Page 60 of Texas Kissing

“I’m kind of surprised,” said Calahan mildly. “You’ve stayed off our radar so completely. Not a Facebook photo, not an Instagram...and thenthispops up. What were you thinking?”

I slumped against my car in defeat. I’d been so careful. All my paranoiahadn’tbeen paranoia. It had been working...until I’d fallen for Bull and gotten soft.

“Two years!” Calahan said. “When the facial recognition software flagged the photo, they had to blow the dust off the file to figure out who to call. And that would be me. I’ve been working your uncle’s case for five years, now—long before you ran away. I watched you growing up.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Well,that’snot creepy at all,” I muttered.

He gave me a look. “We were worried about you. For a while, we thought your uncle had murdered you. But he was pissed off as hell when you disappeared, so that didn’t make any sense.” His voice softened a little. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

I looked at my feet. I’d been lectured by my uncle about the evil, manipulative FBI for years. Then I’d lived in fear of them showing up and dragging me back to New York. I hadn’t figured on one of them being...human.It occurred to me that it was lucky Bull took so much milk in his coffee, or I would have really scalded the guy. I shrugged, embarrassed. Then Inodded at his shirt and mumbled, “Sorry.”

He shook his head. “I’m fine,” he said breezily. “Didn’t even feel it.”Jesus,he was as much of a determined hard-ass as Bull.

Calahan took a deep breath. “There’s going to be a trial.”

Immediately, I turned to run.

“Wait!Relax. I can’tmakeyou testify.”

I turned back to him suspiciously.

“I’m not even here officially. Technically, I’m on vacation. My boss thought the chances of tracking you down were so slim, he wouldn’t authorize it. But I wanted to give it a shot.”

I folded my arms crossly. Why did he have to be sonice?“Why?” I asked.

“I want to take down your uncle. I know what he did to a lot of people. Including Annette.”

Now I did meet his eyes. I looked up and glared at him, enraged that he’d use such a low blow. But almost immediately, my eyes were filling with tears. It was the first time I’d heard anyone say her name in two years. Her memory had only been kept alive in my own head.

And the most annoying part was, when I checked his expression, he wasn’t just using her murder to persuade me. He actually gave a shit.

But that didn’t change anything. I couldn’t face my uncle in a courtroom, not on my own. And I would be on my own—going into witness protection with the FBI would mean I’d never see Bull again. “No,” I said. “I can’t testify.”

“If I found you, they can too. They’ll be looking for you, Tessa. You’re a crucial witness. Your testimony could swing the whole case.”

He was right. I’d watched him murder someone, right in front of me, not to mention all the other beatings and bribes and contract killings I’d heard him order over the years. I sniffed, blinking back tears. “Without me, will he go to prison?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe not for as long. What Idoknow is, iftheyget you and force you to testify in his defense, he’ll walk.”

I knew he was right. My uncle had men like Antonio, men who were good at making people do things. If I was back in that house in New York, I didn’t kid myself that I’d be able to resist them. “They don’t have facial recognition software,” I said, pointing at the newspaper picture. “They’re not going to see it.”

“Something else, then.”

“I’m careful.” I turned to my car.

Calahan put his hand on the door to stop me. “We’re not done.”

“Yeah,” said Bull’s voice from behind him. “You are.”

47

Bull

I figuredhe must be one of Lily’s clients. Another criminal getting pushy with her. From the few words I’d caught as I approached, he sounded American—a city boy. Drug dealer, maybe. I didn’t much care what he was; what mattered was that he was hassling my girl.

“Now hold on,” the guy said, straightening up. “I was just—”

“Leaving,” I told him. “Leaving is what you were doing.”