“Are you okay?” Lucas asked her.
Hailey didn’t even try to pretend she was. She just shook her head and hoped the truth didn’t worry him too much. There was already enough worry on his face without her adding more.
Josh pulled to a stop directly in front of the sheriff’s office, and Lucas quickly ushered her in. She’d already prepared herself that Minton would be there, and he was. He was also glaring at them.
“I blame you two for this,” Minton snapped. “I could have been killed because of you.”
Lucas returned the glare. “How do you figure that?”
“You should have already called in the FBI on this. Obviously this is too big an investigation for the locals to handle.”
Now that got Grayson glaring, but it was Lucas who took up the argument with Minton.
“And by calling in the FBI, you mean you?” Lucas challenged the man. He huffed. “I didn’t have a lot of reasons to trust you before this latest fiasco, and this didn’t improve things.”
“You think I had something to do with this?” Minton howled. He didn’t wait for Lucas to answer. “I didn’t, and because you’re so stubborn about handling this yourself, you put Hailey right back in danger. Is that what you want, huh?”
“I’ve had enough of him,” Hailey managed to whisper. She was barely hanging on by a thread, and she needed a moment to compose herself. Maybe during those moments she’d figure out how to put an end to all of this.
That’s all she had to say to Lucas to get him moving. He still had his arm around her waist from when he’d ushered her in from the cruiser, and now he got her moving toward the hall, heading to the break room.
“I’m sorry,” she added. “I should have just stood up to him—”
“No, and we shouldn’t have stayed in the squad room for as long as we did. It could have been a ploy to keep us near the windows so that the snipers can finish us off.”
Mercy. She hadn’t even considered that, but she should have. She needed to be thinking clearer because the stakes were sky-high.
“I need to call Colleen again,” she said, figuring that Lucas would hand her his phone to do that.
He didn’t. He took her into the break room, had her sit on the sofa. “Grayson can talk to Colleen. In fact, he’ll bring her in for questioning.”
Yes, because her sister was more than just a person of interest. She’d been in the vicinity of a crime scene and had likely deleted those storage files. Grayson no doubt had lots of questions for her. Anything Colleen said at this point should be part of the official investigation. Still, Hailey needed to hear what her sister had to say, and if Grayson couldn’t get her in soon, then she’d try again to call her.
Lucas handed her a bottle of water that he took from the fridge. “This will have to do for now, but you probably could use something stronger.”
She could indeed use it. And she got it when Lucas dropped down next to her and pulled her into his arms. It was such an unexpected gesture that Hailey went stiff for a moment. Lucas noticed, too.
He eased back a little, glanced down at her. “I know. This isn’t a smart thing for me to be doing, but you look ready to drop.”
“I am,” she admitted. “And you’re right about it not being a smart thing.”
It brought back the memories of when they’d been lovers, and Hailey didn’t have the energy to fend off those old images. Or the heat, which wasn’t old at all. Anytime she was around Lucas, that heat flared up with a vengeance. Now was no different.
“I’m also scared,” she admitted. “For Camden. For you. For all of us.”
He didn’t try to dismiss those fears. He couldn’t. Because they were real. The danger just kept coming at them.
Lucas made a sound of agreement and eased his hold on her a little. Hailey was certain he would just pull away. But he didn’t. He stayed there right next to her, and he slowly turned his head to look at her again. Since she was already looking at him, their gazes met. Held.
The air was suddenly so still it felt as if everything was holding its breath, waiting. Hailey certainly was. She had no idea where Lucas was going to take this, but she knew what she wanted.
She wanted him.
Hailey saw that want in Lucas’s eyes. Saw the storm that was brewing there, too. He hadn’t forgiven her for what she’d done. Probably didn’t completely trust her, either, but that didn’t stop this attraction.
He cursed. His voice hardly had any sound. And she saw the storm get much stronger as he lowered his head and touched his mouth to hers. It was barely a kiss, but it caused that fire inside her to blaze out of control. A simple kiss from Lucas could do that.
And then he did more. Much, much more. His mouth came to hers again, and this time it was for more than just a touch. He kissed her. Really kissed her.
His taste was a reminder of all those memories and images she’d been battling since she’d come out of the coma. A battle she was losing because the memories came flooding back and mixed with this new firestorm that the kiss was creating.
A sound rumbled in his chest. Definitely not one of agreement this time. It was one of protest and a reminder of a different sort. He didn’t want to be doing this, but like her, he seemed helpless to stop it.
The kiss lingered on a moment. Then two. And just when Hailey was ready to pull him even closer Lucas stopped.
“I think I’ve complicated things enough for one day,” he grumbled.
That made her smile even though there wasn’t anything to smile about. What he’d said was the truth. The kiss had complicated things. Heck, being together upped the complications, as well, but until they found a way to put an end to the danger, they were joined at the hip.
And afterward...well, Hailey wasn’t ready to go there just yet, though she knew a future without danger also meant a future in which Lucas and she had to work out a custody arrangement for Camden.
There was a knock at the door, and a moment later Grayson opened it. He stared at them, and even though he didn’t say anything about how close they were sitting, he probably noticed that they looked as if they’d just been doing something they shouldn’t have been doing.
“Everything okay?” Grayson asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.” Lucas got to his feet. “Bad news?”
Grayson lifted his shoulder. “Josh filled me in on the details of the attack. Two of the deputies just arrived in the area where those snipers were. They’re not there, of course, but there are tire tracks. It’s a long shot, but CSI might be able to get a match from them if they were driving a custom vehicle. The gunmen might have left prints or trace evidence behind as well.”
That seemed like such a long shot, but everything was at this point. “What about the black SUV?” Hailey asked.
Grayson shook his head. “No sign of it, either. I don’t guess either of you got the license plate numbers?”
“No,” Lucas and she said in unison.
Hailey added a sigh. Again, she wasn’t thinking straight. The shock of seeing her sister had prevented her from looking at the plates. Plus, Josh had been so fast at turning the cruiser around that she’d barely managed a glimpse of Colleen, much less any specifics about the SUV.
“Any luck getting in touch with my sister?” Hailey wanted to know.
“No. I’ve left her a message, and San Antonio PD will go out to her place and see if she’s there.”
She wouldn’t be. In fact, Colleen was likely on the run right now, and there was no telling when she’d surface.
“Minton finally left,” Grayson went on. “But we haven’t seen the last of him.”
“No, we haven’t,” Lucas agreed. “Either he’s the most persistent FBI agent in the state or else he’s dirty.”
Yes, too bad they didn’t know whi
ch. Because if Minton was clean, then he might truly be able to help them with this investigation.
“I know you wanted to lure out the person who’s doing all of this, but we’ll have to put the trap on hold for a little while,” Grayson added. “I need all the reserve deputies out looking for that SUV and dealing with the snipers.”
Understandable. He had a new crime scene to process.
“Is Eric still here?” Lucas asked.
“No. He’s at the DA’s office getting a copy of the plea deal.” Grayson paused, looked at Hailey. “If you’re feeling up to it, you need to come to my office. We have Preston’s recordings set up in there, and we listened to something else that you should hear.”
* * *
LUCAS CERTAINLY HADN’T forgotten about the recordings that Eric had given Grayson. After all, that was one of the reasons Hailey and he had been on their way to the sheriff’s office.
The other reason they had come was to set that trap that was now on hold. No way did Grayson have enough manpower to cover protecting the reserve deputy, and there’d been enough people put at risk today without adding that.
“You’re sure you’re steady enough to do this now?” Lucas asked her as they made their way to Grayson’s office.
She nodded, didn’t stop walking. He suspected Hailey was nowhere near steady. Not so soon after nearly being killed. But it was clear she was going to steel herself up and listen to what he hoped would give them information they could actually use. As opposed to information that would just make Hailey feel worse than she already did.
Grayson had two laptops in his office, and Josh was listening to one with headphones. Since there were hours of recordings, there was no telling how long it would take to go through them all.
“I’ve loaded the recordings into audio files that we can access from several computers,” Grayson explained, and he hit the play button, motioning for Hailey and Lucas to sit. “This is the first conversation that’s connected to you,” he added, looking at Hailey. “It was recorded about two weeks before the start of Preston’s trial.”
It didn’t take long before Lucas heard a man’s voice. Preston, no doubt. “We need to do something about your sister,” he said.
“I could talk to Laura.” It was Colleen who responded. Lucas recognized her voice from the phone conversation she’d had with Hailey.
“Talking won’t help,” Preston snapped. “She could send me away for life. Is that what you want?”
“No. Of course not.” Colleen paused for several seconds. “What do you want me to do?”
Preston, however, didn’t hesitate. “Find something I can use against her, something to neutralize her.”
“There wasn’t anything to find,” Colleen insisted. “Nothing illegal, anyway.”
“Then make Laura believe that I’ll hurt you if she doesn’t back off. She loves you. She’ll protect you. If that doesn’t work, plant something that’ll get her to stop.”
“Plant what?” Colleen asked.
“Anything illegal. I don’t care what, just something to make the cops think she’s trying to cover up her own crimes by pinning them on me. You’re a whiz with the computer, so hack into hers and see what you can do.”
Grayson hit the pause button and turned to Hailey. “I’m guessing this is the first you’re hearing of any of this?”
Hailey nodded. “I knew Colleen didn’t want me to testify against Preston, but she never said anything about this false threat of making me think he would hurt her.”
“Maybe because Colleen thought something like that wouldn’t work with you?” Grayson pressed.
“No. It might have worked.” Then Hailey groaned softly. “But I wouldn’t have just stopped pursuing Preston. I would have just figured out a way to keep Colleen safe.”
Lucas hoped Hailey would have done that by going to the cops. She didn’t know him then. They hadn’t met until after Preston’s trial and after she’d entered WITSEC, but she’d obviously been working with some cops that she’d trusted.
“As far as I know,” Hailey continued, “Colleen didn’t plant anything illegal on my computer.” She took a deep breath as if to steady her nerves. This was no doubt only adding salt to the wounds, but Lucas knew this wasn’t the last of the things she probably wouldn’t want to hear.
“Preston and Colleen sound friendly,” Lucas commented. “Just how friendly were they?”
“I don’t know for sure, but since Colleen didn’t do what Preston wanted her to do—I mean, by planting something to frame me—then maybe they weren’t as friendly as Preston seems to think they were.”
Lucas latched right onto that. “You think Colleen was afraid of him?”
Another headshake from Hailey. Then a shrug. “Maybe, but Colleen never gave any indication of that.”
“Of course, we haven’t had a chance to listen to all the recordings,” Grayson said. “But so far there’s nothing about Colleen being afraid. Nothing about the specific nature of Colleen and Preston’s relationship, either.” He paused. “In fact, I’m betting that the recordings have been edited with parts cut out.”
“You think Eric did that?” Lucas asked.
“Maybe. But it could have just as well been Colleen or Preston. The CSI lab is analyzing the originals to see if there have been any alterations. If not, it makes the second recording—well—all the more interesting. It’s the last one, made the final day of Preston’s trial. He was out on bond, but since he was convicted just a few hours later and put in jail, he didn’t have a chance to go home again.”
Grayson pressed the play button again, and like on the other recording, Lucas immediately heard Colleen’s voice. “It’s true. Hailey does have something incriminating on Eric. I’m not sure exactly what, but she won’t use it against him. She wants to hold it over your head to make sure you don’t go after her.”
Preston cursed. “If I end up behind bars, you need to fix that for me. Swear that you will.”
“I will,” Colleen answered without hesitation.
“You’ll also need to pay your sister back for what she’s doing to me,” Preston continued. “Understand?”
Again, Colleen didn’t hesitate. “I understand.”
Even though Hailey didn’t make a sound, Lucas could see her body tense, and he put his hand over hers. It must have felt like a punch to the gut to hear her sister basically say that she would get revenge for Preston. Was that what the attacks were all about? Payback?
Colleen didn’t say anything else because Preston’s phone rang. “I need you to step out while I take this call,” he told her. He didn’t continue for several seconds, probably until Colleen had left. “How’s my favorite FBI agent?” Preston said to the caller. There was plenty of sarcasm in his voice. “Have you tied up the loose ends for me?”
Lucas moved closer to the computer so that he wouldn’t miss a word. This had to be the dirty agent.
“Please tell me that Preston gives us a name during this conversation,” Lucas said to Grayson.
“Sorry, there’s no mention of a name, but there’s other info that might be able to help us ID him.”
Good. Lucas kept listening.
“If the worst happens and I’m convicted,” Preston continued, “go to my bank in San Antonio and destroy everything in the safe deposit box.”
Too bad they couldn’t hear how the agent responded to that, but Lucas knew what Grayson meant about that other info. “You’re getting surveillance footage from Preston’s bank?”
Grayson nodded. “It’ll take a while, though, because I need a court order.” Which he would get for something like this. Eric might have been telling the truth when he said the recordings could help them arrest Minton.
“One final thing,” Preston said to the caller. “If Colleen doesn’t take care of the
situation, I want you to kill Laura.”
Lucas didn’t think it was his imagination that Hailey became even paler than she already was, and he did more than hold her hand this time. He slipped his arm around her. Yes, she already knew someone was trying to kill her, but it was hard to hear it spelled out like that. But Hailey eased out of his grip and reached for the phone.
“I’m calling my sister,” she insisted, snatching up Grayson’s desk phone and putting it on speaker.
No one stopped her, mainly because Lucas didn’t expect Colleen to answer. But she did. She answered on the first ring.
“I just heard proof that Preston asked you to kill me,” Hailey said without issuing a greeting. “Don’t bother to deny it. What I want to know is if you’re carrying through on his wishes.”
“No.” Colleen’s voice was shaky, and she didn’t jump right into an explanation. She took several moments. “I couldn’t go through with it.”
“You’re sure about that?” Lucas snapped. “You were near the ranch today when there was another attack.”
“I was lured there.” Colleen paused again. A long time. “I thought I was meeting someone who could give me information. But it turned out to be a hoax.”
“What kind of information?” Hailey demanded.
More hesitation. “About this nightmare that’s happening. Hailey, I’m so sorry, but I’m not behind the attacks. Things haven’t always been good between you and me, but I’m not a killer.”
“Then who is?” Hailey pressed. “Who’s the dirty agent who was working for Preston? Is it Minton?”
“Maybe.” Colleen gave a heavy sigh. “I wish I could say it’s him, but I’m not sure there is an agent. Not a real one, anyway. I think it could have been one of Eric’s henchmen posing as an agent.”
Interesting. This was the first Lucas was hearing of this possibility. “Why would you say that?”
“Some things just aren’t adding up, and I think Eric duped Preston into believing he had an agent on the take. I also believe Eric might have used that fake agent to spy on his father. I’m so sorry,” Colleen repeated. Lucas heard something in her voice. Guilt maybe. Maybe fear.
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