Tangerine Morning: Jezzica's Story (Serenity Cove Series) by Rita Garcia Page A

you?” Evidently, Ted’s uniform hadn’t gone unnoticed.
    “Curious why you’re back here.” Zack shot him a stern look. He had always relied on the expressions he’d learned well from the principal of Mariner Bay High School. The administrator had made no effort of being a pal during Zack’s frequent visits—well, summonses—to his office. He’d had ample opportunity to study his facial contortions, which he now put to good use.
    “Am I breaking a law?”
    “Depends on why you’re here.” Zack narrowed his eyes and the intensity of his glare spiked.
    “My wife is shopping and this seemed like a good place to walk and do a little thinking.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
    “I need to see some identification, sir.” Zack wasn’t thrilled with the guy’s demeanor.
    He patted his pockets as if searching for his wallet. “My wallet is in my wife’s purse.”
    Zack eyed the phone clipped to the guy’s belt. “Call her.”
    “Umm. Sure.” He grabbed his phone and began punching numbers.
    Ted jabbed Zack in the ribs and motioned to two men entering the alleyway. Zack gave him a signal to call for backup and positioned his gun in his hand.
    “Sir, I need you to put your hands behind your back. Now.” Zack made sure he saw the drawn gun.
    The two men who had entered the alleyway turned and dashed the other way, but Alec had already blocked the exit with his patrol car, and had his gun leveled on them. Nicole came around from the other side of the vehicle and made quick work of handcuffing their hands behind their backs.
    Alec and Nicole loaded the three suspects and headed to the station.
    “Good work.” Zack slapped Ted on the back. “Didn’t know all I had to do was take a vacation.”
    “Do you think they had something to do with the robbery at the flower shop?”
    “And probably scoping out their next victim.” Zack retrieved his truck and made his way to the station.
    He barged into Logan’s office, the adrenaline still pumping, and took a seat on the other side of his desk. “Any idea what we’re dealing with?”
    “Still in the process of being fingerprinted and checked in. Here comes Alec.” Logan nodded toward the door of his office.
    “One of the suspects had some checks made out to Magnolia’s Antiques.” Alec tossed several checks on Logan’s desk.
    Logan signaled Zack to follow him. They were barely in Logan’s truck before he was spinning the tires out of the parking lot. He squealed to a stop in front the antiques shop and raced through the door. Muffled groans came from the rear of the shop. Maggie thrashed about on the floor, bound and gagged.
    Logan knelt next to her. Zack joined him and could see she was in shock. “I’m going to remove the gag and untie your hands and feet.” Zack proceeded to free her.
    Her hands flew to her mouth, covering the outline of redness from where the tape had been ripped off. “I was so scared, they intended to kill me.” She tried to swipe away the tears, and accepted the tissues Zack handed her.
    Logan wrapped his arms around his sister. “I’ll kill whoever did this.” He used a few more words—the kind of language Zack doubted Maggie had ever heard come from her brother’s mouth.
    Zack took the reins. “Maggie, do you need to go to the hospital?” He heard Logan groan as though the thought hadn’t occurred to him.
    “No. They didn’t hurt me, just tied me up.” Her voice trembled as she answered through her tears.
    Logan gently lifted her from the floor. “Let’s find a place to sit. We need a statement from you. We may have the perpetrators in custody.”
    Logan kept his arm around his sister and led her to a sofa she had on display. He signaled Zack. “Lock the front door and put out the Closed sign.” He turned to Maggie. “Zack needs to ask you some questions.”
    Zack took his notebook from his pocket. “Did you get a look at the assailants?”
    “They had knitted ski masks pulled over their faces. But I