Delores Fossen - Trouble With A Badge

“The Rangers? Why the heck would you bring them in on this?”

“We sometimes ask them to assist when we’re looking at multiple suspects.” Levi’s attention stayed nailed to Lockwood. “In the meantime, unless you show me conclusive proof that Alexa had something to do with all of this, she’s staying here.”

No profanity from Lockwood this time. He stared at Levi, then chuckled. Not in a funny, ha-ha kind of way, either. It was laced with sarcasm. “Hell must have just frozen over if you actually care what happens to Alexa.”

Care? That was probably too much of a stretch for Levi, considering how he felt about her.

“Excuse us a minute,” Levi said, taking her by the arm and leading her into the hall.

“You’re not going anywhere with her,” Lockwood ordered, but he was talking to himself because Levi had gone somewhere. He ducked inside an interrogation room with her.

“Do you have any real proof that Lockwood’s dirty?” Levi demanded. And yes, he sounded exactly like a cop with that question.

“I heard it from a criminal informant.” She didn’t have to wait long for Levi to groan, and she knew why. CIs often were not reliable. “Do you believe in gut feelings? Because it’s my gut feeling that Lockwood could somehow be connected to Marcos Culver.”

Levi pulled in a long, frustrated breath and leaned against the doorjamb. Alexa could no longer see Lockwood, but Levi glanced in the marshal’s direction, probably trying to decide whose story he believed.

“You’re wasting my time, Deputy,” Lockwood called out. “Just hand over Alexa and you can take the kid.”

She hoped that Levi heard the menacing tone in Lockwood’s demand. Alexa also hoped his tone wasn’t her imagination brought on by fear and a major adrenaline crash. But she didn’t think it was the latter.

“If Lockwood once worked the same operation as Marcos, then why has it taken him five months to hire someone to kill you?” Levi asked.

Alexa had given this plenty of thought. “I’m not sure. Maybe he recently figured out I could connect him to Marcos. Maybe it took Lockwood this long to find me. I’ve been living in Austin, but I haven’t been staying at the house the marshals rented for me. I’ve been checking in daily by phone with the marshals as I’m required to do, but I’ve been moving around a lot.”

Levi stayed quiet a moment. “And Lockwood didn’t mind not having face-to-face contact with you?”

“Oh, he minded. He was always pressing to see me. Always threatening to undo the deal I made with the FBI if I didn’t meet with him. I finally got fed up and called another marshal and met with him instead. Lockwood wasn’t happy, and later that day someone trashed the house where I was supposed to be living.”

Of course, all of that was still circumstantial. All of it including her own gut feeling. Especially since there’d been a rash of vandalism in the neighborhood where the rental house was located.

“Deputy, I’m waiting!” Lockwood shouted. “Unless you want to be arrested, too, for interfering with a federal officer, I suggest you quit yapping and hand Alexa over to me.”

“Please,” she said. Something she’d been saying a lot to Levi in the past hour. “Just help me.”

But Levi didn’t get a chance to answer because of the footsteps. Lockwood came storming toward the hall. Levi met him halfway, walking back into the squad room. Alexa went, too, but she checked over her shoulder to see if there was some way to escape if Lockwood tried to take her. There was.

A back exit off what appeared to be a break room at the end of the hall.

“Now, come on, Alexa.” Lockwood’s tone softened a little, but there was nothing soft about that look in his eyes. “Just give that baby to the deputy and come with me. Whose kid is that anyway?”

Silence. The kind where Alexa could hear everyone’s breathing, including her own.

“Whose kid?” But Lockwood didn’t wait for an answer to his repeated question. “Hell, Alexa, did you steal that baby? Because if you did, I’ll be taking custody of it, too.”

No way would she let that happen, and she silently pleaded with Levi to do whatever it took to stop this. Even if it meant trusting a woman he didn’t want to trust.

Alexa waited. Her heartbeat drumming. Every nerve in her body raw and tense. She had no idea how this was going to play out.

Until Levi glanced at Violet.

And then he moved slightly in front of Alexa. “I’m protecting both Alexa and the baby.”

Lockwood followed Levi’s gaze, and she could almost see the wheels turning in his head. The surprise, followed quickly by the dismissal. “Whose kid is that?” Lockwood pressed. “Because if he or she belongs to someone in WITSEC—”

“The baby’s ours. Mine and Alexa’s.” Levi didn’t even hesitate.

More chuckling from Lockwood. “Really? You actually slept with the woman who helped put your sister-in-law in the grave? And from what I’ve heard, you had a thing for Paige, too.”

A muscle flickered in Levi’s jaw. “In high school. Obviously, Paige chose my brother. And what exactly does that have to do with any of this?”

“Paige’s rejection must have stung,” Lockwood said, dodging the question. The smugness was now in Lockwood’s tone, and he was clearly trying to goad Levi into some kind of confrontation. “For a while anyway. But I guess Paige figured out she’d married the wrong brother since she was divorcing him.”

Levi shook his head. “What I felt or didn’t feel for Paige is none of your business.”

“No, but what is my business is that I’m not sure I can trust you. Not after what went on at San Antonio PD,” Lockwood added. The smug tone had gone up a serious notch.

No quick answer from Levi that time, and because her arm was against his, she felt him tense. Alexa wanted to know what’d happened, but there was no way she would ask in front of Lockwood.

Lockwood, however, didn’t let it drop. “What? You didn’t tell the mother of your own child what you did?” He’d obviously noticed the surprised look on her face.

And there was no doubt it was surprise on her part. Levi was a top-notch cop, and she figured there’d be only one reason he was here with that deputy’s badge—because it was what he wanted.

“We haven’t exactly had time to catch up, what with someone trying to kill Alexa,” Levi answered. “Can’t say the same for you, though. You seem to know a lot about me.”

Lockwood didn’t break his stare with Levi. “It’s my business to know things. When I heard Alexa might be here, I made some calls on the drive over to find out who I’d be dealing with.”

“Then it’s obvious I’ll need to do the same with you.” Levi checked the time. “Now, I’ll have to ask you to leave. Both Alexa and the baby need to be examined for possible injuries, and then I’ll need to get Alexa’s statement about the attack.”

However, Lockwood didn’t budge. “You honestly think I’ll just walk out? Or that I believe you’re the father of that kid? When exactly did you have the time to get Alexa pregnant?”

“I’d rather not share personal details of my sex life,” she snapped. “Suffice it to say that I was pregnant before I was placed in WITSEC.” Thankfully, the lie didn’t stick in her throat.

Lockwood continued to stay put while volleying his glares between Levi and her before the glare finally settled on Levi. “You want proof she was involved with the security breach that compromised her own identity, then here it is in a nutshell. Alexa has been contacting anyone and everyone associated with the Moonlight Strangler. Yeah, she used fake names, but it didn’t take long for it to get around that somebody, a woman, was searching hard to find the killer.”