Chapter Forty-Seven
Maya woke up a couple hours later, a kink in her neck from the old couch in the back office of the Forest Service visitors’ center.
She had slept better than she thought she would, but as soon as she sat up, she grabbed her phone.
Would there be a message from Pops? What would the jury decide?
A jury was so unpredictable. You never knew how a verdict was going to go.
Typing in her passcode, hands shaking, Maya went to her text messages. There wasn’t anything. But then she saw she had a voicemail from Pops. Staring at her phone, she hit play and closed her eyes, almost holding her breath. How had she missed Pops’ call?
“Maya Bear, this is Pops. Guess what? I’m coming home. The jury found me not guilty. I have some paperwork to take care of, but this nightmare is over. I couldn’t have gotten through this without you. I love you so much. I’ll be back at the office as soon as I can.”
She flopped back on the couch. Juniper woke up at the sound of the voicemail and, feeling Maya’s apprehension and then relief, took the opportunity to get up on the couch with her. Hugging her dog, Maya realized tears were rolling down her face.
“Pops is good, girly. He’s not going to prison.”
In answer, Juniper gave her some slurps on the cheek.
“Thanks, girl. Now we need to figure out Josh.”
Juniper jumped back down and sat staring at her. She took a big paw and slapped it on Maya’s lap as if to say We’ve got this.
Maya petted her. “Okay, girly, we need to get over to the sheriff’s office.”
Standing, she went into the small bathroom and brushed her hair, pulling it back into a tight bun. Splashing water on her face and brushing her teeth made her feel better and ready to face whatever was ahead of them.
Josh.
How was she going to prove his innocence?
Maya knew she wanted to go talk to the Bradfords.
If she could catch them off guard or changing a story, that would help.
But she wouldn’t do that without Lucas and Pops.
She was already pushing it just helping with the case.
But before they could go talk to anyone, they needed to go through all the evidence and make sure they found what Elena and now probably Josh had.
Juniper stayed right outside the bathroom door and stuck to Maya as she heated up a cup of coffee, poured it in her to-go mug, and headed out the door to the sheriff’s office. Hopefully Pops would be back soon.
Maya loaded up Juniper and made the quick drive down the road.
Knowing that Juniper probably needed to stretch her legs, Maya let her out for a few minutes to run around on the front lawn.
Juniper must have still been a little bit tired, as the dog didn’t perform any zoomies or go sliding around in the snow.
The flags in front of the sheriff’s office were starting to billow as the wind became brisker.
The first part of the big storm was starting to move in.
The wind would pick up over the day as the front arrived.
Hopefully Josh had found Elena and they were somewhere warm and safe.
Heading inside, Maya had a chill go through her body.
She wasn’t certain if it was from the changing weather or what they all faced to figure out what was going on with Sydney Bradford’s case.
How one case from four years ago and over a thousand miles away could leave so many dead bodies and wreckage in a short amount of time was beyond Maya.
With Juniper by her side, she headed to the back of the station as Pops came through the back door. Elation swept over Maya and she ran to him, wrapping him in a hug as they held each other. Tears began to flow down her face again. “I thought I’d lost you, Pops.”
“Even if things didn’t go this well, you’re never going to lose me. I’ll always be a part of you,” Pops said.
Maya saw some tears on the edges of his eyes. Pops was the old-school, tough-it-out kind of guy. He’d been strong through all of this, but she knew the case had taken its toll on him.
“Enough about me. Fill me in about Josh and what’s happening with him.”
Maya told Pops about the backpack and case notes along with the photos. “We made copies and have them stashed in safe places. Lucas should be coming here soon and we can all go through the files.”
“I hope I can join you.”
Maya turned to see who was behind her, although she was certain she recognized his voice now: Spencer. “Thank you for all you’ve done for Pops,” she said.
“Of course. I’m glad I could help,” Spencer said. “I overheard some of what you were telling your grandfather. I’d love to help with this case too.”
Maya hesitated. It would really be up to Pops and Lucas, whenever Lucas arrived.
Seeming to sense her hesitation, Spencer said, “I don’t know what all Josh has told you about me, and of course, the last time we were here, well, it wasn’t the best visit.
I understand all that. But I don’t believe my son is a killer.
I’m far from a perfect father and Josh and I have had our differences, but I’m proud of him and everything he’s done. I’d like to help prove his innocence.”
Pops nodded and said, “You might have a better understanding of what Elena saw in the case. Let’s all go to the conference room.”
Maya’s phone buzzed. It was a text from Lucas, who had also caught a couple hours of sleep and was now on his way in. “Lucas says he’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.”
“Great,” Pops said. “Let’s go get started.”
As they all went to the conference room, Spencer tapped Maya on the shoulder. Juniper didn’t like him touching Maya and immediately stepped between them.
“Juniper, it’s okay. Relax,” Maya said. The dog turned and peered at Spencer and then sighed, backing off.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have touched you with her here, but I just wanted to say, I meant what I said. I’m so happy Josh has you. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to him. Natalia agrees.”
“Thank you,” Maya said with a shy smile. “I appreciate that. I’m not sure about Natalia, though. Does she really agree?”
“She does. What can I say? She’s feisty and stubborn, but that’s what I love about her, and no offense, but I think those are a couple of the things my son loves about you.”
Maya gave a short laugh. “You have a point there.”
“Come on, let’s go get to work.”
By the time they made it into the room, Pops had copies of everything organized and spread out on the table. Spencer pulled out reading glasses and put them on, sitting down at Elena’s notes.
“I’ll start here,” he said. “As a former prosecutor, I think I can make the most sense out of her notes.”
“Hi, everyone, I brought coffee,” Lucas said as he walked in carrying a tray of cups from the local coffee shop. “And I have some notes from Doc and Miranda that I think will help us prove Josh’s innocence.”
“Really? Have I mentioned how you’re the best?” Maya asked, taking a coffee and wondering what Lucas had learned from Doc and Miranda.
“You can tell me that as much as you want,” Lucas said.
He and Spencer traded introductions and then they all sat down and started to study the notes and pictures. Juniper, still up for a little bit of a rest, lay down next to Maya and placed her head between her paws.
“I’ll start with what I just learned,” Lucas said.
“Miranda called and she took Josh’s knife to Doc.
The knife didn’t match the wound on the deceased gang member and the blood pattern wasn’t right.
Doc thought that maybe the knife was smeared in the blood pool to try to make it look like the murder weapon. ”
“That’s great news,” Maya said.
“It is. It helps prove that Josh was set up. Doesn’t tell me who did, but that he is being framed.”
“What else did Doc find?” Maya asked.
“On a whim, I sent him some of Sydney’s crime-scene photos.
Elena thought Ref was also framed for the murder.
One of the big pieces of evidence was the scarf with his DNA.
Supposedly she was strangled with it, but Doc disagrees.
He thinks the pictures show signs of manual strangulation, including soft tissue hemorrhage, contusions, and hemorrhage around the esophagus.
If that’s true, then Ref didn’t strangle Sydney, at least not with the scarf. ”
“So now what?” Maya asked.
“I’ve studied these pictures and discovered more. Look at these footprints in this picture,” Lucas pointed out. “It looks like someone deliberately swept over them.”
“It does look that way,” Maya said, studying the picture.
“What’s even more disturbing is that it appears the body was moved.
Her arms had fallen in a way that makes me think she was trying to defend herself from her attacker.
I bet she scratched whoever it was. Was there any DNA from skin found under her fingernails, Pops? ”
Pops glanced up. He was going through Josh’s notes and then comparing them to the police reports. “I’m not seeing anything listed,” he answered after flipping through several sheets of papers. “Spencer, you have anything?”
“It does appear the medical examiner took some samples, but they were never entered into evidence. In fact, those samples, if what I’m reading is complete, were never even submitted for any kind of DNA testing.
It’s like they completely disappeared. Elena made some notes about evidence that was withheld by the original prosecutor.
I bet that’s one of the things. I wish she was here to help us decipher some of her handwriting. ”
“Okay, so the body was moved, the scarf wasn’t used to strangle Sydney,” Maya said, “and evidence disappeared. I think we need to make a list of the differences between Josh’s notes and pictures and what Elena found. She found enough to give her interest to reopen this case.”