Page 45 of Lone Star Protector

She had to change that.

She couldn’t let Bodie beat her. Not after she’d come so far in recovering from what he’d done to her.

Caroline forced her attention back to the drone feed, where she could now see Slade moving away from the body. He was no doubt hurrying to his vehicle so he could then go looking for Bodie. She prayed Slade or someone else would find him right away.

Maybe Bodie had stayed near the body, and Slade would spot him. But she immediately had to rethink that. There’d be no reason for Bodie to do that. In fact, there was an even bigger reason for him to be far, far away from the body.

So he couldn’t be caught.

If he’d simply wanted to see the reactions of the responders, then he could have set up a camera. And he might have done just that. He could be watching right now, just as she was.

“Is everything secure there?” Slade asked.

“It is,” Nash verified. “I’ll contact Ruby and get a team out—”

“No, I’ll contact Ruby,” Slade interrupted. “You take care of Caroline. How is she… Never mind. Stupid assed question. I already know how she is. She’s shaken to the core.”

Yeah. She was, and Caroline figured that applied to all three of them and soon to Ruby as well since she’d been worried for her daughter’s safety.

“Try to track down Jordana, Eddie, and Leland,” Slade advised. “Because either they’re targets or possible accomplices.”

Nash muttered a quick agreement and ended the call, immediately turning back toward her. “I want you to use the second computer on Slade’s desk,” he instructed, his words surprisingly calm. That calmness probably didn’t extend beneath the surface, though. “Spock will help you access the feed from traffic cameras and show you how to apply facial recognition.”

Caroline nearly asked him if this was busy work, something to keep her mind off Bodie being alive. But even if it was a task merely meant to stop her from panicking, it might help. It would especially help if she managed to spot Jordana, Leland or Eddie because Bodie might be near one of them.

Or after them.

Because Slade was right about them being potential targets.

“My guess is Bodie will try to kill Leland,” Nash went on, taking the words right out of her mouth.

He took hold of her arm and led her to the desk. He then eased her into the chair and moved a laptop in front of her.

“You mean because Jordana would then inherit everything, and then Bodie could kill her?” she asked.

“Exactly. Because I’m not buying that he’s in love with her.”

Nash picked up the laptop he’d been on earlier for the reports and moved both it and a chair next to her. She was glad he’d done that. Caroline wanted him close right now. Needed to draw some of his strength so she could focus.

“And Eddie?” Nash went on. “Bodie could plan to kill him, too. He set up that body for a reason. Probably to buy him some time. Maybe to get his targets to relax a bit and come out in the open.”

Caroline had to suppress a shiver at that thought. Bodie could have been waiting for them on the road when they drove here. Then again, maybe he’d been waiting in the other direction, which is the way they would have gone had she decided to stay with her mother. Perhaps Bodie decided he’d have a fifty-fifty chance of catching them, and if that was the case, it pleased her that he’d been wrong.

“Spock, load the live feed for any traffic cameras within a twenty-mile radius of Caroline’s house, mine, and here. Ruby’s too,” he added. “Put the feed on both the wall monitor and laptop number two.”

Caroline glanced at him, her eyebrow now raised. “For Bodie to cover all those places, he’d need help. More help than just Jordana.”

“He would,” Nash agreed, “but we don’t know if he’s getting assistance from someone like Eddie. Maybe another felon who thinks of him as fondly as Eddie does. Ruby did a report on all of Bodie’s recent visitors, and a couple of names popped of men who’d served time with Bodie before their releases. She’s trying to track them down.”

Good. Caroline wanted all angles covered. Anything that would lead them back to Bodie.

The traffic feed loaded on the screens. Not from just one camera but from four. The images were in a split view on the laptop, and Caroline started pouring through them. She’d never even seen footage from a traffic camera, but she could spot the vehicles in range of the lens.

“Focus on looking at the faces in the vehicles,” Nash told her. “Since we don’t know what any of them will be driving.”

True. So, that’s what she did, and the sea of faces sped by. She soon realized this was like finding a needle in a fast-moving haystack.

“I could easily miss one of them,” she muttered.

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