Chapter Six #2
Elijah opened his mouth. Closed it. “I don’t know. Let me speak to Jennifer’s lawyer,” he tacked on to that.
“She doesn’t have one,” Livvy provided.
“And you’re hounding her anyway?” Elijah howled. He started shaking his head. “No, no, no,” he strung out. “That’s not gonna happen. No more questions until she has a lawyer.”
“That’s not your call,” Judson said.
“We’ll see about that,” the man snapped, already taking out his phone. He turned and headed back toward Garrison and the metal detector. “I want my gun, and I’ll be back when I get Jennifer the legal help she needs.”
Once Elijah was on the other side of the metal detector, Garrison picked up the gun, but he didn’t hand it back to Elijah until the man was outside the door. Then Garrison tapped the sign about no firearms.
Elijah gutted out a single word of raw profanity and walked away while he scrolled through his phone. No doubt to contact a lawyer. He apparently found what he was looking for, because he made a call as he got into his dark blue truck and drove away.
Judson cursed as well. “If a lawyer shows up, the interview probably won’t happen today. There’ll likely be lots of legal wrangling…well, unless Jennifer flat-out refuses to have legal counsel.”
“She probably won’t refuse if she knows Elijah arranged it,” Livvy pointed out. She sighed and glanced at both Addie and Judson. “Why don’t you two go back to the ranch? I figure you’re anxious to be with the twins.”
Addie was indeed anxious, so when Judson nodded, she was ready to go despite the hesitation Addie saw on his face. He no doubt felt swamped with the amount of info that needed to be processed.
“Send me some of the workload,” Judson told Livvy. “I’ll go through any and all reports and summarize them for the rest of the team.”
“I can do that,” Livvy said. “It’ll free me up to try to find Trevor and Yvette. And to deal with Jennifer. I’m not sure how long she’ll sit in interview without putting up an argument.”
Yes, and coupled with a potential attorney, Addie could understand why the interview likely wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
It was possible a lawyer would demand a thorough psychological eval of his client rather than relying on the expertise of a small-town ER doctor.
Especially a doctor who would know all the members of the police force.
“I’ll get my purse,” Addie said, heading back into Grace’s office where she’d left it. However, she’d barely made it a step before Livvy’s phone rang.
“It’s Grace,” Livvy muttered, and she immediately took the call, putting it on speaker. “I’m here with Addie and Judson, who are listening in. Garrison, too,” she added when the other deputy joined them.
“I made it to the hospital in Bulverde,” Grace started, and Addie’s stomach automatically clenched. Because she could tell from Grace’s tone that this wasn’t going to be good news. “Courtney died before the EMTs could even get her out of the ambulance.”
Addie groaned. The three deputies each did some cursing. “Did Courtney manage to say anything to the EMTs?” Judson asked.
“No. She never even regained consciousness.” Grace’s heavy sigh came through loud and clear.
“So, this is officially a murder investigation. Ours,” she emphasized.
“The area where Courtney was found is in the county sheriff office’s jurisdiction, but since this is possibly connected to the twins’ abduction, the county is handing it to us.
I’m heading back to the station now to create a file on it. What’s going on there?” she tacked on.
“We got a visit from Jennifer’s boyfriend,” Livvy let her boss know. “I can brief you on that since Addie and Judson were about to leave.”
“Good,” Grace said. “No need for them to be there, and they’ll be better off at the ranch. Once you’re back at the Horseshoe, just send Rory or Bennie back to the station. One of them can stay there for a while until…well, until things are more stabilized than they are right now.”
“Thank you,” Addie and Judson said together.
Addie took her purse, and she and Judson headed out while Livvy got started with the recap of Elijah’s visit. Grace probably wasn’t going to be any happier about it than the rest of them were.
They were only steps from the door when a landline phone rang, and seconds after Garrison answered it, the deputy called out, “I have Trevor Cates on the line.”
That stopped them in their tracks, and they hurried back to the desk. “Put the call on speaker,” Judson instructed the younger deputy, and Livvy moved closer, holding up her phone so that Grace could no doubt hear as well.
“This is Deputy Judson Docherty,” he said.
“Trevor Cates,” the man replied, and he sounded all frantic nerves. “I’ve been camping. There’s no cell service out there, and I just saw all the missed calls. Some from Jennifer, others from Shane and three from Renegade Canyon PD. What the hell is going on?”
Addie figured Judson had plenty of questions, but he went with a simple one. “Where are you right now?” he asked.
“On the way back to my house. I pulled over when I finally got out of the dead spot and was able to check my phone,” he explained. “When I saw your messages, I called right away.”
“Don’t go home,” Judson insisted, and he dragged in a long breath. “A woman was attacked in your house, and there’s a team of investigators inside and on the grounds.”
“What?” Trevor blurted, his voice practically a shout now. “What do you mean? What woman was attacked? Was it Yvette?”
Again, Judson took his time answering. “Where is your wife, Mr. Cates?”
“Uh, I assumed she was at the house. At our home,” he amended. “Isn’t she? God, is she hurt?”
“We’re not sure. We’ve been looking for your wife but haven’t been able to contact her.”
“Wait, hold on,” Trevor insisted, and now there was some panic rising in his tone. Maybe the real deal. Maybe fake. Addie couldn’t tell. “Just wait,” he repeated. “I’m going to try calling Yvette now.”
Judson didn’t stop him from doing that. Trevor put them on hold, hopefully to make that call and not flee. Addie also hoped that once he came back on the line, he’d have answers about Yvette’s location.
But that didn’t happen.
“She’s not answering,” Trevor relayed several seconds later. The panic in his voice had gone up significantly. “Is my wife all right?”
“Like I said, we don’t know. We need to speak to both of you,” Judson informed him.
“Of course,” Trevor muttered, and he repeated that several times. “But I want to look for her. I want to try to find her. I have to know if something happened to her.” He stopped, groaned. “You said a woman was attacked in my house. Was it Yvette?” he demanded again.
“No,” Judson replied, “it was someone else, but I can’t discuss the details with you. Best if you come in and give that statement.”
“Okay,” Trevor said after a long pause. “But can it wait until morning? It’d be dark before I could get to Renegade Canyon, and I have trouble driving at night. Plus, I guess I need to find some place to stay since my home is a crime scene.” His voice broke on those last two words.
Livvy and Judson exchanged a long look, probably trying to decide the timing for the interview since Shane would be coming back in at eight. Jennifer might possibly still be here as well.
“Have him come at 8:00 a.m.,” Livvy mouthed.
Judson gave a quick nod, indicating he wanted the same thing. “Be here at eight tomorrow morning,” he told Trevor. “And if you do hear from or find your wife, call us immediately.”
“Will do,” Trevor assured them, and he ended the call.
“It’ll be interesting to see how Shane reacts to Trevor and vice versa,” Livvy muttered.
“Yeah, and maybe by then, we’ll know where Yvette is,” Judson added, and they started for the door again.
“I also want to verify some things about Trevor. The camping trip, for one thing. I want to make sure he was where he said he was. And that bit about him not being able to drive at night. He’s only forty-nine, and that’s not usually something that happens to someone in his age bracket. ”
Addie agreed, but she didn’t ask the questions on her mind until after Judson and she were in the cruiser and driving toward the ranch.
“I understand why Trevor might lie about the camping. He could be using that as a sort of alibi to make us believe he was nowhere near Yvette or Courtney today. But why would he lie about the driving to stall the interview?”
“Maybe he wants to find Yvette first.” Judson stopped talking, scrubbed his hand over his face and groaned.
“Or, hell, maybe he’s telling the truth and has no part in any of this.
It’s hard to trust the guy based on what Yvette’s kids have said about him, but none of what they spilled could have been the truth. ”
It was frustrating not knowing if Trevor was a killer, but maybe something incriminating would come out during the interview. If not incriminating about himself, then maybe for one of their other three suspects—Elijah, Shane or Jennifer.
Addie’s phone sounded with a text, and she saw it was from Etta Jean. No actual message, just a photo of the twins side by side on a quilt on the floor, awake and alert. Etta Jean had even managed to catch Lily smiling. Addie smiled, too, and texted the woman that Judson and she would be home soon.
Judson took the turn to the ranch, and she spotted one of the ranch hands patrolling the fence that was next to a deep ditch. The other was in the backyard between the house and the barn. Addie appreciated the extra eyes, and guns, and made a mental note to thank Rory’s brother for sending them.
Judson pulled to a stop directly in front of the house, parking the cruiser so that she was only a few inches from the bottom porch step. He didn’t repeat his move fast order. No need. Addie knew what she had to do, and added to that, she was anxious to get inside and see the babies.
She threw open her door. Across from her, Judson did the same, and he barreled out of the cruiser. So did she. But she had made it up only four of the eight steps when the sound of a gunshot ripped through the air.