“Is she with you?” The officer pointed his finger at Jolene.
“Yes. It looks like he was hit in the chest and stomach. He was gushing blood, but now it’s just pooling around him. He’s dead.”
The cop’s chin jutted out. “You law enforcement?”
“Border Patrol.” Sam reached for his back pocket and flipped out his badge to show the officer.
The EMTs had joined Jolene next to Contreras, easing her out of the way. She sat on the street, knees drawn to her chest and a pair of bloodstained hands wedged on the asphalt behind her.
Sam kneeled beside her. “Are you okay? My heart stopped when you took off for Contreras, but you done good, kid.”
Her glassy eyes tracked from the EMTs working fruitlessly on Contreras to Sam’s face. “We have to get that video.”
“Shh. We will.”
She sat forward, bringing her hands in front of her face. “There was so much blood. What did you tell the police?”
“Not much.” Sam glanced over his shoulder at the approaching officer. “We heard the shot and saw him fall. You tell the EMTs anything?”
“Nothing...but, I mean nothing.” She placed a hand on the ground and struggled to her feet, as the officer hovered over her.
Sam took her arm and helped her up.
“Ma’am, are you all right?” The officer’s gaze dropped to her hands, streaked with Contreras’s blood.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you a nurse?”
“A nurse?” She shook her head. “I just thought I’d see if I could help.”
“Did you?”
“No. He was already dead or fast on his way. There was no way to staunch that blood.”
The officer had a few more questions for them, and by the time he was finished, Contreras had been pronounced dead. The cop held his card out to Sam. “We have your information, Agent Cross. Now you have mine. If you remember anything about the incident or the car, let us know. The deceased is a known drug dealer in Tucson, so his manner of death is not all that surprising. Ma’am, the EMTs can see to your hands. Are they injured?”
“No.” Jolene spread her fingers in front of her, as if just noticing the blood. “Thanks, I’ll walk over.”
Sam pressed his hand against the small of Jolene’s back and steered her to the ambulance, calling out to the EMT. “Do you have some solution to clean off her hands? Murder victim’s blood.”
“Of course.” One of the EMTs ducked into the back of the ambulance and emerged with a clear liquid in a bottle and gauze pads. As Jolene held out her hands, the EMT squirted the solution over her hands and wiped them with the gauze. He did it one more time, removing all traces of Contreras’s blood.
The EMT handed her a pristine dry towel. “Are you all right, otherwise?”
“I’m fine.” Jolene hopped off the back of the ambulance. “Sam?”
“All good. Let’s get back to the car.” He took her hand, and they walked down the middle of the street, the residents still gathered in small clusters in driveways and curbside.
Sam tipped his head toward Jolene’s. “It came from the car. Did you see it roll by right before the shot was fired? Two shots, one kill.”
“I didn’t see anything but you running in front of me...limping, like you are now. What happened to your leg?”
Sam squeezed his left quad. “Jammed it up when I jumped from that balcony. Did I overreact? When I saw him grab your wrist...”
“He was gonna run one way or the other.” She untangled her hand from his, and wrapped her arm around his waist. “Lean on me if you have to. When you saw Gabe grab my wrist, you couldn’t have felt any worse than I did when I watched you crumple in front of me.”
“You thought Contreras had turned and shot me?”
“Yes.” She covered her eyes with her hand for a second. “Filled me with panic.”
“So much so, that you didn’t hear me yelling at you to keep down. That car could’ve made a U-turn and come back at us.”
“But it didn’t. Much better for a lone drug dealer to get gunned down than three people tied together by one person—Melody Nighthawk.”
His shoulder bumped hers as he stumbled. “You figured out that was no random killing or drug deal gone wrong.”
“Someone’s been watching Gabe...or us. Wanted to keep him quiet...about that video.”
“It almost worked.”
Jolene glanced over her shoulder before they turned the corner. “What do you think is on the video? It was enough to keep Gabe alive for two years.”
“We’ll find out. Do you remember when Tucker was babbling about his thumb?”
“Vaguely. He said so much nonsense.”
“He said Pinky gave him the thumb drive and that it was in the floor.”
Jolene stumbled. “You think it’s in the floor of Melody’s apartment or the one next door?”
“I think Melody gave it to Tucker to hide in the place next to hers. I just hope it’s there and not in some hidey-hole of Tucker’s. Maybe she gave the thumb drive to Tucker, maybe not. Maybe he saw her hiding it in her place, in the floor.”
“And Gabe...Contreras must’ve given the thumb drive to Melody for safekeeping—putting her life in danger.”
When they reached the car, Sam pulled out his phone, tapped it and crouched next to the rental.
“What are you doing?” Jolene hovered over him.
“The person who shot Contreras knew we were here to meet him. That means they were keeping tabs on him, or someone is tracking us. I’m going to check the car chassis for a GPS device. We have the capability on our phones now—mandatory after several of our agents were personally targeted by the cartels.”
His ears primed for the telltale beep that would signal a device, he continued his sweep, crawling on the ground, waving his phone beneath the car as Jolene followed him, functioning as his lookout just as he’d kept watch when she was talking to Contreras. They made a good team.
Satisfied, he rose to his feet, brushing off the knees of his jeans. “Nothing, which means Contreras was being followed, whether
