Ethan eased up to their huddle. “No one wants Jenkins to skate out from under justice, so you don’t have to worry that the corrections officers will allow anything else to happen to him. One of the guys who works at the prison? His dad was forced off his land. It wasn’t Jenkins that did it, but none of them have any sympathy for a guy who did that to so many people.”
Luca reached over his shoulder and squeezed the back of his neck, trying to ease some of the tension of this long day. “So what do we do with Hector now?”
Ethan said, “That’s up to whatever his lawyer convinces him is the wisest choice.”
“I’m more inclined to cut him loose and follow him. See where he goes and who he talks to.” Martinelli glanced between them. “We might get way more from doing that than whatever it is he gives us once a deal has been signed.”
Luca didn’t like that idea. “Just let him go? Put him back on the streets?”
“What did he actually do?” Martinelli shrugged. “His lawyer, if he’s good, is going to argue that twice you saw him talking to somebody, and that you were the one who attacked him, not the other way around.”
Luca lifted his hands. “Maybe don’t arrest me.”
Martinelli said, “Maybe don’t tackle anyone else before they commit a crime.”
Luca shot him a look.
“As entertaining as this comedy routine is, I need to get back to the lab so the techs can look at this phone.” Ethan shook the evidence bag in front of him. “If anything happens, give me a holler.” He walked away.
Luca turned to Martinelli. “Did you really have to say that?”
Mike snorted. “What are you going to do now? Hammer is watching out for Francisco.”
“I’m feeling the need to tear apart Dr. Torres’s life and find out what he’s hiding.”
“Hang on one second, Jordan.” Kira pulled her car into Destiny’s neighborhood just two days after the gala—the night Destiny’s husband had died—and was waved through by the guard in the small structure at the entrance. “Okay, you’re good.”
She hadn’t wanted Jordan to say anything potentially sensitive or for their relationship to be exposed, even if it was only in front of the neighborhood security guard.
Jordan’s voice came through the car speakers. “So Luca just ditched you?”
“He had to take a business call.” She slowed her speed to match the neighborhood restrictions. “And I got the chance to speak with some of the hospital’s biggest donors. I didn’t have a problem with it.”
“Hmm.” Apparently Jordan didn’t agree. “But he came back to tell you that he’d detained someone and found out there was going to be a hit at the hospital?”
“I missed all the fun.”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad thing. I thought you enjoyed your quiet life,” Jordan said. “That was the point of you moving back to Renegade. So you could get some peace and perspective.”
Kira looked at the giant houses, set back from the street behind expansive front lawns. Talk about perspective. All of the landscaping was mature and perfectly manicured by someone the homeowner paid to take care of it. Staring out at someone else’s hard work wasn’t the kind of perspective she was interested in—or what Jordan was talking about.
Did she miss the excitement of her former extracurricular activities?
She’d never been officially employed as a covert agent. Just a contractor on top of her duties as a doctor.
“I don’t miss it. I like my life here.” It even sounded like she believed it this time.
“And it wasn’t the patient that someone tried to kill, it was another guy who died?” Jordan knew the name of the man the Marshals were protecting. But for the sake of security, it was better not to mention his name over the phone.
“Apparently the hit was for Ralph Rousseau. How that connects back to his and Destiny’s son, I have no idea, and we wouldn’t have known they were connected if Luca hadn’t seen them talking. Maybe Luca and Detective Martinelli figured it out. It could be that this Roger guy knew nothing about it, considering all he did was talk to the man. It was only after the guy went outside that Luca heard him talking about it on the phone.”
She turned the corner onto Destiny’s street and saw that cars lined both sides of the road.
“If he’s behind it, that’s a pretty spectacular alibi.”
Kira said, “I was as surprised as anyone that Ralph was the target. We really thought the patient was in danger.”
“Could be he was killed as a test, all so they could ascertain what kind of security surrounds the patient.”