Trouble with a Badge (12 page)

Levi had studied the case against Marcos. There were other names, but neither the FBI nor SAPD had been able to figure out the real identities. Was it possible Lockwood was one of them and that Marcos was telling the truth? Of course, Marcos had a reason to lie. He'd been charged because of that criminal operation. Lockwood hadn't been.

“This way.” Levi pointed to the interrogation room again. “Let's put all this down on paper and make it official.”

The lawyer clearly didn't like that, but Marcos didn't put up even a token objection. He followed Levi down the hall, his lawyer trailing behind him.

“We've got some paperwork we need to drop off at the DA's office,” one of the SAPD cops said. “Unless you need us here, we'll be back in about a half hour.”

“Take your time,” Levi offered. He doubted this was going to be a speedy interrogation.

“I've been telling you all along that I'm not guilty,” Marcos insisted.

Levi ignored him for the time being and looked back to check on Alexa. To see how she was handling all this. Not well. But then, it'd been a very emotional past couple days for her. The muscles in her face and shoulders were stiff, and she had such a grip on the coffee cup that he was surprised she hadn't crushed it.

“I'll be a few seconds,” Levi said to Marcos and the lawyer, and he shut the door of the interrogation room, staying in the hall with her.

Jericho must have realized he needed a moment because his brother stepped into the observation room where he'd no doubt be watching when Levi questioned Marcos. Alexa would, too, and that wouldn't help her nerves any.

“I could have screwed up,” she said, her voice trembling a little. “I could have seen Lockwood's alias on those records and not realized he was the actual head of the operation.”

“That's possible,” Levi acknowledged. “Though it's not really a screw-up. Unless you have ESP, there's no way you could have known any of those names belonged to Lockwood. And maybe one of the names does. Marcos's bail will be revoked if any of these new charges stick, and this might be his way of making sure that doesn't happen.”

She looked up at him. Nodded. Of course, considering everything it would be better if Lockwood was the mastermind, because then it could mean Marcos was telling the truth about wanting her dead.

However, Levi wasn't about to trust Marcos, and he was sure Alexa wasn't about to, either.

“I need to talk to James Moser again,” she said. “He was the one who initially clued me in to the possibility of Lockwood's guilt, and he might know more.”

Levi really had wanted to wait to tell her this news, but it was obvious that Alexa would be trying to call James soon. Maybe while he was interrogating Marcos. “James is missing.”

Alexa sucked in her breath. “What?”

“I figured you had enough to deal with, so I decided to hold off telling you. SAPD's still looking for him.”

“Oh, God. Something bad could have happened to him.”

Yeah, it could have, but that wasn't what he said to Alexa. “Don't borrow trouble. James is a smart PI, and he might be just lying low because he knows someone could be after him.” He hoped that was true anyway. “I'll call for an update about James when I'm finished with Marcos.”

And because he thought they both could use it, he brushed a kiss on her cheek. A chaste one considering how close they'd come to having sex. “Just go in the observation room with Jericho and wait for me.”

Levi opened the door for her to do just that, but Alexa hadn't even taken a step inside when the front door flew open and a man barreled in.

Scottie.

Levi automatically drew his gun and stepped in front of her.

Scottie wasn't armed, though, and he wasn't wearing his usual bulky coat. In fact, he looked disheveled and was gulping in large breaths.

“Don't!” Scottie shouted, pointed to Alexa.

Levi wasn't sure if that was some kind of threat, but he didn't want to take any chances. He also didn't have time to deal with this clown when he already had another one waiting for him.

Scottie ran toward them, staggering a few steps. “Don't drink that.”

And it took Levi a moment to realize Scottie was pointing at the cup Alexa was holding.

“What's this about?” Levi asked the man.

“That.” Scottie pointed to the cup again. “Someone's trying to kill Alexa. The coffee's been poisoned.”

Chapter Twelve

Before Scottie's words even sank in, Levi had snatched the cup from her hand. “Are you all right?” Levi asked her, the concern all over his face.

Alexa managed to nod. “I didn't drink any. It was too hot.”

All the others came rushing toward her. Jericho, Mack and even Jax. Jax was shaking his head before he even reached her.

“I didn't put anything in it,” he said as if she needed to hear it. She didn't. Jax might not be her friend, but he was a cop. A good one. And he wouldn't try to poison her.

In fact, maybe no one had tried to do that. After all, the accusation had come from a man she didn't trust: Scottie.

“I know you didn't,” she assured Jax and then turned to Scottie. “What makes you think it was poisoned?” Alexa demanded.

Levi's glare let Scottie know that he was demanding the same information.

Scottie pointed to the diner across the street. “I overheard a waitress and a busboy talking. She asked him if he'd put the
stuff
in the right cup, and he said he had because it had Alexa's name on it. Then, she asked if it'd kill Alexa, and the busboy said he didn't know, that his job was just to doctor the coffee.”

Heavens. Was it true? Had someone just tried to kill her again? Even though Alexa hadn't taken even a sip of the coffee, she felt her stomach tightened into a hard, painful knot.

“Which waitress and busboy?” Jericho asked.

Scottie touched his fingers to his head and looked shaken. Or rather pretending to look that way. “She has short brown hair. Young, maybe twenty. The busboy was probably about the same age. Black hair.”

Levi glanced at Jericho. “Does that sound like anyone you know?”

“No,” Jericho answered. He took the cup from Levi and handed it to Mack. “Have the lab pick this up to be analyzed ASAP. I'm going across the street to have a chat with this waitress and busboy.” He headed for the door but not before giving Scottie a sharp look. “And so help me God, this had better not be some kind of sick game you're playing.”

Or a ruse to get to her again.

Levi must have had the same thought because he moved her into the doorway of the observation room and he stayed in the hall, guarding her once again. Jax drew his gun and went to the front door, no doubt so he could provide backup to Jericho if his brother needed it. His new position also put him closer to Scottie, and Jax volleyed his attention between Scottie and the diner.

“Is it possible the waitress and busboy are new, that they could have been planted in the diner?” she asked.

Levi nodded. “Jericho will sort it all out, though.”

Yes, but she hoped that sorting out didn't launch another attack. If the waitress and busboy had indeed tried to kill her, then they might also try to kill Jericho so they could escape. If they hadn't already gotten out of the diner.

Alexa glanced through the observation mirror and spotted Marcos. She expected to see him smiling. He wasn't. He was having another whispered conversation with his lawyer, and both men were looking worried. Maybe because Marcos thought he might be blamed for this.

“You stay here,” she heard Mack say to Scottie, and the deputy made his way back toward them. “I've bagged the coffee and a CSI is on the way over here to pick it up to take it to the lab. It'll be a while before we know anything.”

Levi stared at Scottie. “But I can find out some things from you right now. Why are you here in town?”

The question seemed to throw Scottie for a moment. Maybe because his attention was focused on the diner. Not that he could see much. There was a line of windows across the front of the building and customers were seated in the booths, but Jericho was nowhere in sight.

“I came here to talk to Alexa,” Scottie answered finally. “I thought she'd know about Tasha's funeral arrangements. But then I saw Marcos being brought in by those cops, and I figured it wasn't a good time for her, so I decided I'd have breakfast and wait for him to leave.”

Alexa had no idea if any of that was true, but Scottie's eyes watered. She didn't trust those tears any more than she trusted the man.

“I need to say goodbye to Tasha,” Scottie sobbed.

“The ME hasn't released Tasha's body,” Alexa informed him. “Besides, even if there's a funeral, Tasha wouldn't have wanted you to be there.”

“I have to be there.” His breath broke. “And I want to see her baby. She's a living part of Tasha and I want to see her face just once.”

“You're not getting anywhere near her,” Levi said, taking the words right out of Alexa's mouth. Even if Scottie wasn't a killer, he was a stalker, and Tasha had been afraid of him.

“I don't want to hurt the baby,” Scottie insisted.

“You're sure about that?” Levi snapped. “Because you seemed obsessed with her when you were at the ranch day before yesterday.”

“Because I thought if I had the baby it would help me get Tasha to listen to reason and come back to me.”

Yes, he was definitely obsessed. Alexa was thankful Violet was safe and far away from him. Away from Marcos, too. Even though Marcos didn't have anything against Tasha and Violet, Alexa didn't want the baby caught in any more crossfire.

Alexa leaned out to check on Jericho. Still no sign of him, but the diners were hurrying out, so maybe that meant Jericho was having a
chat
with the waitress and busboy. A conversation where they could prove they hadn't tried to poison her.

“Have you found Tasha's killer yet?” Scottie asked, using his shirtsleeve to wipe away his tears.

“No. But you're a suspect,” Levi reminded him.

In the blink of an eye, Scottie went from tears to rage. “I didn't kill her! I loved her.”

“Maybe you killed her to prove to her just how much you loved her,” Alexa suggested, not bothering to hold back any of her sarcasm.

Oh, that didn't help Scottie's temper, but the movement at the front of the diner had them all shifting their attention in that direction. Jericho came out, his hand gripped on the arm of a petite brunette waitress, and he was leading her toward the sheriff's office.

“You recognize her?” Levi asked no one in particular.

“No,” Alexa answered. Though she hadn't spent any time at the diner in the past five months. But both Jax and Levi indicated that they didn't know her either.

“She must be new,” Mack agreed.

After Jericho came through the door Alexa realized the woman was handcuffed. Mercy. Did that mean she'd admitted to doing this?

“Who are you?” Alexa asked her, and she would have gone closer to the woman, and Scottie, if Levi hadn't held her back.

“I'm Joni Tipton.” She didn't look at Alexa. The woman kept her head low and her gaze fixed to the floor.

“She confessed,” Jericho explained. “She did put something in the coffee. She claims she doesn't know what it was, but that someone paid her to do it.”

“Who paid her?” Alexa demanded.

Still no eye contact.

“I don't know. It was all done through a courier. A guy we called Mouse. Don't know his real name, but the cops at SAPD will probably know him. He called me, said I'd get paid if I did this job. And when I agreed, he brought over the money.”

Mack hurried to the phone, no doubt to make a call to SAPD. Maybe it wouldn't take them too long to find and question him.

Jericho put her in the chair next to one of the desks, cupped the woman's chin and glared at her. “Joni, you're in a boatload of trouble. Conspiracy to commit murder will send you to jail for a long time.”

The woman didn't seem to have a reaction to that. “I'm already going to jail for a long time. My trial's next week. Drug trafficking. It's my third offense, so it'll be a maximum sentence.”

“How the hell did you get a job at the diner with that kind of record?” Levi snapped.

“I lied. Used a fake ID. Said I'd work for free the first couple of days so the boss could see that I'd do good work.”

And it'd apparently gotten her hired. “Did you just wait until you had the opportunity to try to kill me?” Alexa asked.

Joni, if that was her real name, nodded. “I was supposed to get the job done by today, and if you hadn't ordered anything, I was to put it in some coffee, bring it over and say it was on the house.”

Judging from the profanity Levi and Jericho used, that might have worked. She knew they ordered takeout from the diner all the time, especially when in the middle of an investigation.

“I couldn't go through with it.” Joni whispered it so softly that it took a moment for Alexa to realize what she'd said. “I was about to come over and tell you what I'd done.”

“Sure you were,” Jericho snarled.

“I was,” Joni insisted. “I told Todd I was going to tell.”

“Todd?” Jax questioned.

“The busboy,” Jericho provided.

“What about the busboy?” Jax asked Jericho. “If she doesn't know who hired her, then maybe he does.”

Jericho shook his head. “According to the ID he used to get hired just yesterday, his name is Todd Menger, but he's disappeared. No one saw him leave, and his shift isn't over for another four hours.”

“I'm on it,” Jax said, taking out his phone. “I need a description.”

“Black hair, like I said,” Scottie readily provided. “About six feet tall and really skinny and pale. He has a lot of acne on his face. He was wearing a black plastic apron when I saw him in the diner.”

“Stay here,” Levi told her, and he hurried to the back to check the exit. It was locked, as Alexa had figured it would be, but it was the urgency in Levi's movements that revved up her heartbeat even more.

“Joni Tipton is her real name,” Mack called out. “And she's on bail. I'm not coming up with anything on Todd Menger.”

“I've told you the truth,” Joni insisted.

Jericho got in her face again while Jax and Levi kept watch. “How much did you get paid?”

“Ten thousand.” Not much money considering Joni was basically being paid to turn a blind eye to possible murder. “I have a kid. A little boy only two years old, and I needed it for him. My mom said she wouldn't look after him when I'm in jail if I didn't give her money to help take care of him.”

Part of Alexa was glad the woman was trying to help her son, but ten grand wouldn't last long, and the grandmother might ditch him after the money ran out. She made a mental note to make sure someone checked on the child.

“Take her to lockup,” Jericho instructed Mack. Then, he turned.

Jericho drew his gun.

Both Jax and Levi cursed, and when Alexa leaned out to see what had caused that reaction, Levi pushed her back into the observation room. But not before she got a good look of the man making a beeline toward the sheriff's office.

He was tall, black hair, and his face was covered with acne. He matched the description to a tee that Scottie had given them of the busboy.

Except for the apron.

He was wearing a white cotton T-shirt and no coat, which made it easy for Alexa to see what he had strapped to his chest.

Sticks of dynamite.

And he held a grenade in each hand.