Page 25 of Outlaw Ridge: Hayes

“I didn’t do this,” Brooks snapped. And that seemed to open the verbal floodgates. He continued despite Cordelia clamping her hand on his arm. “Yes, I despise my stepsister, but I wouldn’t kill her. I just have to sit back and wait for her to destroy herself. Stefano won’t put up with her bullshit forever. A fuckin’ cop.” He snorted. “That’s got to be eating away at him. He’ll soon see Jemma for what she is and disown her sorry privileged ass.”

Cordelia’s grip tightened to the point that her knuckles turned white. She also glared at her son, and that hard look finally got him to hush. So, not all was well between Cordelia and her son, and it made Hayes wonder if there were other tensions between them. Such as, was Cordelia pissed that maybe the murders and attacks had indeed been Brooks’ plan?

“Stefano loves his children,” Cordelia remarked as if to soothe ruffled feathers.

But Jemma didn’t seem the least bit offended by what she’d just heard. Just the opposite. It’d snagged her attention and let her know that her stepbrother had plenty of venom for her.

And that disowned comment?

Well, it could be that Brooks believed with Jemma out of the way, that his own position in the family would be solidified. Stefano had a lot of money and power, and it could be that Brooks wanted some of that for himself.

“Your mother handed over her phone to me earlier,” Jemma said to Brooks. “Will you do the same?”

Brooks had clearly been coached on this because he immediately took out his cell and gave it to Jemma. “You won’t find anything on there about me being involved in the murders.”

“Probably not,” Jemma conceded. “But sometimes there are other contacts that can lead to clues or information.”

That put some alarm on Brooks’ face, and he gave his phone a long look as Jemma bagged it. Hayes seriously doubted there was anything to do with hired killers and such in the man’s contacts, but there could be indications of other criminal activity.

“Will you also consent to a search of your office, business, and residence, along with letting us test you for gunshot residue?” Jemma asked Brooks.

The alarm went up several notches for Brooks, but Cordelia answered before he could. “Yes. Full cooperation,” the woman added.

Since Cordelia had made the offer, it likely meant she had or would have those places scoured before the CSIs could search them. But scouring didn’t mean all things incriminating would be removed.

“Molly can do the GSR test,” Hayes let them all know. In other words, it would be done here and now, before either of them got the chance to try to wash it away.

Cordelia gave a crisp nod. “Are we done then?” she asked, already standing.

“One more thing,” Hayes said, looking at Brooks. “Were you at the estate the day Jemma’s mother died?”

Judging from the stares he got from them, including Jemma, no one had been expecting that question. Jemma probably didn’t know that Hayes had spent some of his so-called downtime in his room pouring over Jemma’s background. That had included her mother’s suspicious death of an overdose of pain meds for her cancer.

“I don’t remember,” Brooks claimed.

“Really? You don’t recall something that significant as your mother’s friend dying? The Rattler’s wife,” he emphasized. “Certainly, your mother talked about her and the Salvetti family.”

“I’m sure she did, but I don’t know if I was at the estate or not,” Brooks insisted.

Hayes shrugged. “All right then, I’ll get the techs working on that. You’d be surprised at how much traffic cam footage and eyewitness accounts there are even after three years.”

“Brooks was possibly there,” Cordelia snapped, and she aimed another glare at her son. “It was a traumatic day for me, and it’s possible I asked him to come so he could be with me.”

Bingo. That was proof positive that Brooks the weasel had been around, but Hayes was betting he had been. And administering an overdose of pain meds would be right up his weaselly alley. That way, he eliminates the Rattler’s wife so his own mom can take her place.

Win, win for Cordelia and him.

A big assed loss for the Salvetti family.

Cordelia made a show of checking the time. “Can we get those residue tests done now? I have another appointment.”

“Certainly,” Jemma said, “Interview end,” she added for the sake of the recording.

Brooks and Cordelia didn’t rush out, but they certainly didn’t dawdle either. They went straight to Molly, who then in turn led them to a table with some kits to do such tests. In fact, Owen had well stocked it with pretty much anything they might need when it came to an investigation.

“That went far better than I thought it would,” Hayes muttered, keeping his eyes on their visitors.

“Yes, it did.” And there was plenty of suspicion in her voice about that. She looked up at him. “You really think Brooks could have killed my mother?”

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