The Texas Lawman's Last Stand (11 page)

Mattie huffed and turned to Bo as if to ask what the devil was going on. He didn’t know. But he would find out.

“Someone tried to kill Mattie just this morning,” Bo reminded them. “If you worked out a so-called truce with your former business associates, then who was responsible for the attack?”

None of them jumped to answer that. Finally, Collier took a step forward. “I doubt you’d believe me.”

“Try,” Bo ordered.

“You should question Marshal Larry Tolivar.”

Bo certainly hadn’t expected that name to come up in this conversation. “Why?”

It was Kaplan who continued. “I’ve been trying to locate Mattie since she disappeared, and I’ve become suspicious of Marshal Tolivar. I think he’s the one who allowed someone to hack into the Witness Protection database.”

“You have proof?” Mattie asked.

“Not exactly, but if you dig into Tolivar’s financials, you might find hints of a payoff. I believe someone, probably those former business associates, paid him and paid him well so they could access Mattie’s files.”

Bo didn’t like the way Tolivar’s name kept popping up. It was time to have the marshal investigated. “Your former business associates?” Bo questioned. “The ones that you won’t identify because it’ll get us killed?”

“Kendall would tell you if he could,” Cicely Carr said as if it were gospel.

“I can’t give you names,” Collier reiterated. “But when you find the payoff that I believe Tolivar received, that should lead you to the people behind all of this.”

He tipped his head toward the door. “Time to go.”

“Not yet,” Bo insisted. “Explain to me why you’d use a computer in a coffee shop to dig into my background.”

Kendall blinked, shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” Bo pressed. “We have your prints.”

“Then someone planted them there.” He glanced at Mattie. “Someone’s obviously trying to keep me in trouble with the law. And with you. Besides, why would I use a coffee shop computer? If I wanted to find out anything about you, I would have used one of my P.I.s. Or Ian.”

True. Unless this really was some kind of intimidation tactic. Bo was either dealing with an innocent man or a very dangerous one.

“I’ve said my piece,” Kendall Collier said a moment later. “And now Mattie needs some time to think.”

Collier walked out first but not before he reached out to Mattie. She dodged his hand, stepping back. Her uncle nodded and seemed disappointed, but that was the only emotion he showed. Bo made another mental note: have Collier followed and see if SAPD could get authorization for some wire taps. If his shady business associates were responsible for what had happened, Bo wanted them identified and put behind bars, where they could never get to Mattie and the babies.

“Please give Kendall a chance,” Cicely Carr whispered to Mattie. “Don’t disappoint us.”

That caused Mattie to pull her shoulders back, and she was likely about to return fire over Carr’s comment, but the woman walked out and hurried after Collier.

Ian Kaplan, however, stayed put. He took out his card and handed it to Mattie. “That’s in case you’ve forgotten my number. We really need to talk.
Alone,
” he added, glancing at Bo.

“That’s not going to happen,” Mattie assured him.

Kaplan flinched as if she’d slapped him. “I’m trying to help you. That’s why I pushed Kendall to put an end to all of this. I want you back in my life.”

Well, there it was. All laid out. The lawyer still wanted Mattie. That riled Bo to the core. This moron could be responsible for the danger, and yet he was practically inviting Mattie to his bed.

Bo didn’t want to think that what he was feeling was partly motivated by jealousy. But he couldn’t totally dismiss that, either. Their kiss had changed things that shouldn’t have been changed.

“I can help you find your child,” Kaplan continued.

“How?” Bo snapped.

Kaplan shot him an irritated “get lost” look, but his expression softened when he turned his attention back to Mattie. “I can have an entire team of P.I.s out searching for the baby. All you have to do is say that you want my help.”

And jump in his bed.

Bo felt his mouth bend into a snarl. “Specifics,” he spelled out to Kaplan. “When you’re ready to give specifics, Mattie and I will be ready to listen.”

Kaplan’s snarl matched Bo’s. “Mattie and I can talk without you.”

“No, we can’t,” Mattie spoke up. She huffed and pushed her hair away from her face. “Look, Ian, I’m not sure I even trust you, so we’re not on the same side. And I’m not going to have any private conversations with you.”

The color drained from the lawyer’s face. “You’re choosing Bo Duggan over me? Over your own family?”

“Bo protected me this morning. He put his life in danger for me. So, yes, I’m choosing him over you.”

Kaplan sputtered out a few syllables before he finally seemed to regain his composure. “Call me when you change your mind.” The man practically ran into Bo as he hurried out.

Mattie immediately leaned against the wall. Maybe it was the adrenaline catching up with her, or maybe this meeting had just drained her, but Bo held her because she looked ready to slide straight to the floor.

“I didn’t expect this,” she mumbled.

Neither had he. Bo slipped his arm around her waist and eased her to him. Her heart was pounding so hard, he could feel it against his chest.

“You think your uncle could be telling the truth about wanting a truce?” Bo asked.

“I don’t know.” She dropped her head onto his shoulder and gave a weary sigh. She leaned against him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

It certainly felt natural, and that set off huge alarms in his head. He couldn’t get this close to Mattie. But he didn’t move, either.

“I just want the danger to be over,” she whispered.

Bo was about to agree when he heard the footsteps. He pulled away from Mattie, but not before Captain Shaw Tolbert appeared in the doorway. His captain blinked and obviously noticed the close contact between Mattie and him.

“Rough meeting with her uncle,” Bo managed to say, but explaining himself wasn’t high on his priority list right now. “Who’s with the children?”

“Several officers. Don’t worry. They’re safe.”

“But for how long?” Mattie asked, her voice filled with emotion.

“For as long as it takes,” the captain assured her. “I watched most of the meeting through the two-way. I already have someone working on a background check for the marshal, and I’ll see what I can do about getting a search warrant so we can look through Kendall Collier’s recent business records.”

Good. The ball was already rolling.

“Cicely’s family might be the business associates that Kendall was referring to,” Mattie volunteered. “I don’t have any proof, but her family is a lot like mine, and they’ve had dealings with Kendall in the past.”

The captain and Bo exchanged glances. This hadn’t come up in the original trial. They knew that Collier had received funding for the illegal arms deal, but the Justice Department had never been able to identify the source of that funding. Maybe it was Cicely Carr’s family.

Or Carr herself.

“So what about their marriage?” Bo asked Mattie. “Is that legit?”

Mattie shrugged. “Could be. Even though Cicely is eighteen years younger than Kendall, she’s always had a thing for him. Plus, I think her family always tried to push them together, but I had no idea that Kendall even thought of Cicely as a prospective partner. He usually goes for the flashier, more glamorous type.”

Bo gave that some thought. “Maybe he’s marrying her to appease her family and make peace with them.”

“I’ll look into that, too,” the captain volunteered. He turned to Mattie. “Bo and I have to start making some security arrangements. A safe house for the twins,” he clarified. “Why don’t you wait in my office while we’re doing that?”

She looked at Bo, and he nodded, only because the captain had
suggested
it. “Since you didn’t get a chance to eat this morning, I’ll have someone bring you some breakfast. And when the captain and I are done, I’ll come and get you.”

“My office is just up the hall.” The captain pointed in that direction.

Mattie gave another hesitant glance before she walked away.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Bo immediately asked. “Did something happen to the twins?”

“No. Nothing like that.” Captain Tolbert glanced out into the hall as if to make sure no one was listening. “I thought you might like to hear this without Mattie around.”

A lot of bad things started to go through his mind. “What?”

The captain took out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and handed it to Bo. “These are the results of the DNA tests we ran on Holly and Mattie.”

Chapter Nine

Something was wrong. Mattie could feel it, and better yet, she could see it on Bo’s face.

Bo was doing everything he should be doing—making the final arrangements for a safe house, checking on the investigation into Cicely’s family and Marshal Larry Tolivar. He was even doing the paperwork about the explosion. From the moment he’d collected her from the captain’s office and moved her to his, he’d been dealing with nonstop calls and questions.

What he hadn’t done was look her in the eye.

And that meant something was wrong.

Mattie nibbled on the sandwich and chips that one of the uniformed officers had brought her, and she waited for an opening to question Bo about what had put him in such a mood. She even listened to the way he responded to the callers, but she couldn’t hear anything specific that she didn’t already know.

Was this about the kiss at his house and the embrace in the interrogation room?

Maybe.

Bo could be dealing with some guilt over what he was feeling for her and his loyalties to his late wife. Mattie was certainly dealing with some of that, too, but Brody had been dead nearly two years now. While a part of her would always love him, being on the run had taught her that life was too short to live in the past. She really wanted a chance at living in the present and planning a future.

“The safe house is nearly ready,” Bo relayed to her when he finished his latest call. “It shouldn’t be more than another hour at most. Setting up furniture and food for the twins is taking more time than we anticipated.”

Of course. And that led her to something else that was on her mind. “Will I be at the safe house with all of you?”

There. She saw the flicker in his jaw. Something was definitely wrong, and that caused her heart to ache. Mercy, was he planning on sending her somewhere else just so she wouldn’t be around Holly?

“You’ll come with us,” he mumbled and continued to stare down at the paperwork he had positioned in front of him.

The relief was instant. “Thank you. I know that couldn’t have been an easy decision for you to make, but I really appreciate—”

“The captain got the DNA test results back,” Bo blurted out.

Mattie’s pulse was suddenly thick and throbbing. She dropped the rest of the sandwich onto the wrapper and stood. Just getting to her feet was an effort. She felt as if all the bones in her body had crumbled on the spot.

Oh, God. This was why Bo had been dodging her gaze.

“And?” she prompted, though speaking was an effort, too. Everything inside was on hold, waiting.

“The test was a match.” Bo looked at her now, and he stood, as well, facing her. “Holly is your biological child.”

The breath whooshed out of her, and Mattie heard herself make some kind of sound. Part gasp, part sigh, but mostly it was a sound of relief. Even though she’d never doubted it, that precious little girl was hers.

When she started to laugh, she pressed her fingers to her mouth. She wanted to celebrate, jump for joy and shout it out so the world would know.

Holly was her baby.

But her joy went south when she saw Bo’s expression. She’d never seen anyone in that much pain.

“I’m sure Nadine intended to tell you,” Mattie said. But it was the wrong thing to say, because Bo only shook his head. Maybe there was no right thing to say in a situation like this.

Mattie walked closer to him, reached out and caught on to his hand. He pulled back, or rather tried to, but she held on. “I can’t say I’m sorry about the test results. But I am sorry for what this is doing to you.”

He glanced around as if he might tear out of the room. Or curse. Or yell. Or do a dozen other things to vent the emotion he was feeling. But he simply groaned and dropped back down into the chair.

“I didn’t know,” he mumbled. “I swear, I didn’t suspect a thing until you showed up yesterday.”

Mattie believed him. Nadine hadn’t lived long enough to tell him the truth, and Mattie hadn’t been in a position to try to claim her child.

She still wasn’t.

“I can’t just give her up,” Bo insisted, his voice and face now tight with anger. “I can’t just hand her over to you.”

“I know.” And it took every ounce of her courage to say that.

Bo blinked and stared up at her. “Then what the hell are we going to do?”

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “We’re going to take the children to the safe house. We’ll protect them, and when we know who’s responsible for the danger, we’ll work out what needs to be worked out.”

That didn’t appease him as she thought it would. He jerked away from her and cursed. “I’m the only father she’s ever known. The only thing that needs to be worked out is for her to stay with me.”

Mattie couldn’t totally dismiss that. Bo had been part of her daughter’s life since day one. “Holly loves you.” She tried to keep her voice calm. Hard to do with the anger and emotion radiating from Bo. “I wouldn’t dream of cutting you out of her life. I think we can work out visitation—”

“I don’t want damn visitations!” he shouted. “I want my baby girl.”

When he got up and bolted for the door, Mattie just grabbed him and held on. That put them body to body, of course, and they stood with her back against his closed office door and with Bo against her. The energy between them was so dangerous and strong that it frightened her.