Page 29 of Vanishing Legacy

Two minutes later, Rocco sat cross-legged on the floor beside the wailing Penny. He cupped his hands over his ears. “Hey, you don’t have to be so loud, ya know. You’re hurting my ears.”

“Rocco, be nice.” She glanced at Cash from her spot near the fireplace. If he had a problem with Rocco’s method, it was hidden behind his broad smile.

“It’s cool if you’re scared,” Rocco said. “I get it. This old house is kinda creepy. Know what I do when I’m scared? I focus on my breathing. Ever tried that? My uncle Grey taught me. He said take one deep breath, then suck in another breath before you push it all out. Do it like this.” Rocco sat ramrod straight and closed his eyes. He sucked in a deep breath, then a second, smaller one before pushing the breath out in a slow, even stream.

Penny emitted a soft sniffle and used her knee to wipe away the clear mucus dribbling from her nose. A delicate puffiness encircled her red-rimmed eyes. She watched Rocco repeat the breathing exercise. Penny seemed to understand and followed his example. A double inhale followed by a long exhale. A few minutes later, both children were laughing as if nothing had happened.

Cash patted Rocco’s shoulder. “Good job, bud. I gotta remember that one.”

Rocco looked at Alana with that same twinkle in his eye from the other night. A conversation about how much he liked Dr. Cash and Penny was sure to come up. Again. She’d have to be firm and help Rocco understand that her personal life was separate from work.

Rocco handed Penny a fidget spinner. “You wanna go hang out with Raven? She’s so cool.”

“Yay!” Penny bobbed her head.

Once the kids were settled with Raven, Cash and Alana joined Noelle, Juliette, and Detective Matt Williams in the smaller conference room near the reception desk. With the double doors open, Alana had a clear view of Rocco and Penny taking turns spinning in Raven’s cool chair.

Noelle slid a folder to each of them. “Alana compiled our initial threat assessment and made copies for each of you. Matt was kind enough to drop by to update us on the investigation.”

“Thanks, Noelle. I can’t stay long, but certainly happy to give an update. The man who assaulted you last night is named Luis Trejo.” There was a slight jut of Matt’s chin. Something the detective did often before he delivered hard news. “Trejo is a distributor for the Madrina cartel. Word on the street is he wants vengeance for the death of his brother. We’ll do what we can to hold his arraignment until the weekend, but it wouldn’t matter if we held him for years. Trejo is a dangerous man who doesn’t get his hands dirty. He doesn’t have to. He has a small army willing to follow his orders.”

Alana didn’t like the sound of that. As a distributor, Trejo would be at the top of the Colombian-based organization, second only to the leaders. The Madrina cartel had a reputation for ruthless killings. Last week, the bodies of two teenagers had turned up in trash bags somewhere outside Hatchet, New Mexico, after they’d tried to escape working in a cocaine processing plant. Kidnapping and murder were all in a day’s work for the cartel.

“I can’t believe this is happening. How is this my fault? I wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger.” Cash stared at Matt. “If this guy is a known drug lord, why can’t you arrest him and everyone who works for him?”

“We’re working on it, but we need more evidence for a big arrest.” Matt’s chin jutted again. “Like I said, if Trejo wants to kidnap Penny for revenge, jail won’t stop him from getting it done.”

Alana touched Cash’s arm. As a doctor, his whole life was probably spent anticipating what came next. Thinking three or four steps ahead. Running scenarios and preparing for possibilities. She got it. It was her job too. “Jail might not stop Trejo, but the Elite Guardians will.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Matt said. “This is complicated. Attempted kidnappings, shooting, murder, and now a suicide. We’re putting a lot of man-hours behind this. If Trejo is involved, we’ll get him.” The detective pushed back from the conference table and stood. “I need to run down a few leads from my informant. I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks, Detective.” Alana stood and shook his hand before he slipped out the door.

Noelle opened her folder and shuffled papers. “Alana has compiled a thorough threat assessment, but we have a few questions. Alana?” She lifted an eyebrow to offer the floor.

The chair creaked under Alana’s weight, and she angled herself to face Cash. “I’m sorry if our questions seem invasive, but my gut says there’s more to the attempted kidnappings than Trejo’s revenge.”

Cash leaned back in his chair and tossed his hand up. “I’m all ears.”

“In a crime like this, the police always look at the parents first. If they haven’t ruled you out already, they will soon.”

“Wait, you think I could be a suspect? I was in surgery when Libby was shot.”

“True, but you could’ve hired someone—” She held up a hand. “I’m not saying that’s something you’d do, but part of the investigation is ruling both parents out completely.”

“Fair enough. And that rules out Penny’s mom.”

Alana glanced around the room. Juliette nodded, urging her on. “We understand your wife is deceased, but we’d like to ask a few more questions. Do you mind?”

“What did you want to know?”

“Start at the beginning?”

“Sure, the beginning. The beginning is easier than the end, that’s for sure.” Cash paused, rubbing his jaw and fixing his stare at a spot on the table. “We met in high school. I was on the swim team with her older brother Darian, and I’d seen Sonia a few times at meets. I didn’t realize she was a swimmer until my sister, Bailey, joined the girls’ team. The four of us ended up as friends.”

“And you eventually ended up dating?” Alana prompted.

“It was natural, I guess.” He shrugged. “After high school, I joined the Navy to help pay for medical school. The long-distance thing was difficult, so we got married thinking it might fix things. We were young. Too young.”

---