“IF YOU TELL, YOU DIE.”

As a potential murder witness, rookie K-9 police officer Valerie Salgado is living with a death threat and caring for her young niece. And things get worse when FBI agent Trevor Lewis comes to Sagebrush, Texas. In exchange for her help on his case, Trevor offers Valerie protection, but Trevor has more walls around him than a maximum-security prison. And now Valerie must convince him that she, her niece and her K-9 partner would make the perfect family for him, if they can stay alive....

Valerie stared at the email... and felt shaken from the inside.

Bethany is such a pretty baby. It would be a shame to have anything happen to her.

“Everything okay?” Trevor asked, coming to stand beside her desk.

She forced the fear from her voice. “Sure. Why?”

“Your hands are shaking.” He cupped his hand over hers.

She felt the warmth of his touch, saw the concern in his eyes. Would he think her weak if she revealed her fear? There probably wasn’t anything that made this man afraid.

The warmth in his gaze told her to risk sharing. “I just got this.”

Trevor’s jaw hardened as he looked at the screen. “This is all part of a game. Threatening your kid to upset you.”

She let out a shaky breath. “Then it’s working.”

TEXAS K-9 UNIT:

These lawmen solve the toughest cases

with the help of their brave canine partners

Tracking Justice—Shirlee McCoy, January 2013

Detection Mission—Margaret Daley, February 2013

Guard Duty—Sharon Dunn, March 2013

Explosive Secrets—Valerie Hansen, April 2013

Scent of Danger—Terri Reed, May 2013

Lone Star Protector—Lenora Worth, June 2013

SHARON DUNN

has always loved writing, but didn’t decide to write for publication until she was expecting her first baby. Pregnancy makes you do crazy things. Three kids, many articles and two mystery series later, she still hasn’t found her sanity. Her books have won awards, including a Book of the Year award from American Christian Fiction Writers. She was also a finalist for an RT Book Reviews Inspirational Book of the Year award.

Sharon has performed in theater and church productions, has degrees in film production and history and worked for many years as a college tutor and instructor. Despite the fact that her résumé looks as if she couldn’t decide what she wanted to be when she grew up, all the education and experience have played a part in helping her write good stories.

When she isn’t writing or taking her kids to activities, she reads, plays board games and contemplates organizing her closet. In addition to her three kids, Sharon lives with her husband of twenty-two years, three cats and lots of dust bunnies. You can reach Sharon through her website, www.sharondunnbooks.net.

Guard Duty

Sharon Dunn

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

—Psalms 10:17,18

For Bart, the nervous Border collie,

who has brought laughter

and unconditional devotion into my life.

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Sharon Dunn for her contribution to the Texas K-9 Unit miniseries.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

ONE

“K-9 unit 349. Convenience-store robbery, corner of State and Grand. Suspects are on the run.”

As she pushed the talk button to respond to dispatch, rookie officer Valerie Salgado felt that strange mixture of fear and excitement that came every time she responded to a call on patrol.

“Copy. I’m about five blocks from that location. Any idea what direction our perps were going?”

Dispatch responded. “Clerk doesn’t know which way they ran. Three males. Two Caucasian, one African American. All dressed in dark clothing.”

For the past few months, every call had an extra sense of danger attached to it. A rash of robberies, drugs and murders that had been escalating in Sagebrush for years had recently been linked to a crime syndicate with an unknown leader.

Valerie hit her siren and sped up.

Maybe this was just a run-of-the-mill robbery, but maybe it was another symptom of a city under siege.

In the back of the patrol car, Valerie’s K-9 partner, Lexi, paced from one window to the other, emitting an almost ultrasonic whine. The only one more excited to catch a criminal than Valerie was her two-year-old Rottweiler.

Dispatch came across the line. “Clerk says that two of the men were armed.”

Valerie took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. “At least we know what we are dealing with, huh, Lex?”

The dog whined as though she understood.

As she neared the convenience store, Valerie scanned the streets and sidewalks for any sign of movement. Now that it was 10 p.m. and dark, it would be easy enough for the robbers to blend into surroundings if they were smart enough to walk instead of run. Traffic was light, and most of the shops were closed. The all-night burger joint up the street had attracted a little bit of a crowd.

Valerie pulled into the convenience store parking lot. The clerk was easy enough to spot, a distraught fifty-something woman pacing by the store entrance. Valerie got out of her patrol car.

The woman came toward her, eyes wide with fear. The unnatural hair color and heavy makeup revealed rather than hid the woman’s age.

The clerk wrapped her arms around herself. Her gaze flitted everywhere. The robbery had shaken the poor woman up. Valerie wanted to hug her and tell her it was going to be all right. But that was not what cops did. Instead, she pulled a notebook out of her utility belt.

She hoped her voice conveyed the level of compassion she felt for what the clerk had just been through. “Ma’am, I’m Officer Salgado. Can you tell me what happened here?”

The woman combed her fingers through her hair. “They took over three hundred dollars. My manager is going to fire me.” Her agitated state made her south Texas drawl even more exaggerated.

“How long has it been since the robbers fled the store?”

The clerk closed her eyes as though she were struggling to answer the question. “Umm...they made me lay on the floor facedown.” She let out a heavy breath. “I waited until I was sure they weren’t going to come back. I...I...called as quickly as I could.” She put a trembling hand to her chest. “Maybe five minutes.”

Valerie felt torn between desiring to comfort the clerk and wanting to catch the thugs who had terrorized her. Picturing her own mother having to go through something like this made her resolve even stronger. The best comfort she could give this woman would be to see that these perps went to jail.

Valerie glanced up the street. Flashing neon signs for budget hotels stood in contrast to the dark Texas sky. In a pursuit, five minutes was a big lead time.

She cupped the woman’s shoulder with her hand, hoping to provide some reassurance. “You go back inside and wait. My dog and I will get these guys.”

“Thank you, Officer.”

Valerie opened the back door of the patrol car, and Lexi jumped out.

“Get ’em,” Valerie commanded, leading the Rottweiler toward the entrance of the convenience store. It would take only minutes for Lexi to pick up on the fear odor that people in flight emitted the second they took off running. Though people couldn’t smell it, the scent was extremely distinct to a dog trained to detect it.

Lexi placed her nose to the gravel, trotting in wider and wider circles, returning to the store entrance a couple of times.

Across the street, a dark car with tinted windows came to a stop.

As Lexi worked her way toward the edge of the store parking lot, Valerie glanced at the car. No one got out. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as a chill ran over her skin. For weeks now, she had had the sensation of being watched, of eyes pressing on her from dark corners.

The reality of the long arms of the crime syndicate had come home to roost for Valerie. Though she didn’t know it at the time, while heading in to the pharmacy a few weeks ago, she’d seen the woman who had most likely murdered Andrew Garry—a local real-estate agent and one of the crime syndicates middle managers. She’d glanced at the woman briefly as she passed her on the dimly lit street outside a vacant building by the corner drugstore. Valerie didn’t act on her suspicions that night, but something about the lady in the hooded jacket seemed off. Though she couldn’t ID the woman outright, Valerie had the feeling that she would know her when she saw her and that she’d seen her somewhere before. It was just a matter of time before something in her brain clicked.

The initial death threat had come the next day only hours after Kip the cadaver dog and his handler had found Garry’s body, confirming her suspicions about the woman she’d seen outside the vacant building. Her police email had been hacked into. The threat flashed on her computer screen... If you testify, you die...maybe even sooner.

Living with a death threat had become even more complicated. Valerie had recently become guardian to her eighteen-month-old niece, Bethany, after her sister Kathleen’s death over two months ago.

The department had offered her protection during her off-duty hours. On duty was a little harder, but she noticed that another patrol car always seemed to be close. Sagebrush P.D. looked out for their own. She felt safe while working as long as she had Lexi with her.

Lexi stopped, lifted her head and barked twice. She’d found the trail. “Good girl. Let’s go.”

Lexi ran hard, leading Valerie up the street. On the opposite side of the street, the dark car with the tinted windows remained. It was probably nothing. She had to let her unfounded fears go. She couldn’t do her job if she was suspicious of everything.

Increasing her pace, Lexi pulled through to an alley that led into a residential neighborhood.

Valerie pushed the talk button on her shoulder mic. “I’m on State Street headed south pursuing suspects. I could use some backup.”

“Captain McNeal is within a couple of blocks of your location,” came the reply from dispatch.

It was unusual for her supervisor to be out on patrol at this hour. As captain of the Special Operations K-9 Unit, Slade McNeal had more than the lion’s share of paperwork. Since his beloved K-9 partner, Rio, had been kidnapped by the syndicate, he had limited his time on patrol, utilizing Rio’s father, Chief, when needed. A snitch with a long rap sheet had revealed to police that Rio was taken by the head of the local crime syndicate to find something in the Lost Woods, a huge forest on the outskirts of Sagebrush. The snitch was later found dead. The syndicate’s structure was such that no one knew the identity of the leader, a man simply known as The Boss.

The loss of Rio over two months ago had been a blow to the whole department. These dogs weren’t just useful resources—they were partners and beloved pets. Even though one of McNeal’s well-to-do war buddies, Dante Frears, had offered a substantial reward of $25,000 for Rio’s return, so far none of the leads had panned out.

Lexi pulled hard on the long canvas leash. Valerie couldn’t trouble herself now with what McNeal was up to. After all, she had criminals to catch.

Lexi led Valerie through backyards and over fences, past living rooms with illuminated television sets and houses with dark windows. Though she saw no signs of the suspects, Lexi’s persistence told her they were headed in the right direction. The scent trail that a person in flight left was like a glow-in-the-dark line to a dog’s keen nose.

Lexi stopped suddenly in a yard that had stacks of roofing shingles piled on the walkway and a ladder propped against the roof. Valerie had noticed another ladder on the opposite side of the house, as well. The dog circled and sniffed the ground again. She’d lost the scent.

“What’s going on, girl?”

In the distance, she heard the alto barking of a German shepherd. That had to be McNeal with Chief. The insistence of the barking suggested that Chief was onto something.

Valerie talked to dispatch through her shoulder mic. “Be advised. I am at 620 Kramer. Something is up with Lexi. The trail may have gone cold.”

Agitated, Lexi ran back and forth in the yard, stood by the ladder for a moment and then put her nose to the ground again. What was happening?

She watched Lexi pace the yard, running in all directions. The dog stopped, lifted her head and let out a single “Woof.” She still had some kind of scent, but it was confusing her.

Chief’s insistent barking reached her. He had definitely alerted to something. But what...? As the realization dawned on her, Valerie pushed her talk button. “I think our suspects split up.”

“Copy that. We are sending another patrol unit your way. ETA is about five minutes.”

The bushes in the yard across the fence shook. Valerie lifted her head just in time to see a man emerge. The look of fear and guilt on his face told her everything she needed to know.

“Stop! Sagebrush P.D.”

The man took off running.

Lexi yanked on the leash, barking and pulling wildly as the man ran around the back of the house. Knowing she couldn’t crawl over the fence as fast as Lexi could jump it, Valerie clicked Lexi off the leash. The dog leapt over the fence and bounded after the suspect, her rapid-fire bark a clear sign that she was hot on the trail.

Her heart pumping, Valerie gripped her gun, prepared to run out to the sidewalk and through the gate to meet Lexi. She heard a scraping noise right before something crashed hard against her shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

Dazed by the impact, she stumbled to her feet. Shingles and a busted-open box spread across the walkway. She looked up. Was the second perpetrator on the roof? Had each of the three suspects run in a different direction?

Lexi’s barking pressed hard on her ears, but grew farther away. The dog could handle herself. With her shoulder aching and still a little fuzzy headed, she hurried most of the way up the ladder using the roofline for cover.

She lifted her head up a few inches, catching movement by the chimney. “Sagebrush P.D. Drop your weapon.” She ducked just as the whiz of a pistol shot shattered the night air. She fired off a round.

Silence.

She lifted her head a couple of inches. The suspect had come out from behind the chimney, aiming his gun at her.

He slipped on the sharply angled roof, falling on his side and dropping the gun. The gun skittered across the shingles and fell to the ground below. This was her chance. She didn’t want him escaping down the ladder she’d seen on the other side of the house.

Valerie scrambled up the ladder, attempting to balance close to the top rung and aim her gun at the same time. “Put your hands up.”

The man lifted his hands partway and then dropped them, dashing toward her. All the air left her lungs as fear enveloped her and she whispered a quick prayer. He intended to push the ladder away from the roof. She couldn’t crawl down fast enough. She grabbed the ladder with her free hand as the man bolted toward her. It had been a stupid mistake to go up the ladder. She’d break her back if she fell that far.

The suspect’s feet seemed to be pulled out from under him, and he was slammed facedown on the roof. Some unseen force pulled him backward away from her. As the suspect scrambled to his feet, she saw the silhouette of a second man, tall and broad through the shoulders.

The second man landed a blow to the suspect’s face, knocking him on his back. The perp kicked the man’s feet out from under him, and he slid down the steep angle of the roof toward the edge. He caught himself, pulling his body back up toward the suspect who sought refuge close to the chimney.

Valerie climbed onto the roof. Seeking to balance, she lifted her gun. “Put your hands up.”

This time, the assailant complied. “I don’t want to fall off here.”

Neither did she. Valerie looked down and behind her. How on earth was she going to get this guy off here without killing herself and without giving him opportunity to run away?

The man who had helped her apprehend the perp stepped out of the shadows. “Officer Salgado, why don’t you crawl down and wait at the bottom?” The man’s hand went to a holster on his belt. “I’ll stay up here and make sure this guy doesn’t get any ideas.”

She had no idea who this man was or where he had come from, but everything about him said law enforcement, and he knew her name. Still, this whole thing might have been a setup from the syndicate to get at her. “Who are you?” she shouted across the rooftop.

“FBI Agent Trevor Lewis. I rode in with Captain McNeal and saw that you were in trouble.”

He sounded legit. She didn’t have a lot of choices and would have to check his I.D. later.

“Okay. I’ll go down the ladder first,” she said.

Agent Lewis held up his own gun. “I’ll make sure this guy doesn’t try to get off the roof by way of that other ladder.”

She descended the ladder and waited while the suspect followed her. When his feet hit the ground, she pointed her gun at him. “Turn around, on the ground facedown, sir.”

A look of hostility compressed his features, his lips curled. “I don’t wanna go to jail. I’m innocent.” The suspect stepped toward her with his hands out to grab her.

She adjusted her grip on the gun. “I said facedown on the ground, now.”

“Do what the lady says,” came the strong bass voice from the roof.

The perp tilted his head, grimaced and dropped to the ground.

Valerie pulled the cuffs from her belt. “You’re innocent? Like everyone decides to shingle their roof at ten o’clock at night.” She was still mad at herself for having climbed up the ladder. She’d broken a cardinal rule of training by putting herself in a vulnerable place.

Agent Lewis climbed to the bottom of the ladder. “At last, we meet.” As Valerie stood up from cuffing the suspect, he held out his hand to her.

Why would an FBI agent want to greet her? Along the street, another black and white came to a stop, the additional backup dispatch had sent.

The screams of a man and a distant growl alerted Valerie to Lexi’s progress with the other suspect. “Gotta go. Can you watch him until that officer over there can take him into custody?”

No time to wait around for Agent Trevor Lewis to explain why he was with McNeal. She raced out of the yard, pushing through the gate, following the sounds of the shrieking man. She wasn’t worried about the suspect’s safety; Lexi was trained to hold her suspect without biting. She just didn’t want the man to claim police brutality because the dog had her teeth on the man for an excessive time.

She found the man in a grove of trees behind a house facedown with Lexi gripping his forearm in her teeth.

The man screamed in falsetto. “He’s killing me. I don’t want to die. Don’t let that dog bite me.”

“For your information, the dog is a she.” Valerie clicked the dog into her leash. “Lex, off.”

The dog complied but continued to lurch toward the suspect and bark. No one did their job with as much enthusiasm as Lexi. This dog loved to work.

A male officer came up behind Valerie. “That guy over there thought maybe you could use another set of handcuffs.”

Valerie looked over at the man who had saved her life on the roof. Guess it was time to find out who Agent Trevor Lewis was and what he was doing showing up to help her on patrol.

* * *

Trevor watched the pretty redhead walk toward him. Maybe it was the green eyes bright in the evening lamplight, but there was something open and trusting in her expression as she drew close to him.

For the second time, he held out his hand. “Officer Salgado? Valerie Salgado?”

Still breathless from her pursuit, Valerie nodded and held out a hand. Her fingers were softer than silk, but her grip was strong and confident.

“Two suspects in custody, huh? Quite a night.” Her decision to go up the ladder had seemed a little foolhardy, but she had handled herself well in every other way.

“I couldn’t have done it without my partner.” She kneeled, wrapping her arms about the thick-necked Rottweiler. “That’s my girl.” The dog’s bobbed tail vibrated.

Valerie’s shoulder mic made a glitchy noise. She pushed the receive button. “McNeal has the third suspect in custody. He’s on his way over to talk to you as soon as he puts Chief back in the squad car.”

“Copy. I’m standing on the six hundred block of Kramer Avenue. Agent Lewis is with me.” Valerie commanded her dog to sit and turned toward Trevor. “So why did McNeal bring you out to meet me?”

Trevor stared down at the dog, who watched him with a wary eye. The dog was very protective of Valerie. “I just drove in from the San Antonio FBI office. I’m here to apprehend a fugitive...a Derek Murke.”

Valerie shook her head. “The name’s not ringing any bells for me.”

The hope that this would be an easy capture faded. After two years of Murke popping up on the radar and then disappearing, why had he thought he could just breeze into town and Officer Salgado would know right where Murke was? “Captain McNeal thought you might have heard something. Murke spent his teen years here and has come back several times for extended stays. Since the fugitive used to live in some of the neighborhoods you patrol, the captain figured I could get your assistance in finding him.”

“I’ll help you as much as I can, but I can’t neglect my regular patrol duties. What’s he wanted for?”

“A few years ago, he robbed a bank in Phoenix.” He’d spare her the longer version of the story, fearing he wouldn’t be able to keep the emotion out of his voice.

Derek Murke wasn’t just any fugitive. He was the fugitive who had shot rookie agent Cory Smith. Trevor had been Cory’s training agent for his first field assignment. Cory Smith had been a little too eager to prove himself when he’d been a part of the apprehension team that had cornered Murke in a rental house. The kid hadn’t waited for backup to be in place before entering the house. When Cory didn’t assess his surroundings from all angles, Derek had seized the opportunity and shot him. Trevor would always wonder if he had given Cory too much responsibility too soon.

The sooner he had Murke in custody, the sooner he would feel like Cory’s death hadn’t been for nothing.

“I see introductions have already been made.” He recognized Slade McNeal’s voice behind him.

“Slade and I have done some joint drug task force work together,” Trevor explained to Valerie.

McNeal placed his hands on his hips and looked at Valerie. “I thought maybe you could work with Agent Lewis to stir up some leads. He could tag along with you on your patrol, see if you can get any information for him. And in return, you get a little extra protection while you’re on duty.”

A shadow fell across Valerie’s face. “I suppose I could use that.”

McNeal excused himself to go talk to the officer hauling away one of the suspects.

Trevor watched him cross the street and then turned back to Valerie. “McNeal explained to me about the death threats against you.” News about the crime syndicate Sagebrush was battling had reached other parts of the state. Now as he watched the tall redhead’s demeanor change from confident to fearful, all the news stories and police reports seemed a lot more personal. “I’m glad to help out.”

The black and white disappeared around the corner. McNeal walked back toward them.

“I’m on the morning shift tomorrow.” She still seemed guarded. “I assume you have some sort of file on this guy Murke? Maybe there is something in there that will give me an idea of where to look for him.”

She wasn’t exactly warming to the idea of an FBI agent tagging along. “I won’t waste your on-duty time if I don’t have to. I can bring it by before you go on shift. If nothing in the file helps, maybe McNeal has some other ideas.”

“That would be fine.” Valerie wrote down her home address. As she was handing him the card, her gaze shifted from his face to over his shoulder. Her eyes grew wide as a look of apprehension clouded her features.

Trevor turned, following the line of her gaze. Across the street, a black car with tinted windows slowed to a crawl before speeding up and disappearing around a corner. Alerting on something, Lexi rose from her haunches.

He turned back toward Valerie. Her lips were drawn into a hard, straight line. Something about that black car had upset her.

“Is everything okay?”

She took a step back, shaking her head. “It’s...it’s nothing.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, but her effort at bravado fell short. He could see the fear in her eyes.

Valerie Salgado was living with a death threat hanging over her head. Maybe the car had just slowed down to look for an address, but it had bothered her. Anger flooded through him over the syndicate’s stronghold on her life.

If they did end up working together, she wasn’t going to die on his watch.

TWO

Valerie peered out the front window of her house. In the early-morning light, she could make out the outline of the police car parked outside. She drew her eighteen-month-old niece, Bethany, closer.

Would she ever get used to that sight? Would there ever be a time when her life wasn’t shrouded in danger?

Knowing that the car with the dark windows had been following her last night drove the point home. The syndicate wasn’t going to go away. They were just waiting for the right moment to get at her. Sagebrush police knew that one of the middle managers was a woman. That woman, whose street name was Serpent, was most likely the woman Valerie had seen. The Serpent had no way of knowing Valerie couldn’t identify her yet. She probably thought it was just a matter of time before she was picked up.

A chill skittered over Valerie’s skin when she thought of the woman’s eyes meeting hers on the street. Seemingly yellow in the lamplight, they bore right through Valerie. The memory still invaded her thoughts and sent a current of fear through her.

Bethany shifted in Valerie’s arms. She jerked her head back and blinked several times. She was all blue eyes and soft downy hair, just like her mother. Kathleen’s funeral had been more than a month ago, but it still felt so raw. While the cancer had slowly drained the vitality out of Valerie’s older sister, it had given her time to express that she wanted Valerie to take care of Bethany. The child’s father had never been in the picture and had signed away rights even before Bethany was born. Though she felt ill equipped for the job, Valerie intended to keep her promise to her beloved sister.

Valerie held Bethany close, absorbing her softness and that sweet baby smell. Over the months, Valerie had slowly been taking over mothering duties as Kathleen grew weaker. But since Kathleen’s death, Bethany had not slept through the night. Though the little girl couldn’t articulate it, Valerie knew she was mourning.

Even now, Bethany clung to the stuffed pink rabbit Kathleen had given her. She hardly ever let go of the toy. Valerie swayed back and forth. “I know, you miss your mama.” A lump formed in her throat. “I miss her, too.”

Bethany melted against Valerie. After a few minutes, the little girl relaxed and her breathing steadied, asleep at last. Valerie padded on stocking feet toward the stairs that led to the bedroom, careful not to jostle the sleeping baby. She glanced at the living room clock.

She stopped so suddenly that Bethany wiggled in her arms. Where had the time gone? She should have been ready for work by now. The sitter would be here any minute. It was easy enough to lose track of time when you got up four or five times in the night to deal with a fussy toddler.

A knock came at her door, loud and intense. Lexi sauntered out of her crate positioned by the sliding glass door. She raised her head and looked toward Valerie, expecting instructions.

Valerie turned toward the door. “Who is it?”

“Trevor Lewis.”

And she was still in her bathrobe. What had she been thinking when she had agreed to him swinging by before work? Now that she had Bethany, it took her twice as long to get ready in the morning. Valerie gave the Rottweiler a reassuring look. “Go back to sleep, Lexi. It’s okay.”

“Just a second.” After placing Bethany in her playpen, Valerie took a breath to calm her nerves. She hoped she hadn’t seemed too standoffish to Agent Lewis last night. McNeal had been looking out for her when he suggested she work with Trevor, and maybe she’d be able to help him. She probably needed the extra protection, but the partnership was a bitter reminder of how hard the syndicate was making it for her to do her job.

She swung open the door. Trevor looked fresh in a crisp, French blue button-down shirt. His dark curly hair was clipped close to his head and his brown eyes had an intensity she hadn’t noticed last night.

His gaze fell to her bathrobe, and heat rushed up her face. “My little one has me running behind schedule.” She turned slightly away from the door so Trevor had a view of Bethany shaking the sides of her playpen.

Barely acknowledging the child, Trevor lifted the computer tablet he had in his hand. “I’ve got Murke’s file.”

“Come in. I need just a minute to get ready,” she said.

Trevor glanced around the room. “Where’s the dog?”

“She’s resting in her crate.” Valerie sighed as she looked at the crate and then at the playpen not too far from it. Lexi had never shown any aggression toward Bethany, but the dog was keeping her distance. Though Lexi was protective of Valerie, it would be a shame if she didn’t bond with Bethany. The trainer at the K-9 facility had assured her that dogs were just like people—it took time for them to adjust to new situations.

“Take a seat, Mr. Lewis.”

“You can call me Trevor.”

Bethany babbled and held her hands up. Valerie gathered her into her arms and grabbed her bottle off the counter. When Valerie offered it to her, Bethany shook her head. She hadn’t eaten anything yet this morning. Valerie tried not to give in to worry. She bounced Bethany in her arms. “We don’t want you losing weight.”

She had fifteen minutes before her neighbor, Stella Witherspoon, came over to watch Bethany. Not enough time to get everything done. This motherhood thing was a juggling act and so far she had dropped all her balls.

She sat Bethany on the opposite side of the couch from Trevor. Valerie smoothed Bethany’s silky, soft hair and then handed Trevor the bottle. “If Bethany starts to fuss, see if she will take this.”

Trevor’s eyes grew wide with fear. “Give her the bottle?” His voice slipped up half an octave.

Valerie shook her head. “It would be a help.” You’d think she had asked him to split an atom.

Still flustered by all she had to get done in a short amount of time, Valerie went up the stairs to where her uniform was laid out.

* * *

Trevor Lewis shifted uneasily on the couch. The little girl stuck two fingers in her mouth and watched him. With her free hand, she held on to a stuffed pink bunny that had seen better days. One of its ears dangled by a thread. He didn’t know that much about kids, but she looked at him like he was a pinned insect.

“Is your name Bethany?”

She continued to stare and suck her fingers. Did kids this little talk?

Valerie seemed distracted. Did she even want to work with him? He stared down at the tablet where he had opened Derek Murke’s file. Trying to catch a fugitive without the cooperation of the local police department never went well. She was the most likely candidate to help him. McNeal had mentioned that Salgado was a rookie...just like Cory Smith had been. Icy pain stabbed at Trevor’s heart. Could he keep this rookie safe?

Trevor let out a heavy breath and looked at Bethany. And she had a kid.

He held up the bottle to Bethany. “You want this?”

Bethany popped her fingers out of her mouth. She pointed at something across the room and said, “Gaga.”

He had no idea what she was talking about. Being around babies made him feel awkward. They seemed so fragile. As if they would shatter like glass if you didn’t hold them right. Bethany flipped around to her belly and slid off the couch. She tottered over to him, blue eyes still assessing him.

Her hand rested on his leg with a touch that was barely heavier than air. He held the bottle toward her while she was still standing and fed her as though she were a newborn lamb. She looked up at him with eyes that were filled with trust. He felt a fluttering in his heart. How unexpected that this delicate child was okay with him feeding her.

When he glanced around the room, Valerie stood at the base of the stairs watching them. Without the utility belt, the uniform accentuated her curves. Her red hair had been pulled up into a ponytail, revealing the soft lines of her face and clear green eyes.

“You can hold her, you know.” There was a hint of amusement in her voice.

“We’re doing just fine,” Trevor muttered.

Bethany pulled away from him and tottered toward Valerie just as the doorbell rang. An older woman with white, fluffy hair that had a tint of blue to it stepped across the threshold when Valerie opened the door. Valerie introduced the babysitter as Stella Witherspoon.

“There’s my little Bethie.” Mrs. Witherspoon’s voice had a charming bell-like quality.

The little girl squealed with delight and kicked her legs while Valerie held her. “Thanks for coming, Stella.”

Bethany nestled against Valerie while she gave Stella instructions for the day. Valerie ran a finger down Bethany’s cheek and rubbed noses with her when the little girl tilted her head up. She seemed like a natural at being a mom. Where was the baby’s father in all this? He hadn’t noticed a wedding band on her finger.

After Valerie handed Bethany over, she turned toward Trevor. “Since I’m running late, I can look at the file on the way to the station.” She turned back toward the kitchen. “Lexi, come.”

The dog trotted out from her crate by the back door.

Valerie grabbed the leash and canine vest by the door and proceeded to put them on Lexi. She rose to her feet. “I hope you don’t mind. She goes everywhere with me while I’m on duty.”

Trevor nodded. “I understand.” He opened the door for her when she had clicked Lexi into her leash.

As they stepped out into the early morning, light shimmered across Valerie’s coppery hair. She stopped and stared at where the police car used to be.

“I sent him home since you’re with me,” Trevor said.

Her voice took on that soft, distant quality. “He usually follows me into the station in the morning.”

The inflection in her voice suggested weariness, as though the need for protection had taken its toll on her emotionally.

Trevor glanced around. Other than automated sprinklers turning on, he saw no movement anywhere on the quiet street. He sidled closer to Valerie.

She turned toward him, furling her brow. “You don’t need to stand quite so close. I’m a trained officer. I can handle myself.”

He had to remind himself that though her irritation was directed toward him, she was probably more upset about the loss of freedom the death threats had created. “I don’t doubt you can handle yourself.”

She opened the back door of Trevor’s sedan to let Lexi in.

On the drive toward the station, Trevor filled Valerie in on the investigation as she flipped through the file. “We knew that Sagebrush was one of the places Murke had ties to. He lived here during his teen years and has come back several times since. He’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, so his picture has been out there. We had an anonymous tip, someone who saw him in a store here in Sagebrush.”

Valerie stared at the photo of Murke on the tablet. “Sometimes people are mistaken about identities.” She flicked through the pages of the file.

“I know that. It makes sense, though, that Murke would come back here,” he said as doubt tapped at the corners of his awareness. Valerie had to find something that would give them a lead. The urgency to catch Murke was stronger than ever.

Valerie looked up from the tablet. Her eyes lit up as they passed a schoolyard just starting to fill with children. She really seemed to gravitate toward kids. Having kids, being married, none of that had ever been on his radar. His father had been a brute of a man, cruel beyond reason. If it hadn’t been for a youth pastor, who had turned his heart toward God, Trevor could have gone down that same road. The way he had it figured, he didn’t want to risk having those patterns of violence emerge in his own life. He was a better help to humanity as a lawman.

“So it’s just you and Bethany?” The question had spilled out. He had to admit, he was curious.

Valerie laced her fingers together and bent her head. “Bethany is my sister’s child. I recently became her guardian when Kathleen died.” Her voice trembled.

Trevor retreated, aware that he had stepped on an emotional land mine. “Well, you seem like a natural mom.”

Her face glowed, and her voice fused with warmth. “Thanks. It’s been an adjustment for both of us.”

He hadn’t counted on the compliment meaning so much to her. He took a quick sideways glance at her. Shorter hair that had escaped the ponytail framed her soft features, and her full mouth curled into a faint smile. Was she still thinking about what he had said?

Valerie looked back down at the tablet. “Murke robbed a pawn shop with a guy named Leroy Seville?”

Trevor’s spirits lifted. “Yeah, do you know him?”

“No, but I know an elderly lady named Linda Seville. I don’t think she ever said anything about a son, but they could be related.”

“It’s worth a shot.” This could be the lead he had hoped for.

She lifted her head and peered through the windshield. “We’re actually pretty close to where she lives. Let’s just go there now. Four blocks up and one over.” She paused. “I know the street, and I’ll remember the house when I see it.”

He caught a whiff of her floral perfume as she leaned closer to him to point through the windshield. He leaned toward her as his stomach tightened.

He pulled to the curb, scanning the area as he got out of the car. “This is the street?” The neighborhood consisted of older homes built close together and several apartment buildings.

She looked at him over the top of the car. “Yep, this is the neighborhood I patrol.” She spoke with affection as she lifted her chin and looked around. “If I remember correctly, I met Linda on a stolen television case.” She studied the line of houses as though she was trying to jar her memory about where Linda Seville lived.

A girl of about seven road by on a bike. “Hey, Officer Salgado.”

A trilling laugh escaped Valerie’s throat. “Hey, Jessie Lynn. I see you found a new chain for your bike.”

The kid was half a block away when she shouted, “Yes, ma’am, I did.”

She turned to face Trevor. “Jessie loves that bike. She always gets a ride in before school.”

Valerie cared about the people here. That much was clear, but sometimes emotions got in the way of the job. He hoped she could keep them in check.

Valerie came around the car and joined Trevor on the sidewalk. She looked up at him, expectation coloring her lovely features. She had a spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks, and her voice had a soft quality that made him think of lullabies. He shook himself free of the warm, fuzzy feeling he got when she stood close to him. Okay, she was attractive and smelled nice. So what? He had a job to do.

Valerie pointed to a bungalow-style house with flower beds that were overgrown with weeds. “That’s it, right there. Now I remember. It wasn’t a stolen television—it was a missing pet.”

It sounded like Valerie didn’t know Linda Seville all that well. They made their way up the sidewalk. Worry twisted into a hard knot at the base of his stomach. What if this lead didn’t pan out? Would they be back to square one?

As though she had read his mind, Valerie said, “We might be able to get a line on Murke some other way if this turns out to be nothing.”

He appreciated her optimism, but in his mind, there were no second shots. Murke had evaded him since Cory’s death, leaving whatever town he’d drifted into the second he got wind that the Bureau was onto him. The capture needed to be swift before Murke had a chance to run again.

He knocked on the door. Through the sheer curtain, he could see that all the lights had been turned off, and no one stirred inside. He could feel that tightening in his chest. That awful feeling that they’d missed their chance to get the jump on Murke. “Where would this Linda be if she wasn’t at home?” He couldn’t hide the urgency in his voice.

“I don’t know that much about her. She’s not one of the people in the neighborhood who talks to me. I just helped her find her poodle months ago.” She turned and looked at the other houses. “I’m sure we can ask around.”

Trevor tensed. Too much asking around meant a greater chance of Murke getting wind that the Bureau had found him. “I just want this lead to work out.”

She flinched as though he had hit her with his words. “You really want to get this guy, don’t you?”

Trevor softened his tone. She didn’t deserve to be the recipient of the frustration over his long history with Murke. “He shot an agent I was training. Cory was a rookie fresh out of the Academy, and I know rookies make rookie mistakes, but he didn’t deserve to die.”

“I’m sorry about the agent being shot.” An emotion flashed across her face that almost looked like hurt, though he couldn’t figure out why. “I don’t think she’s here.” Valerie turned away and stared up the street.

He’d heard the quiver in her voice. Something he had said had struck a nerve. Women made him crazy sometimes. He was always saying the wrong thing around them and never quite understanding why it had been the wrong thing. Trying to sort it out with her would just make things worse.

Just let it go and do your job.

Trevor scanned the windows of the apartment buildings. No doubt the neighborhood had eyes everywhere. They’d expect to see Officer Salgado around, but would wonder what he was doing here. And then they would start to talk. If Murke was in this neighborhood, how long before word got back to him?

When he turned toward Valerie, she still had her back to him. She let out a soft gasp as her shoulders stiffened and she reached for her gun. He followed the line of her gaze.

Derek Murke sidled up the street holding two plastic bags and a six-pack of beer.

THREE

“Police, stop.”

Valerie sprinted across the grass and drew her weapon.

Shock registered on Murke’s face. He dropped his groceries and dashed up the alley.

Murke was headed for the warehouses behind the bungalows. Valerie called out to Trevor. “Stay with him. I’ll grab Lexi.”

Trevor had already drawn his handgun. He raced past her down the alley. Murke bolted over a dilapidated fence with Trevor on his heels.

Valerie ran to Trevor’s car and opened the back door for Lexi. With the dog pulling hard on the leash, Valerie circled around the fence. She entered a two-block area containing a series of metal buildings, some still in use and others abandoned. She saw no sign of Murke or Trevor. She took Lexi over to the other side of the fence where Murke had probably landed. Lexi picked up the trail right away.

They jogged past a tire shop that was still operational, but closed at this hour. There was a risk that Lexi had picked up on Trevor’s scent and not Murke’s since both men were running. Following a scent was not a perfect science, but she’d trust Lexi’s nose over searching blindly.

Heart pounding, she took in her surroundings as she ran. The Rottweiler pulled toward a large warehouse. Metal slapped against metal. The sound of a door slamming against the frame or the wind blowing? Valerie followed Lexi into the warehouse through a place in the exterior wall where the corrugated metal had been bent back from the frame.

Once inside, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dimness. The warehouse was a big open area with a balcony all around it. This had been a clothing factory at one time. Pieces of abandoned equipment provided numerous places for Murke to hide. Trevor might have lost sight of him and gone off in the wrong direction.

She studied the stairs leading up to the balcony where the offices used to be. Now they were just gaping holes, the office doors having long since been looted.

Lexi kept her nose to the ground, though her pace slowed.

A creak of floorboards caused Valerie to turn. She waited for another sign of life. If Murke was close, Lexi would have been more excited. Valerie licked her dry lips. Blood whooshed in her ears as she adjusted her grip on the gun. Water dripped somewhere in the building. The steady tap, tap, tap of the droplets hitting metal overtook the leaden silence.

Lexi ran back and forth. The scent had become muddled.

Though Valerie’s hands remained steady, sweat trickled down her back. Someone was in here. She could feel eyes watching her. Lexi stopped sniffing and lifted her head.

Valerie tuned in to the sounds around her as she breathed in the musty air. Lexi’s panting became more pronounced.

Seconds passed. The sense that she was being watched had been with her since the Andrew Garry murder. Was she just imagining it now? She’d give anything to replay the tape of her life and go back to that night—to make different choices. When she’d passed that woman wearing the hooded jacket on the street, something had seemed amiss...but she had ignored her instincts. The next day, Garry’s body had been found by another K-9 unit. By then, the woman had disappeared.

Valerie’s father, a retired detective, had always said that instinct was a cop’s best asset. She had made a stupid rookie mistake and ignored the prickling of the hairs on her neck when that woman had looked at her. Trevor Lewis had no idea that his comment about rookies making mistakes was like a dagger through her chest.

Her life would have been different if she had followed her gut and stopped to engage the woman in conversation. The woman’s guilt might have risen to the surface, and Valerie could have detained her for questioning. She certainly would have gotten a better look at the person who later became their prime suspect.

Another noise jerked Valerie away from her regret and back into the warehouse. The balcony creaked. Was the wind blowing through here strong enough to do that? She examined the balcony segment by segment.

Lexi sniffed the ground and then sneezed.

“He got away.” A voice boomed in her ear.

Though her training kept her from dropping the gun, the voice had startled her. “Agent Lewis, do you always creep up on people like that?”

“Sorry, you were so focused on that balcony, there was no way not to surprise you.” The arch of his eyebrow and slight upturn of his mouth suggested amusement.

Valerie holstered her gun and squared her shoulders, hoping he hadn’t picked up on her loss of composure. She should have heard him coming no matter how closely she was watching the balcony. Tunnel vision while on duty could be deadly. Another stupid rookie mistake. She steadied her voice. “Murke got away?” She pointed to the dog who was working her way to the opposite side of the warehouse. “Lexi picked up on something in here.”

“The dog’s right. He did run through here, but then he doubled back and went out to the street.”

That explained why the scent had become muddled for Lexi.

“I caught up with him on the street.” Frustration was evident in Trevor’s voice. “He got into a car and took off. No way could I catch him. But I know the make and model, and the first two letters on the plate. We’ll post notices out to the locals and the highway patrol. Murke will most likely try to leave town now that he knows we’re on to him.”

She surveyed the warehouse one more time. She had to let go of the idea that the syndicate could be everywhere and was watching her. “Guess we better get back to the station.”

She couldn’t read Trevor’s expression, but his voice softened. “Maybe next time we need to work on not getting separated like that,” he said.

His tone of concern touched her, but she needed to be able to do her job. “Splitting up is standard procedure. Lexi can be a real asset in these situations.”

“Sometimes there are things that are more important than procedure,” he said.

The smolder in his voice made her heart flutter. Was he that worried about her well-being? He barely knew her.

He stepped closer to her, his hand brushing her forearm. “I said I’d protect you. I don’t want to break my promise to McNeal.”

Was that all it was about, keeping his word to an old buddy? She struggled to let go of her disappointment. And then wondered why it had even mattered to her that he had expressed concern for her that seemed to go beyond work requirements. “I have paperwork to catch up on back at the station. I still have to do my regular job.” She headed toward the door of the warehouse, yanking on Lexi’s leash. The dog was reluctant to leave the spot where she’d picked up the scent again. “Come on, Lex.”

Once they were in his car, Valerie directed Trevor to the Sagebrush Police Station, a one-story, red-brick building. She led him around to the back where the K-9 officers had a separate entrance. She could feel his body heat and sense his proximity as he walked behind her. There was no chance of them being separated now.

He was one of those men who seemed to live in a state of heightened alert anyway, and he was taking watching her back seriously. Asking him to hang back a little ways wouldn’t do any good. She’d just have to get used to it for the time being. “I’ve got some reports to complete, and I’ll pull Leroy Seville’s file to see if I can find out anything more. I’m sure I’ll be safe at my desk.”

Trevor took a step back. “Great...I’ll brief the other officers in the station on Murke. Then maybe we can see if we can track down this Linda Seville lady, find out if Murke was staying at her house or just somewhere on that street.” His voice became more intense. “We need to jump on this. Murke is famous for leaving town as soon as he knows we’re closing in on him.”

As she and Lexi passed the other K-9 officers’ desks, a black lab lay by Detective Jackson Worth’s chair while he bent over a report. Titan lifted his head when she passed by but didn’t move. The lab’s job was to stick near Jackson, to watch over him. The devotion of the dogs to their handlers filled her with gratitude. Truth was, she felt safe as long as Lexi stayed close. The dogs remained with the officers most of the time, because having the K-9 as a pet as well as a partner was the best way to ensure unwavering obedience.

Valerie scooted her chair up to her desk and opened up a database that listed Sagebrush felons. Leroy Seville was recently out on parole after five years in jail. Linda Seville was listed as an emergency contact and identified as his great-aunt. They could catch up with Leroy later and see what he knew about Murke. She doubted Murke would go back to Linda’s home.

In the small Sagebrush station, Trevor’s warm bass voice carried across the room as he showed Murke’s picture to the other officers. She tried to focus on her computer screen instead of the joking that seemed to be going on between Trevor and the other officers.

She adjusted her chair for the umpteenth time and leaned closer to the monitor. Trevor hadn’t hidden his ire at getting close to Murke, yet not catching him. Did he blame her for that? It was her own insecurity that made her wonder if he was fishing around for a different officer to assist him.

She could only pick up bits and pieces of the conversation, and yet she had assumed that that was what was going on. Why did she even care? Having to help Trevor took away time from her regular work.

Okay, so he didn’t like rookies. McNeal had paired them up for a reason. It couldn’t just be because it was extra protection for her. Trevor wasn’t going to ditch her for a more experienced officer who didn’t have any connection to the neighborhoods where Murke was likely to be. Valerie chided herself for worrying. Fine with her if he wanted to work with a different officer.

She picked up a pen, making lines on a legal pad so deep they nearly cut through the paper. That caring tone he had used back at the warehouse had messed with her initial impression of him—that he was one of those lawmen who was good at his job but not so good at connecting with people. Maybe there was some chink in his armor. It wasn’t her job to try to find it. The sooner they caught Murke, the sooner Trevor Lewis would be gone.

Pushing all thoughts of the impossibly handsome agent out of her head, she focused on the monitor, opening up a report she needed to complete. The voices around her faded, and all she heard was the tapping of the keys....

She completed the report and opened her email. She smiled as she read the thank-you notes from children at a school where she and Lexi had given a K-9 demonstration. She loved teaching members of the community about what the K-9 units did.

An email from her mother caught her attention as she scrolled down. Her mother usually used her private email. Her skin prickled as apprehension invaded her body.

She opened it up and read.

Bethany is such a pretty baby. It would be a shame to have anything happen to her.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as she stared at the computer screen. It was clear what had happened. Her mother would never send such a horrible email. So now the syndicate was hacking into family members’ emails and threatening the life of her niece?

Her hands were shaking as she grabbed the phone to dial her home number.

Stella picked up on the first ring. “Hello.”

Valerie took a breath, hoping to hide the anxiety in her voice. “Hey, Mrs. Witherspoon, I was just checking to see how Bethany was doing.”

Stella’s voice exuded cheerfulness. “She’s such a doll. She just finished her cereal and is playing with her blocks.”

“So, everything’s okay?”

“Couldn’t be better.” Stella paused as though she were thinking something over. “Are you having a little separation anxiety, dear?”

Valerie gripped the phone a little tighter. “That must be it.”

“It happens to every mother. Call here a thousand times a day if you need to.”

Though she couldn’t let go of the fear over harm coming to Bethany, Valerie relaxed a little. Bethany was in good hands. “Mrs. Witherspoon, you are an answer to prayer.”

Valerie said her goodbyes and hung up. She called her mother who said she didn’t think her email had been hacked. She barely turned her computer on. These guys were good. She pressed her trembling hands, palms down against the desk. Tuned into Valerie’s heightened emotion, Lexi lifted her head and looked at her with dark brown eyes.

The words echoed through her mind. It would be a shame if anything happened to her. She felt like she was being shaken from the inside. Would Garry’s murderer hurt Bethany to get to her? Now she knew for sure she was being watched. They must have seen her with Bethany.

“Everything okay?” Trevor stood beside her desk.

She straightened her spine and squared her shoulders, forcing her voice to sound professional. “Sure. Why?”

He sat down in the chair beside her, concern etched across his face. “Your complexion’s the color of rice.”

“It’s nothing.” She couldn’t explain to him. He wouldn’t understand why she was so upset. It was just an email, right? It wasn’t like a gun had been pointed at her. “My face is always this color. I’m a light-skinned redhead.”

He cracked a smile. “That you are, Officer Salgado, but that doesn’t explain why your hands are shaking.” He reached over and cupped his hand over hers.

She’d laced her fingers together so tightly her knuckles were white. He pulled back and studied her while the warmth of his touch lingered. Would he think she lacked strength as an officer if she revealed how much the threat had shaken her up? Cops were supposed to have titanium spines, right? There probably wasn’t anything in the world that made Trevor Lewis afraid...except maybe feeding babies.

The warmth in his eyes, the same that she had seen at the warehouse, told her she could risk sharing.

She drew in a breath and turned the computer monitor toward him. “I just got this.” She pulled the photo of Bethany off her cubicle wall and held it to her chest. Images about bad things happening to Bethany rampaged through her head. She shivered.

Trevor’s jaw hardened as he looked away from the screen. He shook his head. “Unbelievable. This has got to be the syndicate’s doing. Your mother would never send an email like that, right?”

Valerie nodded. “Who else would do this but the syndicate? The first threat came in an email, as well.”

His presence had a calming effect on her that she didn’t understand. Maybe it was just because he looked like he could smash small buildings with his fist. Being able to share with him had eased her fear. Now that she could get a deep breath, she felt like she was seeing things more clearly. “They wouldn’t actually hurt Bethany, would they? It’s me the Serpent is after.”

“It doesn’t matter if they will or won’t. They are threatening your kid and upsetting you. It’s all part of a game they’re playing.” His tone suggested deep offense at what had been done to her.

She exhaled. “It might be that it was meant to scare me. You know, the syndicate’s reminder that they are still watching and waiting for their chance to kill me.” She just didn’t want to believe that anyone would harm an innocent child.

Trevor touched his clean-shaven face as his eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen this before with witnesses we were trying to protect. The intent is to break you psychologically. You don’t want something bad to happen to your kid, so you back off from finding this woman.”

“I can’t even identify the woman yet for sure. We haven’t been able to put together a sketch or a police lineup.” She turned back to her computer and clicked out of her email program. “I just know that if I saw this woman that we think is the Serpent again, I would recognize her.”

Trevor sat back in his chair. “The murderer doesn’t know that, though. She probably thinks it’s just a matter of time before the Sagebrush police track her down. These people are ruthless. They’ll do everything they can to shake your resolve.”

“I wish there was protection for Bethany when I’m not with her.” Talking with Trevor had eased some of her fear, but every time she looked at Bethany’s picture, she felt a jab to her heart. If anything happened to that little girl....

“Maybe the department can provide some protection,” Trevor suggested.

“I can ask, and I’ll let the captain know about the email, but it’s always a funding and resources issue,” she said.

At the other end of the administrative area, Captain McNeal stepped out of his office. “Dispatch just got a call from a black and white downtown. The car you saw Murke drive away in has been spotted outside a hardware store on Sagebrush Boulevard.”

Valerie jumped up and grabbed Lexi’s leash. “We might have Murke in custody before the day is over.” Excitement pulsed through her. Chasing down Murke would get her mind off the email.

She clicked Lexi into her leash, glad to be doing something she could deal with.

Trevor quickened his pace as he moved toward the door. “Let’s go catch a fugitive.”

FOUR

Adrenaline surged through Valerie as Trevor selected a parking space with a view of Derek Murke’s older-model Buick parked across the street. Murke was nowhere in sight. He had to be in one of the shops. She loved this part of the job—the prospect of catching a criminal brought the importance of her work back to her.

The sidewalks bustled with afternoon activity. Downtown Sagebrush was a mixture of boutiques and restaurants that provided a medley of rustic charm and trendy affluency. She recognized the patrol car up the block and two other unmarked police cars that had moved into place. Now it was just a matter of sitting and waiting. Murke had to come back to his car sooner or later.

Lexi leaned forward and panted.

Trevor angled his head away so he wouldn’t get slobbered on.

“Sorry, she just likes to be a part of the action,” Valerie explained, smiling indulgently as she stroked Lexi’s ears.

The radio sparked to life. “Car two this is car one. I’ve got eyes on Murke. He’s standing at the check-out line in Bealman’s Hardware.”

Trevor lurched in his seat. “All right, let’s move in. Keep the uniforms out of sight range. I don’t want Murke to know we’re on to him.”

Valerie sat back in her seat trying to hide her disappointment. “I guess that means me, too.” She looked down at her uniform.

“He scares easily.” He’d already pushed open the door and slipped out of the car. “Radio the other units of his position if you see him.”

Trevor attempted a casual but hurried walk across the street. Two other plainclothes officers were making a beeline for the hardware store. Valerie scanned the surrounding shops and the street. Though she accepted the reason for the decision, she really didn’t like being put out of commission like this.

If Murke did come this way, her response time would be faster if she and Lexi were already on the street. If he was on the run already, it wouldn’t matter if he saw her uniform.

She slipped out of the car, removed Lexi from the backseat and walked up the boulevard, keeping her eyes on the exterior of the hardware store. She shielded herself behind the other pedestrians to avoid being spotted. She walked past Arianna’s Diner and a boutique that sold hats and other accessories.

A voice came across her shoulder mic. “Stand down. False alarm. Bad I.D.”

Across the street, Trevor emerged from a cluster of people on the sidewalk. The droop in his shoulders communicated his level of disappointment as he made his way to the end of the block. Valerie’s awareness switched into high gear. She turned in a half circle. Murke was still skulking around here. He hadn’t come back to his car parked close to the hardware store. Sooner or later, he would show.

Walking to the end of the block, she kept her eye on Murke’s car. Parking was at a premium in the downtown area. Just because he had parked by the hardware store didn’t mean that was where he went. Trevor was doing the same sort of walking surveillance on the other side of the street. One of them needed to get back to the car in case they ended up tailing Murke in a vehicle. She turned and headed back toward the car.

Lexi came to attention and peered up the street. Valerie shifted her gaze. Murke had just stepped out of Arianna’s Diner holding two take-out boxes. Recognition spread across his face as he narrowed his dark soulless eyes at her.

She expected Murke to turn and bolt...to make a beeline for his car. Instead, as she drew within feet of him, he charged toward her. Soda and a take-out box filled with a pasta dish showered down on her and Lexi. The crowd around them scattered like cockroaches in the light.

In the few seconds it took her to recover, Murke pivoted and raced up the street. He disappeared into a cluster of people. Murke’s dirty-blond head bobbed up right before he entered a men’s clothing store. She dashed inside.

Lexi sneezed repeatedly from the spices that had gone up her nose. The dog couldn’t focus on Murke’s scent trail. Valerie squinted as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. Behind the counter, a clerk pointed toward the back door. Valerie hurried into the alley. The sounds of the busy street gave way to a quiet alley. She heard footsteps and ran in the direction of them.

The alley smelled of garbage and Mexican spices and chemicals from a dry cleaners. A door creaked open, and a man came out tossing a trash bag in an open Dumpster. He offered Valerie only a passing glance before going back inside as if cops with K-9 units chased fugitives up this alley every day.

Trevor’s comment about them staying together came back to her, but she swiped the thought from her mind. Doing her job had to be priority one. She needed to catch this guy. He’d already killed one lawman.

She radioed her location. Trevor and the others had to have seen the disruption on the street. They were probably already running this way.

Lexi dutifully placed her nose on the ground and sniffed. Then she sneezed. Would Lexi be able to pick up the scent?

She heard no further noise. Unless he’d slipped into the back door of one of the shops, Murke had to be hiding somewhere. She searched each nook and cranny, opened Dumpsters and checked behind a pile of crates.

Lexi pulled a little harder on her leash. “You got something, girl?”

The dog ran toward a stairway that led to a second-floor door. Valerie remained down below with her gun drawn prepared to shoot if Murke was behind the door.

A voice as cold as ice sounded in her ear as the hard blade of a knife pressed against her throat. “Drop the gun.”

Her heart lurched. She let the gun fall to the ground.

Lexi was already headed back down the stairs. Murke hadn’t noticed the dog.

Hurry girl, hurry.

Valerie let her hands go limp as though she would comply. When she felt his body relax, she slammed her elbow hard into his stomach. Murke groaned. She turned to face her attacker, preparing to land a second blow.

She saw his face, features compressed into an expression of hate. Onyx eyes tore through her. Behind her, Lexi barked.

Murke’s eyes grew wide with fear when he saw Lexi. He took off running again. Lexi bolted past her hot on Murke’s heels but was slowed down by her sneezing. It took only a moment for Valerie to retrieve her gun and chase after Murke.

* * *

Trevor raced through a store that sold Western wear, past puzzled clerks and out the back entrance. A mixture of fear and anger warred inside him. He had told Valerie to stay in the car. Why hadn’t she listened? The uniform thing had been his excuse to keep her safe.

It had taken less than three minutes to figure out it was Valerie and Murke causing the ruckus across the street. Her red hair had flashed bright in the noonday sun, then he had darted across the street to find her.

He stepped out of the Western shop into the empty alley. Where had she gone? His heart squeezed tight. All anger washed away as fear took over. What if Murke had killed her?

Not again. God, please, not again.

He scanned up and down the alley, pushing down the rising panic. She had to be all right.

The distant bark of the dog brought a sense of relief. That had to be Lexi. He followed the sound of the barking, heading away from downtown and toward a residential part of Sagebrush. His feet pounded on the sidewalk as he ran past yards just starting to turn green. He stopped to listen again for the barking. He caught up with Valerie and Lexi by some playground equipment that was part of a housing complex.

She turned to face him as he approached. “We lost sight of him.” She looked down at Lexi, who sat at her feet, panting. “Her sniffer is all messed up. Daytime searches are harder anyway—too many people running around, lot of scents to sort through.”

“One of the units is still watching the car. If he tries to go back that way, we’ll nab him.” Disappointment settled in his stomach like a rock. Twice in one day, Murke had been within his grasp...and he had eluded them.

“I already radioed a patrol unit to comb the streets.” She tugged on Lexi’s leash. “We’ll walk the neighborhood, see if we can pick up on anything. Maybe somebody saw him.”

Trevor stood close to Valerie, expecting to be enveloped in her floral scent. Instead, he smelled...Italian spices? Her uniform had stains on it. “What happened to you?”

“Murke’s escape plan involved throwing his takeout at me. Lexi got spices up her nose, and Murke’s lunch is all over my uniform.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Let’s not make a big deal about it or else the other officers will have a nickname for me before the day is over.”

“I don’t know...you might have started a trend. Marinara-scented perfume could become very popular,” he quipped.

She had an easy laugh that helped quell some of the frustration he’d felt at losing Murke again.

They searched the street for several more hours before giving up. The Buick remained parked by the hardware store. Murke wouldn’t be stupid enough to return. Maybe he had slipped into a garage or an unlocked house and maybe he had phoned someone and gotten a ride. The point was they weren’t going to find him today.

Valerie completed her usual patrol shift. They rolled through the neighborhood where they had first seen Murke, stopping at Linda Seville’s empty house. Maybe the older woman was out of town.

As they stepped around from the house, Valerie suggested, “We might be able to catch up with Leroy Seville through his parole officer.”

Trevor nodded, unable to let go of his frustration. “That would be the next step.” Squaring his shoulders, he ambled toward his car.

Once he was behind the wheel, Valerie commented, “Both times today Murke was trying to get some food, and we kept him from eating.” She rested her head against the back of the seat. “Maybe we’ll just starve him out.”

Trevor laughed. He appreciated her being able to find humor in the situation, but Murke was still on the run. “I thought Murke would skip town after he saw us this morning. Wonder what’s keeping him here, risking being caught?”

Valerie shook her head. “You said he lived here when he was a teenager?”

“Yeah, and he’s come back more than once,” Trevor said.

“My brother David works undercover. He’s in touch with some of the shadier people around Sagebrush. He might know something.”

So her brother was a cop, too. “I’d like to talk to him.”

“We’re having a family barbecue tonight. You’re welcome to come.”

Social gatherings really weren’t his thing, but he was anxious to heat up the trail that led to Murke. After all, there would be no justice for Cory Smith’s death until Murke was caught. “I might do that.”

She let out a heavy sigh and stared at the ceiling. “I can’t wait to get out of this uniform. I smell like an Italian restaurant.”

He drove across town and parked in front of her house. The patrol car that was supposed to be her off-duty protection hadn’t shown up yet. He raced around to her side of the car and helped her out. He stayed close to her as they crossed the street. As close as he could get with Lexi between them.

In a lot of ways, she was a good cop, even if she was a rookie. “I appreciate the work you did today. How did you know Murke was on that side of the street?”

They came to her door. “I thought it would be better if I got out of the car and was ready for him.” She looked up at him without blinking, her green eyes bright and clear. “I know you told me to stay in the car, but sitting on the sidelines is not what a cop does.”

The expression on her face sent a charge through him. “You showed good instincts,” he murmured.

“Thank you.” When she smiled, her freckles seemed more intense.

The glow of appreciation in her voice made his heart leap.

She leaned toward him. “Guess I’ll see you later for the barbecue.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Your night watch isn’t here yet. I’ll be parked right along the curb.”

“I appreciate that.” She opened the door and slipped inside.

As the door eased shut, he could hear the sound of Mrs. Witherspoon’s fussing over Valerie, Bethany’s gleeful cry and Valerie exclaiming, “There’s my girl.”

Trevor returned to his car and settled in. He had some calls he needed to make. He scanned the neighborhood, which was a mixture of apartment buildings and single-family homes. Things looked pretty settled, but that didn’t mean he could let his guard down. Twice Lexi came to the window and looked out at him, resting her paws on the windowsill.

That dog just didn’t know what to make of him.

As he pulled his laptop out and worked through the late afternoon, he found himself looking forward to the barbecue and being with Valerie. What was it about her that was getting under his skin?

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