Bulletproof Badge

Witness or perpetrator? He had a lightbulb moment of his own. He hadn’t seen the actual shooting. He couldn’t swear who pulled that trigger. The makeup artist could have unlocked the balcony doors and let the monkey-suit guy inside.

Maybe he was protecting an accomplice?

Not a chance. There was no blood spatter on her clothes. She couldn’t have been near the fatal shots. He’d find out all the details when they got to his house. Just a couple of minutes and they’d be safe.

The small jewelry box would have to wait until he was at his place. He needed to ask her about everything, but was certain Captain Oaks would want to be there for the questioning.

Turning down Forty-first, he replayed the scene in his head, searching through his memory for what the murderer looked like. Approximately the same height as him, so the guy had to be six-one, maybe more. Brown eyes, huge nose that protruded under the hood. He didn’t have much to go on, but the man’s shoes weren’t from a rental company like the tux.

Garrison had rented enough times to know how unforgiving a new pair of rental dress shoes were. Or how the older ones looked scuffed no matter how hard you shined. This guy was wearing his own.

He pulled to a stop in his driveway. Then he mentally brought up the image of the man in black. He’d turned to him—surprised someone had entered Mrs. Tenoreno’s bedroom—guilty.

Blood. Bright dark spots that couldn’t be mistaken for anything else shone all over the black tux. He was confident he’d interrupted the gunman before he pulled the trigger on a third victim. Kenderly was a state’s witness.

Kenderly was off the back of the bike before he’d cut the engine. He popped the kickstand, tugging her to him. He might be confident she wasn’t the murderer, but he wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t run down the street hollering for help.

“Mind if I take the jacket back?”

Delicately, treating the ripped tux like an expensive designer jacket, she folded it in half and handed it to him. He tossed open the saddlebag and removed the gun, wrapping it protectively in the jacket’s folds, then setting it on the bike seat along with the case. The evidence couldn’t be out of his line of sight, and this was the best he could do. He unlocked the detached garage and lifted the heavy door, then rolled his bike inside and reversed the procedure.

“I think I have a couple of sodas inside and maybe a frozen pizza.”

“I can’t possibly eat.” Her hand covered her lips.

“How about some soup, then? I got a cabinet of the stuff.”

“Really, I’m fine.” She shook her head and preceded him up the steps. “What I really need is a toothbrush.”

“Got you covered. My aunt has extras from visits with her dentist. She’s visiting my mom.” If he could remember where she’d put them.

“Oh.” She tugged at her hair, trying to smooth tangle upon wind-massacred tangle.

His Aunt Brenda’s house was on the small side. What most people might call cozy. Just right for one bachelor ranger who wasn’t home half the time. That is, if he really lived in Austin. He was on temporary assignment and shared a place in Waco. He opened the door and prepared for the assault.

“Hey, I forgot to ask. Do you like dogs?”

Both his monsters slid across the old linoleum, tongues out, ready to jump on their visitor, expecting a treat. Before he could yell at them to get down, Garrison set the coat-wrapped gun on the counter. He knelt at the pups’ level, taking one dog under either arm.

“I adore dogs. Are they Labs? What are their names? They’re so sweet.” Kenderly brightened and dropped to her knees with him.

“Diabolical is more like it. Don’t turn your back on them for a minute. This big black boy is Bear. The chocolate pup is his half sister, Clementine.” He reached up and pulled treats from a jar, handing them to his guest. “They’ll do tricks for these.”

She sat at the kitchen table, patiently petting the panting Labradors. “Clementine isn’t exactly what I’d call a puppy.”

“Sit, Clem. Bear, you know better than that.” He used hand signals to get them to sit, wanting to show them off. “She’s barely a year old. Already seventy pounds of love. I didn’t know how long I’d be here, and these two sort of go berserk if I don’t check in every day. Excuse me while I make a phone call.”

He dialed, then retrieved a new Ziploc from the cabinet while he waited for the captain to answer. “Travis? I guess the party blew to hell?”

“Yes, sir. So you’ve heard. The beautician, Kenderly Tyler, witnessed the whole thing. I stopped the murderer from blowing—” He darted a look at the woman he’d rescued to see if she’d heard his slip. “I stopped him from having a third victim. We came straight here. I didn’t think you’d want anyone to know we have her in custody.”

Kenderly got the dogs another treat and repeated his hand commands to them.

“You think she’s reliable?”

“As far as I can tell. I also have the murder weapon.” He placed the gun inside the bag. “It should take you about forty minutes to get here, sir. See you then.” He dropped his phone on the counter, and Clementine nudged the back of his knee. “Oh no, you don’t. Christy fed you an hour ago.”

“Where’s the bath, and do you have a first-aid kit?”

“You okay?” During the call, she’d taken a paper towel from the roll he left on the table and started dabbing at her legs. “Obviously not. Those from the trees we brushed through?”

“Yes. My legs started stinging on the golfing green.”

“Let me get something.”

The house really was super small. Keeping the medicine cabinet mirror open, he could still see the kitchen table. Bear was spread-eagle on the floor waiting for some more attention. Kenderly was staring at the gun and not moving. He dug through the antibiotic creams, looking for something without an expired date. No luck.

“I found some cotton, alcohol and peroxide. Best I can do.” He knelt and took a look at the long scratch at the top of her thigh.

“It’ll be fine.” Kenderly’s soft voice matched her dainty frame and manner.

“Need a belt to bite down on?”

She looked a bit confused. Instead of explaining, he poured the bottles over the scratches. Her tanned thigh used to be completely smooth, not even a freckle.

The deep scratches would cause the peroxide to sting—a lot. Garrison fanned at her leg, and she shut her eyes. He leaned in close and blew across the peroxide bubbles, hoping to ease the pain.

“How could I have gotten into this mess?” She fanned her cheeks in a motion his sister used years ago when trying not to cry. “When I woke up this morning, I never imagined I’d have two dogs at my feet, be sitting in a funny little kitchen with peroxide dripping down my thigh and have a complete stranger blowing up my skirt.”

“I don’t really know what to say after that.” He choked to keep from busting out laughing. Two Band-Aids across the deepest scratch and they were done.

She covered her face, looking embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to complain about a scratch when Isabella... She’s... Oh, gosh, I can’t stay here.”

Garrison lifted her to her feet, against his chest and into his arms. “Go ahead and cry. I won’t stop you. You’re safe here.” He couldn’t just tell her she would be okay. He had to make her feel as though she was safe, and he didn’t know another way.

She shoved at his shoulders, and he let her go. “What am I doing here? If they’re following us, how can we possibly be safe?”

“You witnessed a murder, and we need to get your statement. The captain will be here soon, and we’ll have some decisions. Until then, let’s wait in the other room.”

He led the way to the living area, just big enough for a small couch, arm chair and a television that covered most of the end wall. He loved that television and would be hauling it back to Waco after this assignment.

“Why did he shoot them?” Kenderly sat and dropped her head in her hands. “He was going to kill me, too. Wasn’t he?”

“I think so.”

“Why did he kill them?”

“That’s what I’m hoping you can help us with, Kenderly.”

“Why were you there?” She looked up quickly, accusing him of something without a word.

He flattened his lips shut and shook his head. He couldn’t tell her that he was undercover tonight after an anonymous tip let them know there’d be trouble. He should have gotten the women extracted earlier instead of waiting for the cover of darkness. They’d been hoping to turn one of the families against the other. Instead, both had been hit.

“Let’s start with how you knew Isabella Tenoreno.”

“She came once a week into the shop where I have a chair. Wednesday she said she was having a party today and asked if I could come. I do hair and makeup for private events. This was a little different since she invited me to attend. I ended up doing her friend Trinity’s hair, too.”

Trinity Rosco, the wife of the rival crime family. Garrison noticed how stiff Kenderly had become. She was a terrible liar. So there was more to her story than she was letting on. “What happened after that?”

“I was gathering my things and cleaning my brushes in the bathroom. I heard something break, and Trinity screamed. At least I think it was her. The man, he already had the gun out and told them both to get to their knees.”

“What language?”

“English.”

“Why didn’t he see you?”

“I saw the gun first thing, so I didn’t open the door all the way. I should have. I should have done something. Maybe they’d still be alive.” She covered her face with her hands again, crying this time.

“Don’t doubt for a minute that you’d be dead now.”

“I... I thought it might be a...a joke. You know? The gun didn’t look real at first. But then he...he shot them. He just...shot them.”

She jumped up and stood at the window. He let her. What could he say? Two women had been brutally murdered. There was nothing that would take the image away from her. He was just lucky she wasn’t falling apart. She could be a hysterical mess.

“Then he found you?” he prompted.

“There were noises coming from the sitting room. I thought about calling out, but I didn’t. I must have moved backward, hit something or made a noise. He found me and was pulling me over their bodies when you came into the bedroom.”

“So you’re a hairstylist?”

She nodded, rubbing under her eyes, smearing the mascara that had run from her tears. Personally, he didn’t care for a lot of makeup on a woman, but he did appreciate her long multicolored hair and bare legs.

“I know my aunt used to talk to her hairdresser all the time,” he prodded. “Did Isabella happen to mention what this special occasion was about?”

“Isabella was never at my work alone. Her bodyguard was never more than five feet away and could always hear what we were saying. This time she locked them out of the bedroom, while she changed her clothes.”

“She didn’t mention...anything?”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re getting at. Isabella had lots of money. Why wouldn’t her husband’s enemies just kidnap her?”

“That’s one of the things I’m trying to find out, Kenderly.”

Was there something too innocent in her wide eyes? Something she was holding back? Or was he too paranoid, after losing not one, but two women to an assassin? Naw, she was holding something back. She’d said “husband’s enemies,” and that meant she knew. She just didn’t trust him yet.

“Is that horrible man going to try and kill me again?”

If we’re lucky he’ll be after us both. It was easy to think that. As a Texas Ranger he wanted the guy to find him.

It would be harder to involve an innocent woman. He’d held Kenderly’s hair away from her face as she lost her cookies in the driveway. He couldn’t afford to have a personal attachment.

Yeah, the sensitive guy inside him winced at the thought of using her as bait. The investigative ranger didn’t have a choice. If his captain ordered it, he’d have to act.

Chapter Three

One of the most gorgeous male specimens Kenderly had ever encountered had choked while laughing at her. She wished she knew what he and his captain were talking about outside. The captain seemed to have brought news Garrison didn’t really want to hear.

She’d been introduced while the murder weapon was locked away in the captain’s trunk. Now she was eating toast at the kitchen window and watching the men talk.

Captain Oaks was calm, watching her from where he stood in the backyard. His hands were behind his back, as stoic and sturdy as his name. But her rescuer waved his hands, disagreeing or in disbelief. She could make out the words no and no way. Just a few minutes before he’d said “hell, no” loud enough to be heard in the next county.

Garrison adamantly refused whatever his new assignment required. The only movements that were relaxed at all were reaching down to pet Clementine or take her ball and throw it again. Such a normal action that he performed without thinking.

He hadn’t broken a sweat saving her life today. Confident. Cocky. Extremely good-looking. A little arrogant. And sweet, sweet Thelma, he rode a motorcycle like it was nobody’s business.

Her fingers tangled in the mess that was now her hair.

The long extensions were so matted that she couldn’t unclip them from her head. The wind had done permanent damage, and it would take hours of combing to make them wearable again. She headed to the bathroom to see if she could get them loose. Bear followed and sat in the doorway, then slid to his belly.

“I suppose you’re used to the door staying open,” she said gently to him, stroking the old boy on the head. She looked in the mirror and almost screamed. “I look like a middle-aged drug addict.”

The slate liner was smudged under her eyes and halfway down her cheeks. She had no way to repair the damage, other than removing all the makeup. She had nothing except her cell. Her makeup case, purse, keys and car had all been left at the Tenoreno estate.

How was she going to get to work? Or work without her supplies, for that matter? Everything was in that bathroom or her Beetle. Her ID, debit card, checkbook...how would she even eat until they could be replaced?

But she couldn’t feel sorry for herself. Isabella and Trinity had lost much more than supplies or money.

Much more.

The men hadn’t opened the jewelry case yet. It had also been locked in the captain’s trunk almost immediately. Neither of them asked what was inside. They’d just assumed it was important. Probably because she’d asked to go back for it.

She took a deep breath and tried to slow her racing heart. Turning the water off, the men’s voices drifted in through the slightly open window.

“You have your choice. Protect her or be the bait.”

“I appreciate your confidence in me, sir. I don’t think I have a choice. I don’t have the skills or patience to sit and wait. And isn’t it against some type of regulation or something? Don’t we need to involve a female DPS officer to be on her protection detail?” Garrison was marching back and forth across his grass.

“You’re the one insisting that she needs protection without evaluating if what she saw is admissible in court. Or what’s in that case you locked away. How dangerous do you think the threat to her is?”

Garrison stopped pacing. His smile was gone, and he suddenly looked grown up. The white teeth he’d flashed all evening put her at ease, but it made him look much younger.

“From everything you’ve told me about these two families, they shoot first and never bother to ask if it’s the right person. If they find her, they will kill her, sir.”

“You’re right, and she’ll be safe. I’m giving you the option, son. Keep your word and be a part of her detail. Or you nail these bastards once and for all. As I said before, the Tenoreno family released a blurred picture of you both to the media. They’re going to find the fake background information we set up for you to get the job. It won’t take them long before they track down your cover phone. We need a decision and need a plan.”

Kenderly wanted to crawl through the tiny window and shout at both the men. They were making decisions about her life without asking her anything. She wasn’t running off with Garrison Travis to hide. But she also wasn’t stupid enough to go home. Without money or a place to live, the Texas Rangers were her best chance to stay alive.

“That ID got me on the grounds. The pictures will get me back inside. Regarding Kenderly, there isn’t a choice here,” Garrison said so seriously it scared her. “Without me, you don’t have a connection to the shooter. If Kenderly comes forward, it will blow the entire operation. It’s the closest we’ve been to bringing these crime families down in years. If they join forces, we might never get the chance again.”

“As of today, the Tenorenos and Roscos were falling behind the cartels. Together...” Captain Oaks shook his head with the implication. “They’ll either kill each other, taking a lot of other people along the way. Or they’ll be strong enough to control seventy percent of organized crime in Texas.”

“There’s only one choice, then. I go back inside. Try to convince them I was just running for my life when the shots started. It would help if I had something of value to trade. I don’t see anyone making an identification from the pictures. I’ve got my fingers crossed there’s something in that jewelry box that Isabella thought was worth smuggling out with Kenderly.”

She couldn’t see the captain’s face, but she did have a good look at Garrison’s dissatisfied expression. He shoved his hand through his sandy-blond hair. He’d changed into jeans and a button-down shirt. She’d seen his badge ready to go on the kitchen table before he slid it into his back pocket.

“We’ll do the initial Q and A here. We both need to hear her answers firsthand. You could come to headquarters but—”

“Got it. The fewer who know about Kenderly Tyler, the better.” Garrison looked more relaxed.

Why he should be...she had no idea. He was planning on returning to the Tenoreno house surrounded by men with guns...and more guns.

“I’ll make a call and get a video camera here. Then we’ll get started. You okay with your cover story about why you left in such a hurry?” Captain Oaks asked.

“Easy to explain. Shots start flying, and I’m not hanging around. It might take longer to wrap my head around officials thinking I might have something to do with the murders. I’m not usually the one being hunted. I’m more the hunter type. But I can fake it.”

“You’re our best bet to discover the true reason for the assassinations. We can assume they don’t know about the real murderer.” The captain bent down to pet Clementine. “But he knows about you.”

“And Kenderly. We both saw him.”

“That was quick thinking to get the pictures. Maybe something will come from it. Having evidence of the murderer is your best way to get back in to see Tenoreno. He should be extremely interested in your photos.”

“I don’t understand why the wives were killed and not the crime bosses. It doesn’t make sense. I heard shots at the back of the house, but couldn’t get to both.”

The captain clamped a hand on Garrison’s shoulder, stopping him. The younger man didn’t flinch or try to get away. It seemed friendly enough, fatherly in fact. “It’s not your fault, Garrison. No one predicted they would be murdered.”

“If I’d only been a couple of minutes earlier.”

“According to what you told me, more lives would have been lost if you were a couple of minutes later.”

“But—”

“No buts in this line of work. It was out of your control. We move on.”

Kenderly liked Captain Oaks. She had no idea what some of the things they were talking about meant, but she liked him just the same. Taking his wise words to heart, she also needed to move on. There wasn’t anything she could do about the past. She couldn’t go back and change time or rush in and save Isabella.

All she could do was help find her friend’s murderer.

* * *

“WHERE DO WE START?” Kenderly sat at the kitchen table, her hands clasped together so tightly her knuckles were turning white. “Do you need for me to write out my statement? I looked for a tablet. Oh, but I didn’t go through anything. Sorry, I promise I wasn’t looking through your things.”

“It’s okay.” Garrison wanted to hug her and calm her down again. But that wasn’t happening in front of his captain.

“Miss Tyler,” Oaks began, “we’ve sent for a video camera and plan on recording your statement here. If I take you downtown, too many people will know we have you in protective custody. We’d rather continue without spreading that knowledge. That okay with you?”

Kenderly nodded and moved her hands to her lap until she swiped at a tear with the back of her knuckle. She’d washed her face. Gone was the heavy makeup he’d become used to in a very short time. Without it she looked younger.

“I have to confess... I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the bathroom window was open. I could hear a few things.”

“Like what?”

Garrison let the captain lead the discussion. He tried to keep a solemn look on his face out of respect for the two women who had died and the seriousness of the current situation. But just sitting there, Kenderly had a way of making him smile. Or the way she tugged at the stretchy skirt jerked him back to the memory of his hand on her thigh.

“I’m not sure I know what you meant by extracting. Who? Were you there to get Isabella away from that horrid man she was married to?”

She’d turned to Garrison, looking for an answer. He popped away from leaning on the wall next to the living room. Taken totally off guard, his mind had been on the soft flesh that had been beneath his fingers. The question had him staring straight back at his commanding officer.

“Oh, my gosh, you were. Is that why you want to open her jewelry box?” She turned back to Oaks. “You see, I honestly don’t know what’s inside. Isabella told me to open it in three days. I thought it might be another letter to mail.”

“Why do you think she said three days? And you’d mailed letters before?” Oaks brought out his pocket notepad, something he was never without.

If Garrison wanted to take notes, he’d have to get a pad from the hall closet. No way. He wasn’t going to miss any part of this interview.

“I don’t know why she said three days. I’ve been doing her hair for several years. Like I told Garrison—” Her hair flew over her shoulder when she turned toward him. “Oh wait, should I call you Lieutenant?”

“I don’t mind being called Garrison.” There it was again...the urge to smile.

“Like I told Garrison, it had gotten to the point that I had to ask her bodyguard to move back while I washed her hair. And they absolutely refused to let her come on her own. But I did pass notes to Trinity and mail an occasional letter.”

“You passed notes for her?”

“Right. Isabella whispered to me that her husband was mad at one of her friend’s husband. And he was being very strict about even allowing her to talk with her friend. So she wondered if I’d mind holding a note for her. It was very secretive. She wanted to pay me to do it, but I said no. I was getting a new customer out of the deal.”

“So both Mrs. Tenoreno and Mrs. Rosco had their hair done at your shop?”

“Yes. Although, they never got to come in at the same time or the same day because of their husbands.”

Garrison moved forward so Kenderly could look at him and Oaks at the same time. “Did you know what their husbands did for a living?”

She shrugged, and he realized that her hair was just above her shoulders. He could have sworn it had been longer.

“Not at the time. I looked them up online after somebody mentioned it one day.” She tugged nervously at her skirt again. “I know they weren’t the best of men, but that didn’t have anything to do with Isabella and Trinity. After their husbands got mad at each other, they couldn’t see each other.”