Page 19

NINETEEN

T his was turning into a disaster. Penny slipped into the room adjacent to where Jude was interrogating Emma.

“You all right?” Tony asked her.

“Of course.”

His eyes narrowed, like he was studying her. “You know, Bryce Crawford might not be the guy I thought. At least, not with you. You said there was nothing between the two of you, but it sure feels like there is.”

“We have a history. That’s probably what you’re seeing.” She stared down at her boots, arms wrapped around herself to ward off the chill in the room.

“Penny, is he the one?”

Her head snapped up. At one point, she’d wondered. That night in the mountains, looking up at the stars. But then she woke up. Remembered the promise she made to herself to never give that much of her heart to anyone. One look at Ashlee Featherwood in Bryce’s arms was all she needed to douse any romantic daydreams she had about settling down and happily ever afters. It wasn’t only that she’d thought he’d cheated. That had been bad enough. It was the fact that she’d let herself go that far. Let herself depend on him.

She didn’t say a word out loud. But Tony nodded slowly, gave her a sad sort of smile. “I think you two need to talk.” He moved toward the door. “I’ve got to get some paperwork started. I’ll be back.”

As soon as he left, she allowed herself the luxury of leaning against the door for a moment.

But just a moment.

She closed her eyes and breathed deep, letting her shoulders relax, shaking out her hands. She could do this. She could pull herself together. Finish this investigation and not let Bryce get to her.

She had to do this. It didn’t matter that Bryce had kissed her. That she’d kissed him back. It was only a momentary lapse of control.

A lapse like opening Pandora’s box, but she could stuff it all back to where it had been tucked nicely away and shove a lid on it all again. She had to. Everything depended on it.

Ugh, why had she let him get to her like that?

She couldn’t let her emotions get the best of her again. Letting things get personal was what got her into trouble. She knew better.

Still, his voice haunted her.

You’re pretending right now. Pretending I don’t matter to you, that you don’t care. But you can’t fool me, Penny. There’s something here between us. Something good. Something real.

How could he understand? She wasn’t pretending. She was protecting.

Obviously, they had chemistry. That was never the issue. But when it came down to it, she could only rely on herself. Fathers who were supposed to protect fell apart when their wives died. Big sisters were busy with their own lives. Bosses that were supposed to look out for their employees couldn’t be counted on either. She couldn’t lose herself again. Depend on him so much that it ached when she wasn’t with him. An acute ache. A soul-deep ache that would overtake her. Weaken her. People got hurt that way.

She got hurt that way. What fool would put herself in that vulnerable position again?

Bryce was more persistent than most, she’d give him that. And working with him wasn’t so bad. If she kept the personal stuff out of it. So that’s what she would do. Work with Bryce. Close this case. Keep it clean.

Sure, maybe life on the road was getting old. If she could handle working with Bryce without falling for him, maybe she could look at staying around Last Chance more. Seeing her niece and nephew more. Jude’s offer to stay did spark something in her. She didn’t want to go back to being a fed again, but she liked it here. She could have enough work and use this as her home base.

But she couldn’t let Bryce kiss her like that again. He had to have better offers out there. Someone content to keep house for him and?—

Jude’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Please state your name.”

Emma, in her tight club attire and curly hair that had earlier been neatly pulled back but was now a mess from her little cat fight, answered back with an expletive.

Penny moved to the one-way glass and watched. Jude didn’t react. She should be more like that. Calm, cool, and collected.

He set a bottle of water in front of Emma. She glared at him.

“Emma Renee Kemper. Born in Maricopa County, Arizona. Your brother is Vince Kemper, currently in federal custody.”

“You’re a bunch of pigs.”

Jude continued reading off his tablet that was also recording the conversation, acting like he hadn’t heard the insult at all.

“Your mother, Priscilla Kemper, died when you were ten. No known father. So you and Vince were moved into the foster care system.” Jude looked up at this point. “That had to be difficult.”

“What do you care?”

“Believe it or not, I do care. You’re already an accessory to attempted murder and arson and a number of other charges. You’re already going to prison. But we can work together and see about reducing your sentence.”

“If I rat on Alonzo or my brother? Is that what you want? Lemme save you the trouble. I’m not a rodent.”

Alonzo. Must be the boyfriend’s name.

“You think you’re being loyal to them by not saying anything? You’re going to take the fall for Alonzo?”

She leaned in and sneered. “He’d do the same for me.”

“You think he loves you?” Jude tilted his head, his face still void of expression.

“I know he does.” She fell back against her chair, a confident smirk on her face.

“He has a funny way of showing it. Leaving you to face all the consequences? Scurrying away in the night?”

That’s right, Jude. Keep poking.

“I’m not stupid.” Emma sat straight again.

“Never said you were.”

“Then don’t sit there judging me like I am. Or like I don’t know what you’re doing. You want to drive me away from Alonzo, pit me against him so I’ll turn. But it won’t work. True love means sacrificing for the other, and that’s what I did. I made sure he could get away.” Her hands fisted. “That was always the plan if it came down to it.”

“What other plans did you have with Alonzo?” Jude’s eyebrows narrowed slightly.

Emma’s mouth snapped shut.

“Come now. You obviously have an endgame here. Why are you in Last Chance County?”

She ignored him and took a drink of water.

“Where did you get the Glock clips?”

Nothing.

“We know you’re working with the militia.” Obviously they didn’t know , but this was one of Jude’s techniques. Trying to get a reaction out of her again.

A sliver of a smile slid up her face, but she didn’t say anything. Emma sat back, let her gaze scan the room, and avoided making eye contact with Jude.

“It’s only a matter of time before we figure this out. Why are you targeting the gangs?”

Emma picked up her water bottle and began to peel off the label.

Great. They were getting nowhere.

Jude fired off a few more questions, but she’d shut down. Eventually he stood up. “Seems like you might need a little time to think things over. I’ll be back later. In the meantime, I hope you’ll consider my offer. Helping us will help you.”

“Yeah, right,” Emma muttered under her breath as he left the room.

Penny met him in the hall. “Is that it? That’s all you’ve got? We need answers from her.”

“You saw her. She was done. But we did get something. A name. I figure we look into Alonzo, and I’ll come back with more ammunition. It’s more likely she’ll cooperate then.”

“Fine.” She spat the word out between clamped teeth.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. It’s just my career on the line here.” She huffed, hoping to throw him off the scent.

“There’s something else. Something…more.” His brows furrowed together as he studied her. “What did Bryce do?”

Penny sputtered. “What do you mean? Nothing! He did nothing. Nothing is wrong.”

“Huh. You’re usually much better at lying.” He turned and walked down the hall to the open office area.

She ran to catch up to him. “Why do you think I’m lying?”

“It doesn’t matter. Ah, Anthony. Can we use your desk and computer?” Jude asked the officer. Anthony and Olivia were chatting with their sergeant.

“Sure.” Tony led them to his desk. It was neat and organized. If Bryce worked here, he’d probably have piles of paper and leftover food on his. And most likely pictures of his family, his team. He took those things seriously. Anthony had nothing personal.

Jude handed Penny his tablet. “You and Olivia look on this. Anthony, we got a name for Emma’s boyfriend. Alonzo. We need a last name and as much information as we can find on him.”

“You got it.” Tony sat down and started typing.

“What about you?” Penny asked.

“I’m calling the office in California. If there’s a Sosa connection, I want to know how we missed it.” Jude took out his phone and left the room.

“Might as well get comfortable, Mitchell.” Tony grinned and pulled an office chair from the empty desk next to his for her.

After the better part of an hour, they still had nothing. Penny was ready to put the tablet down and pry some answers out of Emma.

“Found it!” Jude rushed back into the bullpen. He picked up the tablet and typed something into it. “This is him.” He flipped it back around to show them.

“That’s him all right.” Penny glared at the picture. Same brown eyes, dark hair, dark skin. She read the name underneath. “Alonzo Jones? No way is that guy a Jones.”

“His mother is Lupe Reyes, Diego Sosa’s half sister.”

“So this is Diego’s nephew? And how did we not know he had a nephew?” Olivia asked.

“Lupe grew up with a different father, here in the US. But going back, now we can trace travels to the same area Diego grew up in. They were family. We just didn’t know. And it looks like Lupe was only sixteen when Alonzo was born. He lived with the Jones family in California as a child. Recently changed his last name this year to…”

“Sosa.” Penny folded her arms. “So what is he doing here?”

“That’s what we need to find out. But since this is where his uncle died, I can’t imagine it’s anything good.” Jude’s brow wrinkled. “He’s been in Colorado for the last five years. No record. No issues.”

“So are they working with that militia or the gangs?” Tony asked.

“Good question.” Olivia Tazwell perched on the edge of Tony’s desk.

“Whatever it is, we need to get to the bottom of it.” Penny stood. “Ready to go back to interrogation, Brooks?”

“Let’s give it another shot.”

“This time I’m coming in with you.” Penny wanted to look this girl in the eye.

“Leave the talking to me and we have a deal.”

“We’ll watch from the side room.” Olivia pointed at herself and Anthony.

Emma lifted her head off the table as they walked in, but didn’t say anything.

“Anything else I can get for you, Miss Kemper?” Jude asked her.

“What is she doing here?” Emma’s surprise quickly morphed into a glare aimed at Penny.

“Yup. I’m still alive. Your brother’s bomb didn’t kill me.” Penny sat across from her. Jude took the seat next to Penny.

“So, where did you and Alonzo meet?” Jude asked.

Emma gave them a mean stare and nothing else.

“Looks like he didn’t have it easy growing up either. Single teen mother. Raised by another family. The Joneses.”

The girl went still.

Jude continued. “Did you bond over that? Difficult childhoods and everything?”

“What would you know?”

Ah. Hit a nerve. Now they were getting somewhere.

“ You two obviously have a deep connection. But what you might not realize here is that this isn’t going to end well for Alonzo, whether his last name is Jones or Sosa. You would be helping him out by preventing more charges.”

“You have no idea what he’s capable of.”

Jude shrugged. “We already know where he is. Already pieced a lot of the plan together. I’m only giving you a chance to help yourself here.”

“Oh, you know the plan?” Emma gave them a look of mock surprise.

“We know enough.”

Emma laughed. “You don’t know squat. Because if you did, neither of you would be here right now.”

Jude looked to Penny. “I think we’re done.” They stood up to leave.

“Darn right we’re done.” Emma shook her hands in the handcuffs. “Better run home now. Keep your new family close, Agent Brooks.”

Her words chilled Penny to the core. Emma knew Jude was recently married.

Which meant that Sosa had Bryce Crawford and his family in his sights.