Page 26 of Deputies Under Fire
Helen shook her head, sighed. “No, he punched my hand, and I dropped the knife. He picked it up, and I thought he was going to use it against me, so I left.”
That meshed with the account Dutton had told them. Of course, Dutton hadn’t known what Helen’s actual motives were for pulling that knife. It was possible the woman had indeed planned on harming Ike.
“What happened to the knife?” Rory asked.
“I have no idea. You’d have to ask Ike about that.” She stopped, the anger overtaking the hurt in her expression. “Is he using that knife to try to set me up?”
“As far as I know, there’s no proof whatsoever that Ike or anyone else is trying to set you up,” Rory told her.
That was true. No proof. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
Rory’s phone dinged with a text, and when he glanced at it, he stood. “All right. If you recall anything else about that lunch or if Ike attempts to contact you, please let us know.”
Helen didn’t react to that, but Diedre seemed relieved that the questions were over. They were for now. But Eden figured they’d be talking to Helen and Diedre again very soon.
“That was a text from Sanchez, the CSI,” Rory said once they were outside. “The bugs they found at Ike’s were tapped into his Wi-Fi, and they’ve traced the output from the eavesdropping devices to an internet server.”
“To Helen?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, to Brenda.”
Eden didn’t bother to groan, and that meant the listening devices couldn’t be used in the case against Ike.
Or Helen.
It was essentially a dead end, leaving them to speculate about what had possibly happened.
“So if we’re to believe Helen and Diedre,” Eden said as they got into the cruiser, “Brenda arranged that lunch to gain support to launch a smear campaign against Ike. She might or might not have gotten that support. Either way, she bought the burner and set up those fake texts that she was presumably going to make sure the police saw.”
“She could have brought them in when asking for protection because she was in fear for her life,” Rory suggested. “Then, she planted the bugs and waited until she was certain Ike didn’t have an alibi, and she attacked Mellie.”
Yes, Eden could see that playing out. Mellie wouldn’t have been afraid of opening the door to Brenda.
“She waited for the cops to arrest Ike,” Rory went on as he drove away from the house, “but when that didn’t happen, she could have planned another attack on Helen or Diedre.”
“But someone killed Brenda first,” Eden said, finishing.
She would have said more had she not spotted the young blond-haired man by the subdivision gate. He was frantically trying to wave them down.
“Hell,” Rory muttered. “I recognize him from his photo. That’s the man who was stalking Brenda.”
“Carter Rooney,” Eden related. SAPD had interviewed him after Brenda’s death, but Carter was also on the list of people they needed to see.
“Get your gun ready,” Rory told her.
She did, and he pulled to a stop next to Carter, who immediately came closer. Rory didn’t lower the window, and they both gave Carter a once-over. If he was carrying a weapon, he had it well hidden.
“Deputy McClennan?” he asked.
Rory nodded but still didn’t put down the window.
“Good. Because I have something you need to see.” The man took out his phone. “I believe I have proof that Diedre was the one who murdered Brenda.”
Chapter Eight
Rory didn’t look at the phone that Carter thrust at him. He kept his attention pinned to the man himself, waiting to see if this was a ruse to try to murder them.
After all, Carter was a person of interest in Brenda’s murder. Had to be since there was a restraining order against him. But other than not having an alibi, SAPD hadn’t found anything to hold him, and Rory hadn’t gotten around to questioning him.
