Page 12 of Lone Star Witness

“I find it odd that Stephanie would come across town and then spend less than two minutes with her husband,” Marise added a moment later. She motioned for him to follow her to the elevator, no doubt so she could be downstairs to meet the EMTs.

Yeah, that was odd. Then again, nearly everything about the woman fit into that category. “It was as if she came here to say or do something and then changed her mind when she saw me.”

Before he could add more, his phone dinged with a text just as they reached the bottom floor.

“It’s from Ruby,” he relayed. He thought maybe it would be a preliminary report on Stephanie. But it wasn’t. “It’s from the lab. They’ve already managed to enhance the photo of our rat-killing asshole.”

Marise moved closer, peering at the picture as Slade zoomed in on the guy’s face. She didn’t have much of a reaction.

But Slade sure as hell did.

“Shit,” Slade spat out. “I know him.”

Marise snapped toward him so fast that her neck popped. “You do? Who he is?”

Slade did a whole of cursing before he answered. “That’s Sonny McKenna. And he’s my father.”

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Chapter Four

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While she watched the EMTs load Colonel Rosa into an ambulance, Marise’s mind was spinning with everything that’d happened. And spinning, too, with what Slade and she had learned.

His father was the man in the photo.

The man who’d threatened Rosa and her and then had left the dead rat.

She had so many questions about Sonny’s involvement. For instance, had Sonny known about Rosa’s connection to Slade? And Slade’s connection to her? Or was Sonny’s involvement solely with Rosa until she had intervened by going to Rosa’s room to stop what could have turned into an altercation?

She simply didn’t know.

Slade no doubt had plenty of the same questions since shortly after getting the news, he’d stepped away from her to call his boss. He’d then continued the conversation after they’d gone downstairs to meet the ambulance. Continued it outside as well, though Slade had stayed on the porch while she’d accompanied Rosa to the ambulance.

Slade wasn’t doing a whole lot of actual talking, so Marise couldn’t tell what his boss was saying to him, but judging from his expression, he wasn’t getting any news he wanted to hear. Then again, probably nothing good could come from having his father resurface this way.

“I’ll visit you in the morning at the hospital,” Marise told the colonel as the EMTs finished putting him into the ambulance.

Rosa’s expression wasn’t any better than Slade’s, and she knew that wouldn’t improve once he learned that Slade’s father had been the notorious Mr. Smith. But Rosa would need to be questioned about that since Slade would need to be aware if there was a personal connection between Rosa and his dad.

Once the ambulance doors were closed and the EMTs drove away, she turned to go back to the porch where Slade was still pacing. However, just as she reached him, he ended the call.

“Are you okay?” she asked but then waved that off. “Silly question. Let’s go inside so I can make a call to SAPD to request a guard for Rosa’s hospital room.”

“Already done,” Slade provided. “Ruby took care of that. If SAPD doesn’t have the available manpower, she’ll send out someone from Maverick Ops.”

“Then, thank Ruby for me.” That was one thing she could check off her list. Good thing since there were two other serious things that had to be dealt with.

Slade and his creepy father.

“Ruby doesn’t want me on guard duty,” Slade added in a mutter. “She ordered me to go home and get some rest.”

“Then, thank Ruby for that, too, because she’s right. Come with me to my office so I can get my things, and I’ll go home with you.”

He lifted an eyebrow as he opened the door for her, and they went inside. “I thought I’d have to convince you to stay with me.”

“Nope. You might have a concussion, and since you’re too stubborn to go to the ER, I’ll be your nurse on duty. You’re sure you want to go to your place? We can go to mine if you prefer.”

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