Chapter 38
CHAPTER 38
B Y F RIDAY AFTERNOON THE PRESS RELEASE was written and distributed. Hanna read it on air but didn’t take any questions. The news outlets were satisfied for the time being. Hanna didn’t know how long that would last, considering that two FBI agents and an evidence team arrived to process the Mustang. National news outlets were now starting to take notice. Circus indeed.
Hanna felt a second wind coming when her phone rang. It was Manny, Nathan’s partner.
“Have you seen Nathan?”
“No, I haven’t.” Hanna looked at the office clock, trying to remember how long ago she’d left the message for him. “I called him and left a message; he hasn’t called me back. We talked about having lunch together, but I hadn’t heard from him. I assumed he is busy.”
“I’ve called him too. And I’ve tried to locate him. His GPS is turned off. He was on his way to Dry Oaks to check out some SUVs. Why would he turn his GPS off?”
“SUVs, related to the homicides?”
“Yeah. There were some black Tahoes registered in Dry Oaks. I’ve been working on vehicles in Sonora.”
Uneasiness roiled in her gut. It was not like Nathan not to check in or return phone calls.
“Who was he going to check on here?”
“There were six Chevy Tahoes registered in Dry Oaks, among them one to Jude Carver, four to Everett Buckley, and one to Marcus Marshall.”
Hanna chewed on her bottom lip and considered this information. She knew where Marcus Marshall had been most of the day. She’d just handed him a press release. And Everett, his Tahoes were work vehicles. Would Nathan have checked on those? That left Jude Carver.
“You still there, Hanna?”
“Yeah, yeah, just thinking. Marshall has been just about everywhere I’ve been today, and I haven’t seen Nathan come talk to him.”
“That leaves Buckley and Carver.”
“Right. I can check with both of them.”
“I’ve tried calling Buckley; I got his answering service,” Manny said. “He’s not available. The last communication they had was that he was on the fire line.”
“Did you call Carver?”
“His voicemail is full. That’s as far as I got.”
“I will go check on him.”
“I’m leaving Sonora shortly. I’ll meet you at his place.”
Hanna tried Nathan again. It immediately went to voicemail. Putting her gun belt on, she stepped into the squad room. Asa was eating his lunch. She could go to see Carver by herself, but that was not good officer safety. And with his lawsuit hanging over the city, it wouldn’t be wise.
“Asa, I’ve got to go check on Jude Carver.”
“Why?”
She told him about Nathan.
He folded up the remains of his lunch and tossed it in the trash. “I hope it’s just a matter of a dead cell phone.”
“It probably is.”
They took two cars. Hanna pulled up first. Carver’s SUV was in the drive. The front fender was dented and held together with duct tape.
Carver came out onto the porch with a beer in hand. “You’re trespassing.” He slurred his esses as he spoke.
“We just came to ask you a question, Jude.”
“Do I need my lawyer?”
“No. We’re looking for Nathan Sharp. He was on his way here to ask you—”
“He was here. Your boyfriend was trying to connect me to those murders. Was that your doing? You so afraid you’re going to lose that lawsuit that you’re trying to pin those murders on me?”
Hanna ignored the dig. “How long ago was he here?”
Jude drank his beer and stared.
“Left a couple of hours ago,” a voice behind her said.
Hanna turned. Jared was out on his porch. “He pulled out as I pulled up.”
“Yeah, yeah, there’s your other boyfriend. Is he spying on me?” Carver stumbled down his front steps, drunk and angry. Dropping his beer can, he came straight for Hanna.
“You’ll always be the no-good spawn of Satan. I can’t believe you’re chief!” He swung a fist, which Hanna dodged easily. Unstable on his feet, Carver immediately lost his balance and went down.
Asa stepped between them. Jared also jumped off the porch and ran to help. Hanna and Asa were able to get a hold of the struggling Carver and handcuff him before Jared got involved.
“I don’t want to arrest you, Jude. I only wanted to ask about Nathan.”
Carver squirmed and cursed.
“Wow,” Jared commented when he reached them. “We might get drunk just from his breath.”
Another car pulled up. Manny got out and hurried to them, face tense with worry.
Hanna and Asa pulled Carver to his feet. “Let’s get him to the porch and sit him down,” Asa suggested.
Between the two of them they accomplished that feat. Technically, Carver could be arrested for assaulting Hanna, but that wasn’t her goal. If he would just calm down, she’d be happy to leave him home to sober up and continue looking for Nathan.
“What is going on?” Manny asked as he jogged up.
“Do you have this?” Hanna asked Asa, who nodded. Carver did seem to be calming down.
She stepped back to speak to Manny, conscious that Jared was at her side. Briefly, she explained what had happened.
“You saw him leave here?” Manny asked Jared.
“Right as I got home, he was leaving.”
“He had to be on his way to talk to Everett,” Hanna said, but there were so many questions swirling in her head. Not just about this killer Nathan was tracking, but her father’s case as well. The ugly thought that maybe Joe had not killed the Carsons would not go away. And if it wasn’t Joe, did that leave Chase, or was someone else involved? The unnamed tipster? Or was it worse than that? Was Everett also involved?
Something was seriously wrong.
“Hanna, are you okay?” Jared took her arm, a concerned look on his face.
“No, I’m not. Nothing is adding up.” She turned to Asa. Carver sat down hard on his porch stairs. “Can you get him inside to sleep it off? If he won’t cooperate, book him.”
“You got it, boss.”
To Manny she said, “I have to go check something out, then I’m going to talk to Everett. Can you meet me there in about half an hour?”
He nodded. “I’ll give Asa a hand and then let you know when I’m en route.”
Hanna started for her car, Jared on her heels.
“I’m going with you.”
“You don’t know where I’m going.”
“I don’t. Wherever it is, I can help.”
“Jared, this is something I need to do on my own.”
That stopped him.
Her tone softened. “I need to talk to Joe. He’s the only one who can clear things up for me.”
“I’ll pray that you get your answers.”
Hanna got in her car and headed for her home. It was time to force Joe to tell her what he knew.
Jared watched Hanna go, a nagging feeling that he should have gone with her, that she was in danger running through his thoughts. He was distracted when Jude Carver decided to act up as Asa and Manny were trying to get him into the house.
“Get off me,” Carver hollered.
“Settle down, Jude. We’re just trying to get you to bed.” Asa was the picture of patience. He was on the left, Manny was on the right. They tried to guide Carver up the stairs and into his house.
Carver twisted away from Manny, shoving his chest into Asa.
As Jared stepped forward to help, Carver kicked out his foot, hitting Manny’s knee.
“Ahh!” Manny screamed in pain and fell over onto the porch. Jared went to Manny as Asa twisted Carver’s wrist, jacking him up into the porch post.
“All right, Jude. You just bought yourself a night in jail.”
Manny moaned as Jared checked out his leg. “Oh man, Detective. He dislocated your kneecap.” Jared turned back to Asa. “Are you okay?”
Asa answered, a little out of breath. “Fine. Let me get this guy in the car and I’ll get medics rolling.” He jerked Jude away from the house and toward his patrol car. As typical of drunks, Jude had shifted from being belligerent to whiny.
“Hey, man, why you being so rough?”
In a few minutes, Asa had him belted into the car and called for medics. Manny was in a lot of pain. By the time he was loaded into the ambulance, it was late afternoon. Was Hanna at home or on her way to talk to Everett Buckley? Since he still had a bad feeling about what she might walk into, when the ambulance left, followed by Asa and his prisoner, Jared climbed into his truck and drove to Hanna’s house.