No, she couldn’t have. Because Jennifer had been at the police station at the time of the attack.
“I’ll look for phone links between Jennifer and Elijah during that time frame,” Grace spelled out. “Or links between Jennifer, Shane or Trevor… Hold on a second. I’ve got an incoming call from SAPD.”
Addie looked up at Judson to get his take on all of this, and she saw the doubt in his eyes. She was sure it was in her own eyes, too. Because even if Jennifer was the culprit, she wasn’t in custody. And neither was the person who’d fired those shots at them. So, two people at large if Jennifer was behind this. Of course, if it was Trevor, Shane or Elijah, they could have been working solo.
“A possible problem,” Grace said, coming back on the line. “Jennifer isn’t at her apartment. But Trevor is.” She paused only a moment. “Judson, he’s dead.”
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 amaybehere. 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.
