Page 6 of Badges
My fucking noggin is killing me as I trudge into my office.
Between the rolling in my gut and the violent need to hit something, I settle for pulling out a bottle of whiskey from the drawer of my desk.
It ain’t a habit, but today it’s a necessity.
I’m itching to talk to either Blue or Ford about this. They both know the history.
But of course I can’t.
Poor Blue. I hope he’s okay. Dixon seemed pretty confident, yet it’s hard not to worry.
And Ford’s out of town. Shit, outta the country on his wedding trip.
Sometimes I hate being the one in charge. There’s a line of assholes a mile long waiting for me to fuck up.
Slamming doors startles me out of my thoughts. My rough palm runs over my face, and I pause to stroke down the ruffled whiskers of my beard.
Is that girl really responsible for the last few years of chaos? How did Maria let Elena slip so far?
The woman I remember would have never let this happen. Maria was firm, but loving. She wore her heart on her sleeve and loved that little girl more than anything.
It’s the only reason she stood up for herself against that worthless tick she had for a husband.
Paige is likely just about done with getting Elena through booking.
Rolling the bottom of the glass against the worn wood ring next to my keyboard doesn’t make this any easier as I flirt with the idea of another drink.
Nah.
Later.
I might pull one of Ford’s tricks and go drown at Val’s for a few hours. Let the town cops deal with me if I feel like blowing off some steam.
“Putting the cart before the horse,” I grumble to myself.
I punch in Elena’s name into the computer. With the kind of mayhem she’s made the last few weeks.
Months.
Shit, did she have something to do with Mason’s cattle going missing too? Blue connected the dots to all the hassles being tied back to his ranch.
That stokes a blaze of rage.
People havedied.
No priors except a couple of small traffic infractions?
Wait, out of the foster system? And she’s…twenty-two?
She would have aged out at eighteen. So Maria passed at least four years ago.
God damn that stings.
A small speeding ticket two years ago, and a failure to yield last winter.
Both of those in Texas. And the dates are near enough to the major events here that it clears her.
Okay, little girl. You didn’t do that shit, but—
