Page 7 of Deputies Under Fire
Both Helen and Ike went silent, and Rory tried to figure out what the heck their expressions meant. Were those nerves he saw?
“Question her…” Helen murmured. “Good,” she added a heartbeat later. “Maybe she’ll remember everything Ike did to her.”
Apparently, Helen decided that was a good thing to say before exiting, because then she turned and walked away.
Ike didn’t. “What did Brenda say when you found her?” he asked.
Not spoken like a demand but rather…what? A plea? Maybe. But Rory could take that two ways. Either Ike genuinely cared about what had happened to Brenda, or else he was worried she’d rat him out. Rory didn’t get the chance to find out because he saw the doctor, Amy Calvert, heading their way.
“Stay here,” Rory warned Ike, and Eden and he went to the doctor so that Ike wouldn’t be privy to whatever they said.
One look at Dr. Calvert’s face, though, and Rory knew. Hell. He knew. That’s why her words weren’t a surprise. Still, they gave him a gut punch.
“I’m sorry,” Dr. Calvert said, keeping her voice at a whisper. “But Brenda Watford is dead.”
Chapter Three
Two unsolved murders.
That was the thought going through Eden’s head as she dealt with the chaos of the morning. Unlike other kinds of chaos, though, most of this was thoroughly enjoyable.
Not the pressing worry about the murders, of course.
Not her continuing battle with the grief over losing Mellie, either.
But rather the hectic morning routine of being a mom to a nine-month-old baby. A baby who could crawl lightning-fast, babble nonstop and make a thorough mess of the blueberry oatmeal he was having for breakfast. Eden was mopping up some of that oatmeal on Tyler’s face while he wiggled and tried to duck away from the washcloth.
She turned at the sound of the footsteps, already knowing who it was. Leslie and Rory. Eden had heard the nanny letting Rory inside, which meant he was right on time. He’d never missed an 8:00 a.m. visit since she and Tyler had moved back to Renegade Canyon.
“Dada Dada,” Tyler squealed. He clapped his hands, flinging the oatmeal far and wide. Leslie laughed and hurried to get another wet cloth to help with the cleanup.
“Did he get any breakfast in his mouth?” Rory asked, going to Tyler and giving him a kiss on the top of his head. Rory also ended up having to pick a fleck of oatmeal off his own lips.
“Not much,” Eden muttered, looking up at Rory.
Their gazes met, and she saw what his smile couldn’t hide. He hadn’t slept well. With reason. They had another murder on their hands, and their prime suspect was his father.
Ike wasn’t exactly cooperating, either. He’d given “no comment” to every question in their interview with him, and when his trio of lawyers had arrived, they’d insisted the interview be postponed until this morning. They’d had another demand, too. That any future questioning not be done by his son and his son’s former partner.
Legally, it was a valid request since it was a conflict of interest, but that could be said of everyone in the entire police department. Ike knew every single one of them, and he didn’t get along with any of them. Still, Ike didn’t have a personal connection to Deputy Livvy Walsh, and since she was on the day shift, anyway, she would be the one to conduct the interview.
In the meantime, Ike hadn’t been locked up because there hadn’t been enough evidence to hold him. It hadn’t been easy for Eden to watch him just walk out of the police station. It’d felt as if once again, she was letting Mellie down. But she’d had to remind herself that Ike might not have been Mellie’s killer, and he might not have murdered Brenda, either.
“You okay?” Rory asked her, and he continued to study her. He was no doubt seeing the fatigue from the restless night she’d had.
“I’m fine,” Eden said. “You?”
He nodded, and their gazes continued to hold. And there it was. Along with the concern was the heat that neither of them wanted.
Really?
Now?
As she usually did, Eden silently cursed it and tore her attention from him. Sometimes, just looking at Rory fueled theattraction. Sometimes, it came no matter what she did or didn’t do.
“I can take over if you two want to go ahead and leave,” Leslie offered.
Their leaving definitely wasn’t part of the morning routine. Usually, they spent several hours with Tyler in his playroom, or if the weather was good, they took him to the pasture to see the horse that Rory had given Tyler. But that routine would have to be broken today since they needed to make another trip to the crime scene. The CSIs were already there, and with some luck, they might have some info for them.
