Ranger Protector. Angi Morgan

Which in itself is strange. They informed me after they’d already booked my ticket. I needed to meet with an insurance-company representative who had questions about several properties.”

      “An owner was getting too greedy?”

      Megan sat up straight, turning slightly so she could face him, brushing the makings of a tear away from the corner of her eye. “No, but they all have the same seller. All sold in the past seven months to different buyers. Approximately six weeks later, there was a fire ruled to be an accident. The buyers lost everything.”

      “That sounds sort of suspicious.” He kept an eye open for cars headed their direction, but most were moving away from the streets close to Megan’s home. Two additional fire trucks joined the other first responders. “What did you find?”

      “Well, that’s just it. The sales are legitimate. The fires were ruled accidental. Other than Harry Knight, the Dallas County Clerk, actually having signed as the notary, they didn’t have anything else in common.” A strand of hair blew across her lips, and she wrapped it around her ear.

      “That’s the man who was murdered? Is it strange for a county clerk to be a notary?”

      “He might be, sure. But that meant he was present at all the sales. That’s the strange part. Why would he be?”

      “Did you mention that to anyone else?”

      She shook her head, long curls hiding her face as she looked at her feet. “Just him. I asked if he thought there was anything strange about the transactions.”

      “You ask and he ends up dead. That’s where we start, with that connection.”

      “Come on. He wouldn’t kill himself and frame me for the murder. This situation has to be connected to a different case. I mean, they had someone who looked like me. Wouldn’t that take time, preparation?”

      “Just a tall, fairly good-looking woman and a wig.”

      “You think it’s that easy to imitate me?” She gave herself the once-over, sort of waiting for him to do the same.

      He accommodated her, appreciating every molecule. But in the end, he knew he was right. “They don’t need anything elaborate. If there’s one thing I know, eyewitness accounts are never completely accurate. All these guys had to do was get a woman who looked similar.”

      “And they’ve already gotten rid of her...along with my house.” She covered her face. “That’s awful. I’m thinking about my house, and two people are dead. That poor woman. And whatever Harry Knight was involved with...he didn’t deserve to die.”

      “It’s okay to be human, Megan, and think about yourself in all this mess. If you don’t, we won’t determine how to get you out of it.”

      She scooted off the tailgate and rubbed her arms. There was an easier way to get her warm. He’d never been one of those guys who thought about sex every six minutes.

      With Megan...he might slide into the norm.

      “Looks like this is what I’ll be wearing in lockup.” She slid the backs of her fingers down her sides. “We should probably get going.”

      Jack slammed the tailgate, then checked his watch. He’d only lasted three.