They weren’t, and Judson hoped it stayed that way. He had no idea what babies that young could experience, but he hoped they never sensed or remembered any part of that ordeal.
“The Bulverde cops are on the way to Miss Mora’s next of kin to tell them about the blood that was found,” Grace went on. “So, I don’t want to specifically mention the social worker by name until I’m certain her family knows. But I do intend to bring her up in a roundabout way to Jennifer, just to see what she has to say.” She paused. “Because it’s possible Jennifer killed her, and I want to know why.”
It was indeed possible, since Jennifer had been found at the scene with a knife and blood on her hands. And Jennifer might have had motive to commit that murder if she also blamed Courtney for Shane and her being taken from Yvette’s custody. The one problem with the theory was that during their earlier phone conversation with Jennifer, the only animosity she’d shown was toward Yvette. So why would she be so upset about being removed from her home all those years ago?
“Does Jennifer know her brother is here?” Judson asked.
Grace shook her head. “I don’t want the two of them speaking until after their interviews. She has asked for him,” Grace added. “For her boyfriend, too.”
“Elijah Banks,” Livvy provided. “He’s a personal trainer at a gym in San Antonio, and an amateur boxer. We’re trying to get in touch with him now.”
Good. Maybe the boyfriend would be able to give them some insight into all of this.
“If Jennifer says something you want me to press her on, just send me a text. I’ll see what I can do,” Grace told Addie and him, and then she and Livvy went into the interview room.
Judson led Addie to the small area next to interview. It wasn’t much bigger than a closet, but it had some chairs and a small table with a laptop. The screen was blank at first, but when Grace engaged recording, the feed from the interview popped up. Judson could see Jennifer pacing. And seemingly ready to jump out of her skin.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Jennifer immediately blurted.
Grace motioned for the woman to sit, and Livvy and she took the seats across from her. Judson and Addie sat as well. Side by side. Or rather hip by hip, since that was all the space they had.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Jennifer repeated, but again Grace motioned for her to hold off while she recited the case number, time, date and those present.
“Jennifer, Deputy Walsh has already read your Miranda rights, but could you state for the record if you understand them or if you want them repeated?” Grace instructed.
“I understand them and don’t need to hear them again.” Once more, Jennifer’s words were rushed, running together and filled with her heavy breaths. “I just want you to put down in your record that I didn’t kill anyone. I was framed.”
Grace eased back in her chair. “I’m listening.”
Jennifer nodded and seemed to mentally throttle back a little. “I, uh…” she began but then stopped. “I guess I should start with the phone call I got from one of your deputies. Docherty, I think, was his name. He asked where my mother was. I didn’t know,”she insisted. “But as soon as I got off the phone with him, I started driving out to her house. Or rather,Trevor’shouse.”
Judson noted that like Shane, there was some venom in Jennifer’s voice when she mentioned the man’s name. It made him want to dig harder and deeper to find this Trevor. Then again, he could say the same for Yvette. It was possible the two had fled together and were in hiding.
“Since no one knew where Shane was,” Jennifer went on, “I was worried that Yvette had done something to him.”
“Like what?” Grace pressed when Jennifer fell silent.
Jennifer sighed and pushed some strands of long blond hair from her face. “I don’t know.” But it didn’t take her but a couple of seconds to amend that. “All right, I thought she’d convinced him to do something that could get him hurt. Shane can be…gullible sometimes. I thought maybe Yvette had talked him into helping her take those babies.” She paused again, looked at Grace. “Is that what happened? Did Shane help her?”
As Judson expected, Grace didn’t respond to that question. Nor did she mention anything about Shane being seen in the area around the time of the abductions. Instead, Grace flipped through her notes as if checking some kind of details.
“So, you went to the house looking for Shane and Yvette. What happened then?” Grace pressed.
“Not especially looking for Yvette,” Jennifer corrected. “But my brother, yes. When I got there, there were no cars in the driveway, and that’s where Shane would have parked had he been there. Still, I wanted to check for myself, so I went to knock on the front door. That’s when I saw the door was slightly ajar. I eased it open a little more and called out for Shane.”
Jennifer stopped, and she pressed her fingers to her mouth. Probably to stop the sob that made it past her lips anyway.
“I saw some blood on the floor,” the woman continued. Both she and her voice were now shaking. “Blood on the walls, too.God, it was everywhere,” she added on another sob. “I thought it was Shane’s, that Yvette had done something to him, so I ran through the house, screaming out his name. No one answered. No one was there. Just all that blood.”
“How did the knife get in your hands?” Grace asked.
“I, uh, picked it up,” Jennifer admitted. “I thought maybe if it was Shane’s blood, then Yvette, or if not her, someone else could be hiding in the house. I wanted to look for them. Wanted to look for Shane. And that’s what I was doing when you and the deputies showed up.”
Judson was nowhere near convinced Jennifer was telling the truth. But it was possible Jennifer had killed Courtney because she’d mistaken her for Yvette. Though that felt like a huge stretch. After all, it was broad daylight, so both women would be easy to recognize. Still, it could have happened that way.
Maybe.
But if Jennifer was a killer, then why hadn’t she disposed of the knife at the same time she had the body?
