“I’ll dig into Eric and his known associates,” River offered.
“Good. I’ll interview Sasha again. Maybe something new will come to her now that we know Jenny was murdered.” Autumn glanced at Jordan. “Can you think of anyone else we should talk to? Anyone she may have confided in?”
Jordan slowly shook his head. “I wish I knew more about the people Jenny was friends with.” Guilt shadowed his blue eyes. “She was legally an adult, so I couldn’t really force her to do anything. But maybe if I had tried harder…”
“It’s not your fault, Jordan,” she hastened to reassure him. “As you said, Jenny was an adult, and it sounds like she was able to support herself.”
“Only because she was sleeping on Sasha’s sofa, as if that was a viable long-term option.” Jordan closed his eyes for a moment, then sighed and met her gaze. “Sorry, I know I need to stay focused on finding her killer. I’ll go through my text messages that I exchanged with Jenny again. Maybe something new will jump out at me.”
“That’s a great idea.” She wished she could do or say something to make him feel better.
“Eric Cally still has a social media profile.” River looked up from his phone. “Lots of condolences posted there, but I’ll dig through his friends list to make a list of people to interview.”
“Great. I can help, too,” Autumn offered. “Sasha might know of others I should interview. We’ll touch base tomorrow, okay?”
“Yep. I’m staying at the Canyon Creek Lodge for the next two nights.” River pushed his chair back and stood. The dogs had finally gotten tired after playing and were all stretched out on the living room floor. Autumn smiled at how Cutie was curled up next to Bear, as if he were her new best friend.
“I appreciate everything you both are doing,” Jordan said, rising to his feet. “I want to believe Jenny’s baby is alive and being cared for. Hopefully not by the man who killed her.” He frowned, then added, “I feel better knowing the entire task force is working together on this.”
She knew Jordan was still troubled by Detective Peters not doing more, but she sensed he had put aside his grievances to cooperate with the investigation.
“That’s our goal,” River agreed. “Come, Frankie.”
The yellow Lab’s head popped up at the sound of his name and the dog rose to his feet. Cutie jumped up, too, but Bear simply opened one eye as if to gauge if he should bother.
Autumn walked River and Frankie to the door, glancing at Jordan curiously. He hadn’t mentioned leaving with Cutie—maybe he wanted to talk to her alone? She urged the dogs to go outside, instructing Bear to get busy.
“Does that mean go potty?” Jordan asked as Bear did his thing.
“Yes, I like using the phraseget busy, instead.” She shrugged. “It’s just a matter of preference.”
“I like it, but it might be too late to train Cutie that way.” Jordan gestured to the puppy. “At least she’s mostly housebroken. I picked her up from the local shelter back in August. Cutie is going on eleven months old now and does pretty well overall.”
She cleaned up after the dogs, then led the way back inside. Jordan followed then looked at her expectantly. “You know you can’t stay here, right? That guy will come back.”
She swallowed a flash of annoyance. “I’m a cop, remember? I can stay and catch him in the act.”
“If something happens to you, who’s going to find Jenny’s baby?” Jordan took a step closer, his blue gaze imploring. “Please, Autumn. I would offer to stay with you, but I can’t leave the animals to fend for themselves. Come back to the ranch with me. We’ll go through Jenny’s text messages.”
She hesitated, surprisingly torn between accompanying Jordan and staying here to hopefully catch the shooter in the act. Glancing at Bear helped make her decision. She didn’t want to risk anything happening to her dog. Plus, what about the incident Jordan described earlier—had the perp who’d tried to run him over targeted Jordan on purpose? Or had the intent been to simply scare him off? Her gut was leaning toward the former, that this guy would eliminate anyone who stood in his way. If anything happened to Jordan, it would be her fault.
That was enough for her to decide it would be best if they stuck together so she could have Jordan’s back, too.
Tomorrow, she’d arrange for a security system to be installed prior to heading out to do her interviews. Having cameras and alarms would give her and Bear an extra layer of protection.
And she needed to update Peters, sooner rather than later.
“Okay, I’ll go with you to the ranch,” she agreed. Then she carefully added, “You live there alone?”
“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate.
“Okay, but I will only stay for tonight. I want to work on finding your sister’s killer, but I also need to figure out who has it out for me.”
“Thank you. And I can try to help you with that, too.” He grimaced. “Not that I’m an expert in police work.”
That made her smile. “It’s okay. I can handle it. Give me a minute to pack.”
He nodded and scooped Cutie into his arms.
