Page 39 of Shelter for Sharla

“Thanks. That means a lot to me,” Carter told them. “Now let’s get this food home and get you all settled for the evening. You need to get some rest. We’ll talk about the guy in the woods tomorrow.”

Twenty minutes later, everyone was safe and sound, the food was eaten and put away, and goodbyes were said. Sharla walked Carter to the car and when they reached it, she grabbed both sides of his belt and pulled him toward her. “Kiss me goodnight?”

“You bet.” His arms encircled her and he drew her in snug against him as he kissed her gently. “I love you, Sharla. I hope I helped a little bit today,” he whispered against her cheek.

“It helped enormously. You can’t know how much. I love you, Carter. Thanks for everything. Talk to you tomorrow?”

“You bet. Get some sleep. Night.” As he pulled away, he looked back and could see Chelsea and Lionel watching out the window. They’d seen him kiss her.

And that was perfectly okay with him.

Chapter 7

His alarm wentoff like always, and Carter sat up. When he’d come in the night before, there’d been a note on the table:Gone on to bed. I hate flying. Talk to you in the morning.He’d stopped at the guest room’s door and he could hear Cruz sawing logs. Good thing the house was old and had thick walls.

He started a pot of coffee and made his way to the sofa. With the sound turned way down on the TV, he watched morning headlines on a news show on his streaming service, then checked his mail from the day before. Bill. Bill. Advertisement. AARP. They’d been pursuing him since he was twenty, and he wasn’t sure why. He was a long way from their membership requirements. Well, not alongway, but long enough.

“Mornin’,” a voice said in a Texas drawl and Carter looked up to see Cruz shuffle out of the bedroom.

“Hot coffee and donuts, as promised,” Carter said, pointing over his shoulder toward the kitchen.

“Thanks, man. Anything going on in the big wide world?”

“Nah. Auto workers’ strike. Middle Eastern country dropping bombs in another Middle Eastern country, and us planning to get right in the middle of it. So much for minding our own business. Oh, and somebody sent some white powder to the WhiteHouse again.”

“Fucking assholes. They get everybody in an uproar and it turns out to be a hoax. Do they have any idea how much of the taxpayers’ money they waste with that stupid shit?” Cruz asked, and Carter chuckled.

“If they know, they don’t care.”

“Yeah. It’s all about them.” He heard Cruz take a slurp of coffee and since he didn’t spit it across the room, it must’ve been to his liking.

“Oh, by the way, I asked Chelsea if she thought she could work with a police sketch artist to get us a drawing of the person she saw yesterday. She said he was at the rally, and he seemed?”

“Stop right there. Didn’t want to say anything in front of everybody else, but I saw him and I know who he is,” Cruz said, plopping down on the sofa after setting his cup on the coffee table.

“You do?”

“Yup.” He took another slurping sip and set the cup down again. “Name’s PaulAngelico. Actually, Paolo. Funny name for Satan incarnate, Angelico. They call himCapoPaolo. Means BossPaul in Italian.”

“I take it he’s the head of thisLaTana delLupo?”

“Yes. And if he’s here, there’s got to be a really good reason.”

“The rally?”

“No. More than that. It’s got to be big. Something very important.” Both men sat there, staring into their coffee cups. “I mean, I have no idea what, but he didn’t just happen to hold a rally here. Do you know if there have been any anywhere else?”

“We’ve had zero luck finding out anything about the campus group.” Carter took another sip of coffee and balanced the cup on his thigh. “What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know yet, but something’s bothering me. Let’s get to the office and let me dig into what you’ve got.”

They stepped into the office in less than forty-five minutes, ready for the day. Edwards and Durst were getting ready to head out, and Lewis and Watson were scheduled to come in at three. After introductions, the two deputies left and Carter and Cruz were alone to work.

The small storage area turned conference room was all Carter had, so they spread everything out on the table and started going through it piece by piece. When he got to the robbery, Cruz stopped him. “So do you know where these guys are?”

“Yeah. High sec, fed lodging, PenningtonGap, Virginia.”

“Life?”

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