Page 73 of High Density

“No,” I croak. “She’s at my place.”

I hear some muffled cursing before she appears to relay my answer to someone. When she comes back on the line her message is curt.

“Get your ass over here.”

Then the line goes dead.

My heart is hammering up in my throat as I break every speed limit and traffic law, trying to get home.

Get your ass over here, Stephanie said, which would mean she’s at my house. I don’t think she’s there for a social visit.

Fuck, how could I have been so stupid? I thought we’d been careful and figured she’d be fine in my trailer for half an hour while I went to pick up her stuff. Of course, that half hour turned into an hour and a half.

I try calling Janey’s number several times as I race home, but keep getting punted to voicemail. By the time I reach the turnoff to my place, I’m so frantic, I cut right in front of an eighteen-wheeler heading to town. I manage to skirt past him by a hair’s breadth, but the blare of his horn follows me all the way up the dirt road to my trailer.

Two dark SUVs are parked in front as I slide my truck in beside them, jamming the gear into park as I jump out.

“She’s fine,” Stephanie Kramer volunteers when she opens my front door before I can.

My eyes shoot past her into my trailer where I catch sight of the back of Janey’s head. She’s sitting on the couch. I push past the agent and in four long strides I’m in front of her, sinking down on my knees. For the second time in as many days, I’m looking into her wide, startled blue eyes, before I scan her body for additional injuries.

“I’m okay,” she mutters, as if trying to reassure herself as much as she’s reassuring me.

No blood this time, for which I’m eternally grateful, but clearly whatever happened shook her up. I stroke the back of my fingers over her unmarred cheek and she grabs on to my wrist. She seems to need to for the contact, so I lift myself up on the couch beside her and gently wrap her up in my arms.

I hear Ginger whining from somewhere at the same time I see my shattered sliding door. Then I notice a group of several people with FBI printed on the back of their shirts standing at the edge of my deck. They’re surrounding an individual in handcuffs.

“Is that…”

“Phil Jericho,” Stephanie confirms, stepping into my view. “We’ve suspected his involvement and have been watching him, hoping he’d trip up and make a mistake.”

“Involvement?” Janey repeats incredulously, as if she still can’t quite believe what is happening.

The agent nods. “We suspect this wasn’t the first time the rodeo was used as a cover for drug trafficking. It made no sense a former rodeo champ and current city councilman like Jericho would continue his association with a livestock supplier who is suspected of animal cruelty. Livestock suppliers are plentiful in these regions, he could easily have gone with someone else. Unless?—”

“He had a vested interest in having Mackey Livestock here,” I finish for her.

“Exactly. And when Janey told me, in the hospital, she caught Mackey mumbling to himself someone was supposed to have kept her under control, those pieces clicked into place. The only person who could’ve made that claim—however misguided—was Jericho.”

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Janey volunteers. “He was pretty persistent in trying to get me to go out with him, even after it must’ve been clear I had no interest in him.”

“He probably figured he’d be irresistible,” Stephanie suggests. “I’m guessing that was his motivation for contacting you to be the rodeo’s veterinarian. He’s not bad-looking if you like the suave type, and he’s got money and influence. Powerful aphrodisiacs for a lot of women.”

“Not this one,” Janey fires back.

I give her shoulders a squeeze. “Lucky for me.”

“And bad for Jericho,” the agent concludes. “We’ve had him under twenty-four-hour surveillance since Friday night, waiting for him to make a move. Unfortunately, we didn’t know where he was heading when he took off in one of the park’s maintenance trucks, or we’d have warned you sooner. In fact, I didn’t realize where he was heading at first. He took the road to the airport and we thought for sure he was going to make arun for it, except he passed it and kept going. It wasn’t until he turned off on a dirt road, pulled the truck into the trees, and continued on foot toward the creek, I realized we couldn’t be that far from your place.”

I’d told her how to get to my place when she called me yesterday to check in on Janey, who’d been napping at the time.

“Why go after Janey though?” I question. “Surely he’d know by now she no longer has the drugs.”

“I don’t think he was after the drugs. I’m pretty sure he was trying to kill her.”

“That just doesn’t make sense,” I comment, tugging Janey closer to my side.

“I saw them, you know?” she pipes up beside me. “On Friday morning? I saw Jericho and Mackey; they were arguing about something. It was weird because I remember Jericho mentioning later, he hadn’t seen Mackey since Thursday, but I’d just seen them hours earlier near the holding pens by the auction arena. I meant to tell you about that.”

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