Page 33 of Lone Star Witness

There was blood on the butterfly bandage on his head, telling Marise that he’d likely reopened the cut in the struggle. He’d probably aggravated his sore ribs as well.

“Spock, call 911,” Slade ordered. “I want the cops out here right away to arrest Mrs. Hutton for attempted murder.”

Annalisa obviously heard that, and the realization of what she’d done must have sunk in. The fight seemed to leave her body. She let out a loud sob and went limp on the floor. Slade still didn’t move his foot off her, though.

“I didn’t kill Hutton,” Rosa muttered, maybe to Annalisa. Maybe to himself. “Why did you think I had?”

“Because you did kill him,” Annalisa insisted. “Stephanie said so. She said she put you in that mental hospital place to protect you, so you wouldn’t be arrested.”

Rosa groaned, stepped away from her and went to the sofa. He sat, burying his face in his hands.

“ETA for a county deputy’s arrival is fifteen minutes,” Spock announced. “And you have more visitors. Your brother, Jericho, and Maverick Ops’ trainee, Jace Malley. Should I open the gate for them?”

“Do that,” Slade agreed, and he checked the monitor, maybe to make sure it was indeed his brother. He continued to watch it until the van stopped in front of his house, and the two men got out.

Slade must have been satisfied this wasn’t another threat because he moved closer to press his foot against Annalisa’s back.

“If you move or try to attack us again, I will stop you,” he snarled at the woman.

Moments later, Jericho appeared in the doorway, and while he wasn’t a carbon copy of Slade, there was a strong family resemblance with the black hair and stellar looks. Over the years, Marise had gotten to know both Jericho and Nash well enough, and she watched Jericho now as he took in the scene.

The knife on the floor.

Slade’s foot on Annalisa.

A distraught Colonel Rosa on the sofa.

“You lead an interesting life, brother,” Jericho muttered. “And you’re bleeding.” He tipped his head to the butterfly bandage. “Good thing you’ve got your own personal nurse here.”

With that, Jericho grinned at Marise in his cocky, flirty way that only a rock star and he could have managed. He went to her, hugged her, and then moved back, hiking his thumb in the direction of the man behind him.

“Jace Malley,” Jericho said. “This is Marise Brennan, former combat nurse and smokin’ hot friend of my brother, Slade.” Jericho put friend in air quotes.

Marise was about to insist that the air quotes weren’t needed, but then she thought of that kissing session that Slade and she had just had before the colonel’s arrival. While Marise didn’t believe she actually qualified as smokin’ hot, those kisses certainly had been.

She shook Jace’s hand while he glanced around the room in a sweeping pattern. Taking it all in. He was a stark contrast to Jericho. Blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and an intensity that seem to scream some kind of police background. He reminded her of a modern-day Viking warrior.

“The woman on the floor attacked you?” Jace asked.

Marise nodded. “She’s Annalisa Hutton, and her main target was Colonel Rosa.” She motioned toward him. “Annalisa thought he’d murdered her husband.”

“The body that was found earlier in a shallow grave,” Jace muttered. “Since Slade doesn’t have the colonel in restraints, I’m guessing that means he didn’t kill the man.”

“He didn’t,” Marise verified.

“Jace is a former homicide detective and before that, a Delta Force guy,” Jericho explained.

“Delta Force?” she repeated. She’d worked with plenty of them during her time in the military, and now that she had a better look at his face, he did look familiar.

“Kandahar,” Jace said, jogging her memory. “You stitched me up.”

Yes, it was all coming back to her now. And the memories, while not especially good, weren’t the traumatic ones that she’d gone through with Slade.

“Small world,” she remarked.

“Yeah, and you didn’t have to stitch up his ass the way you did Slade’s,” Jericho joked. His expression quickly turned serious, though. Well, serious for Jericho anyway. There was still that permanent hot shot glimmer in his eyes. “Jace has got something he needs to talk to Slade and you about, so why don’t I take over guarding the distraught, I want to stab you widow until the cops get here?” he added and headed in that direction.

“It’s a small world,” Jace repeated. “When I still had the badge, I had a run-in with Sonny.”

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