Page 68 of Solid as Steele
In the truck, he got on the phone to his lieutenant. “I need you to run a Hobert Tovar through the database for me.”
“Gotta give me a reason to run someone,” Sage said. “Can’t just do it because you ask.”
Owen brought his supervisor up to speed, which he needed to do anyway. “The guy could’ve been the last person to see Cassie alive.”
“Can’t think of a much better reason than that,” Sage said. “Hold on.”
Owen tapped a thumb on the steering wheel and counted. He’d hit two minutes when Sage came back on the call. “Guy’s clean as a whistle. Has a commercial license and hasn’t got a single ticket. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that.”
“So he’s extra careful.”
“Sounds like it.”
“But why?”
“That’s a good question. I know you’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
“What about home address and vehicles registered to him?” Owen got a notepad out of the console to jot down the information.
Sage rattled off the address, confirming the information Urban had provided. “First vehicle’s a white ’98 Ram pickup. His commercial rigs are 2021 Kenworth T800 sleeper truck tractor in red and a 2016 Great Dane dry van trailer.”
“I’ll update you as soon as I have any news.” Owen hung up and relayed the information to Mackenzie.
“Tovar could just be an exemplary driver, I guess,” she said. “But I find it as odd as your lieutenant did.”
“Red flag for me too. Especially for as many years as Tovar’s been driving.” Owen looked at her. “He’s a strong lead for me now. Especially since he fits my attackers build and that he likes to hunt and lives out in the boonies by himself where he could’ve killed Cassie and no one would know, then dumped her body in the desert.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Her eyes narrowed. “We should get Nick to do a deep dive on the guy. Leach too.”
“I doubt he’ll turn anything up on Leach that I didn’t find for the Bussey investigation, but I’m not infallible. Pretty close though.” He laughed.
She wrinkled her nose and got out her phone. “I’ll get Nick working on it. Hopefully his report will help us prove that one of these guys is Cassie’s killer.”
The drive in the black of night back to Mackenzie’s rental raised her awareness of the danger in her surroundings. With Owen behind the wheel, she was free to watch the wide-open desert spread out before her, going on for miles and miles. What had she been thinking all these years? Why had she rented a place so far from everything? Sure she’d been a law enforcement officer and safe for years, but Owen landing on her doorstep might just change her future vacation plans.
He pulled his truck to a stop in the circular portion of the driveway that led to the walkway. The moon barely shone a beam of light from behind heavy clouds as she opened her door. She hadn’t thought to leave the cabin’s outside lights on. The lights were activated by a motion sensor, but required a switch to be turned on. She hadn’t wanted an animal skulking past and setting it off the night she’d arrived, so she’d flipped it off to get a solid night’s sleep.
He looked at her. “If you’ll give me the cabin keys, I can get the lights turned on.”
“Not necessary.” She slid from the truck and gripped her jacket closed against the freezing night air.
Crack.
A rifle report fractured the quiet.
A sharp sting pierced her arm. Fierce, breath-stealing pain.
She’d been hit.
She dropped to the ground, dust rising up to her face. Pain radiated up her arm and panic consumed her.
She gasped for breath.
“Mackenzie?” Owen called out, his voice frantic. “Are you okay?”
She opened her mouth to reply but couldn’t catch her breath.
A bullet! She’d been hit by a bullet! Really and truly hit.
