Lone Star Standoff. Margaret Daley

keep that dream in the foreground for Sammy. She didn’t want that for her son. She’d lost her husband to the job, and she didn’t want to lose anyone else to it. She’d even prayed for the Lord to change his mind before he was an adult.

      With this new trial, she didn’t see any way around the protection. It had been a good move to have a police presence at her house to discourage anyone who wanted to do her harm. But she didn’t want Sammy to know she could be in danger.

      “There’s police outside.” Sammy ran into the kitchen, still in his pajamas, with the biggest smile on his face. “Can I go out and say hi?”

      “No. You’re in your pj’s.” Before she could say anything else, her son whirled around and raced out of the kitchen.

      Aubrey started to go after him in case he decided to ignore what she said, but the sound of him stomping up the staircase stopped her. Most likely he was going upstairs to get dressed. She took a sip of tea then stood. Knowing Sammy, she headed for the entry hall and leaned back against the front door, arms crossed over her chest. Aubrey had left the alarm system on, and she didn’t want her son to trigger it if he tried to sneak outside. Both her mother and daughter were still sleeping. And as expected, he came down the steps, wearing shorts, a T-shirt and cowboy boots.

      He didn’t notice her until she asked, “Where are you going?”

      “To see if Brad can play.”

      Sure, with a stop at the police car. “It’s too early, and you haven’t had breakfast.”

      Sammy plopped down on the last step and frowned.

      There was no way to hide the fact that a patrol car would be there for the time being. She didn’t want to scare her son, but she couldn’t ignore that she was being protected. “Tell you what. Let’s both go eat a bowl of cereal, and then I’ll get dressed and we’ll go out front to say hi to the police officer.”

      Sammy jumped to his feet and ran toward the kitchen. Aubrey followed at a sedate pace, wishing she had her son’s energy.

      It was an hour later before Aubrey opened the front door and her two kids raced outside and down the porch steps. She’d called the police to let the patrol officer know her kids wanted to meet him. She’d also received a text from Sean saying he was coming by, and he should be here soon. Heat suffused her face when she thought about the extra care she’d gone to when he texted her about seeing her today. She’d hurried back up the stairs and changed into a new pair of jeans and a white blouse instead of sweatpants and an old T-shirt.

      While her twins sat in the front seat of the patrol car, the officer told them about the different things he did as a law enforcement officer. They got to turn on the red lights, but the young man stopped short of sounding the siren.

      So intent on her children, she didn’t realize that Sean had parked along the curb and approached her until he said in a soft voice right behind her, “One day I’ll let them try the siren in my car.”

      Her heartbeat tripled its rate, leaving Aubrey sucking in shallow breaths. With a laptop bag slung over his shoulder, Sean moved to her side while the officer showed her kids the equipment in the trunk. Sammy was smiling from ear to ear while Camy began looking bored. Aubrey turned toward Sean. “Did you find out who put the rat in my car?”

      “Not who, but at least where he did it, I believe. I went through all the surveillance tapes available last night and this morning. After talking to you, I left here and went to the courthouse to look at its surveillance tapes. Nothing happened in its parking lot that I could tell, but your vehicle was parked in a blind spot at Sweet Haven. I went by the ice-cream parlor first thing this morning. Their security cameras were focused on the front and back doors and inside the place, not the parking lot. They didn’t show anything unusual. I’ve obtained traffic cam footage around the time you went to Sweet Haven and would like you to view it with me. The rat must have been placed in your trunk during the twenty minutes you were inside the ice-cream parlor. Did you notice a car following you when you left at lunchtime yesterday?”

      “No, but I have to confess—” she paused, hating to admit she’d been careless “—I wasn’t paying attention. I was relishing getting away from the courthouse for an hour. I’ve felt so confined since the Villa trial started.”

      “For a good reason. Bento Villa is high up in the Coastal Cartel and its drug ring component.”

      “He sure isn’t cooperating with the prosecution. He was offered a good deal in exchange for information on the cartel. He refused it. Not that I thought he would take a deal.” Thinking about the threat now hanging over her, she approached the police officer. “Sammy and Camy, it’s time to go back inside. What do you say to Officer Carter?”

      “Thank you,” Sammy said in a loud voice that half the neighborhood probably heard, while Camy mumbled her thanks.

      “I appreciate you doing this,” Aubrey said then tried to corral her two children toward the front porch. Finally Sammy glued himself to Sean while Camy took Aubrey’s hand and practically dragged her toward the house.

      “Is your car like that?” Sammy asked Sean, slowing his pace.

      Sean patted Sammy’s shoulder and kept walking right behind Aubrey. “Similar.”

      Her son pointed to the top of Sean’s SUV. “Where’s your siren?”

      “Inside the vehicle. I stick it on top if I need to.”

      At the bottom of the steps, Sammy’s forehead winkled. “But no one will know you’re a policeman.”

      Sean chuckled and proceeded up the steps to the porch. “Sometimes I don’t want them to know.”

      Aubrey held the front door open. “Hurry up, Sammy, or the mosquitoes will invade the house. You know how much they love biting me.”

      “Me, too,” Camy said and hurried into the house and down the hall toward the kitchen.

      When everyone was inside, Aubrey shut the door and locked it. Her son remained next to Sean. “Sammy, I need to talk to him. Grandma is fixing breakfast.”

      He stuck out his bottom lip. “I already had cereal.”

      “That was to tide you over until Grandma got up to fix our big breakfast we have on Saturday as a family.” Her mother also did it Sunday before church. She drew in a deep breath. “It smells like pancakes, probably chocolate chip.”

      Sammy took off for the kitchen.

      “He has two speeds, fast or slow. Usually with no in between.” Aubrey gestured toward her office. “We can talk in here.”

      Inside the room, she closed the door. “I appreciate your quick response on this. Anything I can do to help, I will. Let’s look at the traffic cam footage. Maybe it’ll jog my memory.”

      “I hope so.” He made his way to the couch and sat. After he took out his laptop, she joined him on the love seat. Sitting next to him, only inches away, caused her heart to beat faster. A faint musky scent wafted to her as she tried to focus on the video.

      “I’m starting when you left the courthouse, and we’ll follow your trip as best as we can, since Port Bliss only has traffic cams in the downtown area and a few roads in and out of town.”

      The sight of a white sedan a couple of cars behind her while she drove from the clothing store to Sweet Haven nagged at her mind. When she drove into the parking lot on the side of the ice-cream parlor, the white car passed on by, not even slowing down. For the next twenty minutes, she kept expecting to see it, but she didn’t.

      “I thought for a moment the person in the white sedan might be following me, but it kept going.”

      “Why did you think that?”

      “Because...” Her voice faded as she searched her mind, trying to remember why it had bothered her. Other cars had been behind her. Why that one?

      Because