The Marshal's Justice (Appaloosa Pass Ranch 4) (11 page)

April certainly hadn’t seen that coming. Great day. “Why would Malcolm visit the man responsible for his friend’s murder?”

“I’m not sure. The guards recorded all of Crossman’s visitors, but those particular conversations have a lot of static, making it impossible to hear what they’re saying.”

April doubted that was a coincidence. “How could that have happened?” she asked Chase.

“Malcolm probably sneaked in some kind of jamming device.”

Of course. But that didn’t answer the big questions. “Why would Malcolm do that? What did he say to Crossman that he didn’t want anyone else to know?”

Chase checked the time. “I’m not sure, but you can wait here with Jax while I find out. I’m going to the prison right now to have a chat with Crossman.”

Chapter Eleven

Chase wasn’t even sure this was worth the risk—visiting Crossman in jail. And he especially wasn’t sure it was worth the risk to bring April with him. However, April had made a pretty convincing argument—that since she was Crossman’s target, she wanted to be the one to confront him about the kidnapping and attacks.

And about those visits from Malcolm.

Chase wanted to confront the man, too, and considering that Crossman was a piece of slime, he just might spill everything about Malcolm. Well, if there was anything to spill, but it wasn’t looking good for the man since Malcolm had a connection to both Crossman and a dead cop.

“I hope Bailey will be okay,” April said while they waited for the guards to bring in Crossman. “Other than the kidnapping, this is the longest I’ve ever been away from her. When she was in the hospital, I slept there.”

That didn’t surprise him. But it did rile Chase a little that he hadn’t had the opportunity to do the same thing. “Bailey will be fine, and once we’re done here we can go back to the safe house.” Where he hoped April would stay put until he had gotten their new WITSEC identities.

Of course, Chase was hoping that would be soon. Or at least part of him was hoping that. But the thought of turning in his badge for good made it feel as if someone was squeezing the life right out of him.

April fidgeted in the chair, glanced around, checked the time. “Nervous?” he asked.

“Impatient and ready for answers. I never got a sense that Malcolm hated me and wanted revenge.”

“People don’t always show you what’s really going on in their heads,” Chase reminded her.

She stared at him, as if looking for some deeper meaning in that remark. And there was one. It was aimed at Quentin, though April seemed to have gotten the big picture on her scummy brother.

“Are we talking about the kisses now?” she asked.

All right, so her train of thought hadn’t exactly gone in the same direction as his. Not that his thoughts ever strayed too far from those kisses. Or from her.

“No,” he answered.

April continued to stare at him, the corner of her mouth lifting. Almost a smile. Despite the cruddy situation they were in, it was nice to see she could manage even a half smile.

“It’s always like this between us,” she said. “I’m a criminal. A former one anyway. And you’re a lawman. Not exactly a match made in heaven.”

She was right. That kind of fire had a completely different origin than heaven.

“Maybe it was an opposites-attract thing,” he suggested.

The slight smile returned for a moment, vanished, and it seemed as if she had something to say to him, that maybe it’d been a whole lot more than just opposites attracting. However, she didn’t get a chance because at that very moment the guard ushered Crossman into the visiting area.

Despite having been in jail for the past six months, Crossman hadn’t changed that much. Heavily muscled, bald and a nose that’d been broken a time or two. He looked exactly like the thug that he was.

Crossman’s smile certainly wasn’t a slight one. He flashed them a big grin when his gaze met Chase’s. Then April’s. The grin stayed in place as Crossman sat in the chair on the other side of the Plexiglas partition and picked up the phone.

Chase picked up the phone on his side, too, and he held it so that both April and he would be able to hear the conversation. Of course, that meant more close contact between them.

“April,” Crossman greeted. “You’re looking a little frazzled, like you haven’t had much sleep. Something bothering you?”

“Yes,” she readily admitted. “Tell me about your visits with Malcolm Knox.”

For just a second, there was a flash of surprise in Crossman’s mud-brown eyes. “They were just chitchat.”

“That’s a lie,” Chase snapped. “You warned us about him. Why?”

The slight smile returned, and Crossman leaned back as far in the chair as he could. Which wasn’t very far considering he was cuffed and wearing leg chains.

“Malcolm is somewhat of a mystery,” Crossman finally said. “And I wasn’t sure if he wanted to kill you for your part in that cop’s death. They were good friends, you know.”

Because April’s arm was touching his, Chase felt her tense. “Did Malcolm say anything about getting back at me for that?” she asked.

“Not specifically, but I got the feeling he wanted to do you and Quentin some harm. Especially Quentin.”

“You also want to do us harm so we can’t testify against you,” April pointed out. “So, why warn us about Malcolm? Or were you afraid Malcolm would do the job you wanted your own thugs to do?”

“Interesting theory. But you’re wrong. I don’t want you or Quentin dead. Punished, yes, for turning traitor on me. Dead, no. I’ve known where you were for weeks.
Months
,” Crossman corrected.

Chase tried not to look shocked and reminded himself that anything that came out of Crossman’s mouth was probably a lie.

“If you found them that long ago, why didn’t you do anything about it?” Chase asked.

“I didn’t say I knew where Quentin was. Only April. Quentin has a strange habit of not being where he’s supposed to be.”

Chase shrugged. “Then why not just go after April?”

“Because as I said, I didn’t want either Quentin or her dead. I wanted them to lead me to my former CPA. Jasmine Bronson. I need to...talk to her. Because you see, when my trial eventually starts, I’ll need Jasmine to tell the truth, that it wasn’t me she saw shooting that cop, that she was mistaken. In fact, I’d like for Jasmine to remember that it was either Quentin or someone else who pulled that trigger.”

That was a not so subtle way of saying that Crossman wanted to intimidate the CPA into lying. And the problem was, Crossman might be able to do just that if he could find her. Apparently, he hadn’t, yet.

According to the latest info Chase had gotten, Jasmine was safe but not at her WITSEC location. Like Quentin, Jasmine had struck out on her own. Considering the recent breach in WITSEC files, that had probably kept her alive. Because Crossman would definitely want her dead since she was the one who could testify about the worst of the charges against him—murder.

Too bad April hadn’t been able to move around the way that Quentin and Jasmine had, but that would have been next to impossible to do with Bailey in the hospital for two months. Plus, April probably thought she was safe.

“How did you find April in WITSEC?” Chase pressed. “Did you hack into the files?”

“Hack? That’s such an ugly word. One that carries more criminal charges. No, I didn’t do anything like that. Let’s just say a little bird told me.”

Chase silently cursed. Because that little bird could be a mole in the marshals’ office.

“Why should I believe any of this?” April asked the man.

Crossman smiled again. “The week before you had your daughter, you went to the store to buy some baby things. Clothes, diapers. And a white teddy bear. From what I’ve been told, it had a pink bow.”

Judging from how fast the color drained from April’s face, Crossman was telling the truth. About that anyway. That sickened Chase to know that April and his baby were so close to danger and he hadn’t even known it.

“I want to find Jasmine.” Crossman inched closer to the Plexiglas. He stared at Chase. “I need to talk to her. Now, if you can arrange for that to happen, I swear to you that April and your daughter will be safe.”

Chase gave him a flat look. “Even if I believed that, which I don’t, I wouldn’t hand over a witness to you. Besides, murder isn’t the only charge against you, and April can and will help convict you of money laundering and a whole list of other crimes.”

Of course, that was backup. In case the murder charges didn’t put Crossman away for life. Or if he managed to wiggle out of that charge altogether. He could possibly do that if he killed Jasmine.

“Money laundering,” Crossman said, his tone dismissing it. “All a misunderstanding. My lawyers can work to fix that.”

“Yes, by killing my brother and me,” April challenged. “By any chance, are you the one who kidnapped Quentin?”

“Interesting.” Crossman made it sound as if he was hearing this for the first time. “No. But this is a sweet turn of events, wouldn’t you say? I suppose there’s a ransom involved? One that involves milking you for a lot of cash to pay off that pesky loan shark your brother owes?”

April didn’t respond. She sighed, maybe because it was the truth.

“Do you know anything else about the kidnapping?” Chase demanded.

“Maybe,” Crossman admitted. “I got a lovely visitor about a week ago. She used the name Alisha Herrington, but her real name is Renée Edmunds. She’s a
friend
of Quentin’s.”

Oh, man. Chase had checked that visitors’ log but hadn’t had time to figure out if anyone on the list had been using a fake ID. “What did Renée want?”

“She offered a very interesting deal. She said she’d tell me where April was if I’d agree to leave Quentin alone.”

That kicked up April’s breathing a significant notch. And tightened her muscles even more.

“I told Renée I wasn’t interested, of course,” Crossman continued. “No reason to bargain for information I already had.”

True, but there were key bits of the info that were missing. “How did Renée know where April was?”

“Maybe from that same little bird,” Crossman whispered as if telling a secret. “Sometimes birds chirp to more than one person feeding them. And sometimes people chirp for a whole different reason. Like sex,” he said, turning that taunting stare in April’s direction.

April ignored him, and she looked at Chase. “Are we done here?”

“Yeah.” Though he wasn’t sure they’d actually gotten much from Crossman. Still, he needed to mull over the conversation and figure out if Crossman had revealed something he hadn’t intended to reveal.

“Leaving so soon?” Crossman asked when April and Chase stood. “And here we didn’t get to chat about you two getting back together. You are back together, aren’t you? Have you gotten him in bed again, April?”

April shot the man another glare but didn’t respond verbally. With Crossman laughing, Chase and she walked out.

“I feel like I need a bath after talking to that piece of dirt,” April mumbled.

Chase knew exactly how she felt. Except the image of her taking a bath flashed through his head. Not good. Because it was yet another reminder that he couldn’t allow this attraction to make him lose focus.

The moment they were in the front waiting area of the prison, Chase took out his phone to call Jericho. “I want to see if there’s anything that can be done to make sure Jasmine stays safe,” he explained to April. “And I can’t call the marshals until we find the mole.”

She nodded. “After what Crossman just said, I think he definitely has some kind of insider in either that office or one of the others.”

Chase agreed, but he didn’t get a chance to make that call because he saw the man making his way toward the door.

Malcolm.

“I want to talk to him,” April insisted. And it didn’t sound as if it would be a friendly chat, either.

Chase slipped his arm around her waist to hold her back, waiting until Malcolm had gone through the metal detector and had been searched by the guard. Chase figured even if Malcolm was armed and gunning for April that he wouldn’t risk an attack here in front of the prison guard and a marshal.

“Visiting Crossman again?” April demanded the moment Malcolm had cleared security and started toward them.

Malcolm nodded. “Why are you here?” He glanced at her, then at the way Chase had his arm around her. Chase got the feeling that what Malcolm was really itching to ask was, why are you here
together
?

“We wanted to know what you discussed with Crossman on your other visits,” Chase informed him. “Crossman was more than happy to tell us.”

Oh, Malcolm did not like that. Suddenly, there was no pretense of being in love with April. Or even liking her. The hatred was right there in his eyes.

April folded her arms over her chest. “Let me guess. You want me to pay for your friend’s murder.”

“I want anyone involved to pay,” Malcolm answered. But then, he huffed and some of the anger was gone. “In the beginning, I wanted you to pay. That’s why I found you, but then I couldn’t go through with it.”

Chase had already considered that’s how things had played out. Still, it cut him to the core that this man had gotten so close to April and Bailey.

“How exactly did you find me?” she asked.

His mouth tightened, and at first Chase thought Malcolm might not answer. “Crossman,” he finally said. “I’m not sure, but Crossman might have also told Renée how to find you so the woman could in turn locate Quentin.”

Not according to Crossman, but Chase kept that to himself. Besides, Crossman could have been lying about that. He could have indeed given any and all info to Renée if it would have helped him find Quentin and Jasmine.

Malcolm huffed. “I know how this looks with me visiting Crossman again, but I’m here to tell him to back off, that I don’t want April or the baby put in danger so he can satisfy the vendetta he has against Quentin and April.”

Even if he hadn’t been a lawman, a comment like that would have grabbed his attention. “You know for a fact that Crossman is behind the attacks?”

“Who else would it be?” Malcolm countered, and it seemed like a genuine question. “He needs April, Quentin and that CPA out of the way, or he’ll spend the rest of his life in jail.”

Actually, Crossman needed only Jasmine out of the way for the murder charges, and it didn’t make sense he would go through all the trouble to find April to get to Jasmine. Because there was no way the marshals would put the two women in WITSEC together.

“How’d you scramble the recordings of the conversations you had with Crossman the other times you visited him here at the prison?” Chase came out and asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t scramble anything. Maybe Crossman paid off a guard or something?”

That was always possible, but there were handheld devices that could interfere with a signal. Visitors would be checked for that sort of thing, but someone could have slipped something like that past the guards.