Page 35 of Snowed In

I sighed. Now was not the time to tell him that the head of the GSU—Austin’s Gang Suppression Unit—had stopped by my desk this afternoon and offered me a job on her team. Not only did they work on gang-related violence, but they focused on prevention with younger gang members. Maybe this would give me an opportunity to help out these young guys before they became someone like Jesse Travis.

Given Marcus’s current frustration with my job, I decided to leave it until after Christmas.

One Year Later

“Hey, Raff. Judge Espiritu said that the divorce was finalized yesterday. Sorry to hear about that.” Ronnie Strait, head of the GSU, patted my shoulder. “Divorce at Christmastime is the worst.”

Law enforcement was basically one big high school cafeteria, and bad news made the rounds at lightning speed.

“I’m okay, Ronnie. Been a long time coming.”

That said, I was definitely looking forward to seeing this year in my rearview.

It’d been what my grandma used to call achange year, and she’d always insisted that, once you’d survived a change year, you’d look back on it with a sense of nostalgia. I wondered if she’d still say that knowing this was also the year I lost both her and Grandpa.

They’d raised me, so between their deaths and my divorce, I’d never felt quite so alone.

All I had at the moment was the cabin they’d left for me and my job. I was grateful for the cabin, but when I reflected on the hopes I’dhad for this job, I either wanted to laugh hysterically at my naivete or sob uncontrollably for the state of humanity.

Unsurprisingly, I’d been avoiding the department psychologist like the plague.

“Not to add salt to the wound,” Ronnie said, “but did you hear about Jesse Travis?”

Fucking hell. What now with that guy?

“Did he get jumped again?”

I’d made headlines with that punch, which had put a spotlight on him. Last I heard, he’d been moved to a different unit after he nearly killed another inmate in self-defense.

“Actually, his sentence was commuted.”

How the fuck—Ah. Yes.

“Did he flip?”

“Like a fucking gymnast.”

“But he attacked me in front of a judge. And seven sheriff’s deputies.”

It’s possible I’d finally lost a little of that empathy that always found a way to kick my ass.

Ronnie grimaced. “He never made any direct threats to you.”

“He came right at me, Ro.”

“I know. But you know how this works. They wouldn’t have made this deal for some small-time bullshit.”

“The only fish big enough for that would be his dad.”

She tapped the side of her nose. “I don’t have all the details, but that was my guess as well.”

I was proud of the work I’d done to ensure that the Travis family could no longer flood Austin’s streets with dangerous drugs, but the process had been frustratingly slow. I wasn’t a fan of Jesse going free but understood that it was a good trade-off.

“What are the odds that Jesse lives to testify?”

“The Texas Rangers have him, so pretty good.” She gave me a crooked smile. “As long as he doesn’t do anything stupid like tell someone where he’s staying.”

“He’s way too smart for that.”

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