already gone through it all and come out this beautiful, strong woman.

  Maybe he’d finally met his match. Things would be different with her.

  7.

  CASEY SMITH COVERED his face with his hands.

  The silence stretched on. He knew they were watching him.

  What the hell was he supposed to do with that story? How could a simple B&E get so complicated?

  Of course it was Trevor’s mystery girl at the center of it. Casey hadn’t known the guy more than a few years and even he recognized the routine, but this had to be the craziest story he’d ever heard.

  From what Dina had said, this was one for the FBI. Or maybe the US Marshalls. He wasn’t entirely sure who got dibs on a case of this magnitude, but it sure as hell wasn’t a local law enforcement kind of thing.

  “Okay.” Casey dropped his hands and looked at Trevor. “Where do we take this? Because right now I’m at a loss on how to escalate this to the right people.”

  Trevor glanced at Dina. Their joined hands were hidden, but Casey knew what was going on. Which made him wonder, was Trevor a target? Had Dina set out to use Trevor somehow? Or was it all coincidence?

  It wouldn’t be the first time Trevor had leveraged his cop connections to help a girl in trouble. He had a good heart, but it was blind. Really fucking blind.

  “I don’t think the first half of the story is relevant to last night’s crime, except that Dina has a history with these men that make her afraid for her life,” Trevor said.

  “The beginning of the story has everything to do with how this is going to end.” Casey could hardly believe this. He didn’t expect Trevor to have researched what she said so that would be up to Casey. He hoped, for Trevor’s sake, that Dina’s story wasn’t all a lie.

  “Look, what Dina needs right now is evidence she’s in danger.” Trevor gestured at the woman. “We have to prove she’s being threatened before we can take it to the next step.”

  Casey nodded. That made sense. Until they could verify everything else the only actionable part of what they’d said was the B&E. As for her story and what they did with that, he didn’t want to continue this conversation with Dina there.

  “I have what I need for my report.” He closed his notebook. “I think the best thing to do is inform the property owner and take it from there.”

  “You want to go grab some clothes and things?” Trevor asked Dina.

  “Yeah.” She pushed to her feet and went down the hall to the bedroom on the other side of the house.

  Casey watched her go. He was there the night she walked in wearing a red dress and heels. Just about every single guy had been interested, but Trevor made the first move and staked his claim.

  “Jesus, man.” Casey shook his head and glanced at Trevor. “Really?”

  “Don’t start.” Trevor knew what he was going to say. Trevor had to know what everyone who saw this report would say.

  “I’ve got to. Man, for your own good, I’m going to call the FBI and—”

  “Don’t.” Trevor’s glare was fierce. “You call the FBI and she’ll run. Besides, it’s a B&E. Not exactly a federal matter.”

  “What do you expect us to do about this?”

  “Our job. We keep an eye out for these guys. We protect her. That’s it.”

  Trevor didn’t get to make the call. He wasn’t on duty and Casey was the one making the report, but people listened to Trevor. It was the benefit of being a local, the son of the famous detective and one of the so-called founding families. Even with Trevor’s track record with problem women, people still saw him as a darling of the community.

  “Okay.” Casey sat back and pocketed his notebook. “Then I think we keep it simple. Focus on the B&E. The rest of it is a need to know basis.”

  “Thanks. I really appreciate this.” Trevor relaxed back into the cushions.

  Casey glanced down the hall. Dina was still in her room, but she could come out at any point. This might not be the smartest thing to do given Trevor’s history, but Casey had to say something. If shit went sideways, it would be on him.

  “Is this smart?” he asked.

  “Is what smart?”

  “No. Don’t do this with me.” Casey leaned on the arm rest and pitched his voice lower. “Should you be involved with her? How’s that look given your history?”

  “It looks like I was in the right place at the right time to help a citizen of Ransom.” Trevor’s chin tipped up just a bit.

  There was this pride people got when they talked about the town. It was especially strong with people who hailed from families who’d been around for generations. Casey didn’t understand it. He’d move
d here by virtue of finding some place that met his criteria of being a thousand miles from home and a small town with a large, metropolitan area nearby. He didn’t love this town like everyone else did.

  But helping this woman wasn’t a point of home pride. This was Trevor’s ego talking.

  “What is it about this one you like so much?” Casey asked.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Trevor scowled at him.

  “Why do you like her? She’s pretty. Is that it? Or is there something else? Come on, you’ve got to give me something. Make me believe you aren’t trying to help another girl in danger.”

  “Dude, you are out of line.” Trevor shook his head. “Dina and I were already an item before this happened.”

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean why?”

  “Is she funny? Crazy smart? Why are you attracted to her?”

  “She’s...I don’t know. Different. We want the same things.”

  “Like?”

  “I don’t see what business it is of yours.” Trevor pushed to his feet.

  Casey watched him stalk down the hall. He could see the invisible hooks. She had Trevor wrapped around her finger. Nothing Casey could say would change that. There was only one person who could talk Trevor off this cliff. It was time to call in the big gun.

  DINA STUDIED TREVOR and Casey standing on the sidewalk, their heads together. They weren’t happy with each other. Casey kept taking steps toward Trevor. Trevor would lean away or put distance between them. Things between the friends were tense, and it was more than likely because of her.

  When she’d begun her story, she’d still been on her high of Trevor belief. His hand had been a physical connection to that drug. It was a powerful thing. Casey didn’t have that same faith in her. He had reservations. She doubted he believed even half her story. The only thing he seemed to accept without question was the break-in because he could see the physical evidence.

  What he believed didn’t change history. She knew where she was from, what had happened to her and the risks. He didn’t even have to like her. All she needed was for him to do his job.