Chapter Twenty-Two
Parker
APD has two uniforms stationed outside the tape. As soon as we duck under the perimeter, a sergeant strides over to us, thumbs hooked in his belt loops like we haven’t already clocked his badge and attitude.
“Captain Elmore,” I say, keeping my voice as sweet as spun sugar. “This is Captain Hardison.”
“Sergeant Thurgood. Wilson Thurgood. Didn’t know this was a Ranger operation,” he sneers.
“Three fires. Three counties.” Nate shrugs. “It is now.”
Thurgood doesn’t bother hiding his contempt. Nate and I didn’t make any friends in the weeks between Grace showing up in Mexico and the destruction of both the Blessed Flock and the Cordova Cartel.
“We’ve got this handled, Captain. We’re in the process of finishing our witness interviews—”
“We’d like to speak to them as well.” I smile, though my jaw is starting to ache from all the clenching.
“That won’t be necessary. We’ll make copies of everything and forward it to your office later this week.”
Nate straightens his shoulders. “Sergeant?”
Shit. If this idjit knew what that meant, he’d be quaking in his boots right now.
With a tone that can only be described as condescending as fuck, Nate continues, “If the arson investigator ties this fire to the ones we’re working in Round Rock and Cedar Park, your lack of cooperation is going to be a real problem.”
A vein at the sergeant’s temple throbs. “Stay the fuck out of our way.”
I pull a notebook and pen out of my back pocket. “Of course. We wouldn’t want to be a bother, would we, Nate?”
“Perish the thought,” he replies as Thurgood stalks away.
Interviewing witnesses ain’t glamorous work. After an hour, my dress shirt is stuck to my back, my leg is throbbing, and I’ve got one half less than nothing to show for it.
One of the firefighters hustles over to me, a bottle of ice water in each hand. “Captain? You and your partner are lookin’ a little worse for wear.”
I press one to the side of my neck for a moment before cracking the seal. Nate, who I swear wasn’t at my side a second ago, takes the other bottle and drains half of it in a single swallow.
“Is it cliche if I call you a life saver?” he asks.
The firefighter chuckles. “A little. But my ego can always take the boost. You might want to talk to the lady with the goldendoodle sittin’ in the shade over there.
” He points across the street where a tall poplar tree blocks the worst of the sun’s rays.
“She said she saw somethin’ early this morning. ”
“Thanks. For the water and the tip.” I give the brim of my hat a quick tug and glance at Nate. “Field trip?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “On one condition. You sit down for as long as it takes to question her.”
I should object to being handled, but if I show back up at the station lookin’ like five miles of bad road, AJ will blow a gasket and I’ll be on desk duty for a full month. “I want it on record that I’m agreeing because shade gives me a tactical advantage.”
Nate gestures for me to lead the way. The street’s closed off, and only a handful of people have been allowed inside the tape. I only limp a little. I’m calling that a win.
“Ma’am? I’m Captain Elmore and this is Captain Hardison. We’re with the Texas Ranger Division. You wanted to speak with someone?” I ask as I lower myself onto the bench next to her.
“Betty Sue Grishim. This is my Chester.” Her lips curve when she says the dog’s name, and his tail thumps once against the pavement.
The doodle’s fascinated with Nate’s boots, and takes his time sniffing around each one while my partner smiles down at him, a look of nostalgia in his eyes.
Betty Sue peers up at us from under the brim of a well-worn straw hat, fanning herself with a takeout menu.
“I wasn’t sure if I ought to say anything.
Probably nothin’.” She wrings her hands around the dog’s leash.
“My Chester here, he gets me up at five thirty every morning, rain or shine, and I had him out around six. Saw a light on in one of them middle units.” She pauses.
“Figured it was just somebody gettin’ an early start.
Construction folks keep all kinds of hours. ”
“Did you see anyone go in or out?” Nate asks, reaching down to give Chester a scratch behind the ears.
Betty Sue shakes her head. “Just the light. Was on when we passed, gone when we came back around.” She peers across the street at the building. “It was probably nothin’. But…”
“Do you remember which unit?” I point to the six windows, only two of which are still intact.
“Third one from the left. We were all the way across the street, so I didn’t get a good look at it. You know those construction guys…working all hours of the day and night. I thought it was nothin’.”
“You never know when nothin’ will turn into somethin’. Thank you, Ms. Grishim.”
Before we can return to the crowd, Thurgood decides to test his luck again, planting himself directly in our path. “I’m gonna need you to hold off on any other interviews until we’re done here.”
Nate tilts his head. “Are you?”
I push a few strands of hair behind my ear.
“Sergeant, you’ve got two bodies and a serial arson case that’s about to land on the front page of every paper in Austin.
The moment this becomes a joint investigation—and it will—every decision made at this scene today gets reviewed.
Every one.” I hold his gaze. “You want to be the sergeant who cooperated, or the one who didn’t? ”
“Captain Vern is gonna hear about this,” he snaps.
I give Thurgood another sweet smile. “Vern has my number. He can call me any time.”
The sergeant shoves his hat back on his head, and Nate and I watch him disappear back into the crowd.
“You can’t punch him,” Nate says. “Not effectively, anyway.”
“I know.” I huff out each word. “Wait. Effectively?”
“Your leg?” He shakes his head. “Parker, you know most of the power in a punch comes from the lower body.”
I laugh. “It’d also be bad professionally.”
“I dunno,” Nate offers. “Decking Chief Harris didn’t seem to derail your career.”
“True. Maybe I just want to give you the same opportunity I had.”
Nate considers this with the gravity it deserves. “I’ll pass. My face is too pretty to risk the paperwork.”
By three thirty, I feel like burnt toast. We’ve talked to every single person still outside in the heat, and all we have to show for it is a mysterious light and three separate reports of a dark-haired man inside the building over the past week.
But for all we know, he could be a leasing agent, the owner, or a janitor.
Until I spot a woman standing at the far end of the tape. Mid-forties, a power suit in a deep magenta, and mascara trails down her cheeks.
I touch Nate’s arm and nod toward the corner. “Buy me some time?”
He follows my gaze. “Go. I’ll even risk paperwork if I have to.”
She sniffles loudly when I approach. Her eyes are swollen and red, tears long gone, leaving only hints of her makeup in the wreckage.
“I’m Captain Parker Elmore,” I say softly. “Texas Ranger Division. Are you okay?”
She shakes her head. Just barely.
“Can I get your name?”
“Beth. Beth Navarro.” She draws in a breath, stops, swipes at her cheeks.
“I’m a realtor. Delia and June—the women who—” Beth presses her fist to her mouth for a second.
“I gave them the key last night. I wasn’t supposed to.
The lease doesn’t officially start until Friday.
But they were so excited...” Her gaze hasn’t left the burned-out shell of the building.
“It’s my fault. They shouldn’t have been there… ”
“Delia and June? Do you know their last names, Ms. Navarro?" I prod, my pen resting against my notebook.
“Castillo.” She whispers the word, as if saying it out loud makes the loss real. “They’re cousins. They were opening a paper goods store.”
“Paper goods?”
Beth nods, her eyes squeezing shut for a moment.
“Stationery, cards, fancy notebooks, fountain pens… June’s calligraphy was so beautiful.
She could paint too. Delia handled the business side of things.
” A hint of a smile curves her lips. “They said they were going to be the prettiest store in the whole building.”
She pulls out her phone and shows me a photo. A pastel pink tape measure laid out on a kitchen table. Beside it, a small notebook with Papier Luxe carefully inked on the cover.
“June texted me this last night,” Beth says. “She was so excited. They’d been saving for three years.” Her voice breaks. “They’d already ordered their sign.”
I wish I could tell her it’s going to be okay. I can’t. But I take down every detail, even though I know I’ll never forget a word of this.
“Ms. Navarro.” I wait until she focuses on me. “You gave two excited women a key to their own store two days early.” I hold her gaze. “You were being kind. What happened to them isn’t your fault.”
She shakes her head. She doesn’t believe me. She might not ever believe me. But she needs to hear it. I need her to hear it.
“Ms. Navarro—Beth,” I say, gently touching her arm until she turns away from the building.
“Coming down here today, talking to me…that’s the best thing you could have done for Delia and June.
Now you need to take care of yourself. Is there someone you can call to take you home? You shouldn’t be driving right now.”
“My husband.” She’s already unlocking her phone, hands shaking. “He’ll come.”
Nate beelines for me. “Thurgood is about to blow his top.”
“Let him.” I look at Beth Navarro, phone pressed to her ear, crying again. “We’re done here anyway.”