Page 7 of Marked For Revenge

It was the truth, but it was fuel to an already hot fire, and Edgar looked ready to explode. Duran must have thought so, too, because he nudged Edgar and tipped his head to Diana, a reminder to his boss that this conversation could be overheard.

The fit of temper stayed in Edgar’s eyes, but he did lower his voice and aim his index finger at Harley. “I pushed to get the Rangers brought in on this. I can push to have you removed from this investigation.”

Harley looked the man straight in the eye. “Go ahead, push. See where it gets you. I’m on this investigation whether in an official capacity or not. And I won’t obstruct justice by concealing evidence that might save lives. It might save your butt in the polls, too,” he reminded the man.

Apparently, Edgar decided he couldn’t argue with that. Or rather, that he didn’t intend to verbally argue anyway. Maybe that was because of Diana’s presence or because Theo was making his way back toward them.

“This isn’t over,” Edgar murmured like a threat as the two men went out with the same speed and intensity as they’d entered.

Harley was about to explain what had caused the pair’s hasty exit, but then he looked at Theo’s expression. Oh, hell. What now?

“Once the bomb was removed,” Theo said, starting that with a heavy sigh, “the CSIs found a note beneath it.” He lifted his phone screen for them to see.

Harley repeated that “Oh, hell,” but this time it was aloud. Ava didn’t say anything. She merely stared at the screen. At the words written on the note.

This is all for you, Mom.

Chapter Three

Ava’s throat clamped shut and she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. She just stood there and felt the words stab out at her.

This is all for you, Mom.

“In my office, now,” Theo insisted. Not in a demand-for-answers sort of way but rather with mountains of concern. That was probably because she looked ready to drop to the floor.

Harley hooked his arm around her waist to steady her and to get her moving. Good thing, too, since she wasn’t sure she could have managed to take a single step on her own.

Oh, God.

Was the child she’d given birth to all those years ago actually responsible for this? Ava’s mind wouldn’t process the answer.

Theo shut the door once they were in his office and went to the fridge to get her a bottle of water while Harley helped her to a chair. She nearly asked Harley to fill Theo in on what the note meant, but Ava forced herself to steel up. She was a deputy, for heaven’s sake, and she could do this. She gulped down some water and looked up at her boss.

“When I was sixteen, I had a baby. A boy,” she managed to add, “and I gave him up for adoption.”

“Edgar forced her to do that,” Harley supplied. “And he also forced her to keep the pregnancy a secret.”

Dragging in a long breath, Theo sank down into his chair, putting himself at eye level with her. “That means the child would be nineteen or twenty now?”

“Twenty,” she confirmed. Twenty years, two months and four days.

She could have given him the hour had it been necessary.

Ava paused again, drank some more water and continued. “It was a closed, private adoption, but after I became a cop, I managed to get hold of the records.” And she hoped Theo didn’t ask how she’d managed that. “He was adopted by Megan and Gene Franklin, both teachers, from Kerrville. They got him when he was two days old, and they named him Caleb James.”

It was the first time Ava had allowed herself to say his name out loud. Her son’s name. Except he wasn’t hers. Never had been because she’d never even been allowed to hold him. Per her father’s orders, the baby had been whisked away from her only seconds after he’d drawn his first breath.

“I should point out that Caleb probably isn’t the actual killer,” Harley said. “If he was doing this, why point a huge neon arrow at himself?”

Ava latched onto that like a lifeline. The note was basically a confession—if Caleb was the killer, that is. But if he’d wanted to confess, why not just come to the source? To her. So, this meant someone had set him up, had wanted her to believe that Caleb might be killing because of her.

“You’ve met Caleb and the Franklins?” Theo asked, drawing her attention back to him.

She shook her head. “No, but I’ve seen a couple of pictures of them on social media. Not many, but I recall a few years back, they celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary. Caleb’s a criminal justice major at University of Texas.”

That was in Austin, less than an hour from Silver Creek, where the murdered women had been dumped.

That caused Ava to groan. Cops looked at means, motive and opportunity when it came to identifying a criminal. The opportunity could have been there since Caleb lived so close, and the person who’d set him up would know that. Except there was something else. Something Ava didn’t want to consider but had to.

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