Page 24 of Her Baby, Her Badge

“Felicity Martinez,” Grace said simply, and she waited.

The effect was instant. Brian groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t say anything for several moments. “I’d like a lawyer,” he muttered.

And that made Grace want to groan. Of course, she had known he might play the lawyer card when cornered, but there was nothing she could have done to prevent it.

Grace and Livvy stood. “If you don’t have a lawyer, one can be appointed for you,” Livvy reminded him.

Brian took out his phone. “I have someone,” he assured them, and then stared up at her and Livvy, clearly waiting for them to leave so he could make the call.

She and the deputy did just that. They left, and Grace hoped it wouldn’t be too long before the lawyer showed up. She wasbetting though once that happened, the attorney would demand Brian see a doctor. Which meant it would give them plenty of time to come up with a story that wouldn’t paint Brian as a killer.

There was no law against being a lying, cheating scumbag, so Brian would no doubt own up to that and hope it was enough to keep his sorry butt from being arrested.

“I want you to try to get a search warrant for Brian’s place,” Grace whispered to Livvy the moment they were in the hall.

“I’ll get right on that,” Livvy assured her, and she headed in the direction of the bullpen just as Dutton came out of the observation area.

“You believe him?” Dutton immediately asked her.

Grace had to shrug because she wasn’t sure. That’s why she needed the warrant. Before she could fill in Dutton on that, though, she saw Rory making his way toward them. He was carrying a tablet, and judging from the look on his face, he had something important to tell them.

Or rather, show them.

“This is the artist’s rendering of the man who posed as an electrician and possibly stole the knife,” Rory explained.

Grace hoped it was a close enough resemblance to Brian. However, when Rory turned the tablet toward her, she didn’t see any features matching their top suspect. The person was wearing what appeared to be a fake beard, just as Jamie had said, but the face was all wrong to belong to Brian.

“Is that…?” Dutton muttered, staring at the sketch.

Dutton didn’t finish. Didn’t need to, because Grace had seen the same thing. The sketch bore an uncanny resemblance to someone they knew.

County Sheriff Wilson Finney.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Dutton saw the dread take over Grace’s expression. And he totally understood it. That sketch artist’s image meant she had to question a fellow cop. A cop who already loathed her.

It was understandable why neither Jamie nor Diane had recognized Wilson. By the time Jamie had moved to the ranch, Wilson had left town to become county sheriff. As for Diane, she had moved to Renegade Canyon only two years earlier, so it was likely her and Wilson’s paths had never crossed.

Grace sighed but didn’t waste any time taking out her phone to call the county sheriff’s office, and she put it on speaker. Moments later, a cop who identified himself as Deputy Mendoza answered.

“Sheriff Granger calling for Sheriff Finney,” she said.

“He’s not here. In fact, he’s on his way to see you. He said he…” The deputy stopped and muttered an apology. “That he wanted to light a fire under you so you’d work harder to find Elaine’s killer.”

That erased some of the dread on Grace’s face, and Dutton saw the flicker of anger.

“Sorry,” the deputy continued. “But those were his exact words. Look, I know you and Sheriff Finney have a bad history, but that won’t stop you from finding this SOB, will it?”

“It won’t,” Grace assured him.

“Good, because we’re all ripped apart by what happened to her. She didn’t deserve that. No one does.”

“I agree,” Grace replied. “Any idea when Sheriff Finney will be here?”

“Should be soon. He left here well over an hour ago.”

That was more than enough time for the county sheriff to have made the trip, and Dutton had to hope the man wasn’t setting in motion another murder or attack along the way.

---