by Aimée Thurlo
“Were you responsible for the hit on Deputy Marshal Armstrong and Paul Grayhorse a few days ago?” Preston said, pressuring him anyway. “And the murder of Annie Crenshaw?”
“I’m only copping to a single charge of assault with a deadly weapon. The more you give me, the more I’ll give you.”
“Not good enough. Tell us who hired you,” Preston said.
When Miller looked away and stared at the wall, Kendra stood and gestured toward the door.
Outside in the hall Preston glared at her. “That guy’s playing us.”
“Yeah, but he’s got information to trade, and we need him,” she said.
“All right then. I’ll get in touch with the prosecutor,” Preston said.
It took another hour and a half, but once they convinced Miller he’d be given protection behind bars and a new identity to protect him from hostile inmate retaliation, he relaxed.
“Okay, let’s have it,” Kendra said, staring her prisoner down.
“We’re still talking one crime—the one where I winged Thomas. But here’s something you didn’t know. I was also hired to take you and the former marshal out permanently the moment the opportunity presented itself. Last night, today, tomorrow—ASAP. That was my next gig.”
“So we were both targets,” Kendra said quietly.
“My primary target was Thomas. You two were B-list.”
Kendra didn’t answer. “Now on to the big question. Who hired you for the job, Miller?”
He shrugged, then his lip curled into what might have been a smile. “I never ask for a name. That makes clients uneasy. But there’s a way you can track him down. The carbine, clips loaded with ammo, and smart phone were all left for me at a prearranged location inside a discarded dog food bag and a paper sack. In the bottom of the sack, which contained everything except for the carbine, I found a sales slip for a cash transaction dated the day prior to my arrival, exactly one week ago. It wasn’t for the stuff I picked up, but the name of the place was Roy’s Happy Trigger.”
“That’s a gun shop on Hartley’s west side just off the old highway,” Paul said, looking at Kendra. “The owner’s a good man, and even better, he’s got a great security system. I provide it for him.”
“Do you still have the receipt?” Kendra asked Miller, thinking of fingerprints.
“No, I threw it out.”
Kendra stood. “We’ll be back,” she said.
“Wait a minute. Where’s the protection I was promised?” Miller said. “One cop at the door isn’t going to do it, you know.”
“You’re safe here,” Preston said. “You’ll have at least two armed guards outside 24/7, and others you’ll never see. Considering your location, no one’s going to sneak up either.”
A few minutes later, after warning the doctor not to trust Miller, Kendra led the way back outside. “I want to talk to that Hartley gun shop owner as soon as possible.”
“You two will have better luck if I’m not there,” Preston said. “The proprietor and I have had our differences.”
“That’s because you keep telling him how to run his business,” Paul said.
“All I’ve been suggesting is that he move his store out of that high crime neighborhood.”
“So why’s he staying there? You think he’s involved in some shady side business, dealing illegal arms or something?” Kendra asked.
“No, it’s not like that,” Paul said. “Willie’s dad started the gun shop and Willie doesn’t want to move away and leave all his memories behind. When he looks around the neighborhood, he still sees it as it used to be, not run down like it is now.”
Kendra was touched by the empathy in Paul’s voice, a man with more than his fair share of memories that continued to haunt him.
She didn’t comment until they were back in Gene’s truck, heading to Hartley. “I feel for Willie, but wanting things to stay the same...” She shook her head. “That’s a losing battle.”
“Sameness.... There was a time in my life when I would have considered that a curse of major proportions.”
“Is that also part of the reason you’ve decided to accept Daniel’s offer now? You want to stir things up a bit so the business will remain a challenge to you?”
“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “Something like that. What about you? Are you ready for new challenges? If someone offered you a job with a decent salary and more regular hours, would you leave the marshals service and become a mom?”
She took a slow, deep breath. “It’s not that simple. Salary’s important and so are the hours, but there are other holdbacks I’ve yet to work out. For one, I don’t have an extended family like yours who lives close by and could help me if I got sick or injured. I would also need to provide my child with some male role models, ones who would be around for more than an occasional birthday or holiday.”
“Here’s a thought. Come work for Daniel and me. You’ve got the training and skills we need, and I’ll be close by and able to help you out if you’re in a pinch.”
She suspected that even a partial commitment like that one had been hard for Paul. He was a man who didn’t open his heart easily to anyone outside his band of brothers. Yet halfway propositions weren’t for her, and what he was offering just wasn’t enough.
Paul was the kind of man she’d always dreamed of but never thought she’d find. When the going got rough, he’d remained right by her side. Yet although he was a relentless fighter, he could also show compassion.
Maybe those qualities also explained why Paul had been such an extraordinary lover. He was wildly passionate, yet he also knew how to take his time and prolong a woman’s pleasure.
Paul had claimed a piece of her heart. When the time came for her to leave, she’d go, but the memories they’d carved out would be part of her forever.
* * *
THEY RODE IN silence until they reached their destination. “There’s Willie’s shop, straight ahead on the right side of the street,” Paul said.
Kendra saw a small building ahead with bars on all the windows. The stores on both sides were closed and boarded up, but Roy’s Happy Trigger seemed to attract a large volume of customers. The parking lot in front had just one empty space. “Looks like Willie’s got a booming business.”
“Yeah, he sure does. After his dad died, he inherited a shop that barely made ends meet. Willie turned it around and made it a huge success,” Paul said. “He sees things differently, though. If you compliment him on the good job he’s done, he’ll just say that his dad did most of the hard work. He just improved a few things because that was what his dad expected him to do.”
“Will he be leaving the place to his son?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Willie says that he’s married to the store. According to him, he’s never even had time for dating.”
“He sounds lonely, trapped.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Willie just likes the status quo. By building up his business, he’s honored his father’s memory and found financial security. He has no desire to change anything.”
“So rather than move locations and take a risk, he settles for the known.”
He didn’t answer right away. “Maybe. You know, sometimes it’s hard to deal with memories that won’t let go.”
* * *
SINCE PAUL AND Willie already knew each other, Kendra asked Paul to take the lead. As they walked through the front door, ringing a small, overhead bell, Paul waved at the middle-aged man with the thinning hair and neatly trimmed beard. He was busy showing a hunting rifle to a customer.
“Just take a look around, folks,” Willie called out without really looking up. “I’ll be with you just as soon as we’re done here.”
Paul walked around, glancing at the shop displays as he waited. He’d taken his shot by asking Kendra to stay. He’d also been careful not to attach any strings to the arrangement or burden either of them with a slew of expectations.
Maybe if he’d had a different kind of li
fe, he would have just gone for it, hoping for the best. That’s what most people did, wasn’t it?
What had held him back was knowing that she wanted to adopt. As someone who’d gone through the system, he knew firsthand how vulnerable kids who’d known rejection really were. If things didn’t work out between Kendra and him, the same kind of scars he’d borne all his life could be imprinted on another child.
Happily-ever-after wasn’t a concept he could believe in, so walking away had been his only logical option. He wouldn’t make Kendra and the kids who’d come into their lives a promise he suspected belonged only in a fairy tale.
Paul tried to show some interest in a display of collectible infantry rifles from World War II, but his mind remained elsewhere.
Willie, apparently finished with his previous customer, came up to him. “Hey, buddy. What brings you in here before lunch? Are you going to pitch me a new upgrade to your surveillance system?”
Paul shook his head. “My lady friend and I need to talk to you privately,” he said, catching Kendra’s eye and motioning her over.
Willie waved to a clerk, then led them behind the counter to an office in the back of the shop. The small, windowless room held a wooden desk, two small LED monitors and several filing cabinets. There were three chairs, one on casters with a padded seat, and the other two, old-style metal folding chairs.
“My dad never liked white-collar offices. He said they made a man soft,” Willie said, smiling at Kendra as she came in just behind Paul. “Now tell me what brings you two here. From your expressions, I gather it’s serious.”
Paul gave him a quick update on what Miller had told them, then showed Willie a photo of Miller’s carbine.
Willie sat as still as a rock. “Dammit, you know I’m not responsible for what people do with the guns they buy here. I run the mandatory background check, and if the buyer comes back clean, I finalize the purchase.”
“Relax, Willie, we know that,” Paul assured him quickly. “The reason we came is that we need your help to track down this guy. The cameras will have a record of all your customers and we’re hoping to find a familiar face.”
He nodded. “Okay, have at it, while I go check my records and get the names of our cash customers for that day.”
Seeing two more customers come in, Willie looked at Paul. “Give me another few minutes. Matt needs my help out there. You know where everything is, so go ahead and access the feed. Let me know if you find the guy you want. If it’s someone I deal with regularly, I may be able to tell you where to find him.”
As he left, Paul sat down at the desk and pulled back the keyboard stand. There was a mouse beside it and the proper monitor came out of sleep mode in a few seconds.
It took Paul a few minutes, but the feed soon began. “The images are pretty clear, and since the camera’s not readily visible, no one bothers to turn away.”
“Nice touch.”
“Thanks,” he said. “The surveillance business can seem really tame after working the field, but it provides tangible results. Willie used to get held up three or four times a year. Since the cameras went in and the stickers went up on the windows six months ago, he’s had one robbery and the suspect was identified and arrested within a day.”
“You don’t always need a gun to fight crime. The right information is often all that’s needed for the bad guys to get caught and the public to win.”
“Navajos call it restoring the balance. That’s how we walk in beauty.”
“It’s a good way to look at it,” she said. “To me, what’s always been important isn’t the star or badge that comes with the job, it’s the work itself.”
“Does that mean you’re considering joining our family business?”
“You’re making it sound like the Mafia!” she said, chuckling but not answering his question.
“You’ve been in the city too long,” he said, smiling.
Kendra, who’d focused on the screen, suddenly sat up. “Stop! Freeze that frame.” Even though he was wearing a hat and sunglasses, she knew exactly who the man in the video was. Her body grew cold as she realized the magnitude of that one man’s betrayal. “I can’t believe this. He fooled everyone—including me.”
Chapter Twenty
“Evan Thomas, my boss,” Kendra said softly. “He knew we were getting close to catching Miller, so he arranged to get himself shot, knowing it would keep him in the clear a while longer.”
“He was probably also hoping that we’d end up killing Miller. That would have practically guaranteed that his connection to the cartel would have never come to light,” Paul said.
“I have a feeling we’re right on all counts, but we still have a problem. The hat and sunglasses obscure too much of his face. I know that’s Evan, but a defense attorney could successfully throw out my ID. The word of a professional hit man that led us to the buy isn’t going to get us a conviction either. If Miller never saw him, Evan could weasel out of this in any of a thousand ways. We need more evidence,” Kendra said.
“Agreed, but we’re going to have to watch our step. If I’m right, Evan’s been undermining operations for a while. Evan was my supervisor, and I’m beginning to suspect that one of his first jobs was setting up Judy and me. After Judy’s...end of watch...” he said, using their service’s term for the deceased, “I heard about other ops that went wrong. They blamed it on a lot of things, including mistakes by the marshals in charge, but I believe the pattern began back then.”
Willie returned, took a look at both of them and smiled. “You got what you wanted, I see.” He held up a piece of paper. “Matt, my clerk, made the sale. Here’s the name of the buyer and an address. I’ve also got the serial number of the weapon he purchased, a nine millimeter Ruger carbine I picked up third-hand via an estate sale. I’ve also written down the name of the supplier, a friend of mine who shops for guns at estate sales and gets some great deals.”
Kendra took the paper and held it so she and Paul could both read the note. “Right serial number, but not the right name for the purchaser. His ID was fake. Evan prepared something gathered from a federal database, my guess, or it wouldn’t have passed background.”
“Doesn’t matter now. We got our lead.” Paul looked at Willie. “I need to borrow one of your flash drives so I can make a copy of the footage. I’d also like to use your computer to email the image on that frame to Daniel.”
“Do whatever you need,” Willie said.
Less than five minutes later, Kendra and Paul were on their way across town. “Paul, I have to ask you something. Is your past connection to this case going to be a problem?”
“You think I want to catch up to Evan so I can blow him away?”
“No, that’s not it at all. You live by certain rules, just like me. That’s what makes us the good guys.”
He reached for her hand, then brought it up to his lips. “I’m glad you believe in me.”
“I do, but I also need to know that you’ll play this by the book—no short cuts just to achieve the goal.”
“We can do that, but we’ll still have to push Evan hard,” Paul said. “I say we confront him with the video and the sales record. Let him know that you’re taking the information up the chain of command. Then we’ll watch and see what he does. My guess is that he’ll damn himself one way or another.”
“Evan’s not stupid, quite the opposite. How else to explain how he’s managed to stay under the radar for so long?” she said. “He’ll know we’ve got nothing that’ll stick.”
“Matt, the gun shop clerk, may be able to positively ID Evan as the customer who bought the carbine,” he said.
“Or not.”
“We have the serial number on that weapon,” Paul said.
“That identifies the weapon, but we still can’t conclusively tie that to Evan. We need to prove he was the purchaser and that he turned that gun over to Miller. Our biggest problem is that Miller never saw his client—Evan.”
“Let’s tell Evan th
at Preston is questioning Miller right now and that Miller’s claiming he’s got a source inside the marshals service. We won’t be accusing Evan of anything, but we’ll be pointing out a problem that Evan may see as a direct threat. Then we’ll hang back and see what Evan’s next move is,” Paul said.
“All right. We’ll do it that way, and see what he does.”
It didn’t take Kendra long to find Thomas. He’d checked out of the hospital and was back in his Hartley motel room. “Before we go over there, we need to get a reliable tracking device. We don’t want to lose Evan if he makes a run for it.”
“He’ll be on the lookout for that. He’ll probably search his luggage and whatever vehicle he’s got to make sure they’re clean and stay that way,” Paul said.
“That’s why I want to use two devices—one that he’ll find after a careful search and another he won’t expect.”
“Daniel can help us with that,” Paul said, and reached for his cell.
By the time they arrived at Daniel’s place he was waiting and ushered them inside quickly. “I’ve got what you asked for, and actually got you a third device so you can game the gamer,” he said.
“Thanks,” Kendra said. “I like it. We’ll put one where he’ll be sure to find it, then place the second somewhere he’ll have to search hard to find. When he finally spots it, he’ll assume he’s outsmarted us and he’s good to go. He’ll never look for a third.”
“Nice use of game theory,” Paul said.
“Are you sure you don’t want backup on this?” Daniel asked Paul, then glanced at Kendra.
“No. We have to give Evan plenty of room,” she said. “If he senses a trap, he has all the training necessary to disappear for good. I’m sure he’s got stashes of cash and identities he can assume at a moment’s notice.”
Paul checked out the three small devices. “You can plant the smallest one on him, Kendra. He won’t be expecting that. I’ll take the other two and put one inside the wheel well of his car, a place he’s bound to check, and another in his gear.”
