She stepped outside into the midmorning sun. It was another beautiful winter day in Florida. But she had a hard time appreciating it. All she had wanted was to find Prissy’s killer. But she wouldn’t be much good to anybody locked up.
She headed toward the car Alan and Tommy shared, staying a step or two ahead of Branch. He wasn’t going to touch her, if she had anything to say about it. He clamped a hand around her forearm anyway and directed her toward his car. She twisted from his grasp. Of course he wouldn’t let her ride with Alan. He didn’t want her talking to him.
Branch opened the rear door, and she ducked into the seat, unable to avoid the pushy nudge against her shoulder. He couldn’t resist that last show of control. Someday someone would bring him down. She only hoped she’d be there to see it.
For the next twenty minutes, she rode looking through the mesh-filled glass in front of her. Unfortunately, it was a familiar experience. As they neared Bartow, her pulse picked up again. The county jail was less than three miles away. Soon, she would be going through processing, being fingerprinted, having a mug shot taken and trading her chic sweater, jeans and boots for the orange uniform the inmates wore.
She squared her shoulders and summoned some optimism. Branch had won this round. But she wasn’t defeated. It would take more than a stint in jail to bring her to her knees. She was a fighter. And if any of her fellow inmates thought they could intimidate the new kid on the block, they’d find out really quickly how wrong they were.
Branch eased to a stop next to the three-story stucco building, and her heart lodged in her throat. Who was she kidding? The tough pep talk wouldn’t do anything to change the truth.
She had just landed in a world of trouble.
And she was scared to death.
Chapter Fourteen
“We’ve got a match on the guy in the photo.”
Shane gripped the phone more tightly at Ross’s words, excitement spiking through him. “Yes?”
“Juan Moreno. He works for Colombian drug lord Santiago Zapata.”
“Bingo.” That was the link connecting the Driggers brothers to the downed plane. And likely what the Parker girl had stumbled onto.
“You think you can get solid enough evidence for us to set up a raid?”
“I don’t know. There are those two rooms between the production area and shipping and receiving that I haven’t been able to access. I haven’t accessed the offices, either.” There were five of them—accounting, human resources, administration, Hammy as vice-president and Spike as president. Shane had already filled Ross in on everything he knew, which was next to nothing. “I have a strong suspicion that the Driggers brothers might be using the porcelain business as a front.”
“We should stake it out. Officially. I’ll call in one or two of the other agents and we’ll see who’s coming and going at night.”
Ross was right. Whatever criminal dealings Hammy and Spike were involved in, with an airstrip right out back, the factory was a logical place to meet, even if the drugs never made it inside. He hadn’t seen or heard any small planes fly over. But if they approached from the south, their flight path wouldn’t go over Harmony Grove.
“Let me know when you’ve got it coordinated. I’ll be on standby in the mean—” A knock on the door interrupted his thought, several sharp raps filled with impatience. He ended the call with Ross and rose from the couch.
The raps came again, more insistent than the first time. Yep, someone was definitely impatient.
He tucked his weapon into the waistband of his pants, letting his shirt drape over it. With no peephole in the door and no windows that offered a view of the stairs, he wasn’t taking any chances.
When he swung open the door, BethAnn stood there wringing her hands. His heart did a freefall. Something must have happened to Jess.
“What’s going on?”
“Jessica has been arrested.”
“What?” The word exploded from his mouth.
“Branch and Alan came into the store and took her away in handcuffs.”
“Alan?” He was the last person Shane would have expected to be colluding with Branch.
“He clearly wasn’t thrilled about it, but he had no choice. You know the break-in at Driggers the other night? Branch said the prints left were hers. When he made Alan cuff her and read her her rights, Alan looked like he was thinking about throwing some punches at his boss.”
Shane stepped away from the door and started to pace. “I knew something was going to happen, but I didn’t expect this.”
BethAnn moved inside and closed the door. “What do you mean?”
“Branch has been trying to get her to leave Harmony Grove ever since she got here. When simple coercion didn’t work, he resorted to threats. Priscilla Parker didn’t commit suicide. She was murdered. And the closer Jess gets to the truth, the more Branch wants her out of the way.”
BethAnn leaned back against the wall, looking as if someone had knocked the wind out of her. “Wow, I had no idea all this was going on.”
Shane shook his head. The two women had worked together eight or nine hours a day for the past two or three weeks, and Jess hadn’t breathed a word of what was going on. When he’d learned she’d gotten into his computer, he’d been afraid she would blow his cover. He’d obviously had nothing to worry about. Jess seemed to be a pro at keeping secrets.
“Is there anything I can do?” BethAnn shifted her weight from one foot to the other, then back again. “I mean, I’d be happy to be a character reference for her. She’s been nothing but upright and honest during the time she’s worked at
