Margaret Daley - Lone Star Christmas Witness

Title Page Lone Star Christmas Witness Margaret Daley www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright ISBN: 978-1-474-08656-1 LONE STAR CHRISTMAS WITNESS © 2018 Margaret Daley Published in Great Britain 2018 by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental. By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. www.millsandboon.co.uk Version: 2020-03-02

Introduction “What do I do? Go to a hotel?” Sierra eased down onto the couch. As a second reporter’s car parked in front, Taylor left the window. “I have an idea. Y’all can stay with my dad. He’s a retired marine and loves children. Besides that, the holiday season is a big thing for my dad. It might help Ben to get away.” He didn’t know if it would, but his safety was the most important aspect to consider. “We can’t impose. We can keep the blinds closed. The press might get tired of waiting.” “First, you aren’t imposing. I’ll be there, too. Ben needs to be protected until we find the shooter. It didn’t take long for the reporters to find where y’all were. The same can be said of the killer.” Taylor sat next to Sierra on the sofa, so close a whiff of lavender teased his senses. “Let me call him and—” A piercing scream reverberated through the house.

Dear Reader Dear Reader Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Introduction Dear Reader Bible Verse Dedication ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE EPILOGUE Extract About the Publisher , Lone Star Christmas Witness is my fifth book in the Lone Star Justice series, about Texas Rangers. In this story, a tragedy happens that changes my heroine’s life. Not only does she have to deal with her own grief, but also try to help her nephew who lost the only parent he’s known. This is a story of how people handle grief. The little boy who loses his mother stops talking and withdraws. The heroine is trying to stay alive and protect her nephew while also dealing with the sudden death of her older sister, who had been more of a mother to her than a sister. Their worlds are forever changed. Not only are they affected, but the Texas Ranger dealing with the case has to finally come to terms with the death of his son several years before who was about the age of the little boy he is trying to keep alive. You can try to suppress pain, but sooner or later it bubbles up to the surface and has to be dealt with. I love hearing from readers. You can contact me at margaretdaley@gmail.com or at PO box 2074, Tulsa, OK 74101. You can also learn more about my books at www.margaretdaley.com . I have a newsletter that you can sign up for on my website. Best wishes, Margaret Daley

Bible Verse The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? —Psalms 27:1

Dedication To the Texas Rangers, who work to keep the people of Texas safe

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EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

Texas Ranger Taylor Blackburn strode toward the clinic, ducking under the crime scene tape. A northwest wind blew, a chill in the winter air. Dread threatened to slow his pace, but he couldn’t allow that. Forty-five minutes ago, a woman reported a shooting—a madman had entered this building right before it opened and shot the six employees on the staff. Five were dead, one critically injured.

When Taylor entered the Premier Medical Clinic, the smell of copper and gunpowder accosted him. Sadly, he’d smelled those aromas too many times in his sixteen years in law enforcement. His gaze swept the reception area, pausing for a few seconds on the downed pine tree with its multicolored tiny lights twinkling among the green foliage and the many ornaments lying on the floor. Tangled in the midst of the tree lay the first victim, a middle-aged woman dressed in her nurse’s scrubs—the vision making a mockery of what Christmas stood for.

Lieutenant Nash Cartwright with the San Antonio Police Department approached Taylor, who had been called in because it was a mass shooting. “It’s good to see you.”

Taylor shook his hand, glad that Nash was the SAPD’s lead on this case. He’d worked with the lieutenant several times. “I wish under different circumstances.”

“Me, too. We don’t know much yet. An unidentified man moved methodically through the building taking out the cameras as he went and killing anyone in his path. From what little we saw on the surveillance footage before it went black, the gun had a silencer on it.”

“There wasn’t anything that could identify the suspect?”

“He knew where the cameras were and made sure we didn’t see his face even during the brief time he was caught on tape. All we know is he’s approximately six feet tall with a slender build. His clothing was all black, with a hoodie to hide his face. Nothing else.”

“Was the door unlocked?” Taylor glanced at the security system pad near the front door.

“Don’t know. The alarm was off when we arrived.”

Taylor had briefly noticed a rear parking lot, most likely where the employees parked, which probably meant there was another entrance there. “Even with a silencer, you can hear the muffled shots. But no one escaped the building out the back door?”

“Right. It was blocked by a big trash bin. One male doctor was killed trying to leave.”

Taylor glanced down the hallway and saw another body by the exit, the door opened partially but a large garbage bin against the wall on the outside. “So, the killer came in and left by the front entrance. Any surveillance cameras outside in the parking lots in the back or front?”

“Yes, but taken down beforehand. I just sent some officers out to canvass the other businesses on the street, but with this clinic set back from the road and not surrounded by close neighbors, we might not get anything. And there are no traffic cams on this side street that could show us cars turning into the clinic. We’ll look later at other traffic cams in the general area during the time frame and try to identify the license numbers.”