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of the same mind, like before. She loved that their staging put Tito in a subservient position. The fact he didn’t fight it said a lot about the man. Nothing good, in Tessa’s opinion. Lawmen were supposed to man up, take charge, aggressively pursue justice. Tito Llano was a mouse of a man.
    Nate touched her shoulder, a silent reminder to calm down. So much for keeping her emotions locked in. She glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed. Rex’s scowl darkened, his gaze riveted on the fingers barely grazing her shoulder. Want stabbed through her. It stirred an ache that beat at her defenses. Few things got her motor running at warp speed faster than a man more dominant than she. They’d been so damn good together, the three of them, laughing, loving, planning.
    “Come on, Tito,” Rex snapped. “Spit it out. Someone killed Derek. What else?”
    Tessa forced her daydreams of yesterday away. Here and now was all that mattered. Finish this nasty business and go back home where she belonged, away from the place that ruined her life.
    “Umm…” He drummed his fingers on the hat perched on his lap. “We’re going to need the bullet from the horse for ballistics.”
    Tyler shook his head. “The men buried her yesterday.”
    “Then you buried evidence.” Tito’s attempt to assert himself stirred Tessa’s anger.
    “Well, we didn’t realize that yesterday. Now did we?” Rex stood, looming over everyone.
    Now this was assertion. Tito might want to pay attention. Every part of Tessa was fully engaged.
    “Yesterday, by your people’s assessment, it was an accident, and we were told Derek had broken his back or neck. Now you say that’s not true. That’s on you.” Rex jabbed a finger toward the man.
    “Don’t be shoving blame in our direction.” Tyler’s tone was calmer but no less deadly. “Rosie served this ranch for twenty years and didn’t deserve to be lying out there to rot and be picked apart by javelina.”
    Tito flushed. “No. But you had no problem letting Derek lay out there for six hours being pig food. There wasn’t much left of him to do a proper assessment yesterday, now was there? How were we to think it would be more than a fall?”
    Tessa was on her feet and in his face before he could blink. She was conscious of a force behind her—Rex and Tyler—and didn’t know if they were there to hold her back or back her up.
    “How dare you.” She pushed out each word with deadly precision. Tito had the good sense to lean back. Trapped in his chair, there wasn’t much else he could do. She hoped it broke and he toppled to the floor. “I’m waiting for an apology, Sheriff Llano.”
    His flush deepened. Sweat dotted his brow. She could smell fear mixed with the unmistakable stench of sour sweat. Tessa fed off the testosterone wrapping around her from behind, helping her enforce her will on the weaker man.
    “Well?” The word promised retribution should he disobey.
    “My apologies, ma’am. Derek was my friend too. I’ve known him all his life. The loss cuts deep.”
    He had no idea. His Adam’s apple dipped when she gave him a little breathing room. “Then maybe you’d better investigate rather than go off half-cocked and jump to conclusions. Or better yet, wait until the full autopsy is done before you go stirring things up.”
    “This isn’t an easy case to investigate. Normally we’d look for gunpowder residue on Derek’s palm, which we would expect if he’d put the horse out of her misery. But without the…I mean…the pigs and all tainted the scene.” Tito cleared his throat.
    Good God, the pigs ate his fingers off, maybe even his hands . “Go on.” She tried to push the horror from her mind when all she wanted was to scream or bawl or something other than sit here and be calm, cool, and collected.
    “Medical examiner says he thought Derek had been shot in the head because of the hole he found. A hole not made by a javelina tusk. But there’s no bullet. I want to