Caleb felt his stomach turn.
Michael managed to convince everyone to let him pull his badge out of his pocket. He flashed it around. “We’re Alexei Markov’s handlers. We followed him when he left Florida because there’s still some danger to him. Even though technically he left the program, Jessie and I wanted to stick close to him until the appeals court hands down its verdict on two of his cases. We’ve been following him around. Though we’re supposed to keep a low profile.”
Jessie practically snarled at him. “Do not blame this on me. Alexei drove that car around all day. Was I just supposed to let some asswipe mess around with it? He was suspicious.”
Nate turned to Mel. “Did you see this man?”
Mel shrugged. “I only saw her, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have missed something. She was under the car.”
“Because the man had run off. I’m not sure if he was a bad guy or not. I couldn’t exactly chase down a tourist who was tying his shoe. I had to check. I think he did something. It looks like there was something attached to the bottom of the car.”
The door to the clinic opened, and Alexei stood there. Caleb didn’t miss the way his right hand snaked behind his back. There was little doubt that his partner was hiding the gun he carried. Alexei reholstered the weapon and walked out. Caleb saw the slats to the blinds open.
“Holly, it’s safe. You can come out,” Caleb yelled.
“I tell her to stay in bedroom. Our woman needs her hearing checked,” Alexei grumbled. He caught sight of the Marshals, and his face fell. He turned to Nate. “I can explain.”
Nate waved him off with a roll of his blue eyes. “I can take a wild guess. You couldn’t keep your dick in your pants long enough for the US legal system to work its way through all the fuckers you put in jail. The Marshals are trying to keep you alive.”
“Alexei?” Holly walked up to Alexei, her feet bare and her hair still tousled. “Is that true?”
Alexei turned to Holly, his face grave. “That is truth, what sheriff say. Though I was going to grovel a bit more. I would not have come for you if I do not think it is safe.”
“Well, we might have to rethink that,” Nate said as he uncuffed the female Marshal. “I had a nice talk with Long-Haired Roger. Someone tampered with Caleb’s truck.”
Holly’s hand was suddenly in his. He heard her startled gasp. “Oh, god. Someone tried to kill me.”
“Or Caleb.” Deputy Briggs pulled out a tablet and started making notes. “It was Caleb’s truck. And now Holly’s car in front of Caleb’s clinic.”
“But I be driving car around.” Alexei’s accent had gotten deeply thick again. Caleb was starting to get his tells. When Alexei got emotional, his accent was almost too thick to understand.
“You didn’t drive my truck,” Caleb pointed out.
“No. But I stand by it for almost an hour before I walk in yesterday morning. I watched Nell walk in. I was a little afraid to be talking to you. What if someone saw me and thought it was my truck? What if there is someone in town trying to get to me? What if they learn how much it would hurt me if they got to Holly or you instead?”
Caleb squeezed Holly’s hand, noting Alexei was holding her other hand. It felt right.
“Sheriff, she checks out.” Logan swaggered onto the scene. He seemed to have gotten control of himself, but there was a red rim to his eyes that bespoke of many nights’ lost sleep. “She is who she says she is, though her boss was surprised to find out she was in Colorado.”
Jessie took back her badge. She shoved it in her pants and glared at the sheriff. “We’re doing this under the radar. I think it’s too early to take him out of the program. Look, we spent a lot of time with the big guy. He was supposed to settle down in Boca Raton under the name Howard Solev. He had all his papers. He was supposed to be a recent immigrant working for a security company. We worked hard to set up a safe life for him. Imagine our surprise when he disappeared. I knew he had someone he cared about here. Arrest me for giving a crap.”
Nate stared down at her, giving her the same look Caleb had seen him give speeders and other minor irritants. “Look, Marshal, here’s what I know. I know that someone deliberately tampered with Dr. Burke’s truck.”
“Don’t let Long-Haired Roger discount my Sasquatch theory. I think they’re rising up against industry and big business, Sheriff. I don’t think they like gas-guzzling trucks,” Mel said seriously.
Nate expression never changed. “I will keep that in mind. Cam, be sure to place environmentally friendly Sasquatches on the board of suspects.”
Cam grinned. “Will do, Sheriff.”
“What is wrong with you people?” Jessie asked.
“Not a damn thing,” the sheriff replied. “Now, my second problem is that I have US Marshals in my town who don’t do me the courtesy of informing my office that they’re here and working a case. Don’t give me that bullshit about caring about him. You’re carrying a gun, and you’re more than willing to use it. You owe me the courtesy of letting me know what’s going on.”
“Yes, we do, Sheriff.” Michael seemed to be the more reasonable of the two. “We’re sorry. We honestly didn’t think anything would happen to him. We’ve been keeping tabs on him from a distance. This town seems pretty good about protecting its own. We didn’t even have to step in when Ms. Lang’s son showed up. He almost immediately had six men on him.”
“I liked that part.”
Caleb looked to his left. Nick stood there with a cup from Stella’s. He took a long drag from the straw. Caleb noted that the Farley boys were with him.
Nick grinned at him. “Look, I made friends. They’re showing me all the cool spots.”
“Like the place where all the girls bathe naked because they think no one can see them,” one of the brothers said.
Nick shook his head. “Yeah, I wasn’t so interested in that one. And the nudists are way funkier than I would have thought. But I liked the Feed Store Church. And there were a couple of people miming their distaste for Wall Street on the square. That was pretty awesome.”
So that’s what Nell and Henry were up to this afternoon.
“So what’s up with the feds?” Bobby Farley asked.
“They’re here about Alexei.” Will looked over and waved at the Russian. “Hey, man! We’re glad to see you. We need a coach for little league hockey. I should warn you, it’s really just me and Bobby. You wouldn’t have much of a team.”
Alexei warmed immediately. “We do not need many peoples. We merely need to be meaner than the rest. This I can teach you. If I am not dead.”
Bobby looked to the sheriff, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Yeah, the sheriff is worried about that, too. Though he also thinks it could be Holly’s ex-husband because he’s a son of a bitch or Caleb’s family. He has a whole board of suspects.”
Nate Wright’s eyes widened. “You two little shits. Did you bug my station house again? I swear to god, I am talking to your mother.”
Neither boy looked particularly intimidated. Will shrugged. “We didn’t bug the station house. We just invented a little machine that amplifies sound. We didn’t even have to use the full range. You can be really loud, Sheriff.”
Nick pointed to both kids. “I love these kids. If only I’d had you on my side a year ago. But there’s no way Dad would hurt Mom. He’s a dickhead, but he wouldn’t hurt her.”
Just as Nick said the words, there was a horrific boom and fire shot to the sky. It came from the parking area not fifty yards away. The sound cracked, splitting the air with a terrible roar. That sound seemed to be everywhere, invading his consciousness and making the world seem unreal.