“I was. I was in the area picking up my children at the…sitters’…and was alerted that Major Crimes’ assistance was needed. If you have any questions, there will be official reports available tomorrow, I am sure.” Miguel’s tone was ice cold. Everyone knew he and Stillman had had problems before. Stillman was in charge of the entire TSP IA divisions state-wide. He’d been the head of Finley Creek’s IA until four years ago, before he was promoted.
Newcomb tried to ask another question, but he stopped when Miguel just glared at him. Miguel was…good at intimidation. “Chief Marshall will be coordinating information via his office accordingly.”
It was a brush off, and they all knew it. A hot hand landed on Madison’s shoulder. She was gently pulled away from Stillman and his cronies. Much like Miguel had pulled Hope closer to him.
Madison looked at the man standing beside her. He and Miguel had shifted protectively, closer. No one had missed it. Or what it meant. She shivered. Miguel and Dom were some seriously intimidating male creatures, that was for sure.
Newcomb smirked right at her. There was something about his blue eyes that seriously creeped her out. She’d seen those eyes in someone else’s face before. She was sure of it. Something about the lack of a soul made that perfectly clear. She couldn’t remember where. “Ms. McAlister…”
Newcomb turned to Hope. He stared at her for a moment. “Miss….Coleson—Ihopeyour sister recovers quickly. There are many in Wichita Falls who are thinking of her…well-being…now.”
“Sure you—“ Hope started. Mention of Heather was all it took to have Hope almost snarling again. No surprise there.
“Doctor,” Miguel said, his hand covering Hope’s shoulder opposite of the side where she’d been shot. “They areDoctorColeson and Doctor McAlister, Ernie. Keep that in mind. And I amsureI speak for all of the Finley Creek post when we say Heather’s well-being is at the top ofourlist of concerns.”
No one could miss the warning in that beautiful man’s tone. Of course, Newcomb and his buddies backed off. Who wouldn’t?
Madison stood there, practically shoulder-to-shoulder with Hope, the two men beside them, as they waited. Winkler and Stillman had both worked at the Finley Creek post at one point or another. Something about them had always made her skin crawl.
Of course they would be here tonight. They had to think of the optics, after all. A major break-through in a TSP case, one that involved wealthy people like Powell and her family—the Barratts were the wealthiest family in Texas. Something tied to the most affluent neighborhood in Texas… And with Heather directly related to the governor of Texas’s wife…of course.
They would be there to play the concerned role. It was a political game to all of them. Never mind that it was real people’s lives.
And the three were just slimy enough to want to beseenright now. Especially with three TSP detectives, including Daniel McKellen, only heir to the McKellen fortune, injured. That was all this was to them—a way to get seen. Politics were just games to people like this—and they didn’t care who got hurt in the meantime. Didn’t care who was…collateral.
Men like these disgusted her.
Dom shifted next to her. His warmth surrounded her.
These men weren’t like Dom and his friends. As much as Dom drove her crazy, the caveman was exactly what he appearedto be. And he would rip off his right arm himself if it meant protecting someone he cared about. Just like Miguel.
Theywere the good men her mother had always promised her were out there somewhere. Madison shifted slightly in front of Hope. There was just something in the way the three men were looking at the younger woman tonight.
It just felt sowrong.And like it would never be right again.
24
Of course,she’d fall apart after it was all over. Madison had stayed at the hospital with the Barratts until word had come that everyone was at least stable for the night. Gunnar and Daniel were in the same room now, and Heather was nearby. The Colesons were taking turns staying with her, and someone was sitting with Daniel, too. Powell wasn’t going to budge from Gunnar’s side.
Everyone on their side was alive. It freaked her out to even think that this was aside.It sounded so wrong to even think about human lives like that. But the good people were safe and recovering—and they had half of the bad people in jail where they belonged. It was at least some sort of progress, right?
She just stood there in the middle of the house her mom shared with Vince and Max and shivered. She should have gone home—but Madison just…had found herself here tonight. She needed to be with the people she loved, and her mom had insisted she ride home with her from the hospital tonight. Madison had ridden in with the ERT team. They were still out at the scene, she thought. She’d…join them in the morning.
“Madison, look at me.” Her mother was there, right in front of her. So beautiful—her mom had always been the most beautiful woman in the world to her. She had the kindest soul of anyone Madison had ever known. “Everyone is okay now. You are going to go rest.”
“I—“ She wasn’t going to freak out now. Not in front of her family. Max was in his room. She doubted he knew anything about what had happened tonight. Madison was going to keep it that way. What had happened to her and Hope a few weeks ago had upset him enough as it was. Max hated her job, hated the personal cost of it. She’d almost died before, with the choir hall shooting. Max had just been a young teenager then. She knew he worried about her and Dom every day. They’d lost their father when Max had been so young—he worried for her and Dom now. She didn’t want to upset him again. “I am okay, Mom. I’m…it was a long, horrible night.”
“Yes, it was. And I am sure tomorrow will bring its own struggles. You have clothes in the spare room. Go take another shower—a hot one; I’ll make you something to eat. You are going to eat it, and then you are going straight to bed. Vince stopped off and grabbed your cat. We’ll keep her for a few days, while you’re going to be busy. Everything will beokay.”
Her mother gave her thelookthat meant Madison wasn’t going to be able to argue at all.
Madison let her mother take charge. Just for a little bit. She had to be back at the TSP in eight hours. To start going through everything that had been brought in tonight. If she’d even be allowed to work on the case, considering how everything tied into what had happened to her before.
Everything was tied to that crime ring. Everything.
And she didn’t know what was going to happen next.
She thought of all the possible scenarios while she showered. She’d just pulled on a pair of sweats and T-shirt, when she heard someone in the hallway outside the door.
