“Could be.” Judson stopped and decided to rephrase that. “According to Rowena, it’s important, anyway. I don’t have a clue if Rowena is telling the truth, though. If she is, then Jennifer blames her mother for creating the stress that caused her to lose her baby.”
“Wow,” Eden muttered. “That could be a game changer and maybe give Grace enough to make an arrest, since it speaks to motive.”
Yes, it did, but Judson wasn’t sure they’d be arresting the guilty party. “What was your gut feel when you interviewed Jennifer?” he asked Eden. “Do you think she could have done the whole deal? Drug her mother and provoke her into abducting the twins so she could get back at Yvette?”
“My gut feel is she probably couldn’t have done it solo,” Eden said on a sigh. “She’s an emotional wreck, likely suffering from some lingering trauma from her miscarriage. FYI, during the interview, Jennifer said a couple of times that the baby would have made her relationship with Elijah stronger. When I pushed on that, I got the impression that she’s worried he’s about to dump her.”
Judson was giving that some thought when Addie voiced a question that was forming in his own mind. “When did Elijah and Jennifer start seeing each other?”
“Shortly after Yvette was awarded all that money in her settlement,” Eden admitted. “But that’s also around the time Trevor and Yvette hooked up. The timing is so coincidental that I understand why Shane thinks they could be gold diggers.”
Shane just might be right about that, too. “Grace should soon be finished interviewing Trevor,” Judson commented. “What about Elijah? Is Grace bringing him back in, too?”
“Yep. This afternoon,” Eden verified. “And Grace is already done with Trevor, and he’s left the ranch. Grace is doing a report, but the gist is that Trevor didn’t admit to any wrongdoing. He put it all on Yvette, and he swears up and down that he doesn’t know where she is or why she took the twins.”
Convenient, since the woman wasn’t around to give her side of the story. But Judson was glad of one thing—that Trevor was no longer near the twins. It didn’t matter that the man hadn’tbeen armed, he was still a suspect, and Judson wanted him far away from Lily and Rose.
“Hold on a second,” Eden muttered.
In the background, Judson heard Rory say something he didn’t catch, but Eden relayed it a second later. “Rory wanted me to tell you that Shane didn’t answer when he tried to call him. Rory left him a message.”
Judson didn’t care much for all their suspects being in the wind, again, but that only made him want to work harder to get to the bottom of what was going on.
He took the turn off the interstate, and since he’d made this trip so many times over the years, he knew they only had about ten miles before they made it to the ranch. If Grace was still there, he’d catch her up and then start diving into the reports of the interviews to see if there was some kernel of info he could use.
When he heard Addie draw in a quick breath, Judson glanced at her and saw that she was looking at the spot where they’d found the twins. Nan Fredrick wasn’t at the end of the road today. No one was. But Addie must have gotten a jolt from the memory of what had gone on here.
Once they were past the farm road, Addie tore her gaze from it and looked at him. For only a couple of seconds, anyway. They seemed to spot the movement together as Judson rounded a curve.
A woman.
Hell. What was this? Some kind of trap or diversion so the killer could attack them? Maybe. But the woman was real. And there was blood on her face. Judson had no trouble seeing that or the fact she was running up the road straight toward them. In the distance he could see a black car in the ditch.
He hit the brakes, thankful that Livvy reacted quickly, too. If she hadn’t, the cruiser would have slammed into them, and Judson might have hit the woman.
“Help me,” she shouted just as a text lit up his dash.
I’m calling this in, Livvy messaged.Any idea who she is?
It was hard to tell with all the blood, but the car in the ditch was damn familiar. “I think it’s Yvette,” Judson said.
Addie made a sharp sound of surprise and moved to the edge of her seat, no doubt to get a better look. That look was made considerably easier as the woman continued to come closer.
Yeah, it was Yvette, all right.
And judging from the blood streaming down her face, she had some kind of head injury. Either that or she had staged this to make it look as if she was hurt.
Judson didn’t open the door to her, not even when Yvette shouted, “Help me.” But he’d soon have to do that if for no other reason than to take her into custody.
The woman was firing glances over her shoulder as if looking for anyone who might be following her. Judson couldn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean an attacker wasn’t in that ditch, waiting and ready to strike.
In case another vehicle came barreling toward them, Judson turned on his lights and siren. Behind him, Livvy did the same. That didn’t slow Yvette. Not a first, anyway. But after another glance over her shoulder, she stopped and turned, her attention zooming toward a cluster of trees just off the road. Judson thought he saw the start of a trail there, too.
“Does she see someone?” Addie asked. “Or is this some kind of ploy?”
Judson didn’t know, and he didn’t have time to figure it out because there was a loud blast that he had no trouble recognizing.
A gunshot.
