Silos and Sabotage (Cowboy Brand of Justice #2)

Chapter 5 Not So Cold Case

One week later

G age tapped the horn of his Bronco to let Ella know he was ready to go. He already had the motor idling. Then he climbed out and moved around to the passenger side of the vehicle to open the door for her. And wait.

She appeared on the porch less than a minute later. Her arms were loaded down with so many reusable shopping bags that he jogged up the porch steps to lend her a hand while she locked the house.

“It’s a little soon to be moving out, don’t you think?” He slid the handles of three bags off one of her shoulders and four bags off the other shoulder. While he was at it, he drank in the whole new look she’d warned him she’d be sporting this morning.

She’d dyed her hair back to its original shade of brunette. It cascaded in waves past her shoulders, falling halfway to her waist. Instead of the jeans and plaid she’d been wearing when they first met, she was in a long- sleeved white t-shirt that she’d half tucked into a pair of pale gray camouflage sweatpants. She looked full of energy and ready to take on the world, a far cry from the melted down version of her in her hospital bed.

It was impossible to hold in an admiring whistle.

She shot him a grateful smile as she double-checked the door handle to make sure it was locked. “Those bags, my dear landlord, contain nothing more than a few welcome gifts for the herd of displaced puppies and kittens at the animal sanctuary. I want to do my part to make them feel at home until they can be re-homed.”

“I’m not your landlord,” he reminded. So far, he’d refused her every offer to pay rent. They were slowly working out a much better agreement that involved meal sharing and other swapped favors. It was an arrangement he really liked.

“What are we, then?” There was a bounce to her step as she spun around and walked with him to the Bronco.

“Friends,” he supplied. They were more than that, but he didn’t want to rush things with her.

Her smile turned into a pout.

“Very, very good friends,” he amended, kissing her with his eyes.

“Better.” Her pout disappeared. She hovered like a bee at his elbow while he loaded her bags in the back seat.

“Just a few gifts, eh?” He tapped a few of the toys on sticks and packages of snacks poking out from the tops of the bags. By his estimate, the sanctuary would be prepared for a zombie apocalypse after she walked through the door.

“This, my dear friend,” she informed him with a smirk, “is phase one of my plan to get off on the right foot with the rescue animals. Or paw, in their case.”

He had no doubt she’d have all the critters in the animal sanctuary eating out of her hand before the end of her first shift. She practically had him eating of her hand already. Her joy at being given a second lease on life had been fun to witness.

Instead of resting as much as she should have, she’d spent far too much of her first week in his guest house shopping up a storm online with the laptop he’d lent her. She’d been ecstatic to see the first deposit of her inheritance money land in her bank account. As hazy as some of her memories remained, she had no difficulty remembering how to shop, cook, and enjoy the simple things in life — like picking wildflowers, reading a book in the hammock swinging in the side yard, and spinning around with her eyes closed and hands out during a brief rain shower that had blown their way.

Her smiles and her positivity were downright infectious. She’d brightened his entire world with them. Hearing how she’d spent her day had become the highlight of his day, along with the meals they shared. And the chuckles. Second only to his relationship with God, she was fast becoming a force of nature he wasn’t sure he could survive without.

As he assisted her into the Bronco, he drawled, “It could easily take the rest of the year to work your way through this meow-ntain of supplies.” He winked at her. “Pun intended.”

“Not even,” she scoffed, reaching for her seatbelt. “The stomachs of growing dogs and cats are bottomless pits. We’ll be lucky if this gets us through the rest of the month.” She made a comical face at him. “That was a purr-fectly horrible pun, by the way.”

“You gotta be kitten me,” he teased. “I thought it was hiss-terical. ”

She raised her hands, palms out. “You win. It’s im-paws-able to top that.”

He longed to lean into the vehicle and sample the laughter bubbling on her lips. He wanted it so badly that it hurt. Instead, he shut the door and jogged back to the driver’s side. He was grinning like an idiot as he slid behind the wheel. “You did something to your hair,” he teased.

“Oh. You noticed.” She waved a hand like it was no big deal.

“Yeah, I noticed.” It was impossible not to notice that the hottest blonde he’d ever met had transformed into the hottest brunette he’d ever met.

“Well?” She cocked her head playfully at him as he started the motor.

“Well what?” He pretended to misunderstand.

“Do you like it?” She flipped a handful of the long, wavy strands over her shoulder.

“Yep.” Like was an understatement. She was so beautiful that it took a superhuman effort to drag his eyeballs away from her to start driving.

“Which color do you think looks the best on me?” She flipped her hair again and struck a pose. “Blonde or brunette?”

He raised his eyebrows instead of looking, since he was busy trying to avoid the potholes in his gravel driveway. It was time to lay some new gravel down. “Both.” He’d probably drool over her no matter what color her hair was.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “It was an either-or question.”

He snorted as he hung a left on the highway to head toward town. “You’re man-slayer material in either color.”

She made a huffing sound. “You don’t look mortally wounded over there.”

“Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving.” He hurriedly changed the subject before he made a fool of himself and starting drooling on his steering wheel. “How soon do you want to show up for your first counseling appointment?” It wasn’t until eleven, but she’d be required to fill out the standard new patient paperwork, which would take extra time.

“I was hoping to get there by ten-thirty, but whenever you can break away is fine.” She twisted around in her seat and stretched to dig something out of one of her shopping bags. She settled back in her seat, waving a square box of tissues at him. “I’m not really looking forward to boohooing my brains out again. But between losing my dad and the last five years of my life, I’ll probably wail my way through this entire box.”

His heart twisted at the reminder of how fresh her grief must still feel to her. “God gave us tear ducts for a reason.” He wanted her to know it was okay to cry. Despite the gargantuan number of tears she’d shed since they’d met, he didn’t see it as a weakness so much as a coping mechanism. She was one of the strongest people he’d ever known. Like a blade of grass growing through a strip of sidewalk, she was resilient. Determined. Unstoppable.

She set the box of tissues in her lap. “My dad was someone who’s definitely worth crying for. He never remarried after my mom died.” She lapsed into silence for a moment, swimming in nostalgia. “I’ve always wondered if it was because of me. He was the ultimate Mr. Mom.” A sad chuckle slid out of her. “The rest of the world saw him as a war hero. Iron-eyed and bullet-proof. But I got to see him in a tutu, sitting across from me and my stuffed animals at tea parties on the living room floor. He had to be lonely, Gage. I mean, really. But he still put me first in everything, instead of worrying about having a social life or trying to date again.”

If he hadn’t been driving, he would’ve taken her in his arms. “I don’t think it’s humanly possible to feel lonely when you’re around.”

She brushed at the dampness forming at the edges of her eyes. “It’s really sweet of you to say that.”

“I’m not just saying it.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “He talked about you like you were his greatest treasure. You gave him more reason than ever to do what he did for a living.” To serve and protect.

He could feel her eyes on him as she considered his words. Her voice was low and soft when she responded. “With as close as we both were to him, it’s kind of crazy we never met in person before now.”

He’d been thinking the same thing. “I think it’s because my relationship with him was built on professional stuff. He was my leader first, then my mentor. We didn’t evolve into friends until much later.” During the latter parts of their respective military careers, though, they hadn’t been stationed anywhere near each other. Their friendship had mostly consisted of emails, phone calls, and texts.

She nodded. “He talked about you, as well. Mostly about how much he admired and respected you as a fellow single parent. Because of that, I always pictured you as someone closer to his age.”

Gage snorted. “Believe me, raising Rock made me feel old at times. He was a handful. Still is.”

She gave an empathetic chuckle.

“All joking aside,” he cast a quick sideways look at her, “it’s possible that now is exactly when we were supposed to meet.”

“Really?” She sounded doubtful. “Just for the record, I’m not a big fan of those everything-happens-for-a-reason speeches.”

“That’s understandable,” he said carefully. “It’s harder to believe it after suffering a big loss.”

“Ugh! You’re one of those .” She wrinkled her nose at him. “I bet you go to church every Sunday morning, too.”

“I do.” The only reason he hadn’t gone last Sunday was because he’d been looking after her.

“I became a heathen when my dad died,” she admitted. “It’s a loss I can’t accept. There was nothing right about how he was taken from this world. God shouldn’t have allowed it.”

Gage could feel her pain. It was raw and poignant. “It wasn’t fair,” he agreed, though he didn’t blame God for it. He blamed whoever had done the killing. Someday she would learn to direct her anger where it belonged, too. Anger was both a strange beast and a natural part of the grieving process in a case like this. “That’s why I’m so determined to find who did this to your dad and avenge his death.”

“Me, too.” Her voice vibrated with passion. “I don’t intend to sit around and do nothing more than blubber about it. I want justice. My dad was a Medal of Honor recipient who survived being shot full of shrapnel like a pincushion. He didn’t deserve to leave this world at the end of a coward’s blade.”

“Hear! Hear!” He pounded his fist on the console. “Listen,” he lowered his voice, “I know this is hard for you, but…” He hated how distraught she got every time he brought up the topic, but it was necessary. “Do you mind if we go over the details of what happened again?” They had at least five minutes left of their drive. And every time th ey talked about the tragedy, her memories seemed to grow clearer.

She bit her lower lip, nodding. “I was in the recovery room after my surgery. Dad was with me.” A ghost of a smile flitted across her lips.

“Was he the only person with you?” This was one of the murkiest parts of her story.

“At first, I thought he was,” she mused sadly. “He was sitting beside my bed, holding my hand and praying. There were tears on his face.”

“And…?” He knew he was pushing her, but she was probably the biggest key to unlocking the truth of what had happened that day. They drove past a few subdivisions. Then the shimmering lake drew into view.

“I must have been drifting in and out of consciousness,” she continued.

“Which is perfectly normal after major surgery.” He wanted to reach for her hand, but he held off, not wanting to interrupt the flow of her shattered memories. Ever since she’d woken up after being poisoned, they’d been returning, slowly but steadily.

“At some point, I woke up and saw a woman sitting beside my dad. She was in a wheelchair, I think.” Her voice hitched with emotion.

A woman in the room? This was new. Gage’s heart pounded with excitement.

“They were arguing. Not loud enough for me to hear what they were saying, but they were definitely disagreeing about something. It sounded like the woman was crying.”

“What do you remember about her?” He slowed his speed, not wanting to arrive at the sanctuary before she finished describing her latest newly restored memory.

Ella spread her hands. “She had blonde hair, but her face was turned away from me. I never got a good look at her.”

“What was she wearing?” Her organ donor had also been a blonde. Gage would give anything to know if it was the same woman.

She shook her head. “Something dark, I think. Not jeans, though.”

“Not a hospital gown?” Think, think, think, beautiful.

“Definitely not a hospital gown. She was stylish. In a pantsuit, maybe?”

Disappointment coursed through him. If the woman had been her donor, she would’ve likely still been in a hospital bed herself.

But Ella wasn’t done remembering. “She waved her hands a lot while she talked. Her fingernails were painted red.”

Red fingernails. That was a new detail. His excitement returned. Her organ donor’s fingernails had been painted red. “Was she wearing any jewelry?”

Ella frowned in consideration. “No. Not even a wedding ring. The next thing I knew…” She muffled a ragged sob.

“I’m sorry to keep putting you through this.” Gage hated himself a little for doing it.

“I know you’re only trying to help.” She sniffled damply. “I’m sorry. I can’t remember anything else about her.”

“You did great!” He felt like hugging her. “This is the first time you’ve mentioned the woman in a wheelchair.”

Her eyes widened. “It is, isn’t it?” Her momentary burst of glee quickly faded. “I don’t know if the rest of my story is a figment of my imagination or if I really witnessed what came next.”

“Tell me anyway.” They reached the entrance to the Heart Lake Animal Rescue Sanctuary. Since it was located right smack in the middle of a residential lake community, there was no billboard signage near the road. Instead, an ornate wooden sign was swinging in the breeze from a short, L-shaped iron pole. The name of the sanctuary was engraved into it.

Ella drew a deep, shuddery breath. “Like I’ve told you before, a man came out of nowhere. I don’t know if he’d been hiding under my bed or what.”

“You’re sure it was a man?” He doubted the intruder had been hiding under her bed. Her father would’ve surely noticed him there.

“Very sure.” She shuddered. “He didn’t have a face. He was more of a shadow than a man, but he had a knife. It all happened so fast! He ran up behind my dad and slashed at his throat. There was blood. So much blood. The woman screamed for help, and the man with the knife lunged her way, but people came running. Lots of people dressed in white. Then he disappeared.” She snapped her fingers.

Gage mulled over her latest version of the incident as he turned onto the gravel entrance lane and rolled closer to the triple-silo structure. The part about the faceless man puzzled him. “Is it possible he was wearing some sort of mask?”

She pondered the question. “I don’t know. I could see the bumps where his eyes, nose, and mouth should’ve been, but that’s it. He was all dark and blurry.”

A new possibility popped into his head. “He could’ve had hosiery pulled over his face. Tights, stockings, or whatever else people are calling them these days.”

“Maybe.” She sounded doubtful. “Or I could’ve imagined it all.” She pressed her fingertips to her temples. “Things are still so messed up inside my head. Sometimes, it’s hard to sort out what’s real and what’s not. ”

“You’re getting there,” he soothed. “You’ve made so much progress already.” It might not hurt to have her sit down with a sketch artist and see if she could give them a stronger description. Just thinking about it made him wish his younger brother, Rock, was in town. Rock had always been an incredible artist. Maybe he could set up a zoom call with him or something.

Since they were nearly at their destination, he nudged her back to her story. “What happened next?”

“I was moved.” She seemed very sure about that detail. “I remember my bed rolling down a long hallway. A very lo-o-o-ong hallway.”

This was where her story usually ended. It was as if she’d rolled straight into the sunset. Or drifted back into unconsciousness, which was more likely.

“The woman was still with me,” Ella said suddenly.

Gage pulled into a parking spot near the door and stopped, swiveling his head in her direction. “Say that again.” This was yet another new detail.

“She stayed with me.” Ella sounded very sure of herself. “I was talking out of my head and begging for my dad, and she kept telling me everything was going to be alright.”

“Did you see her face this time?” Please say yes.

“No, but only because my eyes were closed. I was sort of drifting.” She gave him a rueful look. “But the woman in the wheelchair was definitely rolling down the hallway alongside me.”

“That’s…wow!” His investigative mind had been looking for any excuse to throw Ella’s kidney donor back into the mix. A woman in a wheelchair certainly kept that possibility open.

“We need to find her,” Ella declared.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” He liked that their minds were working in tandem like this. “We could start our search by requesting a copy of your medical records from the hospital.”

“Good idea, Sherlock.” She unclasped her seatbelt and reached for the door handle, but she didn’t open it yet. “Just so you know, I’ve decided to use my inheritance money to hire Lonestar Security to help me track her down.” She sounded defensive, like she was expecting him to try to talk her out of it. “I want to reopen my dad’s case.”

He drew his eyebrows together. “From what I understand, the Corpus Christi police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.” At least, that’s what they told him every time he called for an update. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been authorized to ask for copies of stuff like autopsy reports and tox screenings, but he now had somebody in his court who could.

Ella rolled her eyes at him. “I think we both know my dad’s case is as cold as frozen yogurt. My goal is to thaw it out. Are you in?”

“You have to ask?” Of course, he was in. “Just make sure your plan includes a little justice for yourself.” He didn’t like the fact that Billy Bob Bolander still hadn’t been located.

She nibbled on her lower lip. “Call me crazy, but it feels like what happened to me at the diner might be related to what happened to my father. I just wish I knew whose crosshairs we accidentally stepped into.” She waved her tissue box at him for emphasis. “I don’t even know what we did wrong in the first place.”

“Who says you did anything wrong?” Over the past ten months, Gage had called enough of Mick Lawton’s professional peers and contacts to determine that the guy’s record was squeaky clean. There were no investigations into his conduct as an Army officer. No pending lawsuits against him. No ugly rumors associated with his name. Nothing out of the ordinary floating around social media about him. At his memorial service, he’d received all the honors due to a military hero.

She nibbled her lip some more. “There has to be a reason we’ve been targeted, Gage.”

“You’re right.” If they could answer that question, it wouldn’t take long to unravel the rest of the case. “We’ll start with what we know and take it from there.”

She gazed blindly out the window at the rippling lake water. “We know my dad retired from the Army a few weeks before my transplant. I honestly believe he would’ve stayed in longer if it weren’t for that. He cleared his schedule for me, Gage. He was planning on staying in my apartment with me and waiting on me hand and foot while I recovered from surgery.” Her eyes grew misty at the memory. “I should, um, get inside before I break down again.” She pushed open her door.

He gathered her shopping bags of gifts and goodies and followed her to the entrance of the sanctuary.

The door popped open while they were still moving up the sidewalk. The owner, Jillian Phillips, stepped outside. “You made it,” she crowed, waving at them. “It’s so great to finally meet you.” Her movements made her blonde ponytail dance around her shoulders. She was a curvy woman in jeans and a t-shirt with a loose-fitting red-and-white plaid shirt over it. Her son, a dark-haired toddler in denim overalls, was perched on her hip.

Gage performed the introductions. “Jillian, this is Ella. Ella, this is Jillian.”

He was pleased to see Jillian ignore Ella’s outstretched hand and lean in for a side hug .

“This is my son, Bo,” her new boss breezed. “In case you’re wondering, it’s bring-your-kid-to-work day nearly every day around here.”

“He’s adorable.” Ella reached out and tweaked one of Bo’s bare toes.

He giggled and wrapped his leg tighter around his mother’s middle to hide his toes from her.

Ella immediately stepped in front of him and started playing peek-a-boo.

He giggled some more, pointing at her in delight.

She tapped a finger against her chest. “Ell-a,” she said slowly. “My name is Ella.”

He pointed at himself, mimicking what she’d done. “Bo,” he declared with a chortle of delight.

As Gage watched them, a warm feeling spread through his chest. Despite all that Ella had been through, she radiated a rare level of generosity and kindness when it came to people skills. Because of it, she made two more friends before entering the building.

“This is Cassie Cordell, our veterinarian technician.” Jillian fluttered a hand at the receptionist’s desk.

A petite woman in cutoff jeans shorts and boots was stooped over it, riffling through a stack of papers and muttering to herself. Two fat brown braids poked out from beneath her Stetson. “We don’t have a receptionist yet. We just take turns making messes out of all the paperwork.”

“I could help with that,” Ella offered as she scanned the chaos covering the receptionist’s work area.

Jillian’s eyes widened. “I thought your resume said your background was in childcare.”

“I minored in Business Management,” Ella explained. “My goal was, er… is to open a daycare of my own someday.”

The shadow that crossed her features gave Gage’s heart a yank. It was as if it had just then occurred to her that she was five years behind on that particular goal. As their gazes locked, he decided on the spot that he was going to do whatever it took to help her get back on track to achieve every last one of her dreams.

Jillian murmured, “Y’all just ignore me while I drop to the floor and kiss Ella’s tennis shoes in gratitude. If someone had told me when I woke up this morning that we were getting this kind of help…” She reached behind her to untwine Bo’s fingers from her hair, wincing.

He squealed and reached for her hair again.

Cassie made a sound of supreme frustration from the piles of paper she was still wading through. “If anyone finds the shot records for our newest husky, I’m not above getting on the floor and kissing a few toes, either.”

Ella’s gaze lingered on him for a moment. Then she pointed at the computer resting in the center of the receptionist’s booth. “Maybe it’s in the system,” she offered in a helpful voice.

“Aren’t you adorable?” Cassie rolled her eyes as she explained, “Jordan only got the computer hooked up yesterday afternoon, so nothing’s in the system yet.”

“But since it’s Jordan,” Jillian chuckled, “he spent all night designing a custom database for us, so we’re heading in the right direction.”

“Jordan?” Ella glanced between the two women.

“Our resident horse whisperer.” Cassie’s voice rang with pride. “I’m not sure if you follow horse racing, but he and Western Storm are pretty famous.”

There was an awkward pause on Ella’s part. “I, um…not so much lately.”

Gage caught Jillian’s eye, realizing she must not have filled in Cassie on all of Ella’s background.

Jillian hastened to nudge the conversation back to safer territory. “Jordan is also her boyfriend, so if you catch them drooling over each other…”

Cassie stuck her tongue out at her boss. “Anywa-a-a-ay…” Blushing, she waved her hands expressively at the piles of paperwork scattered across the countertop and the built-in workspace below it. “Feel free to play with the new database anytime you want.”

“Honestly? The nerdy side of me would love to get in on the ground floor of setting up your pet records.” Ella started to move around the receptionist’s booth, but Jillian stopped her.

“Don’t you even think about starting work before you finish the grand tour.” Her gaze fell on the bags still looped over Gage’s shoulders. “What in the world have you got there?”

“Don’t ask me.” He held up his hands, grinning. “I’m just the delivery boy.” He was also going to be serving as Ella’s bodyguard until Johnny Cuba arrived. He glanced at his watch, noting that the guy was cutting it awfully short on his arrival time.

Jillian turned her questioning gaze to Ella, who smiled warmly in return. “I come bearing gifts for the fur herd. I couldn’t resist. I’ve always been a bit of a shopaholic.” She reached up to snatch a stuffed snake out of the top of one of the bags. She wiggled it in the air toward Bo, adding in plenty of hissing sounds.

He eagerly turned his attention from his mother’s hair to the toy, wiggling energetically for her to put him down. She set him on his feet and he lurched eagerly for the stuffed snake.

Ella pretended to wrestle with him by holding on to the snake’s tail, shaking it and hissing some more. However, she let him win in the end. He toddled off, waving the snake in the air and making the same hissing sounds she’d been doing. His sounded a little juicier, since he was spitting as much as hissing in typical boy style.

“He’s such a little varmint.” Jillian gave her son’s retreating chubby frame an affectionate look. “But I adore him to pieces.”

“We all do.” Cassie’s voice was matter-of-fact as she went back to riffling through the papers at the receptionist’s station. “He’s the life of the party around here.

Ella looked utterly entranced. “I bet the animals love having a little boy running around. Watching kids in action is better than TV.”

“You think?” Jillian made a sighing sound. “If you decide to postpone opening your daycare, I might have an office management position with your name on it.”

“Be careful what you offer,” Ella’s voice was only half teasing.

Gage studied her curiously, trying to gauge how serious she was. He wouldn’t mind it one bit if she decided to work full time at the sanctuary. It would be one of the safest places in town to work. Since Jillian was married to one of the partners at Lonestar Security, he had no doubt that the sanctuary boasted one of the best security systems on the market.

Jillian waved at the receptionist’s booth. “Feel free to drop your stuff off there for now. I’m about to assign you a storage locker. Everyone here gets one, so you can stow things there, as well.”

Gage moved across the room to plop Ella’s bags on the countertop. He angled his head at her to follow him so he could inform her in an undertone, “Johnny is running late.” He was going to scorch his ears about it when he finally showed up. “So, I can either join you on your tour, or I can make myself scarce if you’re ready to get me out of your hair.”

“Ha! I hunted you down, not the other way around,” she reminded, stabbing a finger against his chest.

“Found it!” Cassie rose from the pile of papers and folders, waving one of the folders in triumph. Catching sight of their by-play, she inquired, “Are you two together?”

Ella smiled so mischievously at her that he braced himself. “In his own words,” she informed the occupants of the room sweetly, “he’s my non-biological older brother.”

As Cassie burst out laughing, he felt his ears turn red. When the others weren’t looking, he shook his head in warning at Ella. Rock had taught him just how evil paybacks could be. The two of them had honed their skills on each other over the years.

She spread her hands innocently, like she was only telling it like it was.

He bent to speak in her ear as they began their tour of the pet cages, washing stations, and supply room. “Do you really feel like my sister?”

“Not even a little.” A breathy chuckle escaped her.

His heart thumped in response. “Then I take back what I said about it. Every word.”

“Finally!” She chuckled again, making him long to seal his mouth over hers and show her just how unbrotherly he felt about her.

They reached the employee lounge. It held a cafeteria-style table and the wall of lockers Jillian had mentioned. “Here’s yours.” She handed Ella a key with a bright orange keyring bearing the number five on it. “It almost makes you feel like you’re back in high school, doesn’t it?”

“Totally.” Ella glanced around the room with interest. “What did you do? Raid an old school building?”

“Good guess.” Jillian rested her hands on her hips. “My goal was to get this project off the ground with the smallest investment possible. The repurposed silos were donated by the Bolanders, and most of our furniture is from the high school on the south side of town that got destroyed by tornadoes.”

The Bolanders? Gage’s brain latched on to that detail and refused to move beyond it. He all but tuned out the rest of Jillian’s description of the employee lounge.

At the first break in the conversation, he inquired in a bland voice, “I imagine the Bolanders used this as a tax write-off.” He was standing close enough to one of the outer walls to knock on the corrugated silver metal with his knuckles.

“Probably.” Jillian shrugged. “That’s what I’d do if I donated something this big to charity.” Little Bo chose that moment to run into the room with his arms outstretched, wailing in distress at the top of his lungs.

Giving Gage an apologetic look, Jillian bent to scoop him up. While she soothed his tears and tried to figure out the source of his trouble, she moved to the sink. Opening the overhead cabinet, she withdrew a cookie from a canister and handed it to him.

He quickly muted his wailing to munch on it while she dried his tears.

“So, this is where the party is!” Johnny Cuba swaggered into the employee lounge like a rodeo champion stepping into the winner’s circle to accept a trophy. His dark gaze settled appreciatively on Ella. “Did you miss me?”

She snickered. “No offense, but I’ve been way too busy annoying my not-a-landlord here with all of my getting settled in stuff.” She patted Gage’s arm affectionately.

The disappointment flooding Johnny’s gaze almost made Gage feel sorry for him. So did the fact that Ella didn’t seem in too big of a hurry to let go of his arm.

He met her laughing gaze. “I’ve gotta scoot, but I’ll be back to take you to your appointment.”

“I can take her,” Johnny offered, shooting an irritated look at Gage. “It’s not like I have other plans since I’m, you know, on duty here.”

Ella ignored him. “It’s a doctor’s appointment.” There was a note of apology in her voice as she caught Jillian’s eye. “I probably should’ve mentioned it before now. If it’s okay with you, I’ll make it my lunch break.”

“No, it’s not okay.” Jillian sounded so put out that Ella’s lips parted in surprise. Jillian shook her finger warningly at Gage. “Make sure she eats lunch before you bring her back, you hear?”

He gave her a mock salute. “Aye, aye, cap’n.” He didn’t mind being ordered to take Ella on a lunch date.

He didn’t mind right up to the point that she cheerfully invited Johnny to tag along. After his first stab of disappointment, though, he decided it wouldn’t hurt to have two armed guards flanking her. She needed all the protection she could get right now.

Gage liked the feeling he always got when he drove up to Lonestar Security’s headquarters —like he was part of something bigger than himself. The two-story brown brick building had once been a post office and was still chock full of olden time charm. A sandstone outset roof covered the double glass entrance doors. Another rim of white stone circled the building a few inches below the straight line of eaves. Six concrete stairs led to a long, narrow entrance porch where the townsfolk used to gather and “jaw” as Gil liked to put it. Concrete ramps with black iron railings led up to both sides of it. The only non-original feature was the attached two-story parking garage in the back. Technically, the garage had a third story, but it was underground.

Gage waved at the attendant in the tiny guard shack, circled the garage, and headed to the lower level where he usually parked. Instead of heading to his office in the back of the building, he walked up the wide, central hallway toward the front of the building. The first floor boasted all original beige and white checkered tiles. They were polished to such a high shine that his rubber-soled combat boots squeaked against them.

The security firm owners had been careful to preserve so many historic elements of the building, so only a few people knew the extent to which they’d actually renovated the place. The two-story front lobby still had the same marbled white walls and gold metallic paint trimming the windows, but every inch of it was now under video surveillance. Gage might as well have smiled and waved, since every step he took was being recorded on camera.

The area behind the old mahogany clerk counters at the front of the building had been converted into cubicles for the security guards. Men like Johnny Cuba, who’d been hired primarily for their muscles, didn’t require a lot of desk space. From a few of Johnny’s snide comments over the past few months, Gage suspected that his own private office didn’t set too well with the guy. In some ways, Gage didn’t blame him. As Lonestar’s first private investigator in training, he was the most junior employee in terms of his hire date. However, the nature of his line of work required both solitude and secrecy. Having his own office wasn’t special treatment. It was simply the nature of the beast.

He paused before reaching the cubicles to face the closed door of Gil Remington’s office. To test a theory of his, he raised his fist and made the motion of knocking, halting just before his knuckles hit the door.

“Come in.” Gil’s voice came through the speaker system embedded in the door. There was a faint clicking sound as the automatic locking system disengaged.

Gage held back a grin as he entered the room without ever actually knocking.

Gil took one look at his face and snorted. “Have a seat.” He waved a hand at the pair of leather chairs in front of his executive style desk — a solid cherry wood throne with elegant inlays. A built-in bookcase with glass doors took up most of the wall behind his desk.

Gage sat. “Ella is remembering.”

Gil nodded sagely. “I’m not surprised.” His Stetson was tossed on the edge of his desk. Since he usually had it on, there was a hat line circling his wavy hair. It was auburn threaded with a few strands of frost.

“She plans to use her inheritance to hire us,” he continued bluntly.

Gil sat back in his chair, looking somber. “She wants justice for her father.”

“So do I.” Gage watched his supervisor’s expression carefully. There was no change in it. No ripple of curiosity. If anything, there was a hint of amusement in it. “You don’t look surprised.”

“Very few things surprise me these days.” Gil’s voice was dry. “In case you weren’t aware, we do our own, very thorough background checks on every new hire. ”

“Lemme guess.” Gage felt a little foolish as he asked, “You already know my connection to Mick Lawton?”

“Yep.”

“And my real reason for coming to work for you?”

“Yep.”

“Yet you hired me anyway.”

Gil’s eyebrows rose. “Have you considered the possibility that your interest in seeking justice for the Lawtons might align with our interests here at Lonestar Security?”

Gage felt even more foolish than before as he shook his head.

“Mick was both a hometown boy and a war hero. We’ve been keeping a close eye on the progress the police have made on his case.”

“Or failed to make,” Gage intoned bitterly.

“That sounds like a lead in to something.” Gil folded his hands in front of him on his desk. “I’m listening.”

“Well, since you didn’t show me the door after finding out my sole reason for applying for this job?—”

“Not sure I agree with that.” Gil grunted in derision. “I’ve watched you in action for ten straight months. You’re never going to convince me you didn’t enjoy tracking down the Miller family’s stolen truck and helping reunite the Eversons with their runaway teen.”

“I did enjoy it, sir.” Only Gil could turn a well-deserved scolding into such an encouraging, backhanded compliment.

His boss’s lips twitched. “It feels good meting out our cowboy brand of justice, doesn’t it? Having the backs of our underpaid, overworked police counterparts and helping the long arm of the law stretch even farther.”

“It does, sir.” He liked Gil’s description of the services Lonestar Security offered. Our cowboy brand of justice. It sounded like something that belonged on the back of a t-shirt or hoodie.

“But you didn’t pay me a visit for career counseling this morning.” Gil gave him a piercing look. “What can I help you with?”

“I want to be the lead investigator on the Lawton case.” It was a bold request for the company’s newest recruit. However, Gage was convinced he was the right person for the task.

“Figured you’d want it.” Gil observed him dispassionately.

“So?” Gage spread his hands. He’d been hoping for a more definitive answer than that.

“Have you forgotten you’re still a PI in training?”

“I haven’t forgotten, sir. I’ll have you to soundboard everything past.”

Gil sat forward in his chair. “Since you’re still in training, you’ll need to run everything past me. Every lead. Every expenditure. Every brainstorm that passes between your ears concerning the case.”

Seeing Gage’s resigned expression, he added one last caveat. “Except in life-threatening situations, of course. In which case, you’ll use every resource at hand to neutralize the threat while minimizing casualties, soldier.” His hard mouth quirked upward. “After the fireworks settle, you’ll give me a full debriefing and accept all additional training necessary to continue improving your skills.”

“Deal.” Gage inclined his head respectfully. It occurred to him that he might not ever outgrow the need for running things past a man with thirty-five more years of law enforcement experience than himself. A man who, in return, showed the utmost respect for his own twenty years of military training and combat experience .

“So, start talking, Lead Investigator Hefner.” Gil raised his auburn eyebrows at him. “What’s your first move gonna be?”

That was easy. “I’m taking my laptop when I go pick up Ella for her appointment with her therapist. I pre-filled out the forms to request a copy of her medical records from the hospital in Corpus Christi. All they require is her electronic signature.” He described the latest details Ella had remembered about her surgery and the brutal homicide that had taken place in her room afterward.

His boss only had one question about his next step. “Isn’t Johnny on Ella duty this morning?”

Gage kept his expression neutral. “Ella invited him to join us.”

Gil reached up to scratch his forehead. “This is the part where I would normally advise you to keep your emotional distance from our client. However, my gut says it’s already too late for that.”

“Potential client, sir.” Gage was grateful his boss wasn’t kicking up a fuss about his blossoming relationship with Ella. “If it’s okay, I’m going to bring her in after-hours this evening to complete our Lonestar contract.” He grimaced. “Though I recommended she take things slow, she insisted on diving head first into a full day of volunteer work.”

Gil snorted. “Someday when you’re married, you’ll understand just how unmarried that made you sound.”

Gage’s jaw dropped. “Come again, sir?”

“Don’t tell her what to do, son. Just have her back every step of the journey.”

It was good advice. Humbling, but good. “I will, sir.”

Gil smiled. “It’s not easy for guys like us, who are used to being in charge, dodging bullets, and collaring bad guys, to hit the off switch on the drive home. But if you really care for her, you’ll find a way to do it.”

Gage ducked his head guiltily. “Man, but you read me like a book.” He shook his head. “Every time I walk through the door.”

His boss was too good of a guy to rub it in. “Name the time you’re bringing her by,” he said simply.

Gage’s head came up. Not only was Gil married, he was the father of twins. Baby twins. “I know you have family to get home to, sir?—”

“My wife would have me hog-tied,” Gil cut in scoffingly, “if I passed up the opportunity to meet Mick’s daughter in person for the first time.”

“Did she know him, too?” They were all about the same age.

“Yep.” Gil’s eyes glinted with unyielding determination. “In case I haven’t made myself clear enough, you’ll have the full backing and resources of Lonestar Security on this case. We all want justice for the Lawtons.”

“Five-thirty, sir.” Gage felt a little emotional as he stood and leaned across the desk with his hand outstretched. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

Gil gripped his hand firmly. “Go catch that killer, Gage.”