Page 38 of Lone Star Protector

Chapter Thirteen

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“The sonofabitch is dead,” Caroline heard Nash mutter.

He sounded both shocked and comforted. A combination of emotions that Caroline completely understood. Because she was having a similar one as she stared at the dead man’s face.

Bodie.

“He’s dead,” Caroline managed to say. “Bodie’s really dead.”

It certainly looked like it anyway, she tried to look at the scene with an objective eye. Hard to do when she was feeling a whole lot of relief right now. Relief that was short-lived though when Nash said something to shatter the moment.

“It’s been set up to look like a suicide,” Nash remarked.

Slade made a sound of agreement. “But the angle is off for the placement of the gun. Hard to kill yourself with a rifle and then have the gun and body land on the ground like that.”

Caroline volleyed glances at both of them while the image was still frozen on the screen. “So, who would…”

She stopped because she immediately realized who could have done this.

“Jordana,” she spat out. But she stopped again and shook her head. “Why kill him and then come here?”

“To try to establish an alibi,” Nash was quick to say. “She could have been in those woods with him, and maybe Bodie said or did something to piss her off, and she shot him.”

“Yes,” Caroline muttered, and she recalled the way the woman had bashed her hand against the steering wheel when Nash had mentioned the term of endearment that Bodie had used in his text.

There had been a lot of rage there.

Rage that Jordana could have directed at her husband if Bodie had said something to his wife about that darlin’ or his feelings for Caroline.

“Why don’t you go ahead and get Caroline out of here?” Slade offered Nash. “Take her to my place on the lake so she can have a little time to deal with this before she has to face the cops and give a statement. I can let Ruby and the cops know what’s going on as well.”

Nash looked at her, and he couldn’t nod fast enough. Probably because he could see there was no possible way she was ready to do an interview or be questioned. Added to that, the police would likely be focusing on getting to the body.

The body.

Those two words were really starting to sink in. Bodie was dead. He was no longer a threat.

But was Jordana?

Maybe with Bodie gone, she would give up on finishing what Bodie had started eighteen years ago. If Jordana was behind this, that is. It was still possible that Eddie or Leland was involved, though they personally couldn’t have been the ones to fire those shots since they’d been at the police station at the time.

Caroline pushed thoughts of that aside when Nash picked up the bags from the console and turned to her. It felt as if she were on autopilot as Nash led her out of the van and to his vehicle. They got in his SUV and drove away just as the gates opened to let in the cops.

Or rather the cop.

It was a lone uniformed officer in the cruiser. He didn’t try to stop them, which meant Slade had likely explained to him what was going on. Caroline was betting that Slade had also called for more officers, maybe someone from Maverick Ops, too, to go in and recover Bodie’s body.

“Slade’s lake house is only about fifteen miles away,” Nash let her know.

Good. Not far. And it wouldn’t take them long to get there at the speed that Nash was driving. Then, it occurred to her why he was going so fast. He probably thought she was on the verge of a total meltdown.

“I’m okay,” she spelled out for him. “Maybe a little in shock, but I’m okay. I, uh…feel free,” Caroline settled for saying.

But then she had to consider what this might be doing to Nash. After all, he’d just learned his brother was dead.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

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