Chapter Fifteen
Judson wished for a cup of strong coffee as he began to read through the report Grace had just sent him.
His head was throbbing, and every muscle in his body was tight to the point of being painful.
Still, he didn’t want to risk waking Etta Jean, the twins or Bennie, who was sleeping somewhere in the house.
The people he wouldn’t have to wake were Rory and the two ranch hands also standing guard, with Rory inside and the others patrolling the grounds. One glance at Addie, and he could add her to the list of those who weren’t sleeping. She was sitting right next to him, reading the same as he was.
At least she was eating something—one of the sandwiches from the small fridge that had been moved into the room along with the baby stuff and other supplies.
Etta Jean had made sure they had plenty of sandwiches, fruit and bottled water.
Two Cokes as well, but they’d finished those off shortly after their phone conversation with Grace two hours earlier.
A call to let them know about Jennifer’s impending arrest.
And Trevor’s death.
Correction: his murder. The SAPD cops had determined that from the sixteen stab wounds on the man’s body.
A staggering number of injuries for it to have been self-inflicted, and the medical examiner had apparently agreed.
According to the first line of Grace’s report, Trevor’s death had been ruled a homicide.
The murder was in SAPD’s jurisdiction, so they would be the primary investigators, but also according to the report, Grace would be looped in and apprised of any developments.
Grace, in turn, would update all her deputies, since each and every one of them was involved in hunting down the person responsible for Yvette’s murder.
It was possible—hell, it was even likely—that both law enforcement groups were looking for the same killer, but they wouldn’t know that until they had more information.
And knew the whereabouts of their three surviving suspects.
That bad news was in the second part of Grace’s report. Jennifer, Shane and Elijah weren’t responding to any attempts to contact them, and none of them were home. Considering that it was nearly three in the morning, when most people would have been in bed, that wasn’t good.
There was the possibility that one or more of them had met an end like Trevor’s. The killer could be cleaning house, and that might involve murdering anyone who would link him or her to this string of crimes.
Unfortunately, that cleaning up could involve Addie and him.
Grace hadn’t come out and said that in her report, but she had stated that Bennie and Rory would remain there at the Horseshoe Ranch until eight in the morning, when they’d be relieved by replacement deputies.
Judson knew that meant their small-town police force was stretched well beyond the thin mark, and basically everyone was on duty until Jennifer was brought in and confessed.
Or until they identified the person responsible, if it wasn’t in fact Jennifer.
He would be eternally thankful to his fellow cops for diving into this with full force.
That might be the very thing that managed to keep Addie and the babies out of harm’s way.
Of course, the only thing that would guarantee their safety would be for Grace to make that arrest and get the killer behind bars.
Judson ate some chips as he moved on to the second page of the report. This one was filled with the notes Grace had taken while the ME was examining Trevor’s body at Jennifer’s apartment.
Addie motioned to the part that had already caught Judson’s attention. Trevor’s head injury. Specifically, a fairly superficial cut and bruise that the ME hadn’t believed would cause unconsciousness.
Or even any serious injury, for that matter.
Unlike the stab wounds, the ME stated that the angle of this one could suggest that it might have been self-inflicted. So, had Trevor tried to stage his own attack at the hotel and fled the scene, only to be attacked for real and murdered?
That was possibly how it had all played out, but it still left them with the huge question of why.
If Trevor had been the accomplice to the person who’d murdered Yvette and even Courtney, that might make sense, but inflicting that many stab wounds was serious overkill.
It implied the killer had been in a rage.
Or had the killer wanted them to think that?
Again, Judson had to go with a maybe here.
The bottom line was they didn’t know who they were dealing with, but these three murders were proof that someone would go to any and all lengths to accomplish their goal.
Now, the challenge would be to discover the motive since that could lead them to the killer’s identity.
“Why was Trevor at Jennifer’s?” Addie asked, voicing the question that was repeating in his head. “And where’s Jennifer?”
Judson didn’t have an answer to either of those, only speculation. “They could have been working together. Or Trevor could have been lured there. And not necessarily by Jennifer.”
“True,” Addie muttered, and then she groaned and scrubbed her hands over her face. She also tried to stifle a yawn.
“You should try to get some sleep,” he suggested. But it was more than a suggestion. Addie looked, and no doubt was, exhausted.
She looked at him. “I’ll try if you will.”
Addie leaned in and brushed her mouth over his. It was one of those barely there kisses that packed a solid punch. Then again, any contact with Addie always did that to him.
“I’ll stand a better chance of getting some sleep if you’re right there next to me,” she muttered. With her mouth still hovering over his, she fluttered her hands toward the bed.
Hell. There it was again. That rush of heat and need.
But Judson didn’t think of sleep and rest when he glanced at the bed.
He thought of sex, and while it would feel damn good to be with Addie like that again, he had to throttle back and stay focused.
Not focused on her and great sex, either.
But on trying to figure out the puzzle of this blasted investigation.
It took every ounce of his resolve to ease away from Addie. “I want to go back through all the reports again,” Judson let her know. “Not just the ones that have come in tonight but those from the moment babies were taken. There might be something in them I’ve missed.”
She nodded, and while the disappointment came through loud and clear, she straightened in the chair and pinned her attention to his laptop screen. “Then I’ll go over the reports with you.”
Judson sighed and then decided to play a little dirty. Not by kissing her, though that’s what certain parts of him wanted to do.
No.
He played the baby card.
“Lily and Rose will probably be up soon, looking to be fed, and they might not go right back to sleep.” He’d personally witnessed a few episodes of that when one or both of them would start crying and need some rocking and soothing. “You have to rest to be able to deal with that.”
Of course, he would help if the babies were fussy and didn’t settle. Heck, he’d help with just a routine feeding, but Judson was hoping that Addie would see the logic in at least one of them getting a little shut-eye.
And she did.
She stood and then did her own version of playing dirty by bending down and kissing him.
This wasn’t one of those pecks. It was long, deep and hot.
And when she finally stepped away from him, they were both smiling.
Both aroused, too. But Judson forced himself to stay put at the desk as she made her way to the bed.
Addie kept her gaze on him as she lay down and threw the quilt over her.
He began rereading the reports, but he also volleyed some glances at her.
Judson smiled again when he saw her eyelids drift closed.
Maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to sleep without the nightmares taking over or any interruptions.
But that didn’t happen.
She’d been asleep less than ten minutes when Judson’s phone vibrated not with a text but a call. He muttered some profanity under his breath, but when he saw Rory’s name on the screen, he got up, hurrying into the bathroom to answer it.
He didn’t even manage to get the door shut before he heard Addie bolt out of the bed and make her way to join him. Since Addie was obviously awake and would insist on hearing what his fellow deputy had to say, Judson went ahead and took the call on speaker.
“We might have a problem,” Rory said, and Judson heard the concern in his voice. “One of the hands, Calvin Hawkins, is patrolling near the front fence, and he says he saw a light in the barn across the road.”
Hell. That was the spot where the sniper had set up for the first attack against Addie and him.
“I checked with the CSI head just to make sure it wasn’t one of his guys returning to have another look around,” Rory added a moment later.
“And it’s not. It’s also not any of the other deputies.
Of course, it could be some lookie-loo poking around where they shouldn’t, but I wanted to give you a heads-up. ”
“What do you need us to do?” Judson asked.
“Just stay put for now…” Rory stopped. “Incoming text from Calvin.” A second later, Rory cursed. “Take cover,” he blurted. “Calvin says there’s someone in the barn, and he’s pretty sure the person has a rifle.”
A RIFLE.
The words punched through Addie and had both her heart and her body racing back into the bedroom to get the babies. She had to get them to the bathroom before the shooter started firing.
Again.
It would be like the earlier attack. Bullets slamming into the house and possibly tearing through the walls. And just like before, the babies would be in grave danger. She had to protect them.