High-Risk Reunion

At the police station Cade paused at the entrance to Paul’s office. He’d pulled the blinds and turned off the light as Tory lay down on the couch across from the police chief’s desk. As a teenager, Tory hadn’t had many migraines, but when she did, it was best if she was left alone in a quiet, dark room. When they were at the courthouse in her office boxing up her files, he’d wanted to take her back to the ranch after she’d gone to the restroom and thrown up. He knew this was a bad one, but she wanted him to at least be involved in the interview of Mederos. And the quicker that happened, the quicker they could leave and return to the ranch.

“I’ll be back soon.” Cade put his hand on the door handle.

“Make sure it’s recorded,” she whispered, her eyes closed.

“Anything you want me to ask him?”

“Ask him what he thinks he’ll gain by killing the judge and others associated with the trial.”

“You think he’s going to answer that?”

“No, but I want to know his reaction since news of Judge Parks’s murder won’t be out in the press until next of kin is notified.”

“Good idea. Rest.” Cade quietly closed the door and let the police chief’s secretary know where he would be, then made his way to the room where the interviews were being recorded. Paul and Lieutenant Sanders were inside waiting for him.

“How’s Tory?” Paul asked when Cade joined them.

“Hurting, and not just because of her migraine.”

“When Judge Parks was selected for the Mederos trial, she was elated. She respected him and knew he would do a good job.” Paul glanced from him to Sanders. “Y’all ready? Our boy has been sitting impatiently in there—” he nodded his head toward the TV on the desk “—for the past twenty minutes. We discovered he doesn’t like to wait, which we’ve used to our advantage.”

“If Tory didn’t need to return to the ranch, I’d suggest leaving him for another twenty minutes,” Cade said with a grin. “Or longer.”

“And you need to talk to Deputy Collins this afternoon too.” Paul took the chair in front of the TV to monitor the interview.

“I wish I’d been in on this case from the beginning, then you two wouldn’t have to spend so much time getting me up to speed. Ready, Sanders?”

“Yes, I’ll let you take the lead. Maybe someone new might be able to get something worthwhile out of Mederos. According to him, he’s a businessman who would like to be left alone to run his business.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he does,” Cade said, thinking about the past twenty-four hours and how close Michelle, Tory and him came to being killed or injured seriously.

Cade let Sanders enter the interview room first, even delaying a few seconds before he followed. He wanted to see if Mederos gave a different reaction to his presence. The tattoo-covered man seated at the table, handcuffed to it, shifted his black gaze to Cade with a slight narrowing of his eyes. Assessing. Calculating, as only a handful of criminals he’d dealt with in the past had done. As his chin went up a notch, Mederos dismissed Cade and swung his attention to Sanders.