Delores Fossen - Trouble With A Badge

Levi had no idea why she was apologizing, but it did occur to him that she was the reason he was here. “Did you have a PI make a call to me about the Moonlight Strangler?”

She paused, then nodded. “I couldn’t think of a faster way to get you here, and I needed to talk to someone I can trust.”

“You can’t trust me,” Levi grumbled.

But he instantly knew it was a lie. The deputy’s badge on his belt wasn’t just for show. He was the law and would uphold it no matter what the cost.

Even for Alexa.

“I can’t stay out here long. I have to get back.” She glanced behind her.

Levi wasn’t sure where back was for her. “Then you’d better start explaining why you’re here because I’m in a hurry, too.” He’d just pulled a long shift and wanted to get home.

Actually, anywhere away from Alexa, and a long shift didn’t have anything to do with wanting to put some distance between them. He couldn’t look at her without thinking of Paige.

“I still had your personal cell number, but I was afraid you wouldn’t answer if you didn’t recognize the caller. Or that you’d hang up if you knew it was me.”

“Is this explanation going somewhere?” he snapped.

“Yes. I tried calling you at San Antonio PD,” she said after she cleared her throat. “I didn’t tell them who I was, but they said you didn’t work there any longer, that just this week you’d taken a job here in Appaloosa Pass.”

It was his third day on the job as a deputy. Levi had put a decade of city law enforcement behind him so he could come home and devote more time to catching the Moonlight Strangler.

Well, that was the official story anyway.

Other things had played into it. Things he had no intention of discussing with Alexa, even though, in a roundabout way, she was part of that unofficial story.

“I didn’t want to risk calling the sheriff’s office. That’s when I called the PI, James Moser,” Alexa added a moment later.

It didn’t surprise Levi that Alexa would remember the PI who’d helped Levi with the footwork on some investigations. After all, James had done a couple of jobs for her, too, when Alexa had still been running her private investigations agency.

“And you talked James into calling me with fake info about a serial killer so I’d meet you here.” Levi cursed. Not just because he wasn’t going to catch a serial killer tonight, but because he was a thousand percent certain he didn’t want to hear anything else Alexa had to say.

“Something went wrong,” she said, taking a step closer to him.

Alexa gave another wary glance over her shoulder at the car she’d parked. She’d left the engine running.

“Why are you here?” he pressed, figuring that’d give him the answer to a lot of his questions and clarify her “something went wrong” remark.

The cold air mixed with the slow breath she blew out, creating a wispy fog around her. “I think there might have been some kind of breach at WITSEC. I think my identity could have been compromised.”

“This is the first I’m hearing about it.” Of course, he wasn’t exactly in the WITSEC loop. “Are you in danger?”

A burst of air left her mouth. Almost a laugh. But there was no humor. “Oh, yes.” Another glance over her shoulder. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time, but I need your help.”

Levi was guessing this was connected to the reason she’d gone into WITSEC in the first place. Because she would soon testify against a very dangerous man.

Marcos Culver.

And Marcos would have his hired thugs kill Alexa if he found her. Heck, he might kill her himself just for the fun of it.

Bottom line—Marcos would do whatever it took to prevent her from testifying at his upcoming trial. Even though the police knew Marcos was connected to another dangerous criminal, a cop killer who’d also been arrested, Alexa was literally the only person who could put Marcos behind bars.

“I’ll call my brother,” Levi said, reaching for his phone so he could call Jericho, who was the sheriff. “He needs to know what’s going on so he can take you into protective custody.”

But reaching was as far as he got. Alexa practically lunged at him and caught his wrist. Not the smartest thing she could have done because her hand landed in his zipper area.

Their gazes met.

Held.

Before she drew back her hand as if she’d been scalded. “You can’t tell anyone I’m here,” Alexa insisted. “I don’t know who’s in on this.”

That wasn’t just fear he saw in her eyes. It was terror. And Levi figured they weren’t just talking about the possible WITSEC breach now.

“In on what?” he demanded.

“Everything,” she said on a weary whisper.

All right. That got his attention. Of course, his attention hadn’t strayed too far from Alexa since he’d seen her step out of the car. And it wasn’t because he didn’t trust her.

“If you don’t want me to tell anyone, including the sheriff,” he snarled, “then what exactly do you think I can do for you?”

“It’s not for me,” she mumbled, and with her grip still on his arm, she began to lead him toward her car.

Levi got a bad feeling then. One worse than he already had. “You didn’t make some kind of deal with the Moonlight Strangler, did you?”

That stopped her in her tracks, and when she whirled back around to face him, it wasn’t just terror in her eyes. There was what appeared to be confusion. Some hurt, too.

“I know you don’t think much of me.” No longer a mumble. Her words were crisp like the air. “But I wouldn’t have brought you here to be killed. I already have enough Crockett blood on my hands.”

Yeah, she did.

And while Levi didn’t believe she’d just hand him over to a killer, that still didn’t get him to lower his gun.

“You should know up front that I stole a car,” Alexa said. “And that’s not even the worst of it. It’s possible I killed a man earlier tonight.”

That stopped him, as well. “You did what?”

Alexa swallowed hard. “Or at least he might be dead.”

Levi motioned for her to keep going with that explanation, but Alexa only tried to get him walking again. When he stayed put, she said something under her breath he didn’t catch.

“He was a bad man,” she finally continued. “And he murdered someone. He would have done the same to me if I hadn’t bashed him on the head with a flashlight.” Again, she tried to get Levi moving.

He didn’t budge. “What man?”

She huffed, shook her head. “I don’t know who he was. A hired gun, I’m sure. And, no, I don’t know who hired him. Not yet anyway. But I will find out.”

That last bit sounded like some kind of threat.

“The guy wasn’t alone, either,” she continued. “He had a partner.”

“You really think he’s dead?” he asked.

Alexa pushed her hair from her face. “I’m not sure of much of anything right now other than he came after us. I hit him, stole his car and left him at the gas station at the edge of town. It’s closed for the night.”

No one had called in a dead body on his watch. Of course, that gas station wasn’t exactly in city limits, and that meant Levi needed to get someone out there ASAP to check on the guy.

“If he’s not dead, he could have followed you,” he pointed out.

“Yes, he could have. And so could his partner. That’s why it’s not a good idea for us to be in the open. Follow me and I’ll explain everything.”

Levi just gave her a flat look. She was definitely shaking now. Probably freezing her butt off, but maybe the cold would only get her talking faster, because he wasn’t going anywhere with her until she gave him some answers.

“Why come to me?” he snapped.