“They didn’t kill Yvette,” Grace said, moving between Livvy and Bennie to face Shane head-on.
“Then, damn it, who did?” That came from Elijah. Like Shane, his face was tight with rage.
“We’re looking into that.” Grace aimed a warning finger at Elijah when he took a menacing step toward her. “If I have to arrest you for threatening a police office, trespassing and other assorted charges, it’ll mean hauling you down to the station. It could be hours or days before you get any info from me. Or youcould all just shut the hell up and I’ll tell you right now what I know.”
That silenced Trevor and Shane, but Elijah still looked ready to push Grace. He seemed to rethink that after sliding glances at the three other cops, who were clearly ready to back up their boss.
“All right,” Grace continued once they’d all hushed. Well, their shouts and accusations had stopped, but Shane and Elijah were still doing some glaring. “Yvette was shot and killed by an unknown assailant. She appears to have been fleeing from that assailant when she died.”
“Unknown assailant,” Elijah snarled in ayeah, righttone. “You can’t make me believe those two didn’t want her dead because she took those kids.” He turned his glare on Addie and Judson.
Grace shrugged. “Believe what you will, but they didn’t kill her, and there’s a manhunt for the person who did. To rule yourselves out as suspects, I’m asking you all to submit to GSR testing.”
That brought on more cursing from Shane and Elijah, but Trevor stepped forward. “I’ll do it,” he said.
“So will I,” Jennifer agreed.
Elijah tossed her awhat the helllook, clearly not approving of her cooperation. If it was cooperation, that was. Jennifer could have still been the shooter, but maybe she was certain there wouldn’t be any residue on her clothes.
“I want to know what happened to my mother,” Jennifer added, showing some defiance of her own against Elijah. She shifted her attention to Judson and Addie. “Did she say anything before she died?”
Addie heard the question, but she focused on the reactions of the three male suspects. All of them seemed to have a second or two of stunned silence while they considered that.
Or feared that.
Were they worried that Yvette had said something to incriminate one of them? Maybe.
“She did say some things,” Grace admitted. “We’re going to analyze it further and try to enhance the dash-cam feed.”
That sent Shane on a cursing spree. “What kind of doublespeak is that? Tell us what she said.”
“Sorry, but I’m not at liberty to disclose that,” Grace fired back. “But as soon as the analysis is done, I’ll be in touch. Trust me on that.”
It sounded like a threat, and while her expression, tone and badge had Elijah backing up a step, Shane held his ground.
“However, I can give you some other info,” Grace went on a heartbeat later. “It’s about Yvette’s will.” She paused, waiting until all four were staring at her. “Did any of you know that Yvette redid her will last week?”
Trevor groaned and muttered something under his breath that Addie didn’t catch. “I told her not to give in to Shane’s demands.”
So, he’d known the change to the will was possible, and it made Addie wonder if Trevor had used those drugs to try to stop her. In fact, the drugs might come up if Trevor decided to challenge the will.
“Yvette left everything to her kids,” Grace let Trevor know. “She purposely excluded anyone else, including a husband.”
Elijah smiled. Actually smiled. Until he must have realized that wasn’t an appropriate response and shut it down.
Trevor certainly wasn’t smiling. He was riled to the bone, and, cursing, he stormed off the porch, headed to his car and then sped away.
Addie shifted her attention to Shane, who wasn’t smiling but did appear more than a little shocked. It was the same for Jennifer, who began to cry again.
Elijah hurried off the porch to go to her, and he tried to put his arm around her, but she stepped away from him. The man didn’t show any irritation over the rejection. Instead, he turned back to Grace.
“How soon will Shane and Jennifer be able to settle Yvette’s estate and get the money?” he asked.
“Stop it, Elijah,” Jennifer snapped before Grace could respond. Well, respond other than rolling her eyes and making a loud huff. “Just go wait in the truck for me,” Jennifer ordered.
Now, the irritation came, but Elijah didn’t push back. Probably because he figured out that badgering Jennifer wouldn’t help him get his hands on her dead mother’s money. Kicking at a rock that was on the pathway, Elijah went to the truck, slamming the door behind him after he got in.
“I did encourage my mother to cut Trevor out of the will,” Shane admitted. “I still believe the man was solely after her money.” He paused. “And I believe he could have been the one who killed her.”
