Page 49 of Lone Star Hostage

“The location was great,” she murmured against his mouth. “Everything was great.”

Presley hadn’t realized just how much he’d needed to hear Billie say that. And he gave her a quick kiss before he pushed the plate with the sandwiches closer to her.

“Eat, take your meds, and I’ll fill you in on my call with Ruby while you were in the shower,” Presley instructed.

She downed two of the pills and sat on a stool at the counter to eat. “Is this about Hattie?” she asked. “Did they arrest her?”

So, he’d need to dole out some bad news first. Of course, there hadn’t been any good news in Ruby’s update.

“Hattie’s not at the cabin, and she’s not answering her phone,” Presley explained. That could indicate she was guilty. Then again, with her hatred of cops, she could be just uncooperative and avoiding them. “There’s an APB out for her.”

“If she comes here, I’m guessing your security is good,” she said.

“Damn good. No one will get near the place without a sensor going off.” And he’d engage his full security system to expand to the perimeter of the house. “It would be a big mistake for Hattie to show up and take on two trained operatives,” he added.

Billie nodded, ate some of the sandwich. “So, what else did Ruby tell you?”

Presley took a deep breath first. “The bomb squad found five other plastic explosive devices at the fire station. They were on all the windows and doors so no matter which one I’d tried to open, it would have blown up.”

She stopped in mid-bite and muttered some profanity.

“Yeah, someone definitely didn’t want the cops or us to take a look in that building,” he spelled out. “But I wonder if it could have been more than that. I mean, if Joe had gone there, he likely would have been killed.”

“And maybe that’s what his stepsons wanted,” she finished. “Joe probably didn’t put them in his will, but this could have been their way of getting back at him while cleaning up the scene.”

That was a good guess on both fronts, and Presley continued with his update. “Damon didn’t show for his interview with Sheriff Bonetti, but Bonetti was able to confirm the man definitely could have supplied his brothers with the guns and the explosives.”

Billie stayed quiet a moment. “Is Damon the boss who orchestrated the whole shebang?”

“Bonetti and Ruby don’t think so. Damon’s apparently a follower, not a leader.” There was a sharp beeping sound that instantly put Presley on alert. “Someone’s coming,” he said just as his phone rang. “It’s Angel,” he relayed to her.

So, not Hattie or an intruder, but Presley had to wonder what this visit was about. It probably wasn’t good news.

“What happened?” Presley asked the moment he answered the call on speaker. He figured Angel was about to say that Jesep had dismissed him as Victoria’s bodyguard.

“I’ve got Victoria and Joe with me,” Angel said. “They insisted on talking to Billie and you.”

What the hell?Presley had a lot of questions, including how had Victoria and Joe ended up together, but he held off on asking anything and gave the command to disengage the security so that Angel could drive through, triggering the alarms and sensors.

“You trust them both, right?” Billie muttered, and he heard the concern in her voice.

Presley was feeling some concern as well, but he had to nod on this. Added to that, Angel would have searched them both for weapons before he’d even brought them here.

He went to the door to open it, and Presley got a serious gut punch of emotions at seeing Joe and Victoria step out of Angel’s van.His parents. It was going to take a while for that to sink in.

Angel’s gaze went straight to Presley, no doubt checking to see if he was all right with this. Since he was far from being at thatall rightstage, Presley only lifted his shoulder.

“Elvis, scan visitors for weapons,” Presley instructed his AI program, and he heard the slight whirring sound of the infrared kicking in.

“Female and male one are unarmed. Male two has—”

“No need to list Angel’s weapons,” Presley told the AI app because he knew Angel would be armed to the hilt. He stepped back to let them in.

Victoria paused in the foyer, looking at him, and for a moment Presley thought she might hug him. She didn’t though.

She was still way too pale, and her bruises were an even darker riot of color today, only emphasizing them even more. Her hand with the reattached finger was anchored in a splint with a bandage securing it, but she was cradling it with her uninjured hand.

“Thank you for seeing us,” Victoria finally said, and she nodded a greeting to Billie.

---