Lone Star Standoff Read online

  He lifted his gaze to the deputy sheriff, then said, “If you need anything, push the call button.”

  The second he left, Aubrey relaxed, releasing a long sigh.

  “Is something wrong, Judge Madison?” the deputy sheriff asked.

  “After what happened at the courthouse, I’m anxious. Please make sure that whoever comes in here works here.”

  His forehead wrinkled. “Did that nurse give you any problems?”

  “He was a stranger. That’s the first time I saw him. Something didn’t feel right.”

  “Ma’am, his outfit is similar to others on the floor, and he had a name tag.”

  “Deputy Simpson, after today I’m suspicious of everyone.”

  “I understand. I’ll check into who he is.”

  “Thank you.”

  When the door closed behind the deputy sheriff, Aubrey lifted her shaky right hand and couldn’t stop it from quivering.

  * * *

  Sean finally left the emergency room after being checked out. The test confirmed what he already knew—a concussion. He’d had one before and knew what it felt like. He was more concerned about Aubrey. A nurse told him she’d been taken to a room on the second floor. One reason he headed upstairs was to make sure the deputy sheriff assigned to guard her room was in place. But his main purpose was to see how Aubrey was doing. No one would tell him anything in the ER, even though they’d come into the hospital together.

  Exiting the elevator, Sean immediately spied Deputy Simpson. Sean had requested him since he was one of the deputy sheriffs who worked at the courthouse. Aubrey would be familiar with him. While waiting to be treated, he’d talked with Police Chief Juan Perez and Sheriff Don Bailey to coordinate law enforcement officers guarding the judge during Bento Villa’s trial. It was clear she was in danger, and the dead rat pointed to the Coastal Cartel. Later he would meet with his informant to see what he’d heard about the trial and the judge.

  Sean stopped next to Simpson at the nurses’ station down the hall from Aubrey’s room. Why wasn’t he at her door?

  Simpson glanced at Sean then resumed his conversation with a nurse behind the counter. “Where is your nurse Chris Newton?”

  “Chris called in sick today.”

  “Is there a problem?” Sean asked when he saw the surprised look on Simpson’s face.

  Keeping an eye on a room down the hall, Simpson answered, “He was with Judge Madison a few minutes ago in her room. At least his name tag said Chris Newton.”

  Sean started down the corridor, saying, “Get a picture of Newton and see if it was him or an impostor.”

  Simpson had left Aubrey unguarded in her room when he went to the nurses’ station. When Sean had arrived, the deputy sheriff had his head turned away from her room while talking with the woman. Even if only for a couple of minutes, his action could have put her in jeopardy. Sean drew his gun, approaching 214 as though there was a crime in progress. He burst into her room, his gaze sweeping the area.

  Aubrey’s eyes grew round. “What’s wrong?”

  “Anyone in the bathroom?”

  “No.”

  Sean moved to her bed, standing on the side that gave him a view of the whole room and the door. He told her about the nurse being out sick today. His hand on his weapon tightened. “Simpson is seeing if there’s a photo of him to check if the person in here was Chris Newton.”

  Aubrey closed her eyes for a moment. “I knew something was wrong. That’s why I asked Deputy Simpson to check on the nurse.”

  The red streak moving up her arm caught Sean’s attention. “What did the doctor say?”

  “I need to stay until they make sure the antivenin has taken care of the poison in my body. I want to go home, but the doctor says I’ll probably be here for a couple of days. After what just happened, I don’t want to stay.”

  “You’ll have twenty-four-hour protection from now on. Someone will be outside your door.”

  “Someone I know, like Deputy Simpson?”

  “Yes, and I’ll be here some of the time.” He would make sure Simpson and any guard understood the importance of not moving from the door.

  “What about my mother and children?”

  “I’ve taken care of that. Two people will be guarding them at all times.”

  “Thank you. I won’t be intimidated by anyone behind this, but having my family protected makes me feel better.” She stared at her left arm. “This cartel hasn’t gone after many judges. Why now?”

  “Bento Villa is one of Sanchez’s lieutenants. Think of the information he knows on Sanchez and the Coastal Cartel.”

  “I know the government is trying to get him to testify against Sanchez.”

  Sean pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat.

  “What did the doctor say about your head wound?” she asked.

  “A mild concussion. The pain meds he gave me are helping the headache.”

  “You need to take it easy.”

  “I wish I could, but I promised you I’ll do everything I can to find out what’s going on.”

  “I need to see my children and Mama. I imagine they’re worried.”

  “Officer Carter is bringing them up to the hospital. That way I can get him to drop me off at the courthouse to pick up my car.”

  “You shouldn’t be on the highway tonight. Remember your concussion.”

  “That’s why I’ve accepted your mother’s invitation to stay at your house.”

  “Great!” Aubrey grinned. “My mama used to be a nurse before she came to live with me. I’ll feel better if you have her nearby if you get dizzy, nauseated or whatever other symptoms you could have because of your concussion.”

  “And I’ll feel better if I’m not thirty-five miles away if something else happens to you.” His cell phone buzzed, and he slid it out of his pocket. “This is a text from Officer Carter. He just left your house. I need to let Simpson know they’re coming and to meet them at the main entrance. I’ll stay here.”

  Sean left the room, scanning the hallway before saying to the deputy sheriff, “Did you get a photo of Chris Newton?”

  “Yes, the head nurse got one from the HR department, and it isn’t the guy who was in the judge’s room. No one saw a male nurse going into her room, but then, Judge Madison is down the hall from the nurses’ station.” Simpson passed the picture to Sean.

  “That’s why you can’t leave this door.”

  “Yes, sir. I won’t.”

  Sean looked down at the photo of a man in his early thirties with dark hair and eyes and a slender build. “What did the guy look like? I want you as well as Aubrey to give a description to a sketch artist. I’ll talk to the sheriff and make the arrangements, but right now I need you to go downstairs to the main entrance and wait for Officer Carter and Judge Madison’s family. I’ll be in the room with her while you’re gone. After escorting them up here, go by the security office and see if there’s any video footage of the fake Chris Newton. If there is, later I’ll have you check the video since you saw him.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  As Sean watched the deputy sheriff walk to the elevator, he leaned back against the wall next to Aubrey’s door. For a few seconds he focused on the constant throbbing at the back of his head. Was the man in her room earlier the person who’d attacked him and left the rattlesnake in Aubrey’s office?

  * * *

  When Sean came back into Aubrey’s hospital room, she knew something was wrong. She adjusted a pillow behind her for more support. “What’s the bad news?”

  “The guy who came into your room isn’t the nurse Chris Newton. We have a photo of the real Chris Newton, and Simpson said it wasn’t the same person. He’s going to check hospital security footage for a picture of the fake nurse.”

  “That’s not bad news. He’s a lead to what’s going on.”


  “I agree. Between you and Simpson, we’ll get a good description, even if there isn’t a good picture on the security footage.”

  “When will my kids and Mama be here?”

  “Soon. Simpson will escort them up here.” Sean stood at the sound of a light knock on the door and hurried to answer it. “Who is it?”

  “It’s me,” Sammy said.

  “Who is me?”

  Giggles filled the air. “Sammy,” he said in a louder voice.

  “Camy.”

  Sean pulled the door open, and two four-year-olds rushed into the room, making a beeline for their mother.

  Aubrey’s mother rushed after them. “Stop!” When the two came to a halt, she made her way to them and put a hand on each one’s shoulder. “Be careful, y’all. Remember your mama was bitten by a snake.”

  Camy wrinkled her nose. “O-ow. Sorry, Mama.”

  “Did ya keep it?” A hopeful wish laced Sammy’s question.

  “No, honey. He’s gone.”

  “But I wanna look at it. I love snakes.” Sammy stuck his lower lip out.

  Aubrey patted the right side of the bed. “Y’all come over here and give me a hug.”

  “Gentle, Sammy and Camy.” Her mother released her hold on them.

  With her two children pressed against her right side, Aubrey mouthed the words thank you to her mama. For the next fifteen minutes, she enjoyed having Camy, Sammy and her mother with her. But she couldn’t stop her yawn.

  “Mama, when ya gonna be home?”

  Aubrey kissed the top of Sammy’s head, saying, “Soon,” and then did the same to Camy. “Now y’all do what your abuela tells you.”

  They both nodded.

  While her mother grasped Sammy’s and Camy’s hands and moved toward the exit, Sean stepped closer to Aubrey, leaned down and whispered, “I’ll be back after I get my car from the courthouse. Simpson will be outside your room until his replacement comes at midnight.”

  “Who’s replacing Simpson?”

  “One of the deputy sheriffs assigned to the courthouse.”

  “But you don’t know who?”

  “No. But I’ll call the sheriff and find out.” He took her hand. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe and find out who is behind what’s going on.”

  “Thanks.” The exhaustion she’d been fighting ever since the fake nurse came into her room swirled about her, demanding she close her eyes. Yet she fought it, trying to keep her eyes open as Sean released her hand and crossed to the door, dimming the lights right before leaving. No matter how much she tried to stay awake, she couldn’t. Darkness swooped in to engulf her.

  Some time later Aubrey shifted in the bed, trying to roll over on her left side. Pain shot up her arm, and her eyelids flew open. For a few seconds in the low light, she couldn’t figure out where she was. She struggled to sit up. A woman dressed in scrubs stood next to her bed.

  Disoriented, Aubrey gasped.

  “I’m Fay Patterson, the nurse on the night shift assigned to you. I need to check your arm.”

  After what happened earlier with the fake nurse, Aubrey hesitated, searching for the call button.

  “Aubrey, she works for the hospital. She came on duty at eleven.”

  The sound of Sean’s voice shifted her attention to a darkened area of the room. He sat in a lounge chair. “How long have you been back? What time is it?”

  “I’ve been here for hours. It’s one in the morning.”

  She couldn’t believe she’d been asleep for five hours. It felt like she’d just closed her eyes a few minutes ago.

  After the nurse examined her arm and took her blood pressure, she left the room. Aubrey caught a glimpse of the deputy sheriff on duty and relaxed.

  “I’m glad to see Bill Lockhart here. He often makes sure I get to my car safely at the end of the day. I feel better when I know the guard.”

  Sean rose and came to the bed, taking his seat next to her from earlier. “And I’m glad to see you’re getting some sleep.”

  “How about you? I thought you were going to stay with my mama and my kids.”

  “I ended up relieving Simpson so he could go downstairs and search for the fake nurse on the security tapes. He returned at eleven, and I hated to go to your house that late, but I made sure there are sufficient officers guarding your family.”

  She was discovering that Texas Ranger Sean McNair covered all angles of a situation. That comforted her. Despite what had happened to her earlier, she felt safe with him by her side. “Did he get a picture of the guy on the footage?”

  “Yes. He tracked the impostor when he left this room first, but the guy was good. He never showed his face on the camera. We got a glimpse of the black pickup he drove out of the parking lot but not its license plate number. Then Simpson went to the time the man came into your room and tracked him back to when he came into the hospital. Still no sight of his face. Tomorrow I’ll have the police see if they can trace the truck after it left the parking lot, capture its license plate number on a traffic cam and possibly even determine where it went. Although the last is a long shot, since there aren’t that many cameras here as in a bigger city.”

  “Anything on the real Chris Newton?”

  Sean shook his head. “The police chief notified me that Newton’s apartment was empty. No sign of a break-in. But the man’s car is missing. It wasn’t in the building’s parking lot.”

  “No one knows where he is?”

  “I’m afraid not. The police are looking for the real Chris and his car.”

  “That doesn’t sound good for Chris Newton.”

  “The police are treating this as a missing-person case with possible foul play.”

  Aubrey raked her fingers through her short hair, frustrated she was confined to a hospital room. She glanced at her left arm and noticed that the red streak hadn’t spread much since she went to sleep. A good sign. Maybe she would be able to leave here later today.

  “Simpson will work with a sketch artist first, then you can. Hopefully that will give us a good picture of what he looks like. Then we’ll run it through the database to see if we can come up with a name for the fake nurse.”

  “I’ll help any way I can.” She looked at his face, noting the lines of exhaustion, and added, “Have you got any sleep lately?”

  He smiled. “Actually, a couple of hours. That lounge chair isn’t too uncomfortable.”

  “You might not have been required to stay in the hospital, but you need rest. You were hurt, too.”

  Sean stood. “I’m going to. There’s a lot to do in the morning.”

  His cell phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. A frown spread over his face as he started for the door.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Sean stopped and twisted around to face her. She couldn’t see his expression well because of the shadows, but his tense stance screeched that whatever his text said wasn’t good. “Chris Newton’s body has been found.”

  FIVE

  Late the next afternoon, Sean pulled into the driveway at Aubrey’s house and switched off the engine, then turned toward her in the front passenger seat. “I think you should have stayed in the hospital another night.”

  “Remember, my mother was a nurse. She talked with the doctor, and if there’s a problem, I’ll return to the hospital. I’m canceling court tomorrow. I’ll be seeing Dr. Rains in the morning. I’ll be able to rest more at home. I feel safer—especially with you here.” Aubrey’s gaze locked with his. “You saved my life yesterday. When I saw that rattlesnake, at first I couldn’t even move. If I’d thought to slam the drawer closed the second I saw the snake, I wouldn’t have been bitten. I most likely would have been bitten a second time if you hadn’t taken care of it. One of the reasons I think I got to come home earlier was your quick thinking a
nd knowledge of what to do if you get bitten.”

  “I’m trying to figure out why someone is going after you. If they wanted to delay the trial, it would only be for a few days. So what’s his objective?”

  “The primary witness is being protected. What if he thought an extra day or so would help Villa’s minions locate the witness? A person’s life doesn’t mean much to some people.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.” Sean put his hand on the door lever. “Are you ready to be mobbed by two kids?”

  She chuckled. “Yes. They’re the reason I wanted to come home. I don’t want them worrying about me.”

  “Before we go inside, I need to give you back your rings, since your fingers aren’t swollen anymore.” Sean withdrew them from his pocket and gave them to Aubrey.

  She stared at the rings in the palm of her hand and closed her fingers around them. “Thanks.” She tucked it away in her sweater’s pocket and climbed from the car.

  As Sean exited the SUV, the front door swung open to Sammy trying to leave. Officer Carter stood near the entrance on the porch and prevented Aubrey’s son from stepping outside. Sean walked beside her and supported her as she mounted the stairs. The police officer moved to the side and opened the screen door.

  Sean slowed Sammy’s charge toward his mother. “Whoa, young man.”

  Sammy slowed for a few seconds, but when he threw his arms around Aubrey, she rocked back on her heels. At a more sedate pace, Camy also approached and hugged her mama.

  “Y’all, let’s go inside.”

  Sammy planted himself on Aubrey’s right side while Camy was on her left. Sean led the way into the house, where Camilla stood waiting for them.

  “I’m glad you’re home.” She kissed Aubrey’s cheek. “We’ve been praying for you.”

  Sammy straightened his shoulders. “Mama, I asked God to get the bad guy.”

  “I did, too,” Camy added.

  With her right arm, Aubrey brought her twins to her. “We’re safe.”

  “Is your arm broken?” Camy pointed at Aubrey’s sling that held her left arm.