Page 17 of Special Agent Anastacia

“Fucking A, kiddo. I know you’re supposed to be taking care of your cousin, but I’m not too proud to admit I might need your know-how. I ain’t had to deal with this type of serious crime for years.”

Ana shook her head, her expression tough. “Sad to say, I have.”

Dave patted her arm. “I’d hate to ruin your vacation with your relative.”

“Not to worry. She’s as upset about this situation as I am. Look, let me go over the records you’ve made. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can see what others missed. Did you get any information from the locals who might have passed by or seen anything?”

“No one’s come forward, not yet anyway. I’ll be going door to door today. Get as much info as I can on any strangers that folks might have run into.”

Before Ana could offer to take half the list, a tall man entered and strode forward, his face unsmiling. Obviously worried and in no mood to be put off, he broke up their discussion. Not paying attention to Ana, he marched directly toward Dave, his hand held ready to shake.

“Hi. I’m Nash Ralph, Maria Ralph’s son. I understand from Maria that there was a shooting at the store, and Lew is in the hospital. I wanted to speak with you about what happened.”

Standing back, watching the male bonding, Ana felt herself bristling. It was the same asshole who’d pestered her on the road when they’d driven here. Listening to his opening spiel to Dave, it bothered her that he didn’t call Maria mom and yet he said he was her son. Maybe she was old-fashioned, but the lack of respect seemed wrong. Shaking off her silliness, she stopped thinking that way. Truth was… a lot of kids referred to their parents by their first names and many times it was the choice of the parent. Meant nothing.

Eavesdropping in on the conversation, she hovered outside their circle and realized that for some crazy reason, the pushy guy just got her dander up as her dad used to say. Deciding she’d come back later; she made it to the door before Dave called her back.

“Ana. Wait up. I want to introduce you to Maria’s boy. Nash Ralph this is one of our locals, FBI Special Agent Anastacia Marchenko.”

Why Dave had to go and use her full title, she could only surmise it as being pride in her achievement. Whatever, she hadn’t made her escape and would now have to be polite. After all, the guy’s mom was important to her, even if she could give a damn about her rude son.

“Nice to meet you.” She held out her hand with a token smile that faded quickly. “I’m sorry about Lew. It’s been a really hard time for your ahh… mom?”

“She’s actually my aunt, but she raised me after my parents died when I was ten. Then she adopted me. She’s the only family I have… her and Lew. The sheriff just said you were first on the scene.”

“Not really. Your aunt got there before us. We – my cousin and I – showed up soon after to see her freaking out at finding Lew shot. Poor woman. The shock hasn’t worn off yet, and it’s making her crazy. She needs you.”

As she started to turn away, Ana looked back at Dave and reiterated, “You want an extra pair of hands, I’ll help all I can. Send me those files. You have my email address, right?”

“Will do. And I’d appreciate if you could return after lunch. We can parley the details then. I work better when I can bounce ideas off another person.” The phone rang and apologizing, Dave picked up the call.

“Sure. See you then.” Ana nodded at the hovering man and turned to leave.

Before she could grab the knob to open the door, his large hand beat her to it, and a male voice sounded too close for comfort. “Thanks, Sheriff. I’ll be back too.”

Chapter Thirteen

Nash followed Ana from the small jail building and blocked her way before she could get to her SUV. “I have a few questions I need answers to, and it looks like you’re the person who was there and best able to bring me up-to-date on what happened.”

Sensing her lack of response, he added, “Look, I’m sorry if I broke up your discussion with the sheriff earlier. Let me make up for it and take you for lunch. We can talk there.”

“Thanks, but I can’t. I have to get back to the hospital. Might be better for you to be with your aunt… takeherfor lunch.” Her tone sound bitchy as hell and she instantly felt embarrassed at the nastiness.What the fuck is wrong with me?

He backed up. “Hey, lady. I looked in at the hospital and was told that my aunt is finally resting. They gave her something and decided it’s best for her not to be disturbed for now. So.. about that lunch, let’s forget it.” He started to move past her.

Nash didn’t get angry very often. Hardly ever. But this time he was pissed. Why the hell this woman behaved as if he had a badcase of lice, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t in the mood to play games today of all days.

Suddenly it hit him, and he stopped. It was her… the woman in the SUV on the side of the road. The one he’d tried to help. He scanned her closely and knew in his gut she was the same person. Just as he went to say something about their previous meeting, she shocked the hell out of him.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. That was shitty, and I didn’t mean it. Yes. For lunch. I’m starving. Only cafe open this time of the day is the 365 Pub. Okay with you?”

Hesitating for just a second, he gave in, shoved the blackness away, and spoke in a carefully monitored tone, hiding his mood. “Fine. Lead me to it.”

Once they were both settled with cups of aromatic, hot, black coffee, and their orders had been taken, Ana folded her hands around her ceramic mug and said, “So, what do you want to ask me?”

“Does the sheriff have any idea who might have shot Lew? Has the dude pissed anyone off or gotten into any arguments with customers lately? Or anyone owe him money he tried to collect? Hell, what reasons could there be for someone to shoot him. Was it even personal?”

“I guess you didn’t get a chance to talk to Maria. When we found her, she was so shattered, she didn’t make much sense… other than to say he had no enemies. We believe Lew returned to the store earlier than usual. The night before, he’d told her that he had bookwork that needed to get done. Lew was always an early riser, often complained about being an insomniac and had trouble getting a decent night’s sleep. We think he got to the store well before opening, interrupted a break-in, and two male suspects beat him up.”

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