Page 65 of Christmas Homecoming Secrets
Grief shot through her, making her swallow a gasp. By the time she had the prisoner in the back of the car, she had her emotions under control.
As she shut the back door, locking the man in the back seat, she found herself watching her fellow officers do the same with the other prisoners.
She just had one question. Which one of them had murdered her friend, attacked her and burned her home, and had basically been making her life miserable lately?
She blew out a low breath. Time to find out.
* * *
Bryce stayed put, his fears eased at seeing Jade alive and well, doing her job with the confidence of one who was well trained and comfortable with her position. His respect for her just went up another notch—and it was already high to begin with.
Once she had her prisoner situated in the back of her vehicle, she shut the door and walked over to him. “Couldn’t stay away, could you?”
“No.”
Jade scratched Sasha’s ears and gave him a small smile. “I think we got them all,” she said. “All of the ones at the top, anyway. I’m sure there are a few low-level stragglers still out there, but we’ll catch them soon.”
“You think someone will cut a deal?”
She nodded. “I do.”
“I was scared for you.”
She stiffened and narrowed her eyes. “There’s no reason to be. I’m good at what I do.”
“I know. You have a dangerous job, but seeing you in action helped me. I might be concerned and pray for your safety, but I don’t think I’d be excessively worried you wouldn’t come home at the end of the day.”
Come home at the end of the day? Heat crept up his neck when he realized the way that sounded. Like they were a couple…or something. She obviously wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that and cleared her throat. “Yes, well, that’s good. I guess.”
“I guess.”
He searched for something to say to address his verbal blunder, but before he could think of anything, she patted him on the arm.
“I have to take this guy in,” she said.
He blinked. “Oh, I had something else I wanted to run by you. I talked to Lisa.”
“And?”
“She found Frank’s journal. He kept something like a diary, I guess. Anyway, she said she read some of it. Enough to know that Frank was planning on calling off the wedding.”
Jade gasped. “What?”
“So you hadn’t heard anything to that effect?”
“Of course not. Does Heather know?”
“I have no idea. I wanted to run this by you before I said anything to her.”
“Good. I’m glad you did.” She blew out a low sigh. “Okay, let me take care of this guy and then I’ll find Heather and ask her what was going on.”
“You want me to come with you?”
“No.” She bit her lip and paused. “In fact, now that I think about it, I’m not sure I even want to say anything to her. I mean, if she doesn’t know, why open that can of worms? Why hurt her like that?”
“Good point.”
Jade shook her head. “I’ll think on this after I get this guy taken care of. Just don’t do anything yet, all right?”
