Page 29 of Lone Star Target

“To be determined, but Ruby and her techs are digging hard and deep. Roy, put the report on Norm Pearce on the living room screen,” Jace instructed.

Within a blink, the virtual painting above the fireplace disappeared, and the report popped on. A report with the man’s photo front and center. Kit studied the photo of the heavily muscled dark-haired man but had to shake her head. She didn’t recognize him, nor was his name familiar.

“Norman Pearce, forty-two,” Jace read aloud, “and as you can see he, too, has worked as a security guard for your father. Briefly worked for him, that is. Your father fired him after only four months of employment when Norman got into a fist fight with one of your dad’s office assistants.”

“So, a violent streak,” she muttered, and it sickened her to think that maybe Trevor had unleashed this SOB on Brandon.

“Very much so,” Jace confirmed. “Roy, scroll through to Pearce’s police record.”

She cursed when she saw it was multiple pages. He’d started out with petty stuff as a teenager in inner-city San Antonio. Shoplifting and trespassing and had progressed to car theft and assault. As an adult, he’d been in jail twice, but because of prison overcrowding, he’d gotten early releases on both and had spent less than four years in jail.

“So, why did Marvin believe Pearce was the one who’s after me?” she came out and asked.

“Roy, scroll to page six,” Jace instructed.

Kit saw the photos load onto the screen. It was Pearce, and he’d been captured on a traffic camera very near Brandon’s apartment complex.

“Pearce doesn’t live anywhere near here,” Jace explained. “And Ruby hasn’t been able to connect him to any friends, family or business dealings in the area. Roy, go to page seven,” Jace tacked onto that.

Another photo appeared on the monitor. Not of Pearce this time but of an older man with a wrinkled face and unkept gray hair.

“That’s Arnold Cassaine, better known to his friends as Rattler,” Jace added. “He likes to hunt and capture rattlesnakes, and he just happens to be good friends with Pearce.”

So, it all fit. Or rather the pieces of it did anyway. There was still no solid answer as to why any of this was happening. Was it Trevor’s desperate attempts to get his hands on some money? Or was this actually about her intended testimony against Marvin?

Of course, even if she knew the motive behind the attacks, it didn’t mean they’d stop. Nor would it necessarily lead to an arrest. Proving motive was a start, but it wouldn’t be enough for the cops to build a case. They’d need proof, and so far, everything they had found was circumstantial.

“Has Ruby found any proof to connect either Rattler or Pearce to my father or brother?” she asked.

Jace drew in a long breath and slowly released it. The sound of frustration that matched what she was feeling.

“No. So far, no financial link and no camera feed proof that Trevor or Ramsey has met with Rattler or Pearce to set this plan into motion,” he explained. “Ruby’s next step is to try to find out where the burner phones were purchased and try to get footage of who bought them.”

“That sounds like a needle in a haystack,” she concluded.

Jace made a sound of agreement and looked at her. “Pretty much everything at this point is until we hear from the kidnapper,” he admitted.

And there it was. He had just spelled out her worry and the sense of dread stirring around her. Jace no doubt picked up on that because he looked over at her. Not that he had to look far. She was still pressed right against him.

Their gazes locked.

The heat came.

Yes, even without any more contact, it was there, and even though they both knew this was a distraction they didn’t need, they apparently did need the kiss.

Jace leaned into her at the exact the moment she leaned into him, and their mouths met, the pleasure causing an immediate flashfire inside her. It was always like this. Always this intensity, and while it was almost certainly a mistake, Kit just went with it anyway.

She set aside her Coke so she could frame his face with her hands, and she just went for it.

A bull blown kiss. Hot and deep.

Jace went for it, too, and his mouth moved over hers. A cure-all for the dread and worry. Of course, it was temporary, but for now, she took everything he was giving her.

He pulled her even closer to him, angling their bodies so her breasts were against his chest. All those muscles. All that strength. All hers.

For the moment anyway.

She sank into the kiss and into the delightful sensations of having him touch her. Not only with the contact of his chest either. Jace slid his hand between them and cupped her right breast, flicking his thumb over her nipple.

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