Page 44 of Deputies Under Fire
“Is it the murder weapon?” she asked, wondering how it’d gotten from Ike to Diedre’s.
“Maybe. The lab will have to determine that. There are no prints on it, the handle has been wiped clean, but the CSIs thought they spotted something at the base of the blade, so they did a preliminary test on scene.” Rory stopped and gathered his breath. “It tested positive for human blood.”
Chapter Twelve
Rory stared at his phone and filled Eden in on the rest of the conversation that he’d just had with the detective. “Vernon volunteered to have one of the uniformed officers who was already on the scene at her house escort Diedre here to Renegade Canyon. I took him up on that. She’ll be here soon.”
“Good,” Eden muttered.
Rory could practically hear Eden making a mental tally of what was on their slate today. Diedre was yet one more thing on their to-do list on what would undoubtedly turn out to be a hellishly long day. A day that had barely gotten started.
But he didn’t have an option when it came to talking to Diedre. He had to get her in for an official interrogation not only about the knife, but also because of what Frank had said about them being in a relationship. Along with that, he needed to confirm if Frank had been telling the truth. Because if he’d lied, then that put the guilty spotlight right on the man since he could have planted the knife in Diedre’s house.
However, if Diedre was the killer, if she was the one responsible for those three deaths and for Eden and him nearly being killed, then Rory wanted to know so he could lock her up. That could prevent others from being killed.
Including Eden.
She was holding it together, but he could see the strain in her eyes. And the fear. Not for herself but because Tyler was potentially in danger as well. That was the worst kind of pressure for a parent.
Even though the timing sucked, he closed the office door and pulled her to him. He didn’t kiss her. Nope. Not nearly enough time for that, but the hug was enough to steady him some. When he eased back from her, he thought it’d done the same for her. They would definitely need steadying because of what they had to do next.
“Did Vernon say if Diedre admitted that the knife was hers?” she asked.
He shook his head. “She insisted someone planted it, that maybe we even did it when we visited her.”
Eden sighed. “She’s reaching. We weren’t out of her sight the whole time we were there at her place.” She paused. “But Helen was.”
“Yep.” His aunt had come into the room while Eden and he had been talking to Diedre, so she would have had free rein of the rest of the house before her entrance. “And we’ll need to talk to her today, too.”
To get that ball rolling, Rory located his aunt’s number in his contacts and called her. Because it was still fairly early, he figured the call might go to voice mail, but she answered right away.
“Are Eden and you all right?” Helen asked, but there was no real concern, or even interest, in her voice. It seemed more like something she should say rather than something she especially wanted to know. “I heard there was another murder.”
Rory didn’t bother to huff. Yeah, bad news was definitely traveling fast. “We weren’t hurt,” he simply said, since they were far from all right. “But I need to talk to you.”
“About what?” she asked after a long pause.
“Some questions have come up, and I want to discuss a couple of things with you.” Rory made sure he used his cop’s tone so she’d know this was all business. “How soon can you come to the police station?”
He heard Helen take in a long breath. “I can be there in about ten minutes. I’m in Renegade Canyon,” she added. Judging from the background, he thought she was in her car.
Now, it was his turn to pause. “Were you visiting your friend in the hospital, the one who had an appendectomy?” Rory asked. “What was her name again?” he added.
“Sheila Mendoza,” Helen informed him without hesitation. “But, no, I wasn’t visiting her. I’m on the way to the cemetery to put flowers on my sister’s grave. She’s been on my mind a lot lately, and I brought her some roses.”
Rory knew that Helen had done that in the past, but he didn’t like the timing of this visit. Then again, with Ike being front and center in the investigation, his mother had been on Rory’s mind, too. So maybe Helen was telling the truth.
Maybe.
“I’ll be at the police station soon,” Helen assured him and ended the call.
Rory didn’t put his phone away, though. He accessed the database that had contact info for most people in town, and he located the number he was looking for.
“You’re calling Sheila Mendoza,” Eden murmured after glancing at what he was doing. She moved closer, so she’d be able to hear.
“Yep. I want to hear what she has to say…” He had to stop when Sheila answered on the first ring.
Since he didn’t know the woman that well, Rory made the greeting more formal. “Mrs. Mendoza, this is Deputy Rory McClennan.”
