Page 67 of The Texas Murders

“Back up the video,” Carlos says. “Please.”

The guard rewinds the recording. He tries to zoom in but thepicture only gets blurrier. Still, it looks like Ava is right. The ball of paper overshoots the can and lands behind it on the floor, hidden in the corner behind the bin.

On the screen, we watch as Carpenter returns to the cage and cashes in the chips he just bought. He receives another receipt, which he pockets.

“That’s the one we found,” Carlos says. “Let’s go see if we can find the one he threw away.”

We rush back down the hallway and into the casino, leaving the manager and guard behind. It takes a moment for us to orient ourselves within the clanging labyrinth of slots, but soon we hurry past the machines on our way to the cage.

In my mind, I’m preparing myself for the fact that the receipt will be gone. Whoever comes around to empty the garbage bins will have noticed it and thrown it away. We’ll have to confiscate all the garbage in the dumpster and ask Ryan to okay a team of techs to sift through it.

But when we arrive at the garbage can, the wadded-up receipt is still there, wedged into the corner with some napkins and a used coffee cup that also didn’t make it into the trash bin. Carlos puts on a pair of gloves before reaching down to pick up the receipt. Slowly he unfolds it.

On the back, written in sloppy cursive handwriting, is an address and nothing more.

The address is on Old Pueblo Road.

“Isn’t that the road we’re on right now?” I ask.

Ava nods.

“I know where that is,” she says, looking up at Carlos and me. “It’s the old Tigua community center. It’s beenabandoned. They’re building a new one and haven’t made up their mind whether they should tear it down or use it for something else.”

I remember seeing it when Carlos and I drove onto the Pueblo to meet Ava for the first time.

“What the hell would Carpenter want there?” Ava says.

“I don’t know,” I say, “but let’s go find out.”

CHAPTER 57

RYAN LOGAN STANDS in the garage bay where a half dozen CSI technicians go over the van they’ve impounded. Bright construction lights have been set up around it, giving everyone plenty of light to see by. They’re dusting for prints, scouring for DNA—soon they’ll dismantle the whole thing to look for any contraband or other kinds of evidence hidden deep inside.

Ryan is supposedly supervising what’s going on, but his mind is elsewhere. He’s thinking about Rory Yates.

He’s mad at the Texas Ranger.

But he’s also mad at himself.

He’s upset that he let Rory get away with talking to him like that, angry with the Ranger for meddling with his investigation. But, if he’s honest with himself, he knows his anger is mostly—if not entirely—born from jealousy. He hatesRory for being his equal in the charity shoot—and for being more than a match for him in the field.

Rory’s legend has only grown since he joined the task force. Ryan’s afraid his own has diminished. He wants the kind of admiration Rory has earned.

Ryan has never fired his gun in the line of duty, and until that day comes, he’ll never get the kind of respect and approbation he wants. It doesn’t matter how many shooting competitions he wins. It doesn’t matter even if he could beat Rory at next year’s charity shoot.

He needs to be tested in a real gunfight.

Rory makes it look easy. He’s a natural. The way he and Carlos rushed into the gunfight at the raid left Ryan awestruck.

He is jealous of Rory Yates and self-aware enough to know that he shouldn’t be—that it isn’t professional. He’d tried to set aside his jealousy. When Rory and his team had wanted to travel to Colorado and Arizona, Ryan thought this would be a good way to keep him out of sight. He wasn’t banishing Yates to a wild goose chase. Yates was banishing himself.

He certainly hadn’t expected Rory to almost single-handedly take down one of the brothels, rescuing four more women and—again—proving himself to be a genuine hero to the members of the task force. Ryan had snapped when he kicked Rory off the team. But the decision—more of an emotional response than any sort of conscious, thoughtful judgment—had backfired. Not only had it not gotten rid of Rory, but it had also weakened Ryan’s esteem in the eyes of his team members.They think even more highly of Rory now, he’s sure. And they think Ryan was acting petty, jealous, small-minded.

Juvenile.

And the worst part is that Ryan agrees with them. He has to stop competing with Rory Yates. He has to find a way to work with him, not against him. He has to get Rory back over to his side. Even if there were no other reason, he needs to do it to win back his team.

“Sir?”

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