Jase kept his defensive posture. “It shouldn’t be. I do take you seriously. I just can’t always find any evidence to back up what’s happened. Like I couldn’t find anything to prove you’d been kidnapped or whatever this was.”
“Then how did she get out there where Hawk found her?” Desiree asked, a not so subtle hint of anger in her voice.
“That’s what I’m investigating. We have some evidence to follow, but nothing that points to one person. So any and all details you can remember are helpful. Since your car is still atyour home, someone else took you out there.” But Jase obviously couldn’t identify who.
Which meant, yet again, nothing would happen. Nothing was solved. The person hurting her would continue to harass her. Or worse. Because it felt very much like this time, they wanted her dead.
Was it Neil? Someone he’d sent?
Would she ever be free of this and her past?
“So basically we know nothing except that I was tossed down a hill?”
“Not exactly,” Jase argued. “Based on your injuries, we know you went down the hill incapacitated like you’ve told us. There was plenty of stuff you could have grabbed or used to stop your fall, but you didn’t. We’ll test the blood we collected from the scene to confirm and determine what was used to drug you. Pictures from the scene show clearly that you rolled continuously, hitting your head, slicing your leg, and scraping your body along the way.”
“Is that why my hip and back hurts?”
Hawk put his hand on her shoulder. “You hit some pretty big rock faces that tore up your skin. The nurse has been putting salve on them and changing the bandages regularly. They look better today than they did yesterday.”
“Someone’s getting a show,” Desiree teased, but the room went silent. Neither Lucky, nor the men found it amusing or appropriate. But Desiree could be like that.
Jase finished writing some notes in his notepad. “So you don’t remember getting home that night?”
“No. But if Desiree says she took me, then I’m sure that’s what happened.”
The skeptical frown on Jase’s face spoke volumes. “Did Lucky say anything once you got her home about going out again or seeing someone?”
Desiree shook her head. “Not that I can remember.” She tilted her head and tapped her lip with her index finger. “Come to think of it, there was the guy she danced with at the bar. He didn’t seem to want to let her go. Maybe he followed us to her place.” She shrugged like it could have happened that way.
Lucky couldn’t even remember dancing with anyone. She usually liked to watch, instead of participate.
Desiree was the life of the party, not her.
“Okay. Well I have the surveillance footage, so I’ll check it out and see if I can ID the guy and if he followed you out.” Jase held up the thumb drive.
“Wow.” Desiree’s eyes went wide. “This is like a real lifeDatelinegoing on here.” She seemed excited by the mystery.
Jase shook his head at Desiree. “Did anything seem out of place or disturbed at Lucky’s place when you stopped by there earlier to pack her bag?”
“No. Well, come to think of it, the bed didn’t look all that slept in. Lucky’s a neat freak. I guess it goes with the job. Anyway, the cover was pulled back, but the bed wasn’t messy like she’d slept in it.”
“Anything broken or turned over, like there’d been a struggle?”
Desiree shook her head. “Not a thing.”
Jase sighed. “I checked with your neighbors already. No one saw anything unusual since Saturday. Of course your place is kind of isolated. As far as I could see, no one broke in. The locks didn’t look tampered with.”
“You went out to my place?” Lucky couldn’t believe Jase had already started investigating.
“I told you, just because I couldn’t file an official missing person report didn’t mean I wasn’t looking for you.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll try to be more grateful and less agitating.”
Jase put his hand over her ankle.
She twitched and he took it away.
He held up his hand. “Sorry.”
