Trouble With A Badge. Delores Fossen
that why Dexter Conway’s out at the old gas station on Shaw Road?” Mack wanted to know.
Levi nodded. Dexter was another night deputy. “Any word back on that?”
“Nothing, but Dexter probably hasn’t had much time to look around yet.”
True. That gas station was a good thirty minutes from the sheriff’s office and on the opposite side of town from the Outlaw Bar. Still, Dexter should have been able to spot a pair of dead bodies right off.
Mack took out his phone, but it was an uneasy look he gave Levi. A look with questions attached to it when his gaze slid from Alexa to the baby and then back to Levi.
“That’s, uh, not your baby is it?” Mack asked.
“Yes,” Alexa volunteered quickly. “She’s Levi’s.”
Levi mumbled some profanity and was about to correct that lie, but he made the mistake of looking at Alexa again. She didn’t say a word, but her eyes begged him to cooperate.
Damn.
He would. For now. But he’d soon put a stop to all of this, lie included.
Levi just nodded in response to Mack’s question.
“Oh,” Mack said. “I hadn’t realized there’d even been anything between you two.”
There hadn’t been. And wouldn’t be. No way would he get involved with a woman who had a part in nearly destroying his family.
“I need you to wait with her,” Levi told Mack so he wouldn’t have to explain anything about this relationship Alexa had just manufactured. “I’ll head out and see if I can help Jericho.”
Mack nodded and made the call to the hospital while Levi got Alexa moving away from the front windows and doors. He took her to his desk in the far corner of the room and had her sit. She didn’t stay still, though. She began to rock the baby, and it didn’t take but a few seconds before the newborn stopped crying and went back to sleep.
“Just wait here with Mack,” Levi instructed. But the words had hardly left his mouth when his phone buzzed and he saw Jericho’s name on the screen.
Oh, man. He hoped something hadn’t already gone wrong with the chase.
“Are you all right?” Levi asked his brother the moment he answered.
“I’m fine. The driver of the SUV, not so much, though. He’s dead.”
It was hard not to feel some relief about that. Some. But this meant no answers as to why he’d attacked them.
“What happened?” Levi put the call on speaker so he wouldn’t have to repeat the news to Alexa. Maybe there wouldn’t be too many gory details. Of course, after everything that’d gone on tonight, she was probably expecting some gore.
“The SUV crashed into a utility pole,” Jericho explained. “When I approached the vehicle, the driver was already dead. Gunshot wound to the chest. I’m assuming you put the bullet in him?”
“Probably.” Levi doubted someone else was out there ready to kill the guy. “Was he alone in the SUV?”
“Yeah, but there’s an infant seat and a diaper bag.”
“I’ll explain that when you get here.” And it wouldn’t be a lie. Not this time. Despite Alexa’s objections, Levi would tell his brother the truth. He’d have to because unlike Mack, there was no way in hell Jericho would believe Levi had ever slept with Alexa.
“I’ll be there as soon as the CSIs and ME arrive to deal with the body,” Jericho assured him.
Alexa actually looked a little relieved. Maybe because their attacker was dead. Maybe because Levi wasn’t going to have to leave her to offer Jericho backup. It also meant it’d be a while before Jericho got back to the office, and seeing him was likely something Alexa dreaded.
Behind him he heard Mack finish his call to the hospital, but before he could give Levi an update, the phone rang and Mack went over to the reception desk to answer it.
“It hasn’t been that long since she had a bottle, but she’ll need one in an hour or so,” Alexa volunteered, brushing a kiss on the baby’s head. “Tasha fed her right before...”
The tears came, and even though Alexa immediately tried to blink them back, she failed. Cursing, Levi rummaged through his desk to find some tissues, and he handed her one.
“Why’d you stop at the gas station where the attack happened?” Levi asked, hoping this would be the start to figuring all this out.
“Because we were running out of gas. I didn’t know the place was closed. I also thought I’d managed to ditch the guys following us, but I soon figured out that I hadn’t when the car pulled up behind us. The guy had been driving with his lights off, so I guess that’s why I didn’t see him until it was too late.”
Since they had the killer’s car parked right outside, Levi would make sure every inch of it was processed. Once they had the identities of the gunmen, then he could work on figuring out why this dirtbag had come after them and put an innocent baby in danger.
Levi eased down in a chair and motioned for her to continue explaining what happened.
“When we were at the gas station, one of the men got out of the car. He was the one who demanded we go with him, that it wouldn’t do us any good to go to the local cops. He was armed and came straight for us. We didn’t have a weapon, so I told Tasha to take the baby and run.”
“And you thought you’d fight this guy off with your bare hands?” Levi knew he sounded skeptical.
She met his gaze. “I figured I’d give Tasha and the baby a chance to get out of there.” But Alexa quickly turned her focus back to the little girl. “Obviously, I was wrong. The guy shot Tasha in the back of the head. She didn’t fall but more or less crumpled to the ground with the baby still in her arms.”
It was hard to hear and it was obviously hard for her to say it. “And that’s when you bashed the guy with a flashlight?” he pressed when she didn’t continue.
Alexa nodded. “I hit him as hard as I could and thought I heard his skull crack. He went out like a light. But then the other guy came out of the car, and I knew I had to get out of there. I grabbed the baby, started running and then sneaked back and got in their car when the guy was trying to pick up his partner from the ground.”
She was lucky that the second gunman hadn’t just shot her in the head, too. Then, heaven knew what would have happened to the baby.
“Why were you coming to Appaloosa Pass?” he asked.
“Like I said, I thought they’d believe it was the last place I’d go. Obviously I was wrong since Lockwood’s already called here looking for me.”
Yeah, Lockwood. Levi would soon have to figure out how to deal with him. There was no way he could exclude the marshals from this unless he got some solid proof that the lawman was dirty.
“The medic’s on the way,” Mack relayed when he got off the phone. “He’ll bring baby supplies with him. The other call I got was from Dexter. He’s out at the gas station now, but he doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Definitely no bodies or anything like that.”
Alexa frantically shook her head and stood, clutching the baby to her. “Tasha was murdered there.”
Mack made a sound of disagreement. “Then somebody must have cleaned up the scene real fast because according to Dexter, there’s no blood and no signs of any kind of struggle.”
“Tasha was murdered there,” Alexa repeated, turning to Levi.
“You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. I watched her collapse. She was dead.”
Maybe. Of course,