Page 80 of Caught in the Crossfire

“You believe him?” Josh asked.

“He’s convincing.”

“What do you want me to do with him?”

“Introduce him to Ethan or Rod. The timing of his appearance in town might be a coincidence, but with Nicole’s safety at stake, I don’t want to take a chance.”

“If he’s clear, will you press charges, Linc?”

“No point. Trespassing is a minor offense. As long as he leaves Nicole alone, I won’t press charges.”

“I’ll pass the word along.” Josh looked at Mason. “Do I need to worry about unexplained injuries?”

He shrugged. “I tackled him when he rabbited. Ivan might have a couple of bruises.”

Durango’s leader rolled his eyes. “Let me guess. You had a few private lessons from Nate or Alex on interrogation techniques.”

Mason folded his arms without confirming or denying the assertion. He wouldn’t rat out either man and get them in trouble with their team leader.

“Never mind. I don’t want to know. What I don’t know, I can’t testify to.” He slid a look at Linc. “I suppose you didn’t see anything.”

“I was with you.”

“Yeah, asking about my wife and daughters. If I didn’t know better, Creed, I’d say you were distracting me.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, boss.”

A snort. “Sell that to Ethan. I’m not buying it. Anything else I should know before I take him in?”

“The reason why Nicole dumped him two years ago is because he slapped her during an argument,” Mason said.

Linc and Josh scowled. “Did she report it?” Josh asked.

“No. Nicole punched him in response. She figured if she pressed charges, so would he. When she broke up with him, she considered the matter finished.”

“Good for her,” Linc said.

“Did she know he was in town?”

Mason relayed his conversation with Nicole on the subject, ending with, “Ivan thinks he has a chance with her. Although I don’t understand how anyone in Otter Creek would know about him, find out if he had an anonymous email.”

“Explain that.”

He told Josh about the encounter with Todd and Gage Fitzgerald earlier in the evening. “Gage received an email from an anonymous source. I asked Zane to trace it.”

Josh rubbed his jaw. “A smear campaign. Someone wants you out of the way.”

He’d arrived at the same conclusion. The question was, did they want him out of the way bad enough to kill him?

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Nicole fumed as she stared at the computer screen and watched the three men talking beside the police cruiser containing her former boyfriend. What gave Ivan the idea that she would take him back? She made herself clear the day she broke up with him. Ivan Dannon was the biggest mistake of her life, and she didn’t repeat bad decisions.

“What’s going on, Nic?” Dawn asked. “Do you know this man?”

“He’s a former boyfriend from a time when my taste in men was deplorable. Ivan Dannon is a selfish jerk who I thought I loved for a nanosecond. I wised up.”

“Why did you part ways?”

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