Page 29 of Lone Star Protector

“And he did that so you could take him money, a phone, and a knife that you had with you,” Malley countered.

Eddie wasn’t so quick to answer this time. He looked at his lawyer, who answered for him. “Those were all my client’s personal items. He had no intentions of giving them to the escapee.”

“Uh huh,” Malley repeated. “That isn’t what your client told Ruby Maverick, Caroline Maverick, and Nash McKenna when the three of them found him in the woods.”

“My client was rattled,” the lawyer insisted, not missing a beat. “Terrified actually since those three were heavily armed and had a menacing presence. My client misspoke, but he never intended to help the escapee. That would be against the law,” he tacked onto that.

“Yeah, it would,” Malley muttered and leaned back in his chair. “So, help me with some insight here about Bodie, since you consider him like a brother and all. Is Bodie the jealous sort?”

Ah, Nash knew where this was going, but Eddie and the lawyer just looked confused by the question.

“I mean, is Bodie jealous of Jordana?” Malley spelled out when neither Eddie nor the lawyer responded.

The confusion left Eddie’s face. “No.” He sighed and leaned forward as if telling a secret. “Look, Bodie married Jordana for her money. And the sex. That’s it. But he doesn’t love her. He still has a thing for Caroline.”

From the corner of his eye, Nash saw Caroline flinch, and he automatically moved closer to her. Hell. That was not something Nash had wanted to hear.

“Caroline, the woman Bodie tried to murder?” Malley commented.

“Yeah, her.” Eddie shrugged. “I don’t get it. I mean, she’s a looker all right, but it’s like Bodie’s obsessed with her. She’s the one who rejected him and all. The one he loved, and she threw that love back in his face.”

Caroline didn’t step away from Nash. Didn’t take her attention off the screen. But this had to feel like multiple hard blows.

“So, Bodie would be jealous of Caroline but not his wife?” Malley asked.

“Absolutely,” Eddie declared with total conviction.

Malley opened a folder and took out the picture. “Then Bodie wouldn’t care about you kissing his wife.” He slid the photo toward the two men.

Every drop of color vanished from Eddie’s face. “Fuck,” he muttered.

His lawyer immediately clamped onto his arm. “Don’t say another word,” he warned Eddie.

“I like that old saying,” Detective Malley threw out there. “You know, the one about a picture being worth a thousand words. And what a picture this is. If you look real close, you can see that Jordana is wearing the engagement ring she bought for Bodie to give her.”

“It was a mistake,” Eddie blurted, and he shook off the lawyer’s grip. “A mistake,” he added. “Jordana came onto me, and I gave in. It was stupid, yes, and I instantly regretted it.”

“Jordana came onto you,” Malley remarked, again with loads of skepticism. “Why would she do that when she was engaged?”

Eddie seemed to wither some under Malley’s suddenly intense stare. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask her. Personally, I think she did it because she was jealous of Bodie and me. Because Bodie and I were so close, and I think she wanted to put a wedge between us.”

“Uh huh,” Malley reacted. “And did she tell Bodie about this, uh, one off or whatever the heck it was?”

“No,” Eddie snapped, and a few seconds later, he repeated it in a mutter. “I don’t want Bodie to know either. There’s no reason for it.”

“My client and I need a moment,” the lawyer interrupted. “Cut the camera,” he said, looking up at it. “I don’t want you or your audience listening in on this.”

Malley nodded, stood and pressed something in the keypad next to the door. The screen immediately went blank.

Nash was thankful for the reprieve since he wanted to check on Caroline. That didn’t happen though. He’d barely made it a step toward her when his phone dinged with another text. Probably Ruby, wanting to see how Caroline was doing as well.

But it wasn’t.

Unknown Caller was on the screen.

“Maybe Leland again,” he muttered, and he opened the text.

And he cursed.

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