Faith studied the agent’s hands. Like Faith’s, Macy’s fingers were long, the deep nail beds unpolished and short.
A knock on the door had her turning toward a man dressed in a white lab coat. The guy was young, and his head was covered in a shadow of dark stubble. “I’m Dr. Bramley.”
Hayden removed his identification from his breast pocket. “Mitchell Hayden, Texas Rangers. This is Dr. Faith McIntyre. How is Special Agent Crow doing?”
Dr. Bramley rubbed his eyes and then moved toward the bed, automatically glancing at vitals on a monitor and then the drip from an IV. “She made it through surgery, and that is very encouraging.”
“There is head trauma.” Aware that Macy could be taking all this in on some level, Faith kept her tone clinical and tightened her mental grip on her trademark control.
“There is, but the good news is that we got her into surgery quickly and were able to relieve the cranial pressure. Once the swelling abates, we’ll reevaluate. But as I said, she made it through the night, and that’s a real testament to her strength.”
Faith looked at the unconscious woman and had so many questions for her. The thought of her not making it was almost unbearable. “What are her other injuries?”
“Fractured femur and arm. Cracked ribs. When Ms. Crow came into the ER last night, I didn’t think she’d make it through the hour. But as I’ve already said, she’s hung in there. She’s tough.”
“Did she say anything in the ER?” Hayden asked.
“She was unconscious when she got to us,” Dr. Bramley said.
“I’ve called city police,” Hayden said. “A uniformed officer will be arriving soon to watch her room. No one gets in or out without clearing it past the officer or me.”
“Her brother just arrived,” the doctor said. “He’s in the waiting room. We weren’t able to let him see his sister because we were examining her, but I’ve agreed for him to visit for a minute or two.”
“That’s Dirk Crow?” Hayden asked.
“Correct,” Dr. Bramley said.
“I’d like to meet him,” Faith said.
“So would I,” Hayden said. “I’ve been trying to reach him since Sunday.”
“The waiting room is down the hall and on the right.”
Faith reluctantly released Macy’s hand. Drawing in a breath, she left the room with Hayden at her side, and they made their way to the waiting room.
There were several men in the room, but her gaze was instantly drawn to the large man cradling a crushed coffee cup in tattooed fingers. There was no missing the square jaw, thick brow, and muscled arms that so resembled Jack Crow.
When the man looked up, he stared at her with narrowed eyes glinting with wariness. “Macy, what the hell?” He tossed the cup in the trash and grabbed his cap as he stood.
“I’m not Macy. I’m Faith McIntyre,” Faith said.
He didn’t look convinced as he approached her, working his big fingers over the bill of a sweat-stained ball cap. “If you’re not Macy, you look just like her.”
“I know.”
“How is it you look so much alike?”
“I’m not sure yet.” The more people who noticed her resemblance to Macy, the more unsettling it was. “You’re Jack Crow’s son?” she asked.
“That’s right. Dirk Crow,” he said.
He barely glanced at Hayden as he stepped toward her. He smelled of motor oil, the hot sun, and Texas dust. “Jack kept up with Macy over the years but wasn’t keen on me hanging out with her. I saw her for the first time yesterday at Jack’s trailer.”
“I’ve been trying to reach you since Sunday,” Hayden said. “I had news about your father.”
“Yeah, Ledbetter caught up to me,” Dirk said. “He told me. That’s why I went to the trailer. The place looked like holy hell. Did the cops do that?”
“We left the black fingerprint powder, but the rest was as we found it. Any idea who might have killed Jack?”
“Like I told Macy, not a clue. I’ve been in El Paso for over a week.”
“Did you know there were two of us?” Faith asked.
“Not for sure.”
“What do you mean?” she demanded.
“When Macy and her mother, Brenda, left for good, Jack commented it was better that Macy was gone. He said she was safer. I asked him why, and he said, ‘As soon as someone started seeing double, there were going to be questions.’ I asked if she was a twin, and Jack caught himself and said no.”
“Did he ever bring it up again?” she asked.
“No. Never. Jack didn’t trust anyone with whatever secrets he had.” He went silent for a moment. “Hayden, do you have any idea who killed my old man?”
“Not yet.”
Dirk flexed his fingers, making some of the tattoos on his forearms shift and move. “How is my sister doing?” he asked.
“She’s holding her own. But she’s in bad shape,” Hayden replied.
“I want to see her,” he said.
“In a minute. I understand from Ledbetter you and your father got into a fight a few months back. You wanted him to sell his land.”
“He’s sitting on a gold mine of dirt,” Dirk said. “Land prices are high, and now is the time to cash in, but he was a stubborn old bull and wouldn’t listen.”
“You’ve been in El Paso for a week. When’s the last time you saw Jack?”
“We hadn’t spoken since we fought. So it’s been a few months.” He sniffed, cocking his head toward Hayden. “You think I killed him and then ran over my sister?”
“I didn’t say that,” Hayden said.
Dirk twisted the bill of his hat tighter in his fingers. “But you’re thinking the money is motive enough.”
“I do.”
“I can give you the names of the people I was with in El Paso. They’ll tell you I was there.”
“What do you do for a living, Mr. Crow?”
“Construction foreman. I was in El Paso interviewing for a job. There are people that can vouch for me.”
“I’ll need those names and addresses before you leave here today. I’d also like your address.”
“Sure.”
“How old was Macy when your parents adopted her?” Faith asked.
“A couple of days old, I guess. She was small, and Pop and Brenda were worried she might not make it. But she was tough, even then.” He shook his head and looked into her eyes again. “I’m not going to pretend we cared about each other. There’s nine years between us, and I haven’t seen her in almost thirty years. But she’s still family.”
“Did your father ever mention the adoption?” Faith asked.
“I asked him once about it, and he said he never thought about it and loved her like his own. I got to say, he kept up with her better than me. Those two always seemed more wired alike from what he said. He was proud as hell when she became an FBI agent.” Dirk shook his head, a bitter frown twisting his lips. “Can I see my sister now?”
“The doctor said it’ll have to be a quick visit,” Faith said. “She needs rest.”
“Of course,” Dirk said. “Whatever you say.”
The three went into Macy’s room, and the big man stood silent, showing no signs of emotion as he moved closer to the bed and stood staring down at his sister. He didn’t speak, and he seemed to be inventorying her injuries.
Faith wasn’t sure how she expected a brother to react to a sister’s grievous injuries. She didn’t have a brother but expected something beyond the nothingness emanating from Dirk Crow.
A nurse entered the room and checked Macy’s monitors. “Everyone, please leave now. You can come back tomorrow, but for now, my patient needs to be kept as quiet as possible.”
When they exited the room, the uniformed officer was posted by it, and Hayden spoke to him briefly before the three moved silently to the waiting room.
Hayden asked for contact information, which Dirk supplied along with the names of the people he’d seen in El Paso.
“Is the cop going to stay outside her door?” Dirk asked. “Whoever did this to her must have been responsible for Jack.”
“The cop is staying,” Hayden confirmed.
“I don’t know shit,” Dirk said, “but it doesn’t take a genius to see when a father is murdered and a daughter is nearly killed, it ain’t just a string of bad luck.”
“That’s not lost on me,” Hayden said. “No one will get in that room without me knowing it, and that includes you.”
“Good,” Dirk said. “Better safe than sorry.”
“You sure you or your father weren’t into something that got your sister hurt so bad?” Hayden asked.
“You sound like Macy,” Dirk said. “Jack and I could never be accused of being choirboys, but we never did anything that would bring this kind of heat down onto the family.”
Hayden studied him for a long moment, and Faith knew with a glance he didn’t believe Dirk. But she’d picked up enough legal nuances growing up in the home of a defense attorney to know that unless there were outstanding warrants, pending charges, or probable cause, there wasn’t much Hayden could do to hold Dirk until he had more evidence.
If the criminal investigations weren’t center stage, she’d have been asking her own questions about Jack Crow, who clearly had known more about the links she and Macy shared.
“As far as the outside world is concerned, Macy Crow died from complications in surgery,” Hayden said.
Dirk’s grim expression mirrored the feelings jabbing at Faith. “To protect her?”
“Yes,” Hayden said.
“No one will hear it from me,” Dirk said. “I’ll see you again soon, Faith.”
“When we get the chance, I want to talk to you about your father.”