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SIX

B ryce tapped his thumb on the steering wheel of his truck, Jude’s text message running through his mind.

Penny will meet you at the police station.

No big deal. Not even sure why Jude thought to tell him. Bryce could walk into that police station and treat Penny just like any other person. Seeing each other in a work context might help him keep his head.

He killed the engine and hopped out of his truck. She was probably only there to help ID the guys that tried to kill her last night. She’d update them on what she knew, then she’d be on her merry way. Again.

And he would learn to move on with his life. Not let this rattle him. Because he wasn’t the same guy anymore.

He turned his head to the side to crack his neck as he walked through the front doors. It would be fine. Busy chatter and the smell of coffee and copy-machine toner surrounded him. Men and women in dark-blue uniforms were scattered throughout the area behind the main counter.

And there in the middle of it all sat Penny, her blonde hair clean and curled, the black boots and skinny jeans giving her that nod to the biker look that she pulled off really well. Her smile brought back a wave of good memories. Bryce couldn’t help but meet it with a grin of his own. They’d had a lot of fun together.

A lot of fun.

He tried to cover the hitch in his step as he walked up to Penny, who sat with Olivia Tazwell at a desk in the bullpen.

“You okay?” Olivia raised an eyebrow as she studied him.

“Sure thing.” He swiped a pen off her desk and twirled it through his fingers. “Well, if it isn’t Penny Mitchell. PI extraordinaire. I thought you would’ve been long gone by now.” He winked, hoping a playful vibe would cover up anything else that might leak out.

“Looks like you guys can’t handle things without me.” She gave him a sassy look she’d given him a million times before.

Obviously she knew how to play this game too. Just like old times.

And just like old times, he slipped into the role. See? He would be fine.

“I suppose you’re trying to ID those guys that threw you in the closet. Any luck?”

“As a matter of fact, we found them. I got pictures of them outside before I went into the warehouse. Olivia and I just ran them through facial recognition and got our matches.”

Olivia pointed at the computer screen. “Meet DaNeal Gomez and Arturo Hernandez.”

“They both have rap sheets?” Bryce asked.

Penny nodded. “Yup. A little aggravated assault, larceny, theft. Drug possession. And skipping bail. Don’t want to forget that.”

“Guess we got us a regular pair of thugs.” Bryce leaned casually on the desk. A whiff of Penny’s usual vanilla scent, sweet but mixed with something earthy that had always driven him a little wild, wrapped around him. He cleared his throat. “Where are they from?”

“Why don’t you come with us now, and we’ll only have to go over it once. We’re going to meet Allen Frees, Sergeant Donaldson, and the others in the conference room.” Olivia gathered the file and laptop off the desk.

“I guess you’re heading out then?” Bryce looked down at Penny.

“You’re not getting rid of me that fast, cowboy. The governor’s office hired me to be on the task force.” She stood, the breezy smile slipping a little. “That won’t be a problem, will it?”

At this height, she was almost eye to eye with him. Bryce scrambled for words. “Uh, yes. I mean, no.” He dropped the pen. He scooped it up off the floor and combed back the hair off his forehead. “It’ll be fine. Great!”

She was staying.

Hopefully his overly bright grin didn’t display the inner turmoil those words set off in him.

“Good.” She didn’t break eye contact.

“Good.”

It would be fine. She’d help them. Maybe he’d even get a little closure on their past. And then she’d leave.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bryce caught Olivia snickering and walking away. “I’ll see you both in the conference room.”

Penny spun and followed her.

He jogged after the women, down the hall and into the room. Sitting around the long table were Allen Frees in his wheelchair, Anthony Thomas, and Sergeant Donaldson. The freestanding white board and a large-screen TV took up most of the space along one wall. Penny helped herself to the coffee carafe in the middle of the table.

“All right. Looks like everyone is here. Let’s get down to business.” Frees tossed the dry erase marker to Bryce. Good. Something to keep his hands busy.

“Let’s start by recapping what we’ve got.” Bryce tapped on the board with the marker.

“Perfect.” Penny sat in one of the office chairs and leaned toward the board. “Read me in.”

“Four weeks ago we were called out to a fire in an electronics store. We thought it was a fluke, maybe some kids playing around with fireworks, since that’s what ignited the blaze in the back of the store.” Bryce wrote electronics store on the board. “Then last week we had a shed blow up on an abandoned property right outside of town. But I’m not so sure it was abandoned. There were a lot of tire tracks and signs of use even though the house was like something out of a horror movie. An accelerant was used in that fire. We also found fragments of PVC.”

“So we’re thinking pipe bomb.” Allen Frees spoke up. “I already met with the arson investigator. Residue is being analyzed.”

“Which brings us to last night.” Bryce wrote the word warehouse . “We were called to the warehouse fire, but there was a secondary explosion. We’re still not sure what caused it. It might’ve been that the fire reacted with a flammable substance?—”

“It was a bomb,” Penny said. Gone was the playful smile and tossing of the blonde curls. She was all business. Bryce liked this side of her too. That precision and focus.

“How do you know? We haven’t been out there yet to investigate.” Allen said.

“Because I saw it.” The room hushed.

“That’s why Jude called you in. This is part of your case?” Olivia asked.

Penny nodded. “Like I told Officer Thomas last night in my statement”—she looked over at him and smiled—“I followed a woman named Emma Kemper here from Denver. The ATF office there arrested her brother, Vincent. He’s a bomb expert. They haven’t figured out his endgame or who he’s working with. Emma was a person of interest. They didn’t think she was directly involved but wanted to be sure. I followed her around for a few days in Glenwood Springs while she laid low. Stuck a tracker on her car. Yesterday, she packed up and left.”

“And ended up here? In that warehouse?” Bryce asked.

“Yeah. She met up with the two men we identified and someone else. A guy with whom she seems to be romantically involved. I don’t know who he is, but he’s running the show here, from what I can tell.”

“How’d you wind up in that closet?” Bryce asked.

Surprise flashed across her features for a quick moment, then she cleared her throat. “They spotted me.”

Knowing how tough Penny was, he would bet she put up one heck of a fight. “They had to be pretty big to get the best of you.” Bryce tried lightening the mood. For himself as much as the others. He didn’t want to think about how close she’d come to death.

“Big and sneaky. They’re both sporting some bruises themselves.” The slight smirk on Penny’s face faded. “But there’s more than just a bomb maker’s sister we have to worry about. They hinted at plans here, something beyond last night’s warehouse fire. And it has to do with this.” She held up a small piece of plastic, as big as the tip of her thumb.

“That’s the thing you found in her car. What is it?” Bryce asked.

“It’s not the exact same one, since that’s in evidence.” She sent Anthony another smile, and dang it if it didn’t send a bolt of something hot right through Bryce.

Penny continued. “But it does the same thing. This little hunk of plastic turns a regular ol’ Glock 19 into an automatic weapon capable of firing thirty rounds in two seconds.”

“Whoa.” Olivia’s brow furrowed. “A Glock clip?”

Penny nodded. “Emma had a whole bag of them.”

“Sounds like someone is arming for war. Here in Last Chance?” Sergeant Donaldson asked.

“I think so.” Penny set the clip on the table. “I don’t know who Emma’s boyfriend is, but they have an agenda. And it sounded like it was to take place here. This isn’t a random string of explosions. I’m not sure where the Glock clips come in, but somehow they must fit into the picture too.”

“Can you track the clip and see where it came from?” Officer Thomas asked.

“Unfortunately, anyone with a 3D printer can make these. It’s illegal, but when has that stopped a criminal?” Penny folded her hands on her lap.

Olivia started tapping on her laptop. “We need to look into Arturo and DaNeal.”

Their pictures flashed up on the television screen next to the white board. In the mug shots, Arturo Hernandez was a stocky six foot three inches, his mean glare made more menacing by a scar from the corner of his mouth down to his chin. DaNeal Gomez seemed more like a pretty-boy type. Lanky, smooth skin, dark hair slicked back. “Penny ID’d these two bottom feeders from California as the ones Emma met with last night.”

“DaNeal set the bomb in that upper office of the warehouse. The bomb Emma brought with her. Unfortunately, I think there were more in the duffel bag she had.”

“So they aren’t done creating havoc.” The sergeant leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

“Who are the big shots around town now, Liv?” Penny asked.

“We’ve got a few dealers we keep tabs on—still not sure where their supply is coming from. A gang from Honduras that’s on our radar, as well as another group from Puerto Rico that causes some trouble, and they use that warehouse area sometimes. We’ve also got some pimps that keep us busy. Beyond that we have the whackos that say the world is ending and some militia types that seem to keep to themselves. Nothing like a well-organized criminal effort, though that warehouse district has seen drugs and the gangs in that area.”

“Could there be a turf war with the Puerto Ricans or another gang?” Bryce asked.

Olivia tapped her pen on the notebook in front of her. “It’s possible.”

“Emma and her brother aren’t either ethnicity. So why would they be involved in something like that?” Penny asked. “Although, Arturo and DaNeal are Latinos. Do they have any known associates here?”

Olivia scrolled down the list. “Nothing on the rap sheets that I can see. Everything we have on them is from Arizona and California.”

“So what brought them here?” Bryce asked.

“Good question.” Allen Frees rolled back from the table in his wheelchair. “For now, why don’t we all go back and look at any other case files with explosions or firearms for the last couple of years. Maybe they’ve been here longer than we realize. We can reconvene later.”

“We’re processing Emma’s car. I’ll see where they’re at on it.” The sergeant stood.

Bryce didn’t have cases to look at if Allen was going to do so, but he wouldn’t mind a look through the warehouse in the light of day. “I’ll go check out the warehouse.”

“Then I’m coming with you.” Penny stood. “I need to see if there’s any other clues.”

Oh, that shouldn’t make his hopes soar like this. Or account for the way he wanted to puff up his chest at Anthony.

Penny and Bryce were coworkers now. That was it. But maybe he’d get his own questions answered after all.

Then again, he might not like those answers either.