As Kade drove to work, his thoughts remained on last night and making love to Kelsey. It was better than he’d imagined. The woman was so warm and sensual. He wasn’t sure he would be able to get his mind off her and onto his job.
When he arrived at the Border Patrol station, he forced himself to get a grip on his thoughts and get them back on the problems at hand. He had to track down Gordo and El Torero and he needed his usual single-minded focus to accomplish it.
Kade walked into the station and found a message from the Herald reporter, Gerald Spitz, waiting for him.
Maybe the worm had a conscience after all.
Kade sat at his desk and dialed the number.
“Spitz,” a voice answered.
Kade grabbed a notepad and pen. “Owen here, returning your call.”
A pause. “Can you meet me at Mario’s at noon, Agent Owen?”
Kade set the pen on the desk. “I’ll be there.”
The line went dead. Real sociable guy. Probably killed Spitz to make the decision to talk to him.
Kade arrived at Mario’s early to make sure he could snag a good booth and grab a bite to eat. The lunchtime boozer crowd was there, the air so thick with cigarette smoke it was like walking into a giant ashtray. The corner booth where he’d met with Jorge Juarez was open, and Kade eased into it, facing the door, and waited for Spitz.
His skin crawled at his nape, and he knew someone was watching him from the back room. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Mari, the waitress. Her full lips were painted in shimmering red. The color matched her low-cut dress that looked as if she’d been poured into it then tossed in a dryer for good measure.
She slunk up to Kade on spiked heels that must’ve been a good four inches high. “Have you come back to see me?” She leaned forward and her hair swept across his arm, her breasts almost spilling from her dress.
He forced a tight smile. “I’ll have a plate of nachos supremos, and iced tea.”
“Is that all?” She traced her red-tipped fingernail along his bicep.
Kade gave a slight nod. “That’ll do it.”
Mari gave a seductive pout and walked away with swaying hips.
He had little patience for women like Mari, but in his line of work, she could eventually make a good contact. That is if a man didn’t have to sleep with her to get information.
Within a few minutes, Mari brought Kade the nachos and tea. She slipped her arm around his shoulders, her gold bangles scraping his neck, and probably would’ve slid onto his lap if the bartender hadn’t called her away. Cheap perfume hung in the air along with the smell of sour beer. Wood-bladed fans spun overhead, but about all the good that did was recirculate the stench of sweat and smoke.
The nachos were tasty, and Kade had munched down half the platter by the time Spitz walked through the front door. The reporter strode to the bar and ordered, then looked around like a man checking to see if there was anyone he knew. He nodded to a couple of guys, then spotted Kade. With a beer in one hand, Spitz sauntered to Kade’s table.
“Owen.”
“Spitz. What’s up?”
Mari brushed by Spitz, and he said loud enough for her to hear, “If you ever want to spill your guts, give me a call.” He flipped a business card on the table and walked back to the bar. Kade heard Spitz order another beer and ask the bartender to turn on the Arizona Diamondbacks’ game.
The side of the card facing up had Spitz’s name and office information. Kade didn’t bother to turn it over. He left the card where the reporter had dropped it, and finished eating his lunch.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mari serving a patron on the other side of the bar, her gold bracelets glinting in the artificial light. When Kade stood, he dropped a ten on the table, slipped Spitz’s card into his pocket, and walked out the front door.
The sky was hazy bright, like the morning after a good rain, but clouds were building over the mountains. They’d be getting a good storm that night, no doubt. He slid into the driver’s seat and started his truck, then pulled Spitz’s card out of his pocket and flipped it over. PEDRO RIOS, 123 AVENUE A was written in sharp black letters.
Kade radioed the station on a secure channel and informed his ASAC—Assistant Agent in Charge—that he had a lead, and gave the name and location. Then he put the truck into gear and drove to the address Spitz had given him.
Weeds and refuse choked the front yard of the small house. The blue paint, likely vivid at one time, was now bleached ghostly pale and crackled like a parched riverbed. Like most homes in the border town, iron scrollwork barred the windows.
The rusted gate creaked as Kade swung it open. As he walked up the concrete steps, he saw the door standing open about an inch. His gut clenched. He glanced up and down the street and pulled out his Clock, shielding it. No cars were parked in front of the house or the houses next door. The street was empty of people.
As soon as Kade crept up to the door, he smelled it. The heavy miasma of decomposing flesh.
Bile rose. He leaned back, his head against the house, fighting to keep his stomach from heaving up the nachos.
A rhythmic whoosh-whoosh-whoosh echoed from inside the house. With his Clock in his right hand, Kade eased the door open with his left.
No sign of anyone inside.
He knocked. “Police,” he said, the universal word for law enforcement.
No answer. Not that he expected any.
Kade pushed the door wider with his boot, but remained out of sight. When nothing moved and he heard no sound but the whooshing noise, he held his Glock in front of him and rounded the corner.
The overwhelming stench slammed into him, enough to damn near drive him to his knees. His eyes and throat burned, and he struggled to swallow. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and covered his nose.
The body hung on a rope. A rope tied to a meat hook. A man. His swollen head tilted at a bizarre angle, and his tongue... Kade closed his eyes for a moment, then made himself look again. That thick, engorged tongue—and the face, hideous purple-blue like the hands. His hands looked like surgical gloves blown up and painted black.
A ceiling fan churned next to the corpse, the blades skimming the top of his black hair and striking the rope, causing the whoosh- whoosh-whoosh noise. The room was trashed. Chairs smashed, garbage littering the floor, the couch on end.
Damn.
Kade listened for sounds inside the house and heard none. He headed back outside and jogged down the stairs, filling his lungs with clean air.
From the looks of the man, not to mention the smell, he’d been dead for a while, and Kade doubted if anyone had hung around to see what happened next. He kept his weapon drawn and went back to his truck to radio the Border Patrol headquarters and the police.
While he waited for the cops to arrive, he checked out the front room again. He didn’t recognize the man, but the face was too bloated to be sure. The cadaver’s body was at least two feet off the floor. No chair, or anything else he could’ve stood on, was close enough to the man for it to be a suicide. Plaster had chipped away from around the meat hook, exposing the beam it was screwed into.
Sirens screamed in the background as he glanced at the garbage around the room. Fast-food wrappers, a sock with a hole, a toothpick, a matchbook cover, and sunflower seed shells were scattered among the trash.
Kade noticed a torn piece of paper. He couldn’t quite make out the word. Was that Toro scrawled across the top of the scrap?
Was it related to El Torero, meaning the matador? Or toro, meaning bull?
Red and blue lights flashed through the open doorway into the interior of the dim house as the first law enforcement vehicle arrived.
Two hours later Kade headed home, after giving his statement to the police about how he’d come across the body, and why he was there.
He’d hung around to gain information during the police investigation. Identification in the corpse’s pockets said the man was indeed Pedro Rios. After examining the scene and the body, the homicide detective said he had no doubt Rios had been murdered but would have to complete a full examination.
Gerald Spitz would be in for a nasty surprise when he got hauled down to the police station for questioning. Protecting sources was one thing. Murder was another.
***
After she returned from her interview with another rancher, Kelsey headed out to relax beside Sadie’s pond. She sank into the swing’s cushions, slowly rocking back and forth in time with the sound of toads croaking by the pond.
The waterfall’s gentle babble soothed her nerves, and a late afternoon breeze stirred and caressed her face. The air smelled of rain, the sky dark with pregnant storm clouds.
Pregnant. What would it be like to be pregnant with Kade’s child? To have his baby? Kelsey stretched out on the swing and covered her face with her hands. How could she think of such a thing, when she’d known the man for such a short time?
What an incredible night they’d had, not to mention the hours before dawn. She never knew it could be like that. So fulfilling. So incredibly good.
That’s what Theresa and Calinda had always talked about. Now, after her night with Kade, she believed them.
And yes, he was right. No matter what happened next, she couldn’t regret what they had shared last night.
She relaxed, imagining all the tension in her body seeping through the cushion of the swing, swirling into the ground, deeper and deeper, until everything around her faded and she slid into a deep sleep.
The sun warmed Kelsey’s face, caressing her lips, her eyelids, her brow. A heady sense of pleasure enveloped her and she sighed, content to bask in the gentle, loving heat.
“Kelsey,” the sun called to her in a throaty whisper.
“Mmmm,” she murmured, then opened her eyes to see that it was dark outside and Kade was bent over her. “Kade.”
He balanced on the edge of the swing, his arms propped on either side of her hips. He shifted and ran his finger down her nose. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
She smiled. “I dreamed the sun was kissing me.”
“Not the sun.” He bent and brushed his lips over hers. “Me. I kissed you here.” Her lips. “And here.” Her nose. “And here.” Her eyelids. “And I want to kiss you in places the sun can’t reach. In places that only I can touch you.”
Kelsey flushed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I want to kiss every inch of you, too.”
Kade gave her his sexy grin that made her stomach flutter. “I’ll consider that a promise.”
She noticed his hair was wet and he smelled of apple shampoo. “You’ve taken your shower.”
He ran his hand down her neck and over the curve of her breast, and she gasped, her nipples tightening at the sensual touch.
“It was one of those days,” he murmured. “I knew if I came near you first, I couldn’t control myself.” He nuzzled her ear, then kissed it. “See? I can’t even keep my hands or my mouth off you.”
“Mmmm.” She loved what he was doing to her, how he was making her feel. “Let me sit up.”
“Why?” Kade nipped at her chin and then her lips. “I like you where you are. Beneath me. But if you want to be on top that’s all right with me, too.”
Kelsey grinned. “Maybe.”
He helped her up, then drew her onto his lap. She didn’t protest. The strength of his arms made her feel safe and secure, and wanted, something she hadn’t felt since her parents and sister had died.
“Are you ready to tell me what your ex did to you?” Kade murmured, surprising her with the directness of his question that seemed to come out of nowhere.
She slipped one arm behind him and the other across his hard stomach. The scent of Sadie’s roses mingled with the smell of impending rain. A chorus of crickets filled the night and in the distance a coyote howled. The only light came from the windows of the house, and stars had begun to appear through patches of clouds in the evening sky.
Kelsey gave a deep shuddering sigh as Kade caressed her shoulder, down her arm and back again. “Do we have to talk about him?”
“I think it’ll be good to realize that he was just a bastard who didn’t deserve you.” Kade gently massaged the nape of her neck. “How did someone as sweet as you ever hook up with a son of a bitch like that?”
She tensed at the thought of her ex-husband’s so-called courtship. “We started dating during my junior year of college. Davis was charming, attentive, and handsome. And I was young and naive.”
A raindrop landed on Kelsey’s ankle and soft splatters hit the canopy above. When she started talking again, her voice was flat. “After the accident he was always around. A few months after I lost my family Davis stopped by my apartment and found me crying. He fixed me a glass of wine and said it would relax me. Next thing I knew it was morning, and we were in bed, naked.”
Kade made a sound like a low growl. Rain pattered harder, but Kelsey continued, knowing she needed to tell him everything. “I couldn’t remember a thing. I freaked out, but Davis said I drank the entire bottle of wine on my own, then pleaded with him to stay.” Memories twisted in her gut like a serrated blade. “He insisted that I begged him for sex and told him I didn’t want to be a virgin any longer. He said we should get married because he loved me, and in case I was pregnant.
“I thought I was in love with him. I trusted him.” She curled her fist. “I was so stupid. I really thought he loved me.”
Kade caught her chin in his hand and made her look at him. “Stop beating yourself up over the guy. You were young and innocent, and the bastard took advantage of you.”
She reached up and kissed him. “You’re so good to me.”
“You’re so good for me.” He brushed his lips over hers and she shuddered, every nerve in her body raw with desire. “Think anyone would notice...”
“Out here?” She gave him a horrified look.
“I’m just teasing you.” He kissed her again. “Though I find the idea appetizing.”
Rain began pouring down and a barrage of lightning split the sky. Thunder rumbled, an unearthly sound that made her heart pound.
“We’d better get inside.” Kade scooted her off his lap. “We’re sitting on a metal swing, and that’s not a smart thing in a thunderstorm.”
He grabbed her hand and they raced in the rain to the house. They reached the porch just as brilliant lightning flashed again, the crash of thunder immediately following. They were still laughing, still holding hands, when they walked into the house.
When she saw Trent, Chuck, and Sadie, she tried to pull away, but Kade wouldn’t let go.
“How come you’re holding Kelsey’s hand, Dad?” Trent’s face twisted as if in thought. “Is she your girlfriend?”
Kelsey blushed, but Kade nodded, his face solemn. “Yes, she’s my girlfriend.”
Trent bounced up and down. “Cool. Can I have a little brother or sister?”
Chuck and Sadie burst out laughing, and Kelsey wanted to hide.
Kade smiled and looked at her. “One step at a time, Trent. One step at a time.”