“Why did it occur to you it was Rocco?”
“He was always around. He blended in in his way even for a big guy. He’s been more chatty than normal. I don’t know. Something just clicked it was him and my gut said we were short on time.”
“Damn straight.”
Ford pulled Rocco up and read him his rights and brought him out of the shed.
“Do you want to get in the ambulance or have me drive you?” she asked, her hand holding his as they sat on the ground.
He pushed back and stood. “You can take me. I’m not riding with him.”
She helped Rory up and put her arm around him. He felt strong enough to talk now, but his throat was killing him. At least he was breathing.
Two attacks in a week were enough to last him a lifetime.
But it was over. Finally done.
The ambulance had pulled up and was loading Rocco in, another deputy following behind and one with Rocco inside. The big guy was crying now.
“How did we get here?” she asked Ford. “No one saw that. Not that he was Daniel’s son or that he was capable of doing it.”
“He confessed it to me,” Rory said. “Fuck.” He felt his eyes fill. “He wanted me to know what she was feeling as he killed her, then in the next statement said he didn’t want to do it.”
Gale hugged him tight, Ford putting his hand on his shoulder. “We got him now,” Ford said.
“Yeah,” he said, clearing his throat.
“Stay here with Ford,” she said. “I’m going to get Clay’s truck to bring you and I’m texting Blaze now to make sure you are seen as if you came in the ambulance.”
He watched her dash off in her heels.
“Did she really shoot him? I didn’t imagine that?”
“She did,” Ford said, shaking his head.
“And now you’ve got to answer for it, don’t you?”
“It will be fine,” Ford said. “She was smart enough to shoot to disarm and not kill. I would have done the same, but I was aiming at his arms.”
“Rocco made some comment about a leg injury prior. I wonder if that caused his uneven footprints.”
“He was a year older than me. A few years younger than Kane. I don’t remember him being hurt, but I don’t know. We’ve got enough to put him away.”
“Check his keys,” he said. It’s as if it just occurred to him. “He was holding them by some string. Not really holding it completely, but his hands were on it. It’s not blue, but years of dirt and grime may have changed it. I’ll put money on those being the missing pieces to Rene’s ankle bracelet.”
In plain sight for everyone to see, was the trophy of his sister’s murder.
He gagged and then spit.
“Are you alright?” Ford said. “Let’s get you on the ground.”
“No,” he said. “I’m ill over the thought of it all. Just fucking nauseous. Everything.”
Gale came around the corner and Ford helped him into the truck, then she took off for the hospital, reminding him to remove his gun and keep it in the truck.
He was rushed in just as she said she was going to make sure of and was lying in a bed, waiting for Blaze.
“My heart is finally slowing down,” she said. “Not much, but a little. I thought I was going to lose you.”
