Page 36 of Tex's Angel

I roll my eyes because I adore Tex but he’s off base with this tree he’s barking up. “It doesn’t make sense to think that the man who won’t mow his own lawn or wash his own car has decided to harass me into staying married to him.”

Tex responds confidently, “He’s not harassing you though, is he? The asshole hired someone to harass you, probably thinking you would come running back to him for protection.” Giving me a smug grin, he adds, “The thing he didn’t count on was me stepping in to help you. My theory makes perfect sense if you think about it.”

Giving Zen a quick glance, he continues, “I know we haven’t found any dirt on Chris Collins yet and I think I figured out why.”

“What’s going on? Tell me?” I say in a shaky voice. “Chris is a cheating asshole, but he doesn’t strike me as motivated enough to go to such great lengths to stay married to me.” These guys have no idea how lazy my soon-to-be-ex actually is.

“We were digging through the Collins family, and I discovered his aunt works as a personal assistant to the mayor.”

This is when Zen chimes in, “They’re definitely having an affair. You can tell by the expression on his face when he looks at her. I checked out their expenses for business trips, they only turned in receipts for one hotel room when they travel, but they turn in twin receipts for three meals a day. It’s unlikely that no matter where they go, they eat at all the same restaurants at exactly the same time of day but don’t share that hotel room.”

“Oh, wow. They are both married. Did you know that?”

Zen glances at Tex and they both nod. “All this means that his aunt is in a position to get him to use his political clout for her benefit. The mayor could easily call in favors to get county and local law enforcement to overlook minor misdemeanors, everything from speeding tickets to drunk driving to any number of petty crimes.”

I let that sink in for a few seconds. Siege takes the lull in the conversation to recap what they’ve discovered. “I’m not ruling anything out without good cause. As far as I’m concerned, this ex is still a suspect and we’ll be onto him until we prove he wasn’t involved.”

He gestures to Wade, “This was smart thinking, bringing up the CPS reports. I think this is another good lead.”

“Yeah,” Tex says, his voice sounding resigned. “I guess we can’t exclude anyone at this stage. I wasn’t thinking like a cop there.”

Rigs offers to get the ball rolling. “I’ll give Mattie a call and ask if she can carve out some time tomorrow to meet with us. She’s gonna want the names of those kids you made reports on so she can pull their records and review them.”

I give him wary look and rub my hands up and down the front of my jeans. “I don’t think I’m allowed to disclose that kind of information.”

Tex put his hand on my arm. “You can trust Rigs and Siege. They both work with CPS to find missing kids.”

Siege leans over his desk to gaze at me. “If it makes you feel happier, would you consider giving us initials? I’m sureMattie and Cleo can locate the kids with just the name of the school and their initials. I mean, how many CPS referrals could come from one school in a short period of time?”

I think it over for a moment, “I feel comfortable with initials because they wouldn’t mean anything to people who aren’t already involved in the cases. Okay, the first report I made was on a child with the initials of AM back in August. The second one’s initials were RB, and I just made that one about four months ago.”

Rigs grabs his phone and starts texting. I assume it’s a message to his wife. I look around at this group of overly serious men and awed that they help CPS locate missing kids. I have to admit that they look just like the kind of men are capable of doing something like that. Several of the brothers are talking in low whispers.

I realize that Tex’s hand is still on my shoulder when he gives me a little squeeze. “Y’all okay, sugar pie?”

I nod nervously. “Yeah, I just feel like I’m a little out of my depth here. That’s all.”

“What do you mean, out of your depth?” he asks, appearing deeply concerned.

I swallow thickly and try to explain. “Well you train law enforcement officers, and your brothers rescue missing children. You’re all helping me figure out who’s stalking me when I don’t have any other person willing to help me. Meanwhile, I’m pretty much just a schoolteacher.”

He leans over and kisses me on the forehead. “You’re not just an anything, Clara. You’re a multitude of wonderful things and I don’t want you to ever forget that.”

I lean over and let him wrap me up in his arms. When we break apart, he looks at me intently. “I might not be training law enforcement officers much longer.”

My hand comes out to grasp his shoulders. “What do you mean? Why not?” Taking my hand off him, I realize my reaction might have been a bit much. “What I mean to say is that you love your job. Why would you ever give it up?”

“I wouldn’t give it up voluntarily. Back at your house, the local law enforcement officers realized for the first time that I’m a member of a motorcycle club when they saw me in my cut.”

“That’s so unfair,” I tell him. It’s heartbreaking to think he could lose his job over something so innocuous as being a member of a motorcycle club.

Siege’s voice drifts to our ears from behind his desk. “Do you want me to make an appointment with Smoke? I don’t think they can fire you for being part of a totally legal MC. It’s not like we’re an outlaw club.”

“I got a text message that they want to meet with me first thing on Wednesday morning. They’ve asked that I bring everything the department issued to me. I take that to mean there’s a chance they’re gonna terminate me. The only thing that’s changed between this weekend and last, is word getting out that I’m part of the Savage Legion MC.”

Siege frowns. “That definitely sounds like it might be related. Let us know if you want to pursue it through legal channels. Smoke and my sister will have your back either way.”

Tex responds wryly, “It’s a good thing I’m the new head of the SLMC security company. Otherwise, I’d be pretty broke in terms of paying my bills and day to day expenses.”

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