Now it was Hank’s turn to rub her back soothingly and try to bring her temper down to a simmer.
“I think the best thing is for you five to head back to the house and let us do our jobs,” Hank said. “I know y’all are trying to help, but this is real life, and there’s a dead man in there that Coil and Agatha both knew personally.”
“I guess we know when we’re not wanted,” Brenda said. “You always do pick women over your family.”
“Yes,” Hank said. “I will always pick my wife over my family, because the second we say I do she becomes my family. I will always love you. But these terror tactics are going to stop.”
“The Uber driver will be here in a minute,” Gayle said. “We can wait outside until he gets here, and then I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m packing my bags.”
Gayle grabbed Brenda’s hand and they stormed out the front door.
“Don’t worry about them,” Betty said, giving an apologetic smile. “They’ve always been the hotheaded ones. They’ll come to their senses soon.”
Hazel hadn’t said a word, but she was still staring at Agatha like she was trying to decide whether or not to pull the grenade pin.
“You’ll do,” Hazel finally said with a nod. “Hank needs someone he can’t steamroll just as much as he needs someone who will defend him, even from his own family.” She nodded again and then followed Betty and Patsy out the door to wait with the others.
Agatha blew out a breath when they were gone. “I’m sorry, honey,” she said, wrapping her arm around Hank.
“It’s okay,” he said. “We can’t control other people’s actions. The ball is in their court.” Then he looked at Coil. “Sorry for the family drama.”
Coil snorted. “You think this is family drama? Shelly’s sister cheated on her husband with his twin, and I had to arrest our own niece for pooping in the neighbor’s pool because they played their music too loud. We can’t pick our blood. We can only put up boundaries to deflect the fallout.”
“Wise words,” Agatha said. “If y’all don’t mind, I’d love to put all my energy into finding who killed Brad.”
“Amen, sister,” Coil said.
“So I’m guessing the working theory is that the hearse, the body, and Brad’s murder are all related.”
“Seems like a safe bet,” Coil said. “We’ll run the plate numbers on Brad’s fleet of hearses and see if any are missing. I’m going to go with my gut on this one and start treating this as if Brad was using the funeral home for nefarious purposes.”
“What nefarious purposes?” she asked.
“Who knows,” Coil said. “Whoever those mercenaries work for approached Brad with a proposition he couldn’t refuse. And knowing Brad like I do, he probably ticked off the money man by either not paying his debts or just being a jerk in general. He had a tendency toward both.”
“What now?” Agatha asked.
“We’ve got blood and ballistics to process,” Hank said. “And we need to get the autopsy results sooner rather than later. I want to know what was being transported in that body.”
“What would you guess is in him?” she asked.
“Drugs or money,” Coil said. “The usual bad-guy stuff.”
“Maybe,” Hank said. “But mercenaries are usually ex-military.” He paced back and forth with his hands on his hips and his head down. His heart was pounding and his skin was clammy. Why hadn’t he thought of it sooner? He’d let his sisters distract him, but that was no excuse when lives were on the line.
“Hank, what is it?” Agatha asked. “What’s wrong?”
What if it’s something more dangerous?” Hank asked.
“Like what?” Coil asked.
“Think big and bad,” Hank said. “What can do the most damage?”
Coil’s brows went up in surprise. “You’re thinking the body might be a bomb?”
“I’ve seen it before,” Hank said. “We need to get the bomb squad in and see if we can get x-rays before they open him up.”
Coil was already on the radio making the request. “I sent James to the morgue,” he said, looking at Hank with panic in his eyes.
“Just get them out,” Hank said calmly. “Get everyone out of the building, until we can secure it.”
“I’ll call James,” Agatha said.
An alert went off on all their phones and they read the incoming message from the command center.
“Oh God,” Coil said, dropping down into a chair. “We’re too late.”
Agatha read the message for the fourth time, and tears came to her eyes. Explosion at Bell County Morgue. Fire and Rescue on scene. Containing the fire before searching for survivors.
“Maybe he hadn’t gotten there yet,” Agatha said. “Maybe he stopped to get something to eat after we left from the highway.”
“I’ll check.” Coil’s voice was empty and hollow, and he turned away as he made a call into dispatch to get information.
When he turned back to face them Agatha could see the answer in his eyes. “James’s patrol car was parked out front. He was there.”
“This is my fault,” Hank said. “I’m sorry. I’ve seen this before. I should’ve made sure that body was handled with more care.”
“How were you supposed to know that?” Agatha asked. “Your sisters ran over him and dumped him on our lawn for Pete’s sake. This is not your fault. Or anyone’s fault.”
Coil nodded. “I need to call the Rangers in on this. We’re going to need as many hands as we can get.”
“Good,” Agatha said. “We’ll all help however we can. This is personal. Someone needs to call Karl and let him know. He and Heather were supposed to head out on vacation, but I don’t want him to hear it from the news.”
“Word like this spreads fast through the department,” Coil said. “I guarantee he already knows.”
“We can’t get in over at the morgue until the fire department deals with the fire,” Hank said. “But we can work this scene here and see if we find anything to lead us to those men. We owe it to James and whoever else was in that building to bring them justice.”
Chapter Five
Several hours later, Hank milled around the sheriff’s office waiting for Karl.
Coil had been in his office dealing with the media, the Texas Rangers, and whoever was in charge of the Austin FBI field office. The feebs got a little hinky when foreign mercenaries started shooting things up. He also knew that Coil was experienced in dealing with the bureaucracy of territorial policing. Which was why Hank was glad Coil was the sheriff instead of him.
He heard the beeps of the keypad that allowed employees into the back entrance, and he turned to see Rodriguez coming through the door. Her uniform was wilted and dirty, and he knew she’d been on the scene of the explosion. Her face was blotchy from crying.
He looked around and noticed the sheriff’s office was more crowded than usual. Bell County had several sheriff’s offices in the different towns that made up the county, but the one in Rusty Gun was the main office. The department was big, and stretched a lot of miles, and there were officers inside he’d never seen before. It hit him then that this was probably the first time most of them had lost one of their own. He’d spent his career working in the big city on big cases, and he’d lost more friends in the line of duty than he cared to count.