“You’ll get through this,” Elliot said. He and Turner had slipped into Rafe’s office for a bit of privacy, courtesy of Rafe’s wife, who had just clocked in. “You’ll have nightmares that you didn’t save her, but it’ll lessen with time.”
“I don’t give a damned about Eugent.” And Turner didn’t. He was sorry the guy was dead, but the man had pointed a gun at Annie. That had ended it in Turner’s mind. There was an animalistic part of him that understood—no one threatened his woman. Barratts weren’t all that far off from their more barbaric ancestors, after all. “He would have killed me out there, and then gone after Annie. That was a given the moment he realized she was in the car with me. And he had just as much of a fair shot at winning as I did. And he had the gun. He’d have killed us both.”
“Yes. He would have.”
“We need to find the man behind him. Because Eugent wasn’t the one behind this sophisticated of a crime ring.”
“No, he definitely wasn’t. It was one of the council members. We just need to find which one.”
“It has to be Dennis Lee. He worked as a mentor on Boethe Street for years. And Eugent lived on Boethe Street. He was at the community center meeting, as one of the residents.” Turner had seen him there and spoken with him there. “He and Dennis Lee were speaking together as Annie and I were leaving.”
“I see. We’ll have Jake or Callum search for official connections between the two, though we may never find one. Dennis Lee is a smart man. He could have hidden his tracks completely. I have Callum and Evers handling this directly.”
“We have to be getting close. Eugent said it was a matter of paying debts.”
“Whatever that means.”
“I’m leaving it up to you to figure out. At this point, I’m tempted to grab Annie and the boys and head to Houghton’s place in Mexico until you figure this out.”
“It’s not a bad idea.”
“I can’t leave my city. Not long term. But I can take her down there for a day or so. And leave her there, where I know she and the kids will be safe.”
“Make certain she’s not a target,” Elliot said from behind Rafe’s desk. “It’s tough. I hated sending Gabby to St. Louis last year, but she was kept safe there.”
“I’ll consider it. I’m not sure yet that I could convince her to go.”
“I’ll bet, if you worded it just right, you could make it happen.”
Turner gave the man’s words a great deal of thought. He wanted her gone—just to keep her safe. It was time they talked about that.
Turner’s phone rang and he looked down. Trevor.
He answered quickly. “Trev? What’s going on?”
“You need to get to your house, bro. Something’s going down now.”
“What?”
“It’s on fire, Turner. Your house is gone. Someone blew the place up. I’m sure as hell glad you were staying at the ranch. What the hell have you gotten into?”
“I’ll be right there.”