“You bought some stuff from her?” Eric asked.
“I did,” Josh admitted. “More than I care to say, but I had a problem. I’ve been sober since Sydney’s death. It wasn’t long after that I went to rehab and then moved out here to start over.”
“Good for you,” Eric said. “I know several cops who dealt with addiction. The job will eat us alive, you know?”
“I know,” Josh said. “But with Sydney’s lifestyle, there could actually be quite a few suspects out there.”
“But there’s only one who is in town right now,” Eric said. “And that one has a lot to lose—not just a Senate seat. If he really does want to make a bid for the White House, then he needs this to go away. Especially if he had something to do with it.”
“I am now thinking he’s the top suspect,” Elena added. “But the crime scene was tampered with, so it could be hard to convict him. If he’d just left it alone, then we might not have even looked at him. But now, he’s the only one I think is guilty. Maybe he didn’t kill her himself. He probably had a gang member do that or someone else he hired. But he has to be behind it, only we have no evidence to prove it.”
Eric tapped his fingers on the table and looked deep in thought. Elena took another sip of coffee. She’d learned as a kid, until she went to live with her aunt, that you never took food or even water for granted. Sometimes when her parents were out on benders or doing whatever they did, she’d be left alone and would be hungry. She hadn’t thought about that in a while. Having a good job had made her forget to appreciate the finer things in life—like coffee and not having killers after you.
Eric spoke up. “We know the pawns are here. I saw them in the camper. We are pretty certain we have the big dog who’s behind all this here too. Is there any possibility that these cops you worked with are dirty and the ones working with the gang instead of the senator?”
“I suppose that’s possible,” Josh said. “We are almost certain based on Elena’s description of Amber’s shooter that it was Tony.”
“Amber stopped at a bank to get the gun. I forgot about that too,” Elena said.
“She was supposed to return it to me in exchange for the evidence,” Josh said.
“How would these guys know that she had your gun?” Eric asked.
“Knowing her, she was probably in touch with them. I think she thought she could flirt with guys on the force and use it to her advantage. If she had information, I could see her blackmailing them to get her way. I learned that Amber was spoiled and raised with no rules. She’d get anything she wanted. But I’m sure she was not expecting them to kill her. Maybe me, but not her,” Josh said.
“You really think she’d want you dead?” Elena asked.
Josh shrugged. “I don’t know. I would like to think not, but she’d already done some crazy things like stalking Maya.”
“I think we can be certain that these two security guys are involved. Sure, more evidence would be good,” Eric said. “But if the senator is also involved, we need to flush him out.”
“What’s your idea to do that?” Josh asked.
Elena set her coffee down. “I know how.”
“How?” Josh asked, and then he added, “Elena, no.”
“What?” Eric said.
“I want to be a decoy,” Elena answered. “We get word to them that I’m willing to meet and give them the evidence. But I need to meet with the person in charge of all this. To make a deal.”
“I said no,” Josh argued. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I like it,” Eric said.
“I don’t want to live my life on the run. I’m done with this. I want to meet that jerk face-to-face. I think we can pull this off,” Elena said. “Actually, IknowI can pull this off.”
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.”
