Justice for Willa (Police and Fire: Operation Alpha) (San Antonio First Responders Book 10)

Chapter 14

LANDON

The first call of the morning was to the district attorney.

It wasn’t a call that Landon wanted to make.

The district attorney answered on the second ring. “What do you want, Ranger Cooper?”

“Who knew that Willa was taking your reservation last night?”

“Just Willa and you. Why? What’s going on?”

“I took Willa dancing last night after dinner. She saw the man who killed her friend at the bar.”

“She what?”

“The man who nearly killed your granddaughter was at the bar. Willa said he looked like he wanted her to know that he was there. This wasn’t random.

“We think he followed us there. So he had to have followed us from dinner.”

The older man scoffed. “That’s a big leap of faith, Landon.”

“He’s in for a world of hurt if I get my hands on him.”

“Tsk tsk, Ranger. Are you saying that you’re planning on metering out justice on the man when you catch him? I thought you were a law-abiding citizen and law enforcement officer.”

“I am, but this is Willa, sir. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”

“Oh?” Landon heard a deep chuckle through the phone. “Is there something you’d like to tell me, young man?”

Landon felt a muscle tick in his jaw at the ‘young man’ comment.

“I’m in love with your granddaughter, sir.”

“That’s a bit quick, isn’t it?” He sighed. “But I’m told that Willa’s private life isn’t any of my concern, but I do have to ask how does she feel?”

“It’s mutual, sir.”

“Mutual, but not something I was informed of until now?”

“It’s a recent development.”

“Here,” Willa reached out her hand and took the phone from him. She sat down beside him along the edge of the bed and put the phone on speaker. “Hello, gramps.”

“Willa?”

WILLA

“Yes, it’s me. Stop questioning Landon as if this is an interrogation.”

“Direct examination, Willa. And I’m still wondering if I should treat your young man as a hostile witness.”

Willa put her hand on Landon’s knee. “Keep digging into Landon and you’ll see how hostile I can be. You’re both on the same team. That’s what’s important here.”

He cleared his throat. “I have been properly chastised.”

She sighed. “You always make everything you say sound like it’s quite genteel or from a former century.”

“It’s part of my education, Willa. It could be yours too if you want. I’d be happy to pay for you to go to school anywhere you want.”

“Anywhere? What are you talking about?”

“You want to go to New York? Done. Seattle? Done. What about Switzerland? I hear it’s lovely and they have the most amazing schools.”

“Is this because Landon told you that we’re in love with each other?”

“I would have offered to send you anywhere even before.”

“I love you, gramps. I know it’s crazy that we even found each other after a lifetime, but we did. And Landon came back into my life.

“After last night, seeing that… that man, I’m tired of waiting for things to run their course. I’m going to live and I’m going to say what I want, because I don’t know what this man has planned for me.”

“Willa.” Landon took her hand in his and held it against his thigh. “He’s not going to hurt you.”

“Yes, listen to your- listen to Landon, Willa. We’re not going to let him hurt you. Between the two of us, we’ll move mountains to make sure that you’re safe, sweetheart.”

“Okay, gramps. I won’t. It’ll be fine.”

She handed the phone back to Landon and got up from the bed, needing to walk a bit.

Willa could see the nervous look on Landon’s face. She gave him a smile and left the room. She didn’t want to hear what they had in mind. Whatever it was, she was sure it would be great. She just didn’t want to listen to the nuts and bolts.

She meant what she’d told her grandfather. She wanted to live. She just wasn’t sure it was going to happen, no matter what they did.

LANDON

When Willa asked him what he wanted to do for lunch, he had to tell her that they were expecting a few guests. “But don’t worry, they’re bringing lunch.”

He was happy when she opened the door to Weston with a smile. It was probably because she saw Weston as his cousin and not as a SWAT officer.

It also helped that he had two bags of food that smelled like heaven.

“Oooh, what’s in the bag?”

Weston grinned at her. “Oh, was I supposed to bring food for you?” It was only a second before he chuckled. “Just kidding. I swung by Nakoha’s for some fry bread tacos.”

Willa rocked back in surprise. “Fry bread tacos?”

Weston gave him a wink. “Sounds like she’s a fan.”

“I will be. I love fry bread, but fry bread tacos? That sounds amazing.” Willa headed for the kitchen and stopped. “Landon? Where are the napkins and plates?”

He followed her into the kitchen and kissed her cheek.

“Sorry,” she explained, “I came in here before I remembered that it’s not my kitchen.”

He opened a cabinet and pointed at a box on the counter. “Plates up here and napkins in that box. And you can think of this as your kitchen, honey.”

Landon took out the plates and turned back toward the living room. The look on his cousin’s face said that Weston had heard enough.

Landon smiled at his cousin hoping that Weston wouldn’t make a big deal about anything.

He was right.

Near the end of the meal, Weston had a question for Willa.

“I’ve been going through the files of the arrests that have already been made. I have to say, I’m a little surprised.”

“Surprised?” Willa wiped the corner of her mouth with her napkin. “What about?”

He took a drink of water and set the cup down. “I guess, I was expecting more of these guys to be incels.”

“Incels?” Willa looked at Landon before she looked back at Weston. “What’s an incel?”

Landon gestured to his cousin. ‘You brought it up, you answer it.’

“Well, it’s usually a guy who thinks he’s ‘involuntarily celibate.’”

Willa’s brow furrowed as she tried to get the picture in her head.

“Incels are those guys that tend to hide behind their computer screens, they’re awkward in public. Like They can’t seem to talk to women in public and then when a woman walks past them or laughs at them when they ask them out, turn into total trolls and bitch and moan about how horrible women are and how women don’t deserve them.”

“Huh. Okay, I think I get what you’re saying. Like a human Golem from Lord of the Rings?”

Weston thought it over for a minute. “Yeah. I think that’s about right.”

“Then no,” she shook her head, “there’s always exceptions for every group, but men that do these kinds of crimes can be outwardly paragons of society. Teachers, lawyers, businessmen, politicians-”

“Politicians? Not always paragons of society.”

Willa nodded. “True, but they’re usually very public unlike those…”

“Incels?” Weston provided.

“Incels,” Willa smiled. “These men live public lives and generally are well spoken. They also have some experience with younger people. They know how to talk to them. Communicate. It’s what makes them able to convince them to meet. It’s not a simple thing.”

Landon nodded. “Hayden was talking about what it took for her to learn how to talk to these guys.”

“Now that’s different,” Willa explained, “we have to be careful what we say because we have to be careful about entrapment.”

“Like vice officers.” Weston smiled. “They have to leave everything open so the defense attorneys can’t say that that their clients were led into it. Sounds like you’re having to do this with one arm tied behind your back.”

“I’d hate to type with one arm,” Willa smiled at Weston. “It’s hard enough with two. Then again, we end up using so many abbreviations it feels like a kind of shorthand.”

“Uhh, shorthand.” Landon shook his head. “I asked my mom to teach me shorthand once thinking it would make it easier to take notes during interviews.”

“All of those scribbles,” Weston winced, “Not me. I love bodycam footage for that. It makes it easy to focus on the questions and worry about writing it down later. If you ask me-”

“I didn’t.”

Weston glared at his cousin and Willa sighed, leaning into Landon’s side.

“Bodycams are the best thing since sliced bread.”

Willa grinned. “Betty White was the best thing since sliced bread.”

Weston winked at her. “I think Betty White was before sliced bread.”

Landon rubbed his belly. “Now I want toast.”

Willa looked at Weston as she rubbed Landon’s belly. “Sorry, Weston, you were saying?”

“Bodycams. When it became policy all over the country, I know there was a large portion of law enforcement that hated the idea. Feeling like we’d all be watched every moment like Big Brother in 1984.” He paused and leaned toward Landon. “It’s a book by-”

Landon lifted a middle finger in his cousin’s direction. “George Orwell. I know.”

Weston gave him one back. “And LEOs still feel that way but I think it’s been proven that bodycams do more to help us than anything else. I know I’ve heard suspects bitch about lawsuits for officers manhandling them only to see the footage and they get to see that it was their behavior that caused troubles and then there’s no lawsuit.”

Willa leaned against Landon’s side, lightly drawing her close-trimmed nails over his knee. “I saw a news story about a woman who claimed that a police officer pushed her down a flight of stairs because she wouldn’t leave a bar.”

She felt Landon tensed beside her and she saw Weston’s eyes widen at her words.

“When they played the body cam footage, it showed her walking down the stairs beside him. You can clearly see that the officer is holding her arm as they walk down the stairs together. You can also hear her slurring her words and threatening to accuse him of sexual assault if he didn’t let her go.”

“Maybe she forgot which kind of assault she was threatening him with?” Weston sighed. “Was there anyone else in the footage?”

Willa shook her head. “It was just the officer and the woman.”

“That would have gone badly without that video.”

“It seems like things are getting more and more dangerous out there.” Weston shook his head.

“Technology can make life better,” Willa sighed, “but it can also make things harder or easier for the ‘bad guys’ to hide behind the anonymity of the web. But it’s also that technology that’s helping us catch these guys. And now thanks to this task force with law enforcement and the prosecutor’s office, we’re really starting to make a dent.”

Landon’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Willa felt Landon shift on the seat beside her as he took the phone out and after he read the message he put it back. “West, I wanted to get your opinion.”

Willa pulled in a breath and sighed.

“Uh oh,” Weston looked back and forth between them. “This is about what’s going on between the two of you? Or something else.”

“Something else,” Willa supplied.

“Oh good.” West wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. “I’m no good at relationship advice.”

Landon took in a breath and Willa dug her fingertips into his knee.

When he eased back against the cushions, she released his knee.

“It’s about Willa’s safety.”

Weston sat up and moved to the front edge of his chair, folding his hands together as he leaned his elbows on his legs. “What’s going on?”

Landon explained what happened at the bar and filled in some bits that Willa didn’t know yet.

“After we found Willa locked in the bathroom and she told me what she’d seen. Hayden went to get my car and put in a call to some of the other LEOs who were already there. They shut down the bar, blocked the exits, and went through the customers, taking names and photographs.”

Willa looked up at him and he pressed a kiss on her forehead.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to stress about it.”

She nodded. She could see what he meant if she’d known that there were photos out there of the man at the bar.

Landon squeezed her hand.

The doorbell rang and Landon lifted his chin toward the door. “West? Can you?”

Weston was up on his feet in a moment and he went to the door. When he opened it he immediately stepped to the side.

Willa saw Vicente Bravo off to the side of the door as his wife walked in, followed by Vicente.

Sloane walked right over to Willa and gave her a hug. “How are you doing?”

Willa looked at Landon, confused.

“Don’t get mad at Landon. Vicente told me where he was going and I asked to come along. I wanted to thank you for that talk you had at the school. Some of the mothers have asked about volunteering with you however you need it. And the schools are getting word of the talk and they are clamoring to schedule something with you.”

Willa stared at her. “Really?”

“Yes. You really reached people with your talk. The girls were talking about it in school and sharing the information with friends who didn’t get to go to the event. You’re reaching people, Willa. You’re helping more and more people with what you’re doing!”

Willa felt a little dizzy hearing Sloane’s words. “I had no idea.”

Sloane remained sitting on the edge of the couch beside Willa as her husband Vicente sat on the other beside Weston.

Vicente opened the file folder and laid it out. “Here’s what we have from the bar last night. We decided that based on the original case where Willa was attacked, the man couldn’t be any younger than thirty. I know that’s young too, but we decided to use that as a cut off. We identified every man in that bar. If they didn’t have an ID physically on their bodies, we went with their name, birthday, and a social security number if they knew it.

“From there we let the younger men go and did deeper dives into the older men in the room. This file folder has them all. And images of their license or ID card and a photo of them at the bar.”

He looked at Willa. “Are you going to be okay looking at these?”

She shook her head. “No, but I still have to go through them.”

Vicente nodded. “I know this can’t be easy but we,” he looked at Sloane and she rubbed her hand gently against Willa’s forearm, “want you to know that any counseling services that you need or want will be covered through Helping Hearts. You won’t have to worry about anything where that’s concerned.”

Willa looked at Sloane with wide eyes. “When this happened my parents didn’t have insurance that covered therapists.”

Sloane looked at her with sympathy in her eyes. “It’s one of the reasons why we offer it. So many of the women that are hurt or suffering don’t have the option for therapy because of money. You’re a part of our family in San Antonio now. It’s our honor to provide emotional and therapeutic support for you.”

Willa blew out a breath as she tried to hold back tears. “Thank you.”

She looked across the table at Vicente and nodded. “Let’s go through the pictures.”

LANDON

Landon wanted to yell, but he couldn’t do it. Not in front of Willa.

He had a feeling that the man had left after Willa saw him. Her attacker might have wanted her to know he was there, but he was too self-absorbed to want to get caught.

He’d left.

“What about security cameras?”

Vicente nodded. “We’ve got the tapes and yes, there were people who left at about the time that Willa would have seen him, but the men were all wearing cowboy hats. It blocked the cameras from seeing faces and some of the cars were out of range of the cameras.

“We have officers calling around for additional security footage. If it’s out there, we’ll find it, Willa.”

Landon smoothed her hair back and then wrapped her up in his embrace. “I’m sorry, Willa.”

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault.”

“No,” Sloane leaned in and rubbed her arm, “it’s ‘his’ fault. The man that hurt you and your friend. He’s the one who did this. He’s going to be found, Willa. You’ve got the best people in San Antonio looking for him.”

“But they don’t know what he looks like.”

Weston sat forward on the other couch. “I know an artist that works with us in our Ranger office. She’s so good some of us think she’s a little psychic.”

Landon felt Willa take a hold of his hand, he turned their hands so that he was holding her gently.

“I think she’d be happy to use her talent to help us out.”

Willa smiled and it was finally a hopeful look on her face. “Maybe someone will recognize him.”

Weston nodded. “And we can scan it in and put facial recognition software on it. If he’s been arrested, we should be able to know that in minutes.”

“I hope so.” Willa’s voice shook and Landon echoed the same sentiment.

He was going to do everything to protect her.

Everything.