“Lightfoot. I don’t have a lot of time I’m helping the police.”
“Good morning to you too, Bree,” Gregory said good-naturedly.
She cringed. “Sorry. All my people skills have already been used up.” Such as they were.
He chuckled. “I’ll keep this short, and hopefully this will be good news. Michael Jeter took a plea bargain.”
Bree’s hand raised to her throat and her heart rate kicked up. “What sort of plea bargain?”
Surely they wouldn’t let him out of jail. Would they? She felt like the room was closing in on her—the air being sucked out.
“Freckles, what’s wrong?”
She turned her head and found Tanner crouching on the floor beside her so his face was at the same height as hers.
She grabbed his hand. “Jeter made some sort of deal.”
She turned the phone so Tanner could also hear what Gregory was saying. She didn’t want to put it on speaker in front of all these people.
“Lightfoot, what’s going on?” Tanner asked.
“It’s good news, I promise. Yes, Jeter plea-bargained, but only to take the death penalty off the table. He’ll be serving four life sentences without the possibility of parole.”
Her eyes met Tanner’s deep brown ones. “He won’t ever be able to get out of prison?”
“Never,” Gregory assured her. “I think Jeter knew he was going to get the death penalty, so this was the best play he had. But he’s never getting out of prison, I can promise you that.”
“Where will he do his time?” Tanner asked.
“That’s a little bit more complicated. They’re transferring him tomorrow to the federal prison in Beaumont. He’ll be there probably three to six months until the details are finalized.”
Tanner nodded and it reassured Bree—if Tanner was happy about him being at Beaumont then that meant it was a good place for Jeter to be.
“That’s a solid max security. Definitely better than the county jail he’s been in,” Tanner said.
“Best of all, this solves all your testimony problems, Bree. You’re not going to have to take the stand at all.”
Finally, some good news.
She promised to contact Gregory for more details as soon as this case was done and she was back home, and ended the call. Right now she needed to focus on catching an entirely different bastard.
Tanner squeezed her hand. “You okay?”
She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I just need time to process this. But that will have to wait until I’m done here. I’d rather stick with this. Computers, I know. Feelings are much more complicated.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Anyone would need time to sort this out, so don’t feel bad about that. Do you have everything ready for the next transmission?”
“Yes. I’m sorry I couldn’t find anything to make this quicker.”
He pulled her against him and kissed her hard and brief. “You found the pattern. That’s more than anyone else did. We’re going to catch this guy and we’re going to be in time to save this woman. Because of you.”
“Because of a lucky break.”
He used his knuckles to knock gently on the side of her head. “Because of a pattern your giant brain figured out. Doesn’t matter what got it thinking in that direction.”
She kissed him. “Thank you. I know I’ve been a mess. Everything I’ve learned about interacting with people seems to have flown out the window over the last few hours. I haven’t made many friends here.”
He grinned at her—that smile that had her heart stuttering in her chest. “Eh, you’re not here to make friends. Everyone’s tension level is high. Or maybe everyone’s interaction skills have flown out a window.”
