“Yeah? At the moment, I’ve got nothing but time.”
Bran explained about the Feds showing up in Houston to question Michael and at Pia’s place in Miami, and how worried Michael had been about her.
“He needed to see his woman. He’s our brother, right? So I took him to Miami, and she came back with him.”
“Since we can’t be sure what’s going on or who might be in danger, it’s probably good she’s here. Does Michael know what happened last night? About the fire and the attempt to abduct his sister?”
“I filled him in after I talked to Maddox. You think whoever did it’ll make a run at Michael?”
“I don’t know. Might be a good idea if you got him and Pia out of town, somewhere safe.”
“I’ll talk to him. Maybe I could take them to the ranch.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. The Garrett Ranch was off the grid on two thousand acres of prime Texas Hill Country, and reasonably secure. If needed, they could schedule additional guards to patrol the property.
“Call Reese. Find out when the company jet is available. Have him send it to Houston to pick you up.”
“Good idea. Give Harper a hug and take care of yourself. Later, bro.” Brandon hung up the phone.
Chase glanced up at Harper and ignored a rush of heat he couldn’t do a damn thing about. She had changed into skinny jeans and a soft peach cashmere sweater with a turtleneck collar. Long blond hair gleamed around her shoulders and teased her cheeks.
He loved her sense of style, her sleek looks and toned, feminine body. Hell, he loved a lot of things about Harper Winston. It had taken him way too long to figure that out. Or maybe he had known it all along.
“We have company,” Harper said. “Detective Ford is here.”
Chase blew out a breath. Looked like Ford had answered his call in person. Chase had yet to give the police his statement of events last night. Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone.
Ford walked in, a tall man, his sport coat a little wrinkled but his dark hair freshly trimmed. “I went by the hospital, but you’d already been discharged. How are you feeling?”
“I’ve had better days. You able to ID any of the shooters involved last night?”
“We’re working on it. Two dead, one in the ICU who still hasn’t woken up after surgery. Looks like gangbangers, MS-13. Thugs for hire. We’re going over the Buick that crashed at the scene. Looks like the driver got away. We’re also looking at the black Suburban. No ID on the dead guy in the passenger seat. Probably an illegal. Maddox says you took him out.”
“That’s right.”
Ford reached into the pocket of his coat, took out a notepad and flipped it open. “You up to giving me your version of events?”
Not really, but he’d manage. “Sure. Maybe something I say will click with something you’ve learned.”
Heath nodded. “Let’s start at the beginning. The fire at Harper’s town house—which, by the way, is pretty much a total loss.”
Chase sighed. No surprise there.
“On the positive side, the fire department got there in time to save the other units. No damage to any of her neighbors.”
“Harper’ll be glad to hear it.” For the next half hour, Chase went over the details of the attempted abduction, beginning with the town house being firebombed and ending with Chase passing out in the street from loss of blood.
Ford closed his notebook. “So you’ve got no idea who’s behind this.”
He had every idea, but if it involved Knox Winston, which Chase was fairly sure it did, he didn’t want to do anything to screw up the DEA investigation.
And he had found out a long time ago, until you knew exactly what was going on, you didn’t want to give out information that might wind up biting you on the ass.
“The shooting was obviously self-defense, so you and Maddox are in the clear.”
A relief, but not unexpected.
Ford stood up from the deep leather chair he’d been sitting in next to the sofa. “One more thing. I’ve got news on the Dickerson case.”
