Trouble With A Badge. Delores Fossen
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door and pinned her there with his body.
Which wasn’t cold.
Something she shouldn’t have noticed.
“Start talking,” Levi demanded.
Alexa shook her head. “There isn’t time. You need to get the baby to a safe place now.”
But he didn’t budge. And even in the dim light she could still see the glare he aimed at her. “You had a baby?”
There was plenty of skepticism in his voice. Probably because he didn’t consider her the motherly type. It was reasonable. She’d never considered herself that way, either. Not with her stellar gene pool and mess of a life.
“She’s Tasha’s baby. She gave birth to her three days ago. In secret. She’s been hiding from a stalker.”
“Tasha,” he repeated. “The dead woman at the gas station.”
Levi cursed again and let go of her so he could take out his phone. No doubt to call someone she didn’t want him to call. “Don’t you dare take off again.”
Alexa didn’t attempt it, mainly because Levi still had her pinned to the car. He wasn’t overly muscled. More on the lanky side. But it was clear he was in good shape, probably because of the backbreaking work on his family’s ranch.
“Please don’t call anyone and tell them I’m here,” she begged. “I think the man who killed Tasha has a police radio. And even if he’s dead, his partner could still be monitoring the calls. I don’t want anyone to know that the baby’s Tasha’s. I want everyone to believe she’s yours. Ours,” she added.
“Ours?” he challenged.
She nodded. “I know we were never even close to being lovers, but no one other than us knows that. Whoever killed Tasha might not go after the baby if they believe she’s your daughter. Please. Just do this to protect her.”
In addition to the renewed scowl Levi gave her, she could also see the debate going on in his stormy brown eyes. He stared at her from beneath the brim of his black Stetson.
“Get in the car,” Levi ordered through clenched teeth. “I’ll drive the baby and you to the sheriff’s office, and I’ll call my brother on his personal phone so it won’t be on the police radio. Then you can tell me everything, and I mean everything.”
Not everything.
She couldn’t do that. But maybe she could tell him enough to convince him that the newborn on the backseat needed him and his lie. After that, Alexa had to get the heck out of town or else she would put the baby in danger again. It was only a matter of time before Marcos Culver or those thugs found her.
Levi opened the driver’s side door and practically stuffed Alexa in, moving her to the passenger’s seat. Alexa immediately checked on the baby, who thankfully had gone back to sleep. Maybe she would stay that way until Levi had her in a safe place.
Which likely wouldn’t be the sheriff’s office, not for long anyway.
Though that was the call Levi made as he pulled out of the parking lot of the Outlaw Bar. Alexa prayed this wouldn’t turn out to be a fatal mistake. She kept watch around them, looking for anyone suspicious and wishing that she had a gun. Too bad she hadn’t been able to get the one from the man who’d attacked them.
“Jericho,” Levi said when his brother answered. “I need you to send one of the night deputies out to the gas station on Shaw Road. There might have been some kind of attack.”
Even though Levi didn’t put the call on speaker, Alexa had no trouble hearing Jericho’s answer. “What kind of attack?”
“Just check it out. My source isn’t reliable.”
That was a generous way of putting it. And his doubt was deserved. After all, she’d lied to Levi and the Crocketts before.
It hadn’t turned out well.
However, she wasn’t lying about the attack. It’d happened, all right, and Alexa figured it would take a couple of lifetimes to get the images of the attack out of her head.
“I also need you to find out if there’s been a breach at WITSEC,” Levi added a moment later.
Jericho paused, no doubt wondering what the heck this was all about. “Give me a minute and I’ll see what I can find out. I’ll call you right back.”
She held her breath, hoping that Levi wouldn’t mention her name. He didn’t, thank goodness. But he continued the drive to the sheriff’s office. Soon Jericho would see her. And he wouldn’t be any more pleased about this situation than Levi was.
“You can’t tell the marshals I’m here in Appaloosa Pass,” she said to Levi when he put away his phone.
“Give me one good reason why.”
“Marshal Elroy Lockwood,” she provided right away.
Levi knew him, of course. And knew him well. Because Lockwood worked with Levi’s other brother, Chase, who was also a marshal. Lockwood had also helped investigate certain aspects of the Moonlight Strangler case. Of course, every law enforcement agency in the state had gotten involved in that investigation in some way or another since the killer had been operating for more than two decades.
“What does Marshal Lockwood have to do with this?” Levi asked.
“Maybe everything. I think he’s dirty and trying to hide his involvement in some criminal activity. He could have been responsible for my WITSEC identity being compromised.”
And more.
Lockwood could have been responsible for Tasha’s murder and those two goons at the gas station.
Levi shook his head, mumbled some profanity. “You have concrete proof that Lockwood’s dirty?”
“No, just some talk from CIs, but I can’t risk you trusting him. Not until you have Violet in a safe place.” Alexa tipped her head to the baby. “If you tell everyone she’s Tasha’s, at best she’ll be turned over to Child Protective Services since Tasha doesn’t have a next of kin. At worst...” She had to take a deep breath. “At worst, the killer might come after the baby, too.”
Before Levi could give her any assurance that wouldn’t happen, his phone buzzed, and he answered it while he continued to drive. Continued to keep watch, too. Good. Alexa didn’t want that hired thug coming back for another attack.
“It’s Jericho,” Levi relayed to her right before he answered the call, but like before he didn’t put the call on speaker. So Alexa moved closer, hoping to hear what the hard-nosed sheriff had to say.
“I’ve got someone on the way to the gas station to check it out,” Jericho explained. “And there’s nothing about any problems at WITSEC. Should I specifically ask about April, though?”
April Landis, a woman in WITSEC who had an even more personal connection to the Crocketts than Alexa. Because April was pregnant with Chase Crockett’s child. It didn’t surprise her that Jericho would want to make sure April was okay. Even though Alexa didn’t actually know April, she also wanted to make sure April was safe. Both April and she had found themselves in the dangerous situation of having to testify against men who were linked through criminal activities. Alexa could get one man convicted. April, the other. But both April and she had to stay alive first.
“Ask but don’t make any waves just yet,” Levi answered. “I don’t want April alarmed unless I’m certain there’s something to be alarmed about. As I said, I’m not sure I can trust my source.”
Jericho paused. “This doesn’t have anything to do with...anyone else we know, does it?”
Even though Jericho hadn’t specifically mentioned her by name, Alexa knew he was referring to her. The venom in his tone said it all. The sheriff hated her as much as Levi did. She could also include his entire family in that