Evasive Action (Holding The Line Book 1)

had fed info to Jimmy about April—her likes, her dislikes, her wants, her needs. But why had April been so willing to marry someone...even if he were the perfect guy?
She’d twisted his heart and wrung it dry so thoroughly he didn’t know if he could ever love another again. In fact, here he was, ready to do her bidding, ready to protect her. And in the end, she’d walk away from him.
Clay accessed the NCIC database and entered Jimmy Verdugo’s name. He cocked his head at the display. None of these people could be a match for April’s Jimmy. His mouth tightened. No, not April’s Jimmy.
Even though his search of Jimmy had returned some James Verdugos, he entered James for the criteria this time.
He stared at the same results and sucked in his bottom lip. How did an associate of Las Moscas have a clean criminal record?
Maybe Jimmy hadn’t been in this country long enough to have a record here. April hadn’t mentioned if he’d been born here or not.
Clay’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. He didn’t have any probable cause on the guy to request a report from Interpol on any activities in another country.
He shouldn’t even be using NCIC for personal lookups, but he could always justify his actions based on the carved fly April had found in Jimmy’s office.
Taking a deep breath, he switched to a different database and did a search on El Gringo Viejo. Several releases popped up, but no pictures. Nobody had ever taken a photograph of El Gringo Viejo—at least not that they knew of.
Where had Adam gotten the crazy idea that his father was El Gringo Viejo? Clay squinted at the small print of the reports online. The dates did match up and C. J. Hart probably did cross the border after murdering his wife, but what else did Adam have?
If he could get his hands on April’s brother, he’d interrogate him—after he got finished thrashing him.
The ringing of his office phone jarred his thoughts, and he picked it up after the first ring.
“Clay, this is Dr. Drew. Denali is more than ready to come home.”
Clay’s gaze darted to the time at the bottom corner of his screen. “Sorry, Dr. Drew. I didn’t realize how late it was.”
“No problem. I have him at the office with me and we’ll be here for another few hours.”
“I’ll leave right now.”
Clay hung up the phone and started to pack up his gear for the day. Denali would be overjoyed to see April. That dog loved her and would never forget her.
Clay snorted. Like master like dog.
APRIL SECURED HER purchases in the trunk of the car that really didn’t belong to her. Poor Ryan. He’d probably gone to the pawn shop, found out the real worth of the ring and figured she’d double-crossed him.
On the way back to Albuquerque, she’d try to find Ryan and return the car—or buy it from him. Adam had been borrowing her car, and she’d left the fancy wheels Jimmy had bought her parked in his garage. Knowing what she knew now, Jimmy probably never bought her that car. It was either a lease or a purchase in his name.
How could she have been so stupid? She’d been manipulated by both Adam and Jimmy. This had to be the last straw with her brother. He’d done nothing but take from her, but she’d made it easy for him. She’d given up so much for him and had gotten nothing but betrayal in return.
Once she got back to New Mexico, she could make herself whole again—pick up her identity, literally—and start again.
And Clay? There had been no expiration date on that threat two years ago. Back in Paradiso, someone could be watching her right now.
She glanced over her shoulder as she got into her car.
Meg would still be at work at the pecan-processing plant, thank goodness. April didn’t need her cousin’s judgment right now—and Meg didn’t even know about the ditched wedding.
April pulled up outside the neat, white picket fence surrounding a garden of succulents. The cacti had already shed their spring flowers, but their prickly stoicism always struck an answering chord in her heart. There they stood with their arms raised through the scorching desert heat, the dry winds and even the monsoons that swept through southern Arizona in the fall.
Tears welled in her eyes. This garden had been her mother’s pride and joy. Her mother had been a transplant to the arid Sonoran Desert, deficient in rolling green lawns and neat concrete driveways and delicate dewy flowers, so Mom had created her own oasis, drawing from the beauty of the desert.
April sniffed and exited the car. She circled around the back to collect her packages, and then swung through the front gate.
She strode up the brick walkway, her step faltering as she caught sight of a brown box on the porch. She puffed out a breath. Meg told her she ordered a lot of items online to save trips into Tucson.
She wouldn’t have even experienced that small frisson of fear that zipped through her veins if Clay hadn’t found her in the coffee shop this afternoon and told her about the second body.
She rolled her shoulders back and continued to approach the porch. She took one step up, shook out the house key Meg had given her earlier and nudged the box with her toe. It didn’t look like a delivery, as it had no address label.
She kicked the box. It jumped an inch. A trickle of blood seeped from the bottom.

Chapter Seven
Clay punched the accelerator of his truck and it lurched forward from the stop sign, causing Denali to slide off the seat.
“Sorry, boy.” Clay patted the passenger seat and Denali scrambled back onto it.
What the hell was going on in this town? Why would someone leave that head on April’s porch?
The perpetrators must still be in Paradiso. They’d connected April to him somehow, and decided to double down on their message. What was their message if not