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NATALIE SAT IN the waiting area of the Unsolved Crimes office. She wanted to fume and rage and pace, but she didn’t have time to indulge in pointless anger. Not when she had information to find.
Who was The Stallion? Could this all possibly be related to her sister? She’d waited three years for this. Three years of dealing with sneering Texas Rangers hating that their higher-ups involved her in their investigations. Three years of hoping against hope that the next case she’d be brought in on would be Gabby’s.
Just because the witness had talked about missing girls didn’t mean it was her sister’s case. As a hypnotist, she was never given any case details, legally bound to secrecy regarding anything she did hear simply by being in the room.
She’d lost her cool. She knew she wasn’t supposed to jump in like that, but the interrogators had been asking the wrong questions. They’d been taking too much time. She needed to know. She needed...
She needed not to cry. So, she took a deep breath in, and slowly let it out. She focused on the little window with the blinds closed. Inside, three officers were talking. Probably about her. One definitely complaining about her.
She was angry with herself for breaking rules she knew Texas Rangers weren’t going to bend, but she’d rather channel that anger onto Ranger Jerk.
Immature, yes, but the immature nicknames she gave each ranger who gave her a hard time entertained her when she wanted to tell them off.
The problem with Ranger Jerk was she could nearly forget what a jerk he was when he looked like...that. He was so tall and broad shouldered, and when he was always crossing his arms over his chest in a threatening manner, it was obvious he had muscles underneath the crisp white dress shirt he wore.
Like, the kind of muscles that could probably bench-press her. Not that she’d imagined that in those first few minutes of meeting him. Those were flights of fancy she did not allow herself. Not on the job.
Then there was his face, which wasn’t at all fair. She’d nearly been tongue-tied when he’d greeted her. His darkish blond hair was buzzed short, and his blue eyes were downright mesmerizing. Some light shade that was nearly gray, and she’d spent seconds trying to decide what to call that color.
Until he’d insulted her without a qualm. Because his good looks were only one problem with him. Only the tip of the iceberg of problems.
The door opened, and she forced herself to look calm and placid. She was a calm, still lake. No breeze rippled her waters. She reflected nothing but a peaceful and reflective surface.
But maybe a sea monster lurked deep and would leap out of the water and eat all of them in one giant gulp.
Yeah, her imagination had always gotten her into trouble.
“Ms. Torres. Come inside, please.”
She held no ill will against Captain Dean. He was one of the few rangers who respected and believed in what she did. He was, more often than not, the one who called her in to help with a case.
But she had crossed a line she knew she wasn’t supposed to cross, and she was going to have to deal with the consequences—which would gall. For one, because it meant Ranger Jerk got what he wanted. But more important, because she might have finally had some insight into her sister’s case, and been too impetuous to make the most of it.
“Have a seat.”
She slid into the chair opposite Captain Dean’s desk. The two rangers she’d been in the interrogation room with stood on either side.
They were impressive, the three of them. Strong, in control, looking perfectly pressed in what constituted as the Texas Ranger uniform: khakis, a dress shirt and a tie, Ranger badge and belt buckle, topped off with cowboy boots. The only thing the men weren’t wearing inside the office were the white cowboy hats.
She wanted to sneer at Ranger Cooper’s smug blue eyes, but she didn’t. She smiled sweetly instead.
“You breached our contract, Ms. Torres. You know that.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Your job is not to question witnesses. It’s only to put them under hypnosis, should they agree, to calm them and allow us to ask questions.”
“I know, sir. I’m sorry for...stepping out of line.” She offered both the men who’d been in the room with her the best apologetic smile she could muster. “I got a little carried away. I can promise you, it won’t happen again.”
“I’m afraid we can’t risk second chances at this juncture. Not in this department, not in the Texas Rangers. I’m sorry, Natalie. You’ve been an asset. But this was unconscionable, and you will not be asked back.”
She sat frozen, completely ice from the inside out. Not be asked back. But she’d helped solve cases. For years. She’d received a commendation even! And he was...
“Cooper, see her out?”
Ranger Jerk nodded toward the door. “After you.”
She swallowed over the lump in her throat. All her chances. All the times she’d been so close to seeing something of Gabby’s case. All the possibility, and she’d ruined it.
No, he’d ruined it for her. He had. She stood on shaky legs, clutching her phone and her purse.
“I am sorry.”
She didn’t look back at Captain Dean, or Ranger Stevens. She didn’t want to see the pitying, apologetic looks on their faces. Just like all those other policemen who’d come up with nothing—nothing when it came to Gabby’s disappearance.
Apologies didn’t mean a thing when her sister was gone. Eight years. And Natalie was the only one who held out any hope, and now her hope was...
Well, it had just gotten kicked in the teeth.
She managed to walk stiffly to the door and stepped out, the Jerk of the Manor still behind her. Too close behind her and crowding her out and away.
“I’ll see you all the way out of the building, Ms. Torres,” he said, sounding so smug and superior.
She walked down the hall, still a little shaken. But shaken had no hold on her anger. She glared at the man striding next to her. “You got me fired, you lousy son of a—”
“I’d reconsider your line of thought and blame, Ms. Torres.” He continued to look ahead, not an ounce of emotion showing on his face. “You got yourself fired. Now, stay out of this case. If I catch a whiff of you being involved in it anywhere, I will not hesitate to find out every last thing about you and connect you to whatever dirty deeds you’re hiding.”
“I am not hiding any dirty deeds.” Which was the God’s honest truth. She hadn’t stepped out of line in eight years. Or ever, really, but especially since Gabby had disappeared.
His eyes met hers, a cold, cold stormy blue. “We’ll see.”
She shivered involuntarily, because that look made her feel like she had done something wrong, which was so absurd.
Even more absurd was the idea of her staying out of the case. She’d take what little information she’d gathered and follow it to the ends of the earth.
Because she refused to believe her sister was dead. A body had never been found, and that Herman man had said...he’d said he keeps the girls. Not kept. Not got rid of. Keeps.
Maybe Gabby wasn’t one of those girls, but it was possible. More than that, she thought. The Texas Rangers might be a mostly good bunch, but they had rules and regulations to follow. Natalie Torres did not.
God help the man who tried to stop her.
Chapter Two (#u526b0c52-07e7-563d-8fe9-2724b1ed2c7a)
The phone ringing and vibrating on his nightstand jerked Vaughn out of a deep sleep. He cursed and answered it blearily. Phone calls in the middle of the night were never good, but they always had to be answered.
Much to his ex-wife’s constant complaints throughout the duration of their marriage.
“Cooper,” he grumbled into the speaker.
“You’re going to need to get out here.”
He recognized his captain’s voice immediately. “Text the address.”
“Yup.”
Vaughn rubbed his hands over his face, then went straight to his closet where a row of work clothes hung, always a few pressed and ready to go. He never liked to be caught without clean and ironed clothes on the ready, even in the middle of the night. He looked at the clock as he dressed. Three fifteen.
He strode through his house, gave the coffeemaker a wistful glance. Even though he always kept it ready to go, he didn’t have time to sit around waiting for it to brew. Not at three fifteen.
With a stretch and a groan, he strapped on his gun and tried not to wonder if he was getting too old for this. Thirty-four was hardly too old. He had a lot of years to go before he could take a pension, but more...
He had a lot of cases to solve before his conscience would let him leave. So, he needed to get at it.
He got in his car, and when his phone chimed, he clicked the address Captain Dean had texted and started the GPS directions. It took about fifteen minutes to arrive at his destination, a small neighborhood a little outside the city that he knew was mainly rental houses. Single-storied brick buildings, a few split-levels. Modest homes at best, flat out run-down at worst.
Fire trucks and police vehicles were parked around a burned-out and drowned shell of a house. Though it still smoked, the house had obviously been ravaged by the fire hours earlier.
Vaughn stopped at the barricade, flashed his badge to the officer guarding the perimeter and then went in search of Captain Dean. When he found him, he was with Bennet. Vaughn’s uneasy dread grew.
“What’ve we got?”
“This is the hypnotist’s house,” Bennet said gravely.
The dread in Vaughn’s gut hardened to a rock. The house was completely destroyed, which meant—
“She’s fine. She wasn’t home, which is lucky for her, because someone was. Herman.”
“Dead?”
Captain Dean nodded. “He didn’t start and botch the fire, either, at least from what information I’ve been able to gather. We’ll have to wait to go over everything with the fire investigator once she’s done, but I think it got back to somebody Herman squealed. Body was dumped.”
“The hypnotist? Where was she?”
“With her mom,” Bennet offered, “who works at a gas station down on Clark. We’ve got guys going over surveillance, but so far she’s on the tape almost the entire night. She came home just after some neighbors called 9-1-1. She’s innocent.”
Innocent? Maybe of this, but Natalie Torres was hardly innocent. The day was full of far too much weirdness for her to be innocent. “You sure about that?”
“Cooper,” the captain intoned, censure in that one word. “Do you know the kinds of background checks we did on her when she got a contract with us? I know you don’t agree with it, but using a hypnotist to aid in witness questioning isn’t some random or careless decision. We have to jump through a lot of hoops to make it legal. She’s clean. Now she’s in danger.”
Vaughn wasn’t certain he believed the first, but he knew the latter was fact.
“Ideas, gentlemen?”
“Well, she’ll need protection.” Bennet rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I’d say that’s on us, and it’ll make certain nothing dirty’s going down.”
“This is escalating.” Captain Dean shook his head gravely. “If it goes much further, it becomes less our business and more current crime’s business. We should be working with Homicide now. Cooper? What are you thinking?”
Vaughn didn’t answer right away. He caught a glimpse of Ms. Torres standing next to a fireman. She had a blanket wrapped around her, and she was looking at her burned-to-ash house with tears streaming down her cheeks.
He looked away. “We’ve got to get her out of here.” He didn’t particularly like the idea that came to him, but he didn’t have to like it. Bottom line, everyone else trusted this woman way too much, so if she was going to come under their protection, it needed to be his protection, so he could keep an eye on her.
It couldn’t be anywhere near here. “My suggestion? Stevens works with Homicide, then maybe you put Griffen on it too. I take the woman up to the cabin in Guadalupe. I go over things there, keep her safe and make sure she’s got nothing to do with it.”
“That’s gonna necessitate a lot of paperwork,” Captain Dean grumbled.
“She can’t stay in Austin. We’ve got to get her out of here. We all know it.”
The captain sighed. “I’ll call the necessary people. I can’t argue with this being the best option. But, you know who is going to argue?” He pointed at Ms. Torres.
Vaughn looked at her again. She wasn’t crying anymore. No, that angry expression that she’d leveled at him earlier today had taken over her face. He didn’t have to be close to remember what it looked like.
Big dark eyes as shiny as the dark curls she’d pulled back from her face. The snarly curve to those sensuous lips and—
No, there was no and. Not when it came to this woman.
“She’ll agree,” Vaughn reassured the captain. He’d make sure of it.
* * *
WHEN RANGER JERK stepped next to her, Natalie didn’t bother to hide her utter disgust. “Well, thanks for getting to my house after it burned down. Add that to me losing my favorite job—also your fault. Would you like to, oh, I don’t know...” She wanted to say something scathing about what else he could do to ruin her life, but...
Everything she had was gone. Her house, every belonging, every memento. Worst of all, years’ worth of research and information she’d gathered on Gabby’s case. All gone. Everything she owned and loved gone except for her car and what she’d had in it.
She tried to breathe through a sob, but she choked on it. The tears and the emotion and the enormity of it all caught in her throat, and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from crying out.
She’d been here for hours, and she couldn’t wrap her head around it. She hadn’t even been able to text her mom the full details because she just...
How had this happened? Why had this happened?
She sensed him move, and she hoped against hope he was walking away. That he wouldn’t say a word and make this whole nightmare worse. All of this was terrible, and she didn’t want Ranger Jerk rubbing it in or—worse—feeling sorry for her.
But he didn’t disappear. She didn’t hear retreating footsteps as tears clouded her vision. No, he moved closer. She hadn’t thought much about this guy having any sort of conscience or empathy in him, but he put a big hand on her back, warm and steady.
She swallowed, wiping at the tears. It wasn’t an overly familiar touch. Just his palm and fingers lightly flush with her upper back, but it was strong. It had a remarkable effect. A strange thread of calm wound through her pain.
“This is shocking and painful,” he said in a low, reassuring voice. “There’s no point in trying to be hard. No one should have to go through this.”
She sniffled, blinking the last of the tears out of her eyes. Oh, there’d be more to come, but for now she could swallow them down, blink them back. She stared at him, trying to work through the fact he’d spoken so nicely to her. He touched her. “Are you comforting me?”
He grimaced. “Is that considered comfort? That’s terrible comfort.”
She laughed through another sob. “Oh, God, and now you’re being funny.” Obviously she was a little delirious, because she was starting to wonder if Ranger Jerk wasn’t so terrible after all.
Then she looked back at her house. Gone. All of it gone. There were rangers and police and firemen and all number of official-looking people striding about, talking in low voices. Around her house. Gone. All of it gone.
Ranger Jerk could be reassuring, he could even be funny, but he couldn’t deny what was in front of them. “This was on purpose,” she said, her voice sounding flat and hopeless even in her own ears.
