Home Invasion - J. A. Johnstone [17]
From the corner of her eye, she saw movement through the front window of the house. When she turned to look, she saw one of the police cruisers pulling into the driveway. With the tension inside her growing, she hurried outside to find out what was going on.
The strain she was under got even worse when she saw J. P. Delgado climbing out from behind the wheel of the police car as Jack got out on the passenger side.
“What is it, J. P.?” Alex snapped. “What did you catch him doing?”
Delgado looked surprised. He held up his hands, palms out in the face of his boss’s anger. “Wait a minute, Chief,” he said. “I didn’t catch Jack doing anything.”
“Yeah, Mom,” Jack said. “Way to jump to a conclusion.”
“You be quiet,” she told him. “You’re grounded.”
Delgado said, “I didn’t know anything about that. Jack and I had agreed to get together this morning, so I came by after you sent Jerry to the hospital to take over guarding Navarre.”
“Get together for what?” Alex asked with a frown.
“We went out to the range and had some target practice.”
Alex looked at her son. “You were shooting?”
“Yeah. Anything wrong with that? You shoot your gun all the time.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s all the time,” Alex argued. “Anyway, you aren’t supposed to leave the house. You’re grounded.”
“But I was with one of your officers,” Jack argued right back. “And I’d think you’d be happy that I want to learn how to handle a gun.”
“Well, that’s better than not knowing how, I guess, but… Blast it, you’re grounded!”
Jack looked disgusted and shook his head. “I give up. You just can’t be reasonable.”
“I can, too! Jack—”
But he stalked past her and went in the house, still shaking his head as he slammed the front door behind him.
“I’m sorry, Alex,” Delgado said quietly. “I really didn’t know.”
She sighed. “That’s all right. I know you didn’t.” She paused. “How long has he been shooting?”
“About a month.”
“He never said anything to me about it.”
Delgado shrugged. “Kids that age, they like to keep things to themselves.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Is he any good?”
A grin broke out on Delgado’s face. “Oh, yeah. He’s got a good eye, and it doesn’t spook him to pull the trigger. He’s already a pretty good shot, and he’s just going to get better.”
“I’m glad to hear that … I guess. Now, you’d better go home and get some rest.” She thought about the lawsuit Emilio Navarre’s attorney had filed. “Things are liable to stay hectic around here for a while.”
“You think so?”
“What I think,” Alex said, “is that things are going to get worse before they get better.”
CHAPTER 9
Dave Rutherford called Alex late that afternoon. “The judge granted bail to Navarre,” he told her without any preliminaries.
“Damn it,” Alex said with heartfelt anger. “How much?” The best she could hope for was that it would be a large enough amount to keep Navarre in custody.
“Five million dollars.”
Alex relaxed a little. “Well, I’d rather there was no bail at all, but I guess—”
“He’s out,” Rutherford interrupted.
For a second, Alex could only stare. She was sitting in her police car in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church, where she had pulled in to answer her cell phone. When she found her voice again, she said, “He made bail? Five million?”
“He only had to put up ten percent of that. A bonding company put up the rest.”
“That’s still half a million dollars,” Alex protested. “Where does a lowlife like that come up with …” Her voice trailed off. She gave a frustrated sigh. “The same place he gets a high-powered lawyer who flies in from San Antonio on a private jet, right?”
“That’s right,” Rutherford agreed. “Chances are, Navarre works for one of the Mexican cartels.”
“The cartel didn’t send him up here to burglarize the home of an old couple like the McNamaras.”
“No, I imagine he and his friend did that on their own. For kicks, maybe,