Chapter Twelve
Aiden had had a serious debate with himself about this trip to the police station. A debate that had involved Lexa as they basically decided to ignore Owen’s order that they get some rest.
Downtime could wait.
What was more important now to both Lexa and him was being there when Owen confronted Brady with the feed from the drone. Images that showed that Brady was right there, right when Chloe had been shot.
Of course, Lexa and he wouldn’t actually be in the interview room, but depending on the info that came out, Aiden wanted to have a word with Brady afterward. Especially if Brady ended up being arrested for murder.
They stepped into the side entrance and immediately spotted Owen in the hall just off his office. He was having what appeared to be a tense conversation with Wylie. Not a surprise. Wylie wouldn’t be pleased about his son being held for yet more questions. And Owen likely hadn’t told Wylie the reason for this latest interview. Owen would want to spring that on Brady first so he could gauge his reaction.
“You’ve got Gillian here, too,” Aiden heard Wylie snap. “What the hell do you think she did?”
Owen sighed. “You know I can’t get into that with you. And Gillian didn’t request a lawyer when she came in.” He patted Wylie on the arm. “Why don’t you go on home or to your office? Once Brady and Gillian are done, I’m sure they’ll contact you.”
That didn’t do squat to lessen the anger tightening Wylie’s face, but the man did walk away, heading for the front door.
Owen doled out another of those sighs when he shifted to Lexa and Aiden. “You two could have viewed the interview on your laptops.” He waved off any response they would have given. “But I understand why you’re here.”
“Have you shown Brady the drone photo yet?” Lexa asked.
Owen shook his head, and he took out a manila envelope he’d had tucked under his arm. “I had a few of the shots printed out, and I’ll ask him about them in a minute or two. Right now, he’s being swabbed for gunshot residue. I didn’t have to get a warrant for that,” he added. “Brady agreed.”
Maybe Brady had done that because he had nothing to hide. Then again, he could have worn latex gloves. The drone images hadn’t been clear enough to show that on his hands.
“What about Gillian?” Aiden wanted to know. “Did she give you anything new from what she said on the recording that Lexa sent you?”
“Nope,” Owen replied. “She stuck word for word for what she told the two of you. She also consented to a GSR test. Ditto for Wylie. And, FYI, both of those came back negative. The only one of our suspects who wouldn’t voluntarily consent was Hudson.”
“Interesting,” Lexa commented.
“Yeah, I thought so, too,” Owen said. “He claimed he wasn’t going to cooperate with the cops who wouldn’t arrest his sister’s fiancé for killing her.”
Aiden could practically hear the man spewing that out. And it might all be genuine grief and anger over his sister’s death. But it could also be because he’d been the one to kill Chloe. The trouble with that?
Motive.
Wylie, Brady, and Gillian had that in spades. But so far, nothing had come up about Hudson that would make him the frontrunner of suspects.
Owen turned when he saw Jemma come out from the adjacent hall. She held up the small evidence bag, indicating that the GSR test was done.
“I’ll let you know the results,” Jemma told him.
Apparently, Owen didn’t plan on waiting for that because he headed toward the interview room. Aiden and Lexa went into observation, where he saw Brady on the screen. He was frantically typing away on his phone, but he stopped the moment Owen stepped in.
“I didn’t kill Chloe,” Brady immediately insisted. “The GSR test will prove that.”
No, it wouldn’t. Aiden knew that the presence of GSR wasn’t a given even if the person tested had recently fired a gun. A strong gust of wind, the right kind of soap or even the angle of the shot could affect it.
Owen didn’t address what Brady said but instead recited the pertinent info for the recording. After he’d finished that, Owen sat across from him and looked him straight in the eyes.
“Brady, tell me where you went after you left our earlier interview,” Owen said.
“Home,” he answered without hesitation.
Owen opened the envelope and spilled out the photos taken from the drone feed. Aiden watched as Brady leaned in, his gaze scanning over them. He muttered a single word of profanity, groaned, and buried his face in his hands.
“Explain why those pictures prove you were at the scene of your fiancée’s murder,” Owen demanded.
Brady slid his hands from his face but didn’t respond right away. In fact, he paused so long that Aiden thought he might lawyer up. Which was what he should be doing, considering those photos.
“Right after I left the station,” Brady finally started, “I got a call from an unknown number.” He took out his phone, accessed something on the screen and slid it across the table to Owen. “It was Chloe. At least I think it was.”
Owen took Brady’s phone, no doubt verifying the call. “What do you mean you think it was her?”
“It was her voice. I’m sure of that, but it was…off.” Brady paused again. “I was just so relieved she was alive, and I started asking her where she was, what had happened, was she all right, but she started talking right over me as if she hadn’t heard me. And she said if I wanted to see her that I should come to the woods behind Aiden’s house.”
“And you didn’t think to tell the cops about this?” Owen asked when Brady stopped.
Brady frantically shook his head. “Chloe told me to come alone, that she couldn’t trust the cops. She also said she was scared, that someone was trying to kill her. Then, she hung up. I tried to call her back, but she didn’t answer. So, I got in my truck and drove straight there.”
“Then, what?” Owen pressed when Brady fell silent. “I’m assuming you went in armed?”
“Of course. The woman I love told me she was in danger, and I wanted to protect her. I failed.” Brady’s voice cracked on that last word. “I parked on a trail just off the road. You can’t drive to that spot, so I walked. And when I got there, I saw her.” He shuddered. “She was dead.”
“How do you know? Did you touch her?” Owen asked.
“No. I could see she was dead. Then, before I could even think about what to do, bullets started firing. I panicked. Flashbacks,” he muttered, but it was still loud enough for Aiden to hear. “I, uh, have PTSD. Gunfire triggers it. And it triggered it bad. I remember starting to run, but then I must have blacked out. I woke up on the ground. Don’t know how long I’d been there, but I got up, went to my truck and drove home.”
“You left the woman you love behind?” There was a boatload of skepticism in Owen’s tone.
Brady nodded, dropped down his head until his chin was practically on his chest. “Once my head cleared, I got to thinking about Chloe’s call, and I believe it could have been a recording spliced together. The cadence was wrong. I didn’t see that at first. I only thought about getting to Chloe. But now, I think someone used it to lure me there.”
“Who would do that and why?” Owen asked.
“I don’t know why. But the who could be the person that killed Chloe.” He lifted his head and looked at Owen. “It’s not my dad. He wouldn’t have put me in a situation like that. A situation where I could have been killed.”
“Wylie wouldn’t have risked Brady’s life,” Aiden muttered. “Not intentionally.”
Lexa made a sound of agreement. “So, we could be looking at two things here. Chloe could have set up that trap, maybe to lure Brady there so he’d die. But then someone killed Chloe. Wylie could have done that part.”
“Yes, he could have, especially if he found out that Chloe had been playing Brady and intended to set him up.”
“Go over all the details again,” Owen told Brady. “And I want to know where you went after you left those woods. I also want to examine the gun you had with you.”
Aiden was ready to listen to a repeat of Brady’s account so he could see if he’d missed something. Or if he could detect a lie. But his phone rang, and he frowned when he saw the name on the screen.
“It’s Dispatch,” he told Lexa, taking the call on speaker.
“Aiden,” the dispatcher greeted, and he recognized the voice. Burt Winters. “You got an incoming call from your neighbor, Orville Langston.”
“Orville,” Aiden muttered. What the heck did he want?
One of the other deputies had checked on the man shortly after the shooting to ask if he’d seen anything suspicious in the area. Orville claimed he hadn’t and then had ordered the deputy off his property. That wasn’t a surprise since Orville wasn’t the friendly sort, and Aiden had only met the man once when one of Orville’s horses had broken the fence and gotten onto Aiden’s land.
“Put the call through,” Aiden instructed Burt, and it didn’t take long before his neighbor came on the line.
“Brodie,” Orville greeted in his usual snarly tone. “You’re gonna need to come out to my place, but I don’t want you bringing a whole bunch of cops with you. Don’t want them trampling all over.”
“Why do you want to see me?” Aiden asked.
“Fuck, I don’t want to see you. I don’t wanta see any damn body, but I found this dark blue Ford Focus parked on a trail at the back ass end of my place. It’s all tucked away like somebody didn’t want it to be seen. Well, I saw it, and I want it gone. That’s my land.”
Everything in Aiden went still. Those trails weren’t on the beaten path, and they ran behind Aiden’s property as well. This could be the car Chloe had used.
“Did you get the license plate?” Aiden asked.
“Yeah.” Orville spewed it off to Aiden as if doing so was the ultimate annoyance.
Lexa immediately used her phone to plug in the numbers to the database. “It’s a rental,” she let him know.
“You’re gonna want to come and get this car,” Orville went on.
Yeah, Aiden intended to do just that. “Did you see anything inside the vehicle?”
“I got eyes, don’t I? So, of course, I saw stuff. There’s a purse in the front seat and a cardboard box in the back. I recognize the box. It’s from Hannigan’s way out near Kerrville.”
“Hannigan’s,” Aiden repeated. It was one of those large sporting goods stores. And it sold ammunition.
“On it,” Lexa muttered, using her phone again, no doubt to try to contact someone from the store who might be able to confirm if that’s where Chloe had bought the bullets used in those cook-off fires.
“Orville, did you go inside the car?” Aiden pressed.
“I did not. It was locked, but here’s my way of looking at it. It’s on my land so that’ll make it mine if somebody don’t come and claim it real fast. Got that?” he snapped.
“I got it,” Aiden assured. “My partner and I will be out there soon.”
“Does this car belong to the woman that I heard got killed at your place?” Orville asked.
“Maybe,” Aiden admitted. “Why? Have you seen the vehicle before?”
“No, but I saw the woman a month or so back. She wasn’t on my land then. Or on this trail. She was by that little creek that runs between your place and mine. That’s county land.”
Aiden had to mentally shake his head. “Did you tell that to the deputy who questioned you earlier today?”
“I did not,” the man blurted. “He just showed up here, and I didn’t know who the hell he was.”
Aiden huffed and had to get his teeth unclenched. “When exactly did you see her?”
“Like I said, about a month ago. A fox has been prowling around my chickens so I went looking for it. I was cutting through the woods when I heard her talking, and it was obvious she wasn’t very happy. So, I kept quiet and got closer to see what was going on. She was pacing on the banks of the creek and pitching a right ol’ fit to somebody on the phone.”
“Did you hear the conversation?” Aiden couldn’t ask fast enough.
“Parts of it. She was going on about payback and justice, and she said some shit like, You will help me. You owe Mom that after what you let happen to her .”
Aiden pushed a little harder on that. “You’re sure she said just Mom and not my mom ?”
Orville didn’t hesitate. “She didn’t put a my in there. Nope, and once or twice when she was ranting, she said the name of the person she was talking to. She didn’t say it fondly either. And the name was Hudson.”