Chapter 1 #2
“Duval can show you an online form to write your statement, but you don’t have to stay here and do it since we already have evidence,” he lifted his phone, “in hand.”
Katie relaxed and sighed. “Good, because I need to drag my brother to the homestead. Our mom needs his help.”
West took a step to the side to let them by.
Duval followed his sister into the hallway and with his glaring eyes told the other Rangers who were looking at her to turn away.
Most of them agreed, the others? He made note of it to have a ‘chat’ with them later.
He didn’t ask her any questions until they stepped outside into the late afternoon sun. “So, what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until Sunday dinner at Mom’s house?”
Katie lifted her chin to give him a look straight into his eyes. “You mean the Sunday dinner that you’ve missed three times in a row?”
Before he could summon up an answer, she waved it away.
“Mom will take you to task on that. What we need you for is something completely up your alley.”
Before he could ask what she was talking about she took out her phone, unlocked it and opened her photo gallery.
She put it in his hand and Duval didn’t have to look at it for long before he realized what he was looking at.
“Where is this?”
Katie hesitated, looking down so he couldn’t see her eyes.
“Katie?”
When she looked up at him, her jaw was hard set.
”Those rains that we’ve been having?” She didn’t wait for him to agree. “It wasn’t out some of the high roll of dirt behind the barn.”
He lifted an eyebrow at her words. “That hilly area where the horses won’t go?”
She nodded. “The horses, the chickens, hell, anything not human on the property stays away from that area.”
Duval sighed. “You didn’t call 911?”
Katie smiled at him, a nervous little grin. “It wasn’t an emergency?”
“Okay… okay.”
Duval wrapped an arm around his sister’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze and a peck of a kiss on the top of her head.
“Okay, Katie. Let’s head over to Mama’s and I’ll take a look at the site.”
Katie leaned into his embrace. “Thanks, McCrae.”
He sighed and started walking her to her car.
His long shift was just about to be a lot longer, even though he’d be off the clock.
* * *
NOELLE
It just the right place for Noelle Garcia to relax.
The Dia De Los Muertos was like a playground for her brain.
The fact that most of the skulls there weren’t even shaped anatomically was enough to turn off the parts of her brain that saw things differently than most, made it an ideal place to unwind.
There was a room that was lit in black lights that made everything look even more fanciful.
Standing there in the center of the room, she let the colors and the imagery wash over her and she smiled.
Her mother, Patricia, had pushed her out of the house and told her to relax.
So she’d gone where she always went at times like this, somewhere beautiful and filled with history.
Some may think she was crazy.
More believed it, but that had been the case since she was a little girl who seemed permanently stuck on Halloween.
At least that’s what her teachers thought.
Draw your family.
Skeletons.
Draw this historical figure.
Skeletons.
She’d seen the inside of a number of therapists offices because of what some called suicidal ideology.
It hadn’t taken long for even those therapists to realize that she just like bones.
Well, skulls.
She liked skulls the most.
So here she was surrounded by them.
Skulls atop fully ‘formed’ bodies.
It was what most would consider odd.
But for her?
It was heaven.
She heard footsteps behind her, but that wasn’t unheard of in the museum. People came and went in places like this. And it’s wasn’t her private property.
She just kept looking at the room around her.
Breathing all of it in.
The footsteps stopped and a moment later she heard a deep, rich voice speak near her ear.
“Are you Miss Garcia?”
Blinking, she turned her head and stared.
The man was a Texas Ranger.
She could tell that at a glance.
Tall, broad in the shoulders, with that distinctive uniform that gave him a kind of rugged and capable look.
She nodded slowly. “I am ‘a’ Miss Garcia.”
He lifted a brow at her answer.
And my goodness, it was an impressive look.
He probably didn’t like what she’d said but he didn’t frown.
Interesting.
“Noelle Garcia?”
She smiled.
He seemed to be humoring her.
“Yes,” she didn’t want to push her luck. He did carry handcuffs. “I’m Noelle Garcia.”
“Good. I went to your house to talk to you and your mother said you would probably be here.” He turned his head in one direction and then in another.
She wondered if he was seeing what she did in the room.
She shook her head internally.
He probably saw something else entirely.
Pity.
“I have to admit, I didn’t even know this museum existed.”
She smiled at the sound of his voice.
She liked the way it rumbled in his chest.
It warmed the air around her.
Strange.
So strange.
“It’s a favorite of mine,” she did a slow turn looking around the room. “This room in particular.”
When she stopped, returning to her original place she found him still looking around the room.
The look in his eyes seemed different than it was before.
She took a good long look at his face when he wasn’t looking at her.
The lines of his face gave him the look of a marble statue from a display of ancient figures of beauty.
He was beautiful in the way that many men weren’t.
Beautiful and rugged at the same time.
She tipped her head in one direction and then the other, wondering what his skull might look like.
The corner of her mouth tipped up. “Have you had an x-ray taken of your head?”
He blinked.
And blinked again.
His mouth turned down in a strange, ponderous frown.
Then he turned to look at her.
“What did you say?”
She smiled, but it was a tight, almost embarrassed grin. She felt the skin between her brows pinch.
She blew out a puff of breath.
“I was wondering if you had an x-ray that showed your skull. I’d love to know what it looks like.”
His forehead furrowed as he looked at her and she had to hold her hand down at her side.
She wanted to reach out and brush her fingertip along his forehead and feel the movement of skin against bone.
“I bet it’s beautiful.”
It was only when she heard her own voice fade away that she realized she’d said the words out loud.
Wincing, she swallowed and apologized. “Sorry. I know that sounds… creepy.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t say… creepy.” He chuckled softly and the sound made her smile. “I don’t know what it sounds like,” he explained, “but it’s… different.”
He held out his hand and she took it in her own. “I’m Ranger McCrae King. Most people call me Duval.”
She shook his hand and nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, Ranger McCrae.”
He smiled at her words and the let go of each others’ hands.
“I’m here because we could use your help, Miss Noelle Garcia.”
“My help?”
He nodded. “We have a body-”
“A skull,” she leaned a little toward him. “You want me to look at a skull.”
He paused, seemingly thinking over her words. “Yes, a skull.”
Smiling, she rocked up onto the balls of her heel and back down flat on her feet. “Okay. Let’s go.”