Joe agreed. “Messy.”
“Very messy.” She smiled, no longer adrenaline-fogged from earlier.
Because with family around, Jane was unstoppable.
And it was time the Mazzucas, and whoever else was out to get her, realized that.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“I would have toldyou two, but it just happened.” Jane didn’t know why she had to keep apologizing. The guys had let her sleep it off the night before, but Thursday afternoon, they expected details on everything.
“Okay, Joe’s being a little pushy.” Hal gave him a look that seemed to calm Joe down. Joe could get super protective, but that was part of what Jane loved about him. He very much put family first. “But we’re concerned. We had to hear from Raine about your assassination attempt at the gas station.”
“They didn’t send an assassin after me. But he worked for the Mazzucas. And I’m not sure those events were connected, but that wasn’t too long after my near run-down at the bar. But again,” she said hurriedly before Joe interrupted, “I couldn’t be certain that was tied to the Mazzucas. I’m still not. Though I am wondering if maybe Scott had something to do with the gas station. Are you sure you can’t find anything tying him to the Mazzucas?”
Jane still secretly wondered if her fixation on Matthew Scott’s guilt wasn’t just because she disliked him.
“You saw what I dug up on him. And I went deep.” Hal shrugged. “There’s just not much there. He’s a Boy Scout.”
They all sat at the kitchen island, taking a water break after an earlier jog. Jane had needed the run to clear her mind, and Joe refused to let her go by herself, even at home on the ranch. But when she’d asked Hal for help with her overprotective guard, he’d told her that he would have done the same if he didn’t dislike running so much.
“I know you went deep. I just don’t like the guy. I think I want him to be guilty.” She laid her head down on the table, frustrated.
“Look, you’ve gone as far as you can go on both cases you’re working, right? Let’s brainstorm,” Hal suggested.
“Or shoot things.”
They both regarded Joe with humor.
“Go shoot something, Joe. I’ll stay here, under guard, and talk to Hal.”
Joe sagged in relief. “Thank God. If I had to listen to you two yammer about more conspiracies without just taking out the problem, I’d lose it.” He left in a huff.
Jane stared after him. “I’m a little worried about this sudden desire to shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Part of the problem might be that he learned his niece is dating an older guy his cousin?—”
“Which cousin?”
“Penny.”
“Oh, I like her.”
“Well, Penny hates her daughter’s boyfriend. Joe doesn’t like him much either, but Joe can’t say anything because Shantelle will freak out on him as only a sixteen-year-old can.”
She understood. “I guess I’m the placeholder for all his protective tendencies, huh?”
“Well, you know he considers you family.” Shantelle wasn’t actually Joe’s niece but his first cousin once removed. Joe didn’tcare. He kept it simple. If he loved you, labels didn’t much matter.
Hal added, “Just cut him some slack. He cares about you. Plus, I don’t think you’ve ever been in this much danger when we were both here to do something about it.”
“Okay, I’ll admit you have a point there.” She knew she’d do whatever it took to help either of them, though her skills didn’t quite match theirs. Her talents lay in the ability to trap and track, not kill.
“So what are you going to do next?” he asked.
“I need to find Dan Simmons’ killer. I need to figure out why someone wants me out of the way so badly. I wasn’t the only one involved in the Mazzuca case. It was the entire unit. So why target me?”
“How do you know the others haven’t been targeted?”
