trained, well respected. Did someone just want to tarnish his reputation? Try to force him out? Keep him off the job for a few days?
It’s a game, and you know how much Elise likes to play games.
The security panel beeped. Lucy looked at the tablet, saw a familiar figure walking up to the door while a taxi disappeared from view. She blinked, unsure if her eyes weren’t deceiving her.
She ran to the door, flung it open just as her brother knocked.
“Patrick?”
“Lucy.” He stepped in, closed the door, and hugged her. “I would have been here earlier, but I was flying standby and stuck in Dallas waiting for a transfer. I almost rented a car and drove.”
She couldn’t believe he was here, standing here, in her foyer. She hadn’t seen him since Thanksgiving—six months ago. They’d had a great weekend, but they didn’t get to see each other often enough.
“Why are you here?”
“Why? Jack didn’t tell you I was coming?”
She shook her head. “I haven’t talked to him since he landed in Monterrey to search for Kane.”
“When he found out that Nate was in trouble, he asked me to help. I’d do anything for you and Sean, you know that.”
Tears threatened, but she pushed them back. She led Patrick to the kitchen, where Nate and Aggie were cleaning up after their impromptu dinner. “You remember Nate.”
“Of course.”
“Aggie, this is my brother Patrick. Aggie Jensen is with the DEA. She’s been working the drug angle. Her primary suspect was gunned down tonight.”
“I talked to Dillon before I left D.C. He’ll be here Monday night if Sean doesn’t make bail. He’s testifying in a trial and can’t get out of it since he’s the expert witness.”
“Sean will make bail. He’s innocent.”
“I know.”
Lucy didn’t know why she was so relieved to hear that.
“But even so, bail on a capital case isn’t guaranteed. Did you see him today?”
“He was questioned all day—his lawyer told me tomorrow. Visiting hours start at ten. Rick Stockton worked with the Houston chief of police to make sure that Sean was in the federal administrative jail for the weekend. It’s safer for him—not only because it’s a federal facility. If someone set him up because they wanted to kill him, he’s not going to be at the jail they’d expect.”
“Good. I’m here to do anything you need. Jack said Jesse needs protection. I assume that’s why Nate is here. I can drive you to Houston tomorrow.”
“My lawyer was going to—he’s friends with Jack, a former cop. I’ll be there all weekend.”
“Because you’re going to investigate Mona Hill’s murder.”
“Of course I am. Houston isn’t going to do it.”
“Then you need backup, and a lawyer isn’t going to cut it.”
“Thank you.” She hugged him again, not realizing how much she needed her family right now. “I’ll call Garrett and tell him.”
The security panel beeped again. Nate looked at the display. “SAPD,” he grumbled. “Two cops and a suit.”
It was close to midnight. What were they doing here?
Lucy feared the worst. That they were coming to tell her that something happened to Sean in jail. That he was hurt … that he was dead.
She ran to the door and flung it open, Patrick right behind her.
“Agent Lucy Kincaid Rogan?” one of the officers said.
“Yes. What happened?”
The “suit” as Nate said was a tall female impeccably dressed. She said, “I’m Delia Fortuna with the district attorney’s office. I’m here to inform you that there is an emergency restraining order against you for the next seventy-two hours. You cannot contact Elise Hunt, or go within one thousand feet of her person.”
“What the hell?” Patrick said.
The ADA asked, “Who are you, sir?”
“Her brother.”
“Agent Kincaid,” Fortuna said, ignoring Patrick, “Ms. Hunt claimed that you harassed her and threatened her at a gasoline station, and she produced a witness who corroborated her story.”
“That is not true.”
“Ms. Hunt’s lawyer and her psychologist also submitted sworn statements that you threatened her in court and during interrogation when she was being questioned two years ago, and that you have consistently threatened and intimidated her over the last two years. I have written up the accusations.”
“I’m an FBI agent. I questioned Elise in the course of a murder investigation.”
“Judge Axelrod signed the restraining order, you can go before the court on Monday to contest it, otherwise it will be extended for a year.”
Axelrod. She was suspected of being on the take, had been for years. She’d given Elise her original sentence of a group home—she escaped en route—and then Axelrod bought her