Page 28 of Lone Star Target

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Kit paced across Jace’s living room, her phone gripped in her hand, while she listened to Deanna’s rantings.

“This is all your fault, Kit,” Deanna snarled, paraphrasing what the woman had already said multiple times.

Kit had expected the accusation and hadn’t been at all sure that she would get any useful info from Deanna, but she’d still called her sister-in-law as soon as Jace and she had arrived back at his place.

Deanna had basically given Jace and her a recap of what Ruby had said when she’d phoned Kit at the police station. That the night before, Brandon had been treated for the cut on his head and had then been released from the hospital, telling his mother that he was going to stay with a friend. When she hadn’t heard from him again by morning, Deanna had tried to call him, only to learn he never made it to the friend’s house.

Kit had no idea why Brandon had taken that kind of risk, especially only hours after being shot at in his apartment. Brandon hadn’t alerted either SAPD or Maverick Ops that he was leaving the hospital so that a cop or bodyguard could go with him to this friend’s house. Her nephew had simply walked out.

And vanished.

According to Jace’s calculations, Brandon had likely been taken shortly after leaving the hospital. There was camera footage of him exiting through the ER doors. In the feed, Brandon had glanced around the parking lot as if looking for someone. Jace had determined Brandon had called for an Uber. The Uber had indeed arrived, but by then, Brandon was nowhere to be found so the driver had left.

Approximately, twelve hours later, when Jace and she had been at the Bandera Bluff’s sheriff’s office, the ransom demand had arrived. It’d come in the form of a phone call from a burner, instructing her to pay a million dollars if she wanted to keep her nephew alive.

A million.

That was the same amount mentioned in the text on one of the burner phones. Was that a coincidence or merely a round figure for a kidnapper to demand? She didn’t know yet, but according to the ransom note, the kidnapper was giving her twelve hours to come up with the money.

“If you hadn’t agreed to testify against the security guard, then Brandon wouldn’t be in danger,” Deanna went on. “You need to talk to the police and tell them you’re recanting your statement at this very minute.” More rehashing. “You need—”

“Do you know who took Brandon?” Kit interrupted.

“Of course not,” Deanna insisted, and she sounded insulted. “I wouldn’t know the sort who would do something like that. But you do. You associated yourself with that kind of person by giving the statement to the police and agreeing to testify. Well, I want you to recant—”

Kit had had enough, and she ended the call.

Sighing, Jace got up from his desk where he’d been working, went to her and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he said.

He thankfully didn’t launch into a spiel about Deanna being upset and therefore not knowing what she was saying. Kit wasn’t in the mood to hear that because, in her mind, Deanna wasn’t focusing on the right thing. She was trying to dole out blame for the kidnapping instead of focusing on what was most important.

Finding her son.

“I’ll pay the ransom,” Kit said. She had told Deanna that right at the start of the conversation, and while her sister-in-law had accepted that, she hadn’t offered any thanks. “But I have to wonder if Trevor is desperate enough to have orchestrated all of this.”

Jace lifted his shoulder. “It’s possible, and if that’s true, then you know Brandon is safe.”

Maybe. But Kit recalled the shooting at Brandon’s apartment, and the image of the blood on his head flashed in her mind.

“Maybe the plan is for Brandon not to be hurt, but things can go wrong,” she pointed out. “I don’t suppose the kidnapper has called back with info about the money drop or Brandon’s release.”

Of course, she knew there’d been no callback since that was something Jace would have immediately told her about. Still, she had to hope.

“No.” Sighing again, he led her to the sofa and had her sit.

He went into the kitchen and came back with a bottle of Coke for her and a huge glass of water for himself. Jace set the glass on the end table and then dropped down beside her. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he slipped his arm back around her and pulled her to him. He even brushed a kiss on the top of her head.

All very TLC.

Of course, there was occasionally some TLC involved when they had physical contact. But mostly, it was, well, just physical. A kiss that launched into foreplay that then led to sex.

Jace didn’t start that particular ball rolling though. The look he gave her was all business.

“While you were getting an earful from Deanna, I read the report Ruby compiled on Norm Pearce.”

That got her attention. “Is he the one who took Brandon or was that Marvin just blowing smoke?”

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