Page 27 of Final Inning

There were only five more files.

Seriously?

Dani had requested everything. There had to be more than this.

There wasn’t even an autopsy report.

She was just about ready to call and personally ask where that report was. The autopsy was the most vital piece of evidence in a cold case. There was really no other place to start than with the autopsy.

She was seriously getting tired of dealing with incompetent people lately. People in general were really starting to not be her thing here.

Her screen buzzed.

Video call.

Jac.

She’d been delayed at least a day on the previous case trial she’d been required to testify at. That girl was not happy, either.

Dani wrote KEVIN’S AUTOPSY in big letters on her sticky note and stuck it to the monitor. As soon as she was finished with whatever Jac needed—she had a missing autopsy to find. She needed that information fast. Miranda and Knight’s entire case could hinge on whether the two cases were related.

Whoever had thought not including an autopsy would be helpful here?

Chapter 18

Valeria hated doing this, but her mom had made her do it since she was thirteen and all the bad things had happened. Her mom said she had to pay it back, what Uncle Ted had done for her. That he could have gotten into serious trouble because of her. Well, how long was she supposed to pay for it? It hadn’t been her fault.

It had never been her fault. It had been that other stupid girl’s fault.

Valeria unlocked the door and stepped inside. He really needed to repaint or something, but if that was going to happen, she would have to be the one to do it. He liked having her work as a stupid slave for him. He always had.

Wasn’t that like human trafficking or something? Domestic labor? Her mom making her cook and clean for him—and other things Valeria would not think about unless she had to—because supposedly Valeria owed him or something? If her mom knew the stuff Ted had made her do starting when she was twelve…maybe her mom wouldn’t have made her come over here so much?

Then again, Valeria thought her mom did know. And just hadn’t really cared at all. Her mom didn’t care about anyone but herself really—and Collin maybe. Collin was fourteen—the youngest—and Valeria was almost convinced Collin was Uncle Ted’s kid or something, and they just weren’t saying.

He liked being the sheriff, after all. It made him feel powerful. And he liked to think Valeria was completely helpless with him.

Ted was in the kitchen when she walked in. “Running late, honey?”

She’d always hated when he called her that. It sounded so demeaning and made her feel childish. Still, Valeria hugged him like she knew he liked. He liked to hold her real close sometimes. “I had to stay over. Cathy called in sick or something. Like always.”

“Isn’t she the one with⁠—“

“Cancer. Yeah, but they say she’s going to be okay or something. She’s like sixty.”

“I see.” Ted looked at her for a moment. His expression lingered, on her chest. He had always liked what she’d had up there. Valeria shifted, so he could get a better look. “I want you to text me when you are going to be this late. You know I don’t like you driving after dark.”

“I’m twenty-three. Not like I’m a stupid kid anymore.” He’d been the one to teach her to drive—surely he knew she could handle herself? He liked telling her what to do—that was what it was all about. But lately…like for the last two months or so, he’d been so bitchy whenever she went anywhere after dark. He said he was worried about her. She should move. But her mom wouldn’t give her any money—the money she’d gotten from Valeria’s dad when he’d sued the old factory he’d been hurt at before he’d left her mom when she’d been eleven. That money was Valeria’s and her brothers’, not her mom’s. But that had never mattered to her mom. Her mom was the most selfish person Valeria had ever known.

“I still get to worry about you. And…I know what happens to a beautiful young woman out after dark. I don’t want to see you get hurt, or have something happen to you. I care about you."

Well. He said that all the time. But she didn’t believe him. He liked being able to sleep with her mom. Or he had, until her mom had gotten too old, anyway. Her mom was like forty-five now, and she was always complaining about her boobs being saggy and stuff like that.

She didn’t think her mom and Ted were still sleeping together, but they might be. Her mom slept with a lot of guys. It was her main form of entertainment. And well…Valeria was almost convinced her mom had been a hooker or something for most of Valeria’s childhood or something.

But her mom didn’t act the same with other guys the way she did with Ted.

“I’m okay. I can take care of myself. Didn’t I already prove that?”