Chapter 45
Possibilities flew through Tori’s mind. That Drew was even missing wasn’t one she wanted to contemplate. Or that she’d been the target. She handed Scott his phone back. “Call Ben.”
While he phoned Ben, she drummed her fingers on the table, trying to ward off the exhaustion creeping over her.
Every muscle in her body hurt, but she couldn’t stop now.
If someone had taken Drew, it was her fault.
She should’ve left investigating Jenny’s death to the professionals. Walter’s as well.
“Okay,” he said after disconnecting. “Ben’s coming and he’s calling his son on the way to see if he knows where Drew is. And he was a little put out we hadn’t told him about the money.”
“But we didn’t know about it until just a few hours ago.”
“I know,” Scott said. “He also said that if TJ doesn’t know where Drew is, Ben will make a few calls to see if anyone’s seen him before he puts out a BOLO or starts a search party.”
BOLO. Search party. “Maybe he’s with one of his other friends.”
“I hope so, but either way, Ben’s almost here. He’s called his crime scene techs to meet him.”
A few minutes later, a car door slammed, and Tori jumped up. “Maybe that’s Drew.”
She raced to the back door just as Ben rounded the corner of the house. She stepped back so he could enter. “I thought maybe you were Drew.”
“Afraid not, and TJ hasn’t heard from him all day.”
She walked back to the table and sank into the chair. “How about some of the others?”
He shook his head. “No one’s heard from him. My deputies have started canvassing the neighborhood.” Ben turned to Scott. “Where’s the money?”
“Upstairs in Drew’s bedroom. You want me to show you?”
“Not yet. Wade’s at the courthouse waiting for Judge Mathis to sign off on another search warrant for the house and one for her bank records. I’d rather wait until he gets here.”
Tori frowned. “You haven’t examined Jenny’s bank records?”
“We have. And her account matched the bank statements we found at her house. I always check with other banks in the area to make sure there are no other accounts floating around and found one a couple of hours ago. She had a lockbox at another bank. That’s the one we’re getting a warrant for.”
Ben rubbed the back of his neck. “The thing is, Jenny’s bank statements showed she was living paycheck to paycheck, even overdrawing some months. If she had all that money, why didn’t she use it?”
“Maybe she hadn’t had it long,” Scott said
“Could be. Does Drew know where it came from?”
“He said he didn’t,” Scott said. “And I believe him.”
“Did you find a will?” Tori asked.
“No—we’re hoping one is in this lockbox.” Ben glanced toward the table. “Is that the tracker you found on Tori’s car?”
Scott pointed to the table. “I wrapped it in a handkerchief.”
“Good. We’ll dust it for prints and then put it back under the bumper.”
“So they won’t know we found it?” Tori said
Ben nodded. “Whoever put it there is keeping close tabs on you. And they’re dangerous.”
Tori locked her fingers together. Who wanted to keep tabs on her, and why? Her eyes widened. “Last night and today—whoever tried to kill me knew where I was!”
“You’re probably right—so that means the tracker has been there since sometime before last night.” Ben took out a notepad. “We need to figure out when exactly it was put there.”
“Could it have been before you left Knoxville? Maybe by the guy in the gray truck who shot at us?” Scott asked.
Tori considered his question. “I don’t think so. I saw the truck a couple times on the interstate. I’m pretty sure now it was Calvin Russell following me. If he’d tagged me with the tracker, he would’ve hung back and located my car once I got here.”
“Then it was probably put on after you arrived.” Ben wrote that down.
“Maybe, but do you think Russell would hang around a small town like Logan Point where he’d stand out?” she asked. “I think the tracker is linked to something else—either Jenny Tremont’s murderer or—”
“Walter Livingston’s.” Scott turned to Ben. “I know I’m here unofficially, but I am an FBI agent if you’d like my help.”
“I’d just as soon not have the FBI here officially, but unofficially—I’ll take it.”
“Good. Email me Jenny’s case files, and when Tori and I get back to Oak Grove, we’ll sit down with Amy and organize what we know about her murder, probably bring in Walter’s case as well, just in case they’re connected some way.”
“Texting my secretary now,” Ben said.
Tires crunched on the gravel drive, and he looked up.
Tori half rose. “Maybe it’s Drew.”
“It’s probably Wade with the warrants.”
Tori checked anyway, and he was right.
His chief deputy entered the back door, and Ben said, “I’ll need you two to clear out of here while we process the house.”
“We could go to Jenny’s house and see if we can find a copy of the DNA report or her password to the account,” Tori said. “Something tells me that profile is important.”
Scott nodded. “Since we can’t do anything here, I agree.” He turned to Tori. “Are you ready?”
“You want to show me where the money is before you go?” Ben said.
“You’ll let me know if you hear anything at all from Drew?” Tori said.
“You know I will.”
Tori waited downstairs while Scott showed Ben and Wade to Drew’s bedroom.
When they returned, she followed Scott to his pickup, and ten minutes later, they slowed in front of a neat, craftsman-style house and turned into the drive.
Pink azaleas bloomed in the front yard under a huge oak tree, and white peonies lined the side yard.
Jenny had put a lot of work into the yard.
Quite a contrast to her office. Tori’s heart ached for Jenny’s senseless murder.
“Wonder what will happen to the house?” Scott turned into the drive.
“Good question,” Tori replied. “I don’t think she had any family, at least not around Logan Point.”
Scott pulled his truck to the back of the house, and they entered through the back door. Zack had mentioned that Jenny was meticulous, and the great room and kitchen proved it even though fingerprint powder covered everything.
Nothing was out of place, and the countertops and tables were uncluttered. But like her office at Livingston, there was nothing about the room that said “This is Jenny.” No photos, no whatnots . . . it had the same sterile feel of her office. So unlike her yard. Strange.
In the den, Tori glanced down at the floor and quickly looked away from the bloodstain where Jenny had died. “Why hasn’t this been cleaned up?”
“Like you said, she doesn’t have any family here,” Scott said. “I’ll check and see if there’s a crime scene cleanup company nearby.”
“I’ll pay for it.” From what she’d learned so far, Jenny Tremont would have been horrified if she knew the floor hadn’t been cleaned.
“No, she was a friend of mine—I’ll pay.”
Tori cocked her head at him. Scott Sinclair was truly one of the good guys. “You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.”
His eyebrow quirked. “Even though the tree always eats my kite?”
“Even though.” She smiled at him. Scott’s gaze scorched her, and she ducked her head. One smoldering look from his brown eyes sent her heart to the moon and back. She wanted to fan herself. Maybe it was time to start living again, even date. Not that Scott had asked.
Tori mentally shook her head. What was she thinking? They were here to find a report or login information, not for her to swoon over Scott. “Ben said he returned the computer. I wonder where he put it?”
“Probably in her office?”
She had no idea which room that was and walked down the hall, checking each one. Two bedrooms, a bath. The last door opened to an airy room with an L-shaped desk and the laptop. “Bingo.”
Scott stepped into the room behind her and looked around. “Where should we look first?”
“Zack thought Jenny probably had a copy of the report somewhere in her house. Maybe it’s in a file on her computer.”
“See if it’s password protected.”
Tori sat at the desk and booted up the computer. No such luck. “It is. Maybe the report is in a file or on the desk somewhere.”
“I’ll check the file cabinet. You look on the desk.”
She tried to imagine herself as Jenny. Where would an organized person store passwords? Tori sifted through the desk drawers. Nothing that looked like a copy of an ancestry report or a list of passwords. She turned to look at Scott. “Finding anything?”
“I think she kept receipts for everything she’d ever bought in the top drawer. The second one holds monthly bills and insurance policies. Haven’t gotten to the other two.”
Tori turned back to the desk just as Scott’s cell phone rang. “It’s Ben.” He put the call on speaker.
“Did you find Drew?” Tori asked.
“Not yet, but my people are still canvassing the neighborhood—it’s just that Zack’s house is at the end of the road and all the houses are on two-acre lots with a lot of trees between them,” Ben said. “I was checking to see if you’d discovered anything.”
“Nothing so far,” Scott answered.
She swiveled the chair around and stared at the computer that might hold the key she was looking for. “How did you access Jenny’s computer?”
“I didn’t—my IT guy did. I’ll call and get back to you.”
No telling when that would be. She searched the desk again while Scott and Ben’s conversation faded into the background. She lifted the pencil holder, thinking Jenny might’ve stuck a list under it. Nope.
Tori had scanned the monthly desk pad calendar on the L extension, but she examined it again. A few notations of appointments but nothing that looked like passwords or usernames.
If only those photos she’d taken had uploaded to the Cloud, she could’ve used her computer to access the ancestry report.
She lifted the calendar to look under it, and a yellow Post-it fluttered to the floor.
She’d missed that the first time. Tori snatched it up, hoping it was the password she was looking for.
“I think I found it,” she yelled. Her fingers shook as she typed in the number on the Post-it. Seconds later, the home screen opened up.
“I’m in.” She looked over her shoulder and grinned at Scott.
“I’ll call you if we discover anything,” he said to Ben and hung up. “See if you can find that report or a list of her passwords.”
Tori was already scanning Jenny’s files.