Josette came around the desk and walked right up to him, unafraid.
âIâm not prejudging anyone implicated in this case. That means you canât, either,â she said deliberately. âI know what thatââ she indicated his Ranger badge ââmeans to you. My job means just as much to me. If weâre going to work together, we have to start now. No acid comments about the past. Weâre solving a murder, not rehashing an incident that was concluded two years ago. Whatâs over is over. Period.â
His gray eyes narrowed so that they were hidden under his jutting brow and the cream-colored Stetson he slanted at an angle over them. Until heâd seen her again, he hadnât realized how lonely his life had been for the past two years. Heâd made a mess of things. In fact, he was still doing it. She held grudges, too. And he could hardly blame her.
âAll right,â Brannon said finally.
âIâll keep you posted about anything I find, if youâll return the courtesy.â
âCourtesy.â He turned the word over on his tongue. âThereâs a new concept.â
âFor you, certainly,â Josette agreed with an unexpected twinkle in her eyes.
There were framed black-and-white photographs of Texas Rangers on the walls of the San Antonio Texas Ranger office. Like sepia ghosts of times gone by, they watched over the modern complex of telephones and fax machines and computers. Phones were ringing. Employees at desks were interviewing people. The hum of working machines settled over the office, oddly comforting, like an electrical lullaby.
Sergeant Marc Brannon was sitting kicked back in his swivel chair, his wavy blond-streaked brown hair shimmering under the ceiling lights as he pondered a stack of files on his cluttered desk. His narrow, pale gray eyes were almost closed as he thought about a disturbing recent mishap.
A close friend and fellow Texas Ranger, Judd Dunn, had been almost run over by a speeding car a few weeks earlier during a temporary assignment to the San Antonio office. There were rumors that it had something to do with a criminal investigation into illegal gambling that the FBI was conducting on local mob boss Jake Marsh in San Antonio. Dunn had been working with the FBI on the case, but shortly thereafter, Dunn had transferred down to the Victoria office, citing personal problems. Brannon had inherited the Marsh investigation. The FBI was also involvedârather, an agent Brannon knew was involved; a Georgia-born nuisance named Curtis Russell. It was curious that Russell should be working on an FBI case. Heâd been with the Secret Service. Of course, Marc reminded himself, men changed jobs all the time. He certainly had.
Apparently, Russell was knee-deep in the Marsh investigation. Attorney General Simon Hart had spoken with Brannon on the phone not two days ago, grumbling about Russellâs tenacity. The former Secret Service agent was now in Austin giving the local officials fits while he dug into state crime lab computer files on two recent murders that he thought were tied to Marsh. And who knew, maybe he was right. But pinning anything on the local mobster was going to take a miracle.
Marsh had his finger in all sorts of pies, including blackmail, prostitution and illegal betting, mostly in San Antonio, where he lived. If they could get something on him, they could invoke the stateâs nuisance abatement statute, which permitted any property to be closed down if it were used as a base of operations for criminals. Since Marsh was known to be involved in prostitution and illegal betting at his nightclub, all they had to do was prove it to oust him from the premises. Considering the real estate value of that downtown property, it would hit Marsh right where he lived. But knowing he was conducting illegal operations and proving it were two whole different kettles of fish. Marsh was an old hand at dodging investigators and searches. Doing things by the book sure seemed to give career criminals an advantage.
Pity that you couldnât just shoot the bad guys anymore, Brannon thought whimsically, eyeing a hundred-year-old framed photograph of a Texas Ranger on horseback with a lariat pulled tight around a dusty and wounded outlaw.
His lean hand went to the dark wood butt of the Colt .45 he wore in a holster on his hip. Since Rangers didnât have a specified uniform, they were allowed some personal choice in both dress and weaponry. But most of the men and women in the office wore white shirts and ties with their star-in-a-circle signature badge on the shirt. Most of them also wore white Stetsons and boots. To a Ranger, they were neat, conservative, polite and professional when they were on the job. Brannon tried very hard to adjust to that image. Well, he tried to, most of the time. He was more cautious about his job now than he ever had been before. Heâd made the mistake of his life two years ago, misjudging a woman heâd grown toâ¦care for, very much. His sister said that the woman didnât blame him for the mess heâd made of her life. But he blamed himself so much that heâd quit the Rangers and left Texas for two years to work with the FBI. But heâd learned that running from problems didnât solve them. They were portable. Like heartache.