Page 23 of Special Agent Isabella

Slowly, Brunner’s head nodded. His bulky frame twitched, and Tanner knew the man suffered physically.

“I want to show you something. Then I’ll ask you some questions. If you have anything that might help us, we want you to share what you know. If you cooperate, I’ll try to get your case changed to a misdemeanor with community service rather than jail time. Then we can start pushing papers to get you to Tucson.”

Tanner took out his phone and began scrolling through images of Stacy and Abbie – hugging and chasing each other in the garden and other photos of a family filled with love. By the time he’d shown the first four short videos, Brunner had tears running down his face.

It wasn’t until he began opening the ugly, hurtful, disgusting messages intending on destroying the family that Brunner’s chubby frame stiffened, and rage filled his eyes.

His voice gruff, he started. “Here’s what I know.”

ChapterNineteen

Bella waited up to hear Tanner’s steps coming up the stairs. When she knew he was close, she swung open her bedroom door to confront the exhausted-looking fellow agent.

“What happened during the interview?”

“Jesus, Bella, don’t keep on about how I’m feeling and how you’re sorry for my exhaustion. Baby, I know you care but you have to learn to restrain yourself.”

Tanner pulled the two cold beer bottles out from behind his back where he’d kept them hidden. He walked past her so she could shut the door. Clearly done in, he swayed to the bed and sat on the end, holding out one of the bottles.

Scoffing at his comment with a huff loud enough for him to hear, she nonetheless did feel an acute release of tension that he had returned home safely. Not liking the reaction, she shrugged it off.

Accepting the unexpected treat, Bella gracefully lowered herself, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of him and waited. When he didn’t reply to her question, she cleared her throat as an indication he had a question to answer.

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you. I just need to unwind for a few seconds before getting into it. Seeing a broken man isn’t my idea of a fun night’s entertainment.”

“That Brunner bastard got exactly what he deserved, you soft-hearted idiot. From what Collin told me, he shot at you guys with the intention of killing the Governor.”

“Maybe. But he didn’t, did he? I believe, if he’d wanted to actually hurt her, he had the chance when she first stepped out the door. But he waited until she had the protection of the car before he began firing.”

“Seriously? You’re standing up for his actions?”

“No. Not at all. I hate what he attempted to do. But I can’t help thinking of the man.” He took a few minutes to explain. How he found Brunner’s life to be one of pathetic letdowns both from the army and his country. By the time he’d finished explaining the way he saw it, Bella had her head down, hiding her sympathy.

Lord Almighty, who would have thought that this man, the one she’d mostly detested from the time he’d been an adolescent, could be so mushy inside? For years, she’d seen his teasing as a weakness, a way to wean Demi from her, and she’d hated him for that.

After all, hadn’t she grown up in such a dysfunctional world that Demi had been her only true friend? How could she share her? And yet, he’d forced that to happen over and over. And… Demi had still been there for her every time she’d needed her to be.

During those years, her friend had tried hard to get her two best friends to like each other. Because Bella refused to let that happen, had made their few times together uncomfortable, now she realized she felt nothing but regret for her stupidity.

And being a person who’d vowed to always be honest, especially with herself, not to bullshit no matter what, she voiced her thoughts out loud. “You’re right. When you put it that way, the man does deserve a break. He gave you everything you asked for. It’s not his fault that the small amount of information he had didn’t lead us to any arrests.”

“Exactly what I thought. The DA’s going to go to bat for him after all. I expect he’ll be given a second chance.”

“Are you going to tell Stacy about the situation?”

“She’s already been briefed. I called her from the station. She’s in agreement with my findings and will also put the weight of her office behind the decision.”

“So… in the end, he gave us squat?”

“Not because he didn’t try.”

“I get that, but we’re no further ahead in finding out who sent those disgusting threatening messages?”

“Nope. On the other hand, we did shut down a lot of the terrorist activity that was going on behind the scenes. There’s a number of people not sleeping in their own beds tonight that have a lot of explaining and lawyering-up to do.”

“Well then, there is a God.”

“Yeah.” The discouragement in Tanner’s voice came through as he lay backwards on the bed and covered his eyes.

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