Page 33 of Deadly Conflicts

“Or managed to get his or her hands on an extra set of keys from the dealership,” Jake pointed out.

“That’s good thinking,” James said, rolling his neck until it cracked. “Okay, the sheriff’s department canvassed the crowd. They’re forwarding all descriptions and accounts that might be of use to us first thing in the morning.

“We need a list of your employees, Vince,” he continued. “We need to know if you had an inside person on this job.”

Vince balked. “Inside person? I’m not the one who did this job. I can’t believe you’re accusing me … .”

“I wasn’t accusing you,” James said, cutting the man off before he could start in on a rant. “I want to rule out all of your employees if we can. If we can’t, they’re the easiest place to start.”

Vince had the grace to look abashed. “Oh, well … okay. I’ll email that to you in the morning. What are we going to do until then?”

“I don’t suppose the car had GPS, did it?” Grady asked.

Vince shook his head. “It was a basic model.”

“Meaning bottom of the line,” Jake surmised. “It wasn’t worth a lot, so why steal it in the middle of a festival? That’s just asking to be caught, and the parts aren’t going to be a premium on the secondary market.”

“I don’t know the answer to that,” James said. “All we know right now is that three rounds were fired into the air. That seems like a weird thing to do given the fact that no one tried to stop this guy.”

“Maybe he was trying to clear a path,” Jake suggested.

James tilted his head to the side, considering. “That’s a possibility,” he said. “We don’t know. We’ll get video from the courthouse and see what that shows us.”

Vince’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “Video?”

“There are cameras covering the entire building now,” James explained. “There was an incident with an individual climbing on the roof and shooting people more than a year ago. Every angle is covered now.”

“It’s not always monitored, but we have a computer guy and he can go through the footage,” Grady said. “We might be able to get a face out of it because it’s doubtful someone would be stupid enough to wear a mask with this many people around. That’s just asking for a panic.”

“Well, that’s good, right? That means you’ll find the car quickly.” Vince glanced at James for confirmation. “You are going to find my car, right? I would hate to think you’d let a petty grudge stop you from doing your job.”

“I’m going to find your car,” James said, working overtime to keep his hands at his sides instead of wrapping them around Vince’s neck. “I don’t care about you, but I do care about my reputation.”

“Well, how great,” Vince said dryly. “Will you call me when you have an update?”

James was grim. “It will be the highlight of my night.”

“No, I’m going to be the highlight of your night,” Mandy said, appearing at his side and slipping under his arm so she could rest her chin against his chest. “Let’s go home and get naked.”

James knew he shouldn’t smile, especially in front of a distressed client, but she was too cute for words. “You’ve got it, wife. Let’s get you home.”

“UGH,I have the world’s worst headache!” Ally rolled to her side the next morning and rubbed her forehead. “Why did you let me drink so much?”

Jake, still naked from the night before, clasped his hands behind his head as he regarded his ladylove. She was too adorable to ignore … even when she was battling a hangover. “I didn’t let you drink anything, angel,” he replied. “I found you drunk.”

“Yes, but you left me with Mandy after people shot at us,” Ally said. “You had to know that was a bad idea.”

“I didn’t think she had alcohol in the car,” Jake said. “You’re right, though. That is on me.”

“Oh, don’t blame yourself,” Ally said. “I’ll be fine once I have a few aspirin and a bottle of water. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t even rank on the top fifty of my worst hangovers.”

Jake chuckled. “You have a list?”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“I put aspirin and water on the nightstand, angel,” Jake said. “I figured you would wake up feeling rough. I tried to get you to drink more water last night, but all you wanted to do was play under-the-covers monster hunter.”

Ally snickered at the memory as she opened the bottle of aspirin. “I totally forgot about that,” she said. “You were a good sport.”