Page 28 of Deputies Under Fire
“Because Brenda had been coming over here a lot, and I thought maybe the car was Diedre’s.” He lifted the phone again. “There was a car in her driveway. I’m not positive it was the same vehicle I saw leaving Brenda’s, but I believe it could be.”
Carter showed them the photo that he’d taken of a dark green Jeep. The heavily tinted windows made it impossible to see inside, but the man had gotten a shot of the license plate.
Eden immediately snatched up her phone again and ran a search on it. “The car’s registered to Diedre.”
Rory had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “It’s not a crime for a person to park their car in their own driveway.”
“Yes, but I think a crime might have been committed. Look at this,” Carter insisted, showing them another photo.
It was of a very harried-looking Diedre coming out of her house and heading back to the car. Her hair was scraped back in a messy ponytail, and she appeared to be fumbling with her keys.
“Notice what’s she’s wearing,” Carter added.
Rory noted the woman’s slim black pants and gray top. “So?”
“That wasn’t the outfit she had on when she came home,” Carter explained. “She was wearing this.”
In the next photo he pulled up, Diedre was wearing baggy sweatpants and a T-shirt that looked like workout clothes. Again, there was no crime in someone changing clothes, but then Rory looked at the time stamp of the photo.
Eight p.m.
If Diedre had been the one to attack Brenda, that would have given her time to get to Renegade Canyon with Brenda, stab her and leave her in that barn to die.
Hell.
Had that happened?
Had Diedre taken this damn hit list so far that she’d murdered two women?
Rory not only didn’t have answers for that, but he also had another question to add to it. “Why didn’t you immediately take this to SAPD or to us?” he asked Carter.
“Because like I said, SAPD think I’m guilty. I don’t want to go to them with anything. And when I saw your Renegade Canyon cruiser, I thought maybe you’d be more objective, that you’d believe in innocent until proven guilty. I’m not guilty,” he added.
Maybe. Rory was going to hold out judgment on that.
Rory tipped his head to the man’s phone. “Text us those photos,” he instructed. “Then, show them to SAPD. It’s possible these pictures can clear your name,” Rory added when he saw the hesitancy in Carter’s eyes. “The time stamps could show you weren’t near Brenda when she was attacked.”
Of course, it might show just the opposite, but Rory was going to keep that to himself.
He rattled off his phone number to Carter, and the man began forwarding the photos to Rory’s phone. Rory passed his phone to Eden so she could have a closer look and send them to thecounty crime lab for analysis. Of course, SAPD would be doing the same thing, but it wouldn’t hurt to have two sets of eyes on these.
“One more thing,” Rory went on, aiming a hard stare at Carter. “If you don’t show up at SAPD within the hour, they’ll come looking for you, and it’d be best if that didn’t happen.”
Carter gave another of those unconvincing nods, and he’d just finished sending the pictures when his gaze whipped in the direction behind the cruiser. Rory looked in his side mirror and saw Diedre heading their way.
“I have to go,” Carter blurted, and the man took off running toward his car.
Rory considered going after him, but with Diedre and Carter as suspects, he decided for now to leave Carter to SAPD. Renegade Canyon PD could get a crack at him later.
“I’ll give SAPD a heads-up about the photos,” Eden murmured, taking care of that while Diedre stepped up alongside the cruiser.
“What’s going on?” Diedre demanded, stooping down and staring at them through the window. “Why are you still here, and who is that man?”
Rory debated how much to say, and he decided to see how Diedre would react to Carter’s accusations. “It’s come to my attention that there was some unusual activity at your house the night Brenda was attacked.”
Diedre’s frown deepened, and she glanced at Carter, who was now speeding away. “That man told you something about me? Who is he?”
Rory didn’t intend to spill that since Diedre might go after him. “Was your Jeep parked in your driveway at any time in the past twenty-four hours?”
