Page 11 of Her Baby, Her Badge

“Insisted,” Ike snarled, not sounding too pleased at having a companion for this. Then again, his father was likely just riled at pretty much everything that had gone on tonight.

Dutton ignored Ike for the time being and focused on Jamie. “Does your nanny know you’re here?” he asked.

“No, she’s asleep, and please don’t call her,” Jamie was quick to say. When Dutton took out his phone to do just that, the girl added, “Sheriff Granger, I can help with the investigation.”

Grace pulled back her shoulders, and Dutton moved to the side so that Grace could come out of her office and walk closer to Jamie. Dutton followed her. “What investigation?” she asked, aiming a glare at Ike for spilling any info about a murder to a child.

“I didn’t say a word,” Ike protested.

“He didn’t have to,” Jamie explained. “It’s all over social media about the woman who was left by the fence.”

Of course, it was, and Dutton didn’t press to know why Jamie would have read such things. He already knew. Jamie’s own parents had been murdered when she was a baby, and it was how she’d ended up in foster care and then adopted by his aunt and uncle.

Jamie’s tragic family history had given her a fascination with police investigations. So much so that she’d applied to do a summer internship of sorts here at the police station. Grace might approve it, too, in a limited-scope kind of way with Jamie only getting schooled on procedures for nonserious cases.

Grace was clearly more tolerant of Jamie than she was the rest of his family. Including him. And it was easy to see that Jamie idolized Grace.

“It’s awful what happened to her,” Jamie went on. “And it’s like that other murder, isn’t it?”

“I can’t discuss that with you,” Grace said, probably hoping that was the last of the conversation about murder. “You really shouldn’t be here.”

“But I had to come. Like I said, I can help,” Jamie insisted, and she was no doubt about to add more when her eyes lit up. “Sherlock,” she called out as the cat waltzed toward her.

Dutton knew that Jamie was familiar with the cat because she’d gone with Rory when he’d taken Sherlock in for a checkup with the vet. Jamie scooped him up, and the often standoffish cat consented to some cuddles.

“Help how?” Grace pressed the girl.

“I know about the knife,” Jamie stated.

Everything inside Dutton went still. Hell. He didn’t want Jamie involved in this in any way, but if what she said was true, then her involvement was already there.

“Like I said, I heard when Sheriff Granger called Uncle Ike,” Jamie continued a moment later. “He didn’t put the call on speaker or anything, but I could tell from the way he was answering that the sheriff was asking him about that knife with the white handle he keeps in his office. Not locked up,” she added. “But sitting in a little wooden holder on the top of the big bookshelf behind his desk.”

That was indeed where his father had kept it, and it had been there for as long as Dutton could remember. It was way out of reach of kids and was surrounded by other antique memorabilia. Dutton hadn’t been in that office in more than a year, and even if he had had a more recent visit, he likely wouldn’t have noticed it was missing.

“A knife that isn’t there because someone stole it,” Ike snapped, his ire aimed at Grace, not Jamie. “And then that someone used it to try to set me up. I didn’t kill that woman.”

Grace sighed, obviously not comfortable discussing a murder in front of a child. “You said you knew something about the knife?” she reminded Jamie.

Jamie nodded. “Last month when I was home on spring break, this electrician came. He claimed that he needed to check some wiring, and he had some kind of ID from the electrical company that must have been convincing enough because Miss Diane let him in.”

Diane McGrath was the current head housekeeper at the ranch, and while Dutton didn’t have daily contact with the woman, this was the first he was hearing about an electrician.

“I wasn’t home when this happened,” Ike said, taking up the explanation. “I was at a meeting in San Antonio. And Asher and Kitty were away on one of their usual trips.”

He grumbledusualas if it was a profanity. Which it sort of was, in this case. Jamie’s parents were gone far more than they were home and rarely took their daughter with them on their travels to tropical adults-only resorts. There were times Dutton wondered why they had adopted a child only to leave her in the care of a nanny.

“Was there something about this electrician that was suspicious?” Grace asked, aiming the question at Jamie.

“Definitely suspicious,” Jamie said quickly. “I mean, he did more looking at the stuff in the house than he did the outlets and such. I thought he was casing the place. I was about to call Uncle Ike so he could check and make sure this guy was for real, but he up and left.”

“Did you get his name and confirm he was actually with the electric company? And do you believe he stole the knife?” Grace pressed.

Ike shook his head and grumbled something under his breath. “Diane doesn’t remember the man’s name. She said the ID looked real, though, and that she personally didn’t follow himaround to see where he went. She definitely didn’t notice him going into my office. But he must have. He must have gone in and stolen it.”

Grace stayed quiet a moment. “Alright, I’ll contact the electric company and see if they sent anyone out.”

“I’ll do that,” Rory volunteered. “Though there probably won’t be anyone in their office for hours.”

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