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“Tell us what happened.”
“I was playing cards and Carol came back and told me to hide in here. She saw him on a camera in the back, I guess.”
Carol nodded, setting the weapon down on the worktable. “Yep, saw the bastard as bold as day.”
“Then we waited for him to find us. He opened the door and before he could shoot us, Carol shot him. Actually,” Dani said with a grin, “Luna bit him in the leg and then Carol shot him.”
Luna, who’d been sitting quietly in a corner, perked up at the sound of her name.
“Good girl,” said Dante, patting the top of the dog’s head. “Very good girl. Extra treats for life.”
“I didn’t think a stranger sneaking into the station carrying a hunting rifle was up to any good,” Carol explained. “All I had to do was look in his eyes for one second, and I knew he was pure evil.”
“It was my fault he got in. I took Luna out to pee in the parking lot and forgot to lock the door when we came back in,” Dani said, a guilty expression on her face.
“Don’t even think about blaming yourself,” Dante assured her. “Alonso Campos was determined to find you. He would have gotten in here regardless. And maybe it was better that it was easy. He didn’t expect anyone to fight back. He thought he would just waltz in.”
They all froze when a deep voice called out, “Grays County sheriff! Stay where you are!”
Between the murder of Lionel Trent and the timely death of Alonso Campos, it was far into the night before André and Dante were alone together. Dani and Carol had been questioned, and once they were given the all clear, Carol had taken Dani to her house.
“Luna can come along, and I’ll figure out something to make for dinner. You can help if you like. Or maybe Marcus will cook,” she’d added. “We’ve had a long day.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Dante assured his niece.
A couple of hours into the circus, Morrison and Hatch arrived together. By that time, Rufus had already called in with an update on Lani Cooper. She would make a full recovery, although she’d needed surgery to remove the bullet and repair a damaged ligament.
“Sounds like she’ll be on desk duty for a while, Chief. Forrest is her with her now,” Rufus said. “I’m gonna head home. It’s been a damn long day.”
Lionel Trent’s body was officially ID’d by his sister, who, in fact, had been living at Trent’s house for a few weeks. Once they began questioning her, they learned that Deputy Trent had been acting secretive and meeting up with someone, but he’d never told her who it was, just saying he was doing some work that would change Cooper Springs. Since her brother always had one or two get-rich schemes going, she didn’t inquire further. Then, two nights ago, a stranger had shown up at the door and demanded to be let inside.
“I didn’t like him and told Trent so. The man said something about how he better be getting his money’s worth. I asked Lionel what he meant, and he told me to forget I ever heard anything. The next morning, Lionel left for work and that was the last time I saw him.”
Dante knew Trent hadn’t shown up for his shift. He’d probably already been dead by then. Maybe he’d threatened Alonso or asked for more cash. There would likely be some kind of money trail. If they could trace it to Aldo, big brother could count on more charges being added to his already long list of crimes. They didn’t know for sure yet, but both André and Dante suspected Trent had been keeping Alonso aware of André’s whereabouts.
Hatch nodded, taking notes while Dante recounted what Paulette Trent had told them.
“After killing Simone, Alonso Campos wanted Dani dead. He’d convinced himself that killing her would mean Aldo would go free. Which makes no sense. I’ll bet he didn’t expect to find Dante and Daniella living in Cooper Springs. That must have been a little bonus for him,” Morrison mused. “Big brother would have been so happy had Alonso brought those trophies to him.”
“And Jensen was playing both sides.” Dante mused. “Was he the only one in Campos’s pocket?”
“We hope so. Now that Daniella and you are out of the woods, I can breathe easier,” Hatch muttered. “No need to ask again about WITSEC.”
“Alonso didn’t fall for the Trojan horse plan,” Dante pointed out. “And with Jensen feeding him inside information, Campos could have known if we went into protection. And again, our answer would have been no.”
“But he wouldn’t have known where you were,” André interjected. “We are very good at hiding people.”
Dante frowned. Was it selfish of him to bristle at the thought of going into hiding without André?
Morrison glared at Dante. “It was a good idea,” he insisted. “It’s not my fault Jensen was a traitor.”
“It was a fine idea,” André assured the other agent, completely unaware that Dante was stewing over a scenario with no base in reality—at least, not any longer.
“See, even André here thought it was a good plan.”
Hatch shot André an enigmatic look across the table. “Can we speak in your office?”
TWENTY-ONE
