Page 12 of Her Baby, Her Badge

Grace muttered a thanks for Rory taking that chore, then turned back to Jamie. “Describe this man.”

The girl’s forehead bunched up as she continued to stroke a now purring Sherlock. “Reddish brown hair, but most of it was covered up by a cap. It had the electric company logo on it. I didn’t get close enough to him to see the color of his eyes, but I think his beard might have been fake. It didn’t look like it belonged on his face, if you know what I mean.”

Jamie was certainly observant. And maybe overly suspicious as well. Since she’d said this had happened during her spring break, she might have been bored enough for her imagination to go way overboard. Dutton almost hoped that was the case because the alternative sickened him.

It meant the killer could have been in the house with Jamie.

Grace turned to Ike. “Is it possible your security system recorded the visit?” she asked.

Ike shook his head and looked at Dutton for the answer, but Jamie responded before he could. “Yes, but the feed records over itself after a week.”

The sound Grace made indicated that was what she’d expected. “How tall was this man? And how was he built?” Grace continued.

“Shorter than Dutton and Rory.” Jamie paused, obviously giving that more thought. “So maybe five-ten-ish. And he was on the skinny side.” Her eyes brightened again. “Maybe I can work with a sketch artist.”

“Possibly,” Grace said. “But if he actually is or was an employee of the electric company, we should be able to get his name. Then, he can be brought in for questioning.” And Grace would have another person of interest to add to her murder board.

“Questioning?” Ike said, using more of the irritated tone. “Like what you’re doing to me right now. I didn’t kill that woman,” he stressed.

Grace drew in a long breath. “For the time being, I believe you,” she stated, cutting off what would have no doubt been a continued tirade from him.

Dutton didn’t know who was more surprised by Grace’s comment, but he thought Ike won that particular prize. Still, he didn’t seem willing to soften the hard look he was giving Grace.

“It’s possible this is some kind of reverse psychology,” she continued, ignoring Ike’s expression. “But if you had committed this crime, I don’t believe you would have used a knife that could be so easily traced back to you. And you wouldn’t have left the bodies by the ranch. Everything points to someone setting you up. Or setting up someone in your family.” She glanced at Rory and Jamie, and then Dutton.

Ike muttered something under his breath again. Probably a profanity that Dutton hoped Jamie hadn’t heard. “Plenty of folks dislike me and my kin. But I see this going back to you.” At the sound of the front door opening, they all turned and looked in that direction. “Or back to your kin,” Ike snarled.

And Grace’s mother, Aileen, came in.

Even though the woman was in her sixties now, she looked just as formidable as she did when she’d worn the badge, and she seemed to take in the entire room with her cop eyes. Eyes that were nearly identical to Grace’s own. In fact, the two shared enough features that it was no mistaking they were related.

“Sorry for the interruption,” Aileen said, settling her attention on her daughter. The apology seemed heartfelt. So was the look she gave Grace.

And Dutton.

Hell. What now?

Unlike many people in town, Aileen didn’t seem to despise him simply because he was a McClennan. Though there wasn’t exactly a warm, fuzzy feeling between them, either. Especially since he’d gotten Grace pregnant. But Dutton hadn’t recalled Aileen ever giving him that sort of look. An apology mixed with something else.

Worry.

Aileen walked past Jamie and Ike, giving them a nod of greeting that conveyed zero warmth. Well, for Ike, anyway. Aileen’s expression softened a little when she glanced at Jamie.

“I wouldn’t have come if it weren’t necessary,” Aileen said to her daughter. “But someone sent me this.” She held out her phone for Grace.

Grace took it and read what was on the screen. Dutton read it, too, and barely managed to bite off the profanity in front of Jamie.

“Your daughter and her lover will be dead soon,” he read aloud.

“Unknown sender,” Aileen explained. “Which means it’ll likely be impossible to trace, but I figured you’d want to try.”

Grace nodded, and while most people would have thought she appeared composed, Dutton saw the nerves in the slight tightening of her mouth. “Yes, I definitely want to try. I’ll have it sent to the tech guys at the lab.”

Rory whipped out an evidence bag and took Aileen’s phone to get that process started. Dutton wasn’t an expert on such things, but he was the brother of a cop and figured that an unknownsender would cover his or her tracks well enough so it couldn’t be traced. Still, Grace might get lucky.

“Why would the killer want to involve you in this?” Dutton asked Aileen.

Aileen lifted her shoulder, and he saw the nerves in her expression, too. “Maybe because it’ll put Grace under more pressure. Because now she’s probably wondering if the killer will try to use me in some way to make her suffer even more.” She locked eyes with Grace. “I’m retired, but I’m not careless. I’m taking precautions just as I’m sure you’re doing. You, too,” she added to Dutton.

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