Free SPY IN THE SADDLE by Dana Marton

on his most trustworthy look. “We need to come in and check the apartment, make sure there are no other attackers.”
    “There aren’t.”
    “We have to check for ourselves. Are you armed, sir?”
    “What the hell do you think? People are shooting up the damn place.”
    “Please, put your weapon down and step back from the door.”
    Seconds ticked by until the guy made up his mind and they heard the metal of his gun click on the tile floor, heard him move back.
    Shep pushed in and kicked the weapon to Keith with the back of his boot.
    The man was in his mid-fifties, nearly bald with a handlebar mustache. He was tanned, but not weather-beaten like most cowboys and ranch hands who worked outside. His mouth was pressed into an angry line. His right wrist was bandaged, bloodstains on the white gauze.
    Shep’s gaze flew back up to his face, his eyes narrowing. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the trailer park, but this one could definitely be the guy who’d ridden shotgun with Wagner. The one who’d shot Lilly before Lilly shot his hand.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Shane Rosci.”
    “All right, Shane. I’m going to check your place to be on the safe side. You stay where you are.” Shep moved forward, farther into the apartment, while Keith stayed with the man.
    The place was a one-bedroom efficiency, clothes on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink. Didn’t look as if the half-open closet held any other clothes but his. Seemed as if he lived alone here.
    Shep checked for other weapons and drugs, signs of any kind of illegal activity. He went back to the living room when he didn’t find anything. Didn’t mean the guy wasn’t a user or a dealer. He could have flushed everything when he heard the police sirens.
    Shep nodded toward the bandages. “What happened to your hand?”
    “Burned it cooking.”
    “How do you know Doug Wagner?”
    “Who?” Shane’s eyes went a little too wide with supposed innocence.
    “The man who came here to shoot you.”
    He looked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Shep shifted his weight, tired of playing games. “Then you don’t mind going to the police station in the back of the car with him?”
    The man took a step back, outrage flashing across his face. “You can’t arrest me. I haven’t done anything.”
    “How about the murder of Jimmy Fishburn yesterday?”
    The man paled, sweat forming on his forehead. “I didn’t—”
    “Are you involved in smuggling?”
    “No. I’m an honest citizen. I swear. I work at the electronics store.”
    “What do you know about the Coyote?”
    “Who?”
    “Why did Doug Wagner come here today to shoot you?”
    The bluster leaked out of the guy, his shoulders going down. “I owe him money.”
    “For what?”
    The man’s gaze darted from Shep to Keith then back as a look of misery came across his face. “I want to talk to my lawyer.”
    Keith stepped up to him. “You can call him from the car. We’re taking you in for further questioning. Let’s go.” He herded the guy out of the apartment as the man loudly protested.
    They got down to the parking lot in time to see Ryder drive away with Wagner. Apparently, he’d won the argument with the police. Then the deputy sheriff came into view, and Shep realized why the cops had backed off. As Jamie’s girlfriend, Bree had some idea of what their team was doing here. She and Jamie had probably made some kind of a deal.
    She came right over. “Everything okay?”
    Shep put the man into the pickup. Keith moved over to the other side so the guy couldn’t skip out that way.
    “We’re taking him over to the office.” Wagner would be at the E.R. for a while with his shoulder, which meant they could have the interrogation room for Shane.
    Bree raised a slim eyebrow. “I assume at one point I’m going to be updated on what’s going on here?”
    “That’s not my decision. Sorry.” If Jamie trusted her, so did he, but he wasn’t the one setting the