Page 29 of Her Baby, Her Badge

That definitely didn’t sound good. “And there’s still nothing to connect Georgia with Renegade Canyon, the other two victims, Dutton or me?”

“Nothing. But her sister is at the hospital, and I was about to head there to have a chat with her.”

“Good idea.” Because it was possible the sister might know something that hadn’t turned up in any searches.

Rory stepped back, but then had to stop from bumping into Cassie, who’d come up behind him. Grace was thankful she hadn’t had to jump through hoops to get Cassie in for questioning, but it took Grace a couple of seconds to mentally switch gears. And to steel herself for what would possibly turn into an ugly situation. She could tell from Cassie’s expression that the woman was already riled.

“My PA said you called and that you wanted to see me?” Cassie said, the words sounding like an accusation. She spared Dutton a glance and then huffed as if to say “of course, you’re still here with Grace.”

“Yes, I need to ask you some questions about a visit you paid to Ike two months ago,” Grace explained.

“A visit…” Cassie’s words trailed off, and her eyes widened. “Why would Ike tell you about that?”

Dutton stood. “I’ll be in the break room,” he muttered.

Cassie huffed again and folded her arms over her chest. “Wait.” She moved in front of Dutton. “Did you put your father up to this, whateverthisis?”

Dutton looked her straight in the eyes. “I don’t put Ike up to anything,” he told Cassie. There was just a smidge of cockiness in that statement.

Cassie’s attention flew back to Grace, and for a moment it seemed as if she was about to accuse her of the same thing, but then she must have remembered that Ike would never be swayed by anything Grace said. Just the opposite.

“So what is this?” Cassie demanded, and once again, she moved in front of Dutton to stop him from leaving.

Dutton huffed and glanced at Grace to get her take on this. She motioned for him to stay put. Technically, this wasn’t an official interview and couldn’t be. Not without something with more “teeth” than Ike’s account. So Grace just went ahead and laid it out there for Cassie.

“Ike told me that you’d visited the ranch two months ago and that means you had the opportunity to take a knife that went missing.”

Cassie seemed to do some kind of mental double take, making Grace wonder what the woman had thought this meeting was about. Had Cassie thought she was going to be questioned about something else?

If so, what?

The woman quickly regrouped, though, and the anger came back into her eyes. “No, I didn’t steal a knife and then use it to murder a woman I never met. I’m not a psychopathic killer. I’m a respected businesswoman who shouldn’t be treated like a criminal.”

Grace didn’t point out that this wasn’t criminal treatment. If it was, she would have Mirandized Cassie and had this chat on the record in an interview room, probably with the woman’s lawyer present.

“I was merely asking,” Grace replied instead. “I have to either verify or eliminate any and all possible evidence, and sometimes I have to do that by asking hard questions.”

“Well, you should have known the answer because you know I’m not capable of something like that.” Cassie gave a dry laugh. “And if I were going to kill someone, why in the name of heaven would I have used Ike’s knife to do it? That makes no sense.”

“It does if you wanted to get back at me,” Dutton pointed out.

Cassie gave him a withering look. “You no longer mean enough to me for me to do that. If I wanted to get back at you, I’d pressure the town council for that recall vote to get Grace out of office.”

She stopped again, shifting her attention to Grace, and in that stare Grace saw that was indeed Cassie’s intention. Pressure just might work, too. But she couldn’t think about that now. The murder investigation had to be her focus.

“Is that all, Sheriff?” Cassie snarled.

Grace didn’t respond but instead sent a quick text to Rory to make sure he’d gotten a look at the carpeting in Cassie’s car. Rory was equally quick with his reply.

I did, Rory texted.It’s gray.

Grace looked at Cassie again. “Would you be willing to let us examine your car?” she asked, purposely not mentioning the carpet.

Cassie looked as if Grace had just asked her for her firstborn, and the woman aimed a look at Dutton that seemed a mix of both outrage and confusion. “I know we aren’t together any longer, but I can’t believe you’d stand there and let her treat me like this.”

“She’s doing her job,” Dutton said.

“Well, she can do it without snooping in my car when she has no right.” Judging from the increasing volume of Cassie’s voice, Grace thought the woman’s tirade would just continue.

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